The Role of the Educational Psychologist in Multidisciplinary Work Relating to Fostering and Adoption

Abstract

Fostered and adopted children form a vulnerable group with a diverse range of educational, social and mental health needs, and are likely to benefit from input from a range of professions, one of these being educational psychology. Cara Osborne, Roger Norgate and Maria Traill report on the results of a questionnaire sent to all educational psychology services in England, with a view to clarifying the nature and level of educational psychologist input into this area of work. Sixty-nine per cent of services were involved to some extent in such work, with a skew in favour of work with fostered rather than adopted children. A wide range of work was carried out, and was considered to have led to improved communication between agencies, enhanced working arrangements and a greater understanding of factors relating to fostering and adoption. Despite this, the level of current service involvement was generally lower than desired, and in response to this, some services highlighted the need for further research into the value of educational psychologist input into this area of work.