An Innovative Project for Young People in Care Who have been Sexually Abused

Correspondence to Willm Mistral, The Mental Health Research and Development Unit, 3 East, 2.10, University of Bath, Bath BA2 7AY,UK. E-mail W.Mistral{at}bath.ac.uk Summary Professional awareness of child mental health problems and sexualabuse has increased greatly over the past 20 years, and thisis especially true for young people under the care of socialservices. The current paper provides an overview of the researchliterature on needs and service provision in this area. It goeson to describe an innovative interagency project in Dorset whichoffers flexible, fast track intervention packages to lookedafter young people with a profile indicating sexual abuse, whohave been reluctant to engage with conventional child and adolescentmental health services. The paper includes preliminary resultsfrom an evaluation of this project and discusses the implicationfor future service provision.