uce the administration required it is recommended that it is completed around the time of a child’s health assessment. Local authorities, usually through the child’s social worker, should ensure that: • SDQ questionnaires are given to carers to complete. This should be done well ahead of the child’s health assessment so that the completed SDQ informs the health assessment. Ideally, it should be completed one month before the health check is due. For those young people who have recently come into care, the carer will need to establish a relationship with the child before they are in a position to carry out the assessment. If the child has recently moved to a new placement, social workers will need to judge if the child’s previous carer is better placed to complete the questionnaire • carers are given an explanation of how it should be completed and that they understand why it is important to complete the SDQ (and that it is about the child and not a reflection on their ability to care for him or her). Carers should know to whom the completed SDQ should be returned and by when • information in the completed questionnaires is collected by the local authority and the child’s total difficulties score is worked out and available to inform the child’s health assessment. This should help the social worker and health professionals to decide whether to triangulate the scores with an SDQ completed by the child’s teacher and (if the child is in the relevant age bracket) the child, and whether the child needs to be referred for further diagnostic assessment of their mental health • if the child’s SDQ scores suggest there are underlying problems, this should trigger consideration of a fuller diagnostic assessment. The SDQ should be used as evidence to support a referral to local targ