ABSTRACT
The atmosphere of greater financial stringency was seen by residential staff to have encouraged the spread of a number of unhelpful work practices amongst referrers. The most frequent comments, raised by >95% of respondents, in relation to all aspects of information about a child or young person where admission was being considered. Residential staff from eight of the forty-three establishments noted concerns about the apparent mismatch between the paperwork they did receive from social service departments about a child or young person, and the person they then met at the interview stage. The increasing severity and diversity of needs presented by the children and young people identified as having emotional and behavioural difficulties, and the complexity of their family dynamics, was seen by the interviewees as creating more extensive requirements for multi-agency inputs. The national shortage of provision of an interim nature or suitable for dealing with those with more medium range needs was highlighted as an increasing problem.
