Conduct Adoption and Fostering Service

Location: Maudsley Hospital

Contact information: 

Michael Rutter Centre
De Crespigny Park
London
SE5 8AZ

Call: 020 3228 2546

Email: caftservice@slam.nhs.uk


Mode: Outpatient

Referrals are accepted from: Social care professionals, parents and special guardians through their social workers, healthcare professionals, education professionals.

Overview

We provide a specialist service for children and young people who are fostered or adopted and who are experiencing difficulties. These may relate to issues that are specific to these children:

• attachment, trauma
• life story
• placement difficulties
• degree of contact with siblings or birth family
• permanency planning

We also cover other aspects of mental health in the context of their particular circumstances of being adopted, fostered or being placed under a special guardianship order such as neurodevelopmental disorders, mood disorders, behavioural problems, etc.

Key areas

• Adoption and fostering
• Attachment problems
• Life story issues
• Trauma
• Anxiety
• Mood problems
• Neurodevelopmental problems (for example autism spectrum disorders (ASD), attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), tic disorders, executive dysfunction)
• Challenging behaviour
• Sexualised behaviour
• Parenting difficulties and placement problems (including risk of breakdown)
• Placement advice including moving into and out of specialist residential provision
• Preadoption-advice and placement recommendations