This paper highlights the many complex psychological needs of paediatric patients in intensive care. The literature on the experience of children in intensive care and their relatives is reviewed and related to the work of a paediatric psychologist. Case examples are given of direct work with children and suggestions are made of ways in which the psychologist can work in a consultation/liaison capacity. The personal impact of this work is addressed, as is the need to disseminate information to other health professionals. Further research is called for, both on the child's experience and on the development of appropriate psychological interventions.

The establishment, operation and theoretical basis of a multi-disciplinary, Tier 3, risk assessment team based in a Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service (CAMHS) is described. The work is based on the premise that a multi-disciplinary team, with a degree of statutory independence, assessing forensic issues within a systemic and developmental context, offers a useful contribution to the comprehensive assessment of risk and provides a valuable and valued service to statutory agencies and the courts. The team is used by Social Services Departments and the courts as an independent assessor of the risk parents and potential carers pose to children. An evaluation of 39 referrals, carried out over the last 3 years of operation of the parenting risk assessment team, is given.

The model outlined in the paper by Partridge, Casswell and Richardson is an interesting one. Its strengths are particularly the multidisciplinary nature of the assessment and its extension over a period of time, allowing for the assessment to be also a therapeutic process. It stands in contrast to many single-handed expert assessments carried out as a cross sectional view of the family at one particular point.

The decision not to meet with the children is understandable on the basis that the children may well have been seen by other professionals. However, since parenting is a dyadic interaction it can only be observed by meeting with both parents and children together. The notion of risk and assessment of risk is broader than the risk posed by an adult or parent to a generic child. Beyond a capacity to injure and physically or sexually abuse, risk extends to emotional abuse or injury and emotional neglect, insensitivity or inability to meet the child's developmental needs. An assessment of these capacities is best related to the needs of particular children and includes issues of attachment. These can only be assessed by meeting with the children and/or the children and parents together.

The addition to the team of an adult psychiatrist with a particular interest in personality and the influence of early experiences on adult functioning has been found to be of great value.

An alternative model is the multi-family intensive assessment process, during which several families attend together for a short period of time and during which intra-family interactions as well as group processes are observed.

Through a questionnaire survey, the present study investigated the coping strategies of Year 7 (11–12 years old) and Year 9 (13–14 years old) pupils (N = 324) to find out what strategies they have used to overcome the difficulties of being bullied by peers. Fifty-one UK secondary schools, in each of which an anti-bullying peer support system had been in place for at least a year, participated. The coping strategies of those pupils who said that they had told someone (N = 279) about being bullied were compared with those who said that they had not (N = 45). These coping strategies differ, not only according to whether or not they report the bullying, but also according to their age and gender. Implications of the findings for professionals who work with children and adolescents are suggested.

The Revised Children's Manifest Anxiety Scale is a widely used assessment tool, but it is questionable whether the North American norms are applicable to a British population. The scale was administered to 575 English children aged 8–12 years. Means were computed by age and gender and compared to the published North American norms. English males reported less anxiety than American males in most age groups, while 8-year-old English girls reported less anxiety than 8-year-old American girls. The language used in the Scale caused some difficulties, suggesting that the Scale might be better used in a structured interview rather than as a self-completion questionnaire.

This study investigated possible associations between ethnic background of referred children and non-attendance, referrer type, problem type, age and gender. The sample consisted of 769 children offered outpatient appointments. Ethnic background influenced referrer type. Over-referrals against expectations were: White children more by GPs than expected, Black and South Asian children by specialist doctors, Black children by education services and Mixed Race children by social services. There was neither a significant difference in ethnic background between attendees and non-attendees nor were gender, age or problem types related to ethnic group. Clinicians should be aware that referral routes may appropriately, or inappropriately, be different for different ethnic groups. Differences found may be due to genuine variations in morbidity, thus leading to presentation to different referrers.

Structural Family Therapy was developed by Salvador Minuchin and colleagues during the 1960s as part of the growing interest in systemic ways of conceptualising human distress and relationship dilemmas, and in working therapeutically with those natural systems and relationships, thought to give rise to distress. Structural family therapy is underpinned by a clearly articulated model of family functioning, and has been developed and used most consistently in services for children and families. A growing body of empirical evidence attests to the efficacy of structural family therapy. As an approach it was extensively critiqued during the 1980s by feminist writers and during the 1990s by those interested in the implications of a social constructionist position. Structural family therapy continues to evolve in response to challenges mounted from within and outwith the systemic field, and as part of integrative practice and multi-systemic approaches, with practitioners ever mindful of the need for regular feedback from family members themselves.