'Mind the Kids': an ACAMH podcast · The Association for Child and Adolescent Mental Health

Mind the Kids - Mental Health Needs in Care, but Missed Out

·41 min·2 clips

Eva says coming into care itself can be the most traumatic experience for some young people.

The discussion begins with a definitional question. It asks whether looked-after children and children in care mean the same thing, and why those labels matter to young people and to the discussion itself. That distinction sets the tone. The episode then lays out the many settings that sit under care, from foster homes and kinship care to children's homes, group flats, youth hostels, secure children's homes, hospitals, and young offender institutions. Adoption is treated separately. The conversation explains that adopted children are usually outside local authority care, while a small number later return to care, and it also notes special guardianship as a route that can give kinship carers more formal responsibility. The language stays careful throughout. It also makes space for children whose lives resemble care without placing them in the formal system, which helps avoid flattening different experiences into one category. From there the episode turns toward the psychiatric profiles of children in care and the risk that broad measures can miss the detail that actually matters in a high-risk group. The SDQ comes into view as a strong screening tool that can paint with a broad brush, but not as a tool that can answer every question on its own. That is the point. The conversation argues that broad-brush data should be followed by more specific questions if the aim is to understand need accurately. The closing discussion notes that PTSD features may be treatable and even resolvable, which is an important message for young people who may think those symptoms are fixed. The tone stays measured. Rather than reaching for drama, the hosts keep returning to method, interpretation, and what the findings might mean in day-to-day life for academics and practitioners. The episode is practical. It ends by reinforcing a simple idea: use the right tool for the job, and do not mistake a broad screen for a full account.

As heard by us

A practical discussion of care status and why broad screening tools need closer follow-up.

Mind the Kids is clearest when it sorts out who counts as a child in care, and why that label can cover foster and kinship care, children"s homes, secure units, hospitals, and young offender institutions.

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Why you'd press play

You want a careful guide to why children in care can be missed.

Read the full recommendation in PlayNext →

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