Brief assessment, screening, and monitoring – what’s the difference, and does it matter?

One of my reasons for writing this book is to help children’s agencies develop a clear understanding of what types of mental health assessment should be provided to children under their supervision. This includes understanding what it is that agencies can do themselves ‘in house’ without clinical oversight, as well as demystifying the nature of screening and assessment carried out by clinical services. The book aims to empower agencies with knowledge that they need to advocate for clinical services on behalf of the children they have responsibility for, as well as their foster parents and adoptive parents. This of course has potential political and public policy implications. If agencies have a clearer understanding of which and how many children in alternative care require therapeutic services, then any shortfall in the availability of children’s mental health services is less likely to be swept under the carpet.