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.

When Philip Graham takes up the Chair of the Association next June, it will be his second term in an office he originally held in 1982. Although he would modestly deny it, he is not only one of the UK's leading child and adolescent psychiatrists, but also widely respected internationally. Outside this country his reputation is particularly strong in Europe where he was President of the European Society for Child and Adolescent Psychiatry from 1987 to 1991. His appointment to the Foundation Chair of Child Psychiatry at the Institute of Child Health in 1975 marked the establishment of the second such chair in the UK. The esteem in which he was held there led to his appointment as Dean of the Institute from 1985 to 1990. On retirement in 1994 he was elected to the Chair of the National Children's Bureau, reflecting his broad perspective on the welfare of children.

This paper outlines current legislation and Code of Practice on the identification, assessment and special provision for children with special educational needs in England and Wales. It then highlights the proposals for changes presented in the consultation documents for new legislation and a revised Code of Practice. Changes include simplifying the process of identification and assessment, a greater emphasis on early identification, intervention and integration in mainstream schools, improving the training of teachers and learning support assistants, giving a voice to children themselves and a greater emphasis on collaborative partnership between schools, local educational authorities and parents. The positive advances and some concerns are discussed.

All families have attachments; some may be secure, others insecure, and family and marital therapists inevitably have to relate to these. This paper discusses ways in which the therapist can establish a temporary secure base within therapy, which helps families to feel safe enough to explore new ways of relating. The overall aim is to help them to create a more secure family or couple base at home, from which they can explore new solutions during and after therapy. A new school of therapy is not proposed as therapists can also use their own approaches when a secure therapeutic base is established.

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.