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<p>The Government response to the Education Committee report into the Mental Health
and Wellbeing of Looked-After Children is being jointly drafted by the Department
of Health and the Department for Education. Ministers in both departments are assessing
the recommendations in their entirety and the joint response, expected to be published
after recess, reflects the importance that both departments place on joint working
to meet the needs of this vulnerable group.</p><p>The Department of Health and the
Department for Education have already established an Expert Working Group to consider
how to improve the mental health and well-being of looked-after children, children
adopted from care, care leavers and children leaving care under a special Guardianship
Order or Child Arrangements Order. The Expert Working Group will include a focus on
assessment and identification of mental health issues and difficulties.</p><p>The
group, co-chaired by Professor Peter Fonagy, Freud Memorial Professor of Psychoanalysis,
University College London, and Alison O’Sullivan, former president of the Association
of Directors of Children’s Services, first met on 11 July 2016. Meeting notes, Terms
of Reference and a work programme will shortly be available on the website of the
Social Care Institute for Excellence (<a href="http://www.scie.org.uk/" target="_blank">http://www.scie.org.uk/</a>)
which are co-ordinating the work of this group.</p>
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