ABSTRACT
This chapter aims to apply ideas from systemic and attachment theories to the needs of looked-after children and young people within an educational context. Studies that have looked at the state of child mental health in Great Britain in both the general population and in looked-after children and young people have demonstrated worrying levels of mental health disorder in general. Looked-after children often experience many changes not only in terms of the carers but also of the professionals in their lives. Social constructionism proposes that beliefs of individuals are not simply created and maintained within families, but that people—that is, the ideas people have about how they relate and behave towards one another—absorb the beliefs of a particular culture within which they exist. School culture has also been influenced by social changes to include no corporal punishment, diverse cultural and linguistic groups and teachers, as well as alterations to the curriculum.
