Looked After Children (LAC)

For lots of different reasons, not all children live with the families that they were born into.  The term ‘Looked After Child’ means that a young person’s accommodation is provided through Children’s Services / The Local Authority.  It is recognised that the children and carers in these situations have specific needs and therefore our CAMHS has dedicated LAC Teams providing specialist support for these children where there are concerns of mental health difficulties.

LAC Teams

We have LAC Teams based within both of our Wolverhampton and Sandwell CAMHS Teams. The teams offers consultation to some Residential units as well as to Social Workers.
The service is for looked after or adopted children, up to the age of 18 years old, who are displaying mental health problems, disorders and illnesses, who require the help of a multi-disciplinary mental health service.  Upon referral, a multi-disciplinary, multi-agency professionals meeting is usually held with all of those people who work with the child/young person.

We accept referrals from Social Workers for looked after children; they can give consent for treatment as they are the corporate parent or ‘in loco parentis’ for the child.  They also hold the records for the reasons the child came into care, the background information, genogram and chronology of events.  In order to assess and devise a care plan, it is crucial to have as much information as possible as to the child/young person’s experience in their family of origin.

What we offer:

• Assessment of children and young people’s mental health, behavioural and emotional well-being needs.
• A range of treatment, from medication prescribing and monitoring to therapeutic support and counselling provided by a range of professionals, such as Child Psychotherapists, Family
• Therapists, Social Workers and Psychologists.
• Regular consultation to Merridale Residential Unit and Social Workers.
• The 18 week Nurturing Attachments Training Programme for Foster Carers.

The types of problem we help with include:

• Severe emotional difficulties such as anxiety, depression, phobias and obsessive compulsive disorder.
• Behavioural problems such as aggression and hyperactivity.
• Eating disorders.
• Severe psychiatric illnesses such as psychosis.
• Self-harm or risk of self-harm (please note that all those who have taken overdoses should be taken to the local A&E department).
• Trauma including post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

For more LAC information please feel free to contact us.