ABSTRACT
In the past ten years there have been renewed government efforts to change the life trajectory of children whose birth families fail them. This has been welcome, focusing our attention on changing for the better the cycle of deprivation we recognise passes so easily from one generation to another. For the ®rst time we have public records of the numbers of children accommodated and we have at last, systems in place that monitor and report these children's progress. There are aims and targets for these children's health, social and academic welfare against which statutory agencies are measured. We know that our experience of the mental fragility and social exclusion of these children is substantiated by statistics ± making unavoidably clear the depressing roll call of suffering and mental health disorders found in this population.
