title: Challenges of Assessing Maltreated Children Coming into Foster Care.
abstract: Children who have experienced early adversity have been known to be at risk of developing cognitive, attachment, and mental health problems; therefore, it is crucial that children entering foster care can be properly assessed as early as possible. There are known difficulties in assessing children in foster care, for example, in finding a reliable informant. An ongoing randomised controlled trial in Glasgow, Scotland, recruiting infants entering foster care, provides a unique opportunity to explore some of the issues which need to be considered when assessing these children. The assessment data of 70 infants entering care is described while exploring the reliability of foster carers as informants and the importance of infant engagement with tasks. This group of infants was shown to be having more problems than children from the general population. While correlations were found between a carer's level of concern about a child and the severity of a child's problem, there were still a number of children displaying worrying problem scores whom foster carers did not report concern. The child's engagement in the cognitive task showed associations with the child's attainment on the task. Findings emphasise the importance of a holistic assessment for these children and all should be considered as potential cases with Maltreatment-Associated Psychiatric Problems (MAPP).
authors.affiliation: Institute of Health and Wellbeing College of Medical, Veterinary and Life Sciences Academic Unit of Mental Health & Wellbeing, University of Glasgow Caledonia House Royal Hospital for Sick Children Yorkhill, Glasgow G3 8SJ, UK.
authors.forename: Rachel
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Pritchett
authors.affiliation: Institute of Health and Wellbeing College of Medical, Veterinary and Life Sciences Academic Unit of Mental Health & Wellbeing, University of Glasgow Caledonia House Royal Hospital for Sick Children Yorkhill, Glasgow G3 8SJ, UK.
authors.forename: Harriet
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Hockaday
authors.affiliation: NSPCC Scotland, Glasgow Service Centre, Pavillion 2, Rowan Business Park, 5 Ardlaw Street, Glasgow G51 3RR, UK.
authors.forename: Beatrice
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Anderson
authors.affiliation: Institute of Health and Wellbeing College of Medical, Veterinary and Life Sciences Academic Unit of Mental Health & Wellbeing, University of Glasgow Caledonia House Royal Hospital for Sick Children Yorkhill, Glasgow G3 8SJ, UK.
authors.forename: Claire
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Davidson
authors.affiliation: Gillberg Neuropsychiatry Centre, University of Gothenburg, Kungsgatan 12, 411 19 Gothenburg, Sweden.
authors.forename: Christopher
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Gillberg
authors.affiliation: Institute of Health and Wellbeing College of Medical, Veterinary and Life Sciences Academic Unit of Mental Health & Wellbeing, University of Glasgow Caledonia House Royal Hospital for Sick Children Yorkhill, Glasgow G3 8SJ, UK.
authors.forename: Helen
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Minnis
mesh_terms: D002648:Child; D002649:Child Abuse / Q000523:psychology*; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003710:Demography; D005260:Female; D005581:Foster Home Care / Q000523:psychology*; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D007802:Language; D008297:Male; D008603:Mental Health