https://www.mattwoolgar.com/blog daily 0.75 2025-06-22 https://www.mattwoolgar.com/blog/getting-assessments-right-for-care-experienced-children-and-young-people monthly 0.5 2025-06-22 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fa32496d25899728afdf8af/308efcde-0ef5-48d2-a8b8-b2306ccd5cec/Haugaard+2004.png Blog - Getting Assessments Right for Care-experienced Children & Young People - The issues were raised by experts over 20 years ago... This great article, the introduction to a special edition about rare disorders in maltreated children, in Child Maltreatment, warned practitioners to be vigilant to the “allure of rare disorders” in children in the care system (Haugaard, 2004, p127), and to summarise said: While rare disorders may be more commonly found in maltreated children than other children, they are still rare [e.g., 2% compared to 1% would be a big 100% increase, but still rare] Common disorders are still the most common disorders in maltreated children Comorbidity is more likely in maltreated children, so don’t let the presence of one disorder, even or especially a rare disorder, mask the possible presence of other ones It would be just as bad to fail to identify common disorders, as rare ones So you need to keep an open mind to all and any possibilities https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fa32496d25899728afdf8af/96750586-4e83-40fe-8308-ec8f7f9f3eed/NAFC+webphoto.png Blog - Getting Assessments Right for Care-experienced Children & Young People - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fa32496d25899728afdf8af/3a8f73dd-8a27-4c3c-85b0-fffebeb9903c/Chaffin+2006.png Blog - Getting Assessments Right for Care-experienced Children & Young People (5) Assessment for attachment problems requires considerable diagnostic knowledge and skill, to accurately recognize attachment problems and to rule out competing diagnoses. Consequently, attachment problems should be diagnosed only by a trained, licensed mental health professional with considerable expertise in child development and differential diagnosis. (6) Assessment should first consider more common disorders, conditions, and explanations for behavior before considering rarer ones. Assessors and caseworkers should be vigilant about the allure of rare disorders in the child maltreatment field and should be alert to the possibility of misdiagnosis. (7) Assessment should include family and care giver factors and should not focus solely on the child. (8) Care should be taken to rule out conditions such as autism spectrum disorders, pervasive developmental disorder, childhood schizophrenia, genetic syndromes, or other conditions before making a diagnosis of attachment disorder. If necessary, specialized assessment by professionals familiar with these disorders or syndromes should be considered. (9) Diagnosis of attachment disorder should never be made simply based on a child’s status as maltreated, as having experienced trauma, as growing up in an institution, as being a foster or adoptive child, or simply because the child has experienced pathogenic care. Assessment should respect the fact that resiliency is common, even in the face of great adversity. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fa32496d25899728afdf8af/a74fa76c-2123-4e50-83d1-5ceb11598dc8/UKTC+recommendations.png Blog - Getting Assessments Right for Care-experienced Children & Young People - But that was then. What about now and the future? More research has come in over the last two decades and it just strengthens the argument that care experienced children and those exposed to maltreatment and neglect are likely to have varying needs – or as I like to say, that early adversity breeds diversity. But that acceptance of the diversity of needs is not what has been happening on the ground. So thank goodness a group of clinicians, social workers and academics in the UK recently published a set of 20 actionable recommendations that go back to the future and insist on getting the assessments right [Hiller et al, 2025]. Let’s see what comes next. But whatever it is, it won’t involve the National Adoption & Fostering Clinic. https://www.mattwoolgar.com/blog/secondary-trauma-in-adopted-parents monthly 0.5 2025-06-16 https://www.mattwoolgar.com/blog/equifinality-amp-multifinality-many-into-one-and-one-into-many monthly 0.5 2023-06-28 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fa32496d25899728afdf8af/9ff64a74-5207-486f-9b21-364e39dcf1df/Slide1.PNG Blog - Equifinality & Multifinality - Many into one and one into many - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fa32496d25899728afdf8af/291a82c3-f214-46c5-af0f-8fdf61325627/Finalities+1.png Blog - Equifinality & Multifinality - Many into one and one into many - Make it stand out Cicchetti, D., & Rogosch, F.A. (1996). Equifinality and multifinality in developmental psychopathology. Development and Psychopathology, 8, 597-600 . Equifinality and multifinality in developmental psychopathology | Development and Psychopathology | Cambridge Core The concepts of mulitfinality and equifinality, explored in proper detail, can be very technical; although super-exciting and can even transform how you think about being in the world, if you like that kind of thing… But perhaps it is easier to just say: Equifinality means looking back that you can end up with an outcome Y [Y=varieties of wellness or pathology or whatever] via different routes or various pathways. Not everyone who ends up with depression has got there for same reasons or by following the same pathway. Or another way of saying it is that being well or unwell can arise from quite different mechanisms. Multifinality means looking forward that a common kind of early experience A [A=traumatic event, or foetal toxin or whatever] can open up different pathways to different later outcomes. Not everyone who experiences a specific type of adverse event will end up with the same kinds of outcome, because they may well follow different pathways. So, what looks like an identical experience can typically lead to very different outcomes. Applying equifinality and multifinality in practice We can have as many causes in our model as we like. And as many outcomes. In the picture below, by way of example, it is 3. Three different types of potential cause (A, B, & C) leading to one outcome Y – an example of equifinality. Three different types of possible outcome (X, Y & Z) arising from a single potential cause A - an example of multifinality. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fa32496d25899728afdf8af/70bcdbba-75a4-403e-8d5c-0a583427cee0/Slide3.PNG Blog - Equifinality & Multifinality - Many into one and one into many - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fa32496d25899728afdf8af/26605a14-bd79-4308-9907-d2d0f41a098f/Slide4.PNG Blog - Equifinality & Multifinality - Many into one and one into many - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fa32496d25899728afdf8af/cbbc1053-01c8-4920-9412-0f1433e63b8d/Slide2.PNG Blog - Equifinality & Multifinality - Many into one and one into many - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://www.mattwoolgar.com/blog/attachment monthly 0.5 2023-06-28 https://www.mattwoolgar.com/blog/developmental-psychopathology-where-we-come-from-amp-where-we-may-be-headed monthly 0.5 2023-06-28 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fa32496d25899728afdf8af/6c62d4bb-e8c7-4643-b762-43930e1f2c16/DevPsych1+-+Editorial+DC.png Blog - Developmental Psychopathology - Where we come from & where we may be headed - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fa32496d25899728afdf8af/fc9e73e0-2116-4d8e-81f7-98417602393a/DevPsych1+-+Sroufe+%26+Rutter.png Blog - Developmental Psychopathology - Where we come from & where we may be headed - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://www.mattwoolgar.com/training-research daily 0.75 2023-06-23 https://www.mattwoolgar.com/clinical-services daily 0.75 2025-06-13 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fa32496d25899728afdf8af/91f8f832-9e9d-4ffd-9ba8-ee4fa4849551/CWClinic+for+webpage.jpg Clinical Services - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://www.mattwoolgar.com/home daily 1.0 2023-06-18 https://www.mattwoolgar.com/resources-media daily 0.75 2023-06-23 https://www.mattwoolgar.com/c-v daily 0.75 2020-11-05 https://www.mattwoolgar.com/about daily 0.75 2020-11-05 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fa32496d25899728afdf8af/1604609941022-T0LCYU8QIS5HHM4YVCLW/Matt+CAP.jpg About https://www.mattwoolgar.com/videos daily 0.75 2023-06-18 https://www.mattwoolgar.com/videos/yoga-for-beginners monthly 0.5 2023-06-18 https://www.mattwoolgar.com/videos/v/complexity-in-camhs monthly 0.5 2023-06-18 https://www.mattwoolgar.com/videos/v/developing-a-shared-understanding monthly 0.5 2023-06-18 https://www.mattwoolgar.com/videos/v/post-adoption-support monthly 0.5 2023-06-18 https://www.mattwoolgar.com/videos/v/issues-for-adopted-children monthly 0.5 2023-06-18