Evaluation of Looked after Children's Mental Health Assessment Pilots

The Department for Education (DfE) is commissioning six to ten pilot sites to test improved approaches to the mental health and wellbeing assessments that looked after children receive when they enter care. The pilots will run for a period of two years, during which £650k of implementation support grant will be made available to assist the testing process.

The evaluation of the pilots is to inform what, if any, changes are needed to the assessment system (including the statutory framework) for looked after children on entry into care and if so, how this can best be achieved. The evaluation shall use the findings to understand what works, or does not, and what other factors are at work that affect outputs and outcomes to improve health assessments.

The evaluation shall achieve the following objectives: • Assess the success and effectiveness of the pilots in delivering the project aims and objectives, including specific consideration of whether the design, content and delivery that are being tested are feasible, appropriate and acceptable. • Measure the pilots against the required criteria to assess their: thoroughness, quality, accuracy of diagnosis, timeliness, the extent to which they are child centred and the appropriateness of the professionals involved in carrying out the assessments; • Understand the impact the assessment approaches have on children and families, the local authorities and its stakeholders, and the wider system; • Review the extent to which changes to the statutory framework that underpins the assessment process requires change; • Assess the nature of the support provided as a result of the pilot and whether the relevant interventions were already available or commissioned as a result of the pilots;