ABSTRACT
This chapter outlines stages in the research, and describes how it has been disseminated within and beyond the local authority. It illustrates a brief intervention model developed to address the particular needs of young children in temporary foster care. Names and identifying details in the clinical vignettes have been changed to protect confidentiality. Therapeutic observation is an intervention derived from the psychoanalytic model of infant observation introduced to training in child psychotherapy by Esther Bick. When the research findings from the observational study were disseminated through feedback meetings, workshops, and conversations with social workers, the service began to receive more referrals for babies and young children in care. The dialogue between clinical research and practice is a fruitful one that has helped to bring new ideas and approaches into work with a group of particularly vulnerable children.
