The incidence of food refusal associated with illness is reviewed, not illness by illness, but according to those factors that affect the ability to eat; normal learning about eating, aversive learning about eating, regulation of appetite, children's cognitions about foods, and parental anxiety about intake. Diseases affecting the major organs are likely to generate food refusal based on at least one of these factors, if not all of them. However, some minor disease processes can also have a major impact on food acceptance. Child temperament also affects food acceptance and may interact with the disease process to produce food refusal.

Despite growing discussion of the potential benefits of openness in relation to children conceived by donated gametes, the majority of parents do not intend to tell a future child about his/her origins. As a result little is actually known about the experiences and concerns of families who do choose openness. This is a descriptive study of 83 DI Network members who did intend to or had told a child conceived, using donor insemination, about his/her origins. Quantitative and qualitative data focused on their concerns and experiences of telling. Health professionals face the challenge of providing the opportunity for discussion of these issues both before treatment and afterwards during childhood.

A postal questionnaire survey of senior clinical psychologists, child psychiatrists and community paediatricians in the Trent region (85% response) revealed that a total of 826 new ADHD cases were seen over the index period, 1997–1998. Approximately a third of these were adolescents. Wide variations in individuals' clinical caseloads, both within and between professional groups, were revealed. No respondent could identify any local formal transitional arrangements or adult services for older ADHD cases. This would suggest that there is a pressing need to establish such services for patients with ADHD irrespective of their age.

There is growing interest in the provision of health services that are sensitive to the needs of diverse ethnic groups. This paper examines ethnic diversity of attenders at a Child and Adolescent Psychiatric Clinic and how these groups differ in terms of referral route, reason for referral, psychiatric diagnosis and school report of difficulties. Service access relative to the distribution of the local population is assessed. Modification of OPCS categories provides additional useful information. The findings are relevant for the planning and provision of child and adolescent psychiatric services in a highly diverse population.

Cognitive behavioural approaches have been used in the treatment of adult depression for many years, with much evidence of effectiveness. The paper discusses issues in the applicability of these techniques in interventions with depressed children and adolescents. Different models of CBT are discussed and a typical programme described using a case example. Work with parents, carers and other significant adults is emphasised.

Martin Herbert is very widely known, not just amongst his fellow clinical psychologists, but amongst a broad spectrum of professionals and parents in many countries. His reputation springs not just from his teaching and writing, but from his activities across professional boundaries and his commitment to direct work with children and families. In his own profession he has held chairs in Clinical Psychology in Leicester and Exeter Universities where he set up doctoral clinical psychology courses, at Leicester in the 1980s and in Devon in the 1990s. As Professor of Social Work in Leicester from 1975 to 1982 he was the last senior academic in that field who was not a social worker. Despite heavy loads he has developed and implemented very carefully articulated programmes for the assessment and treatment of children, particularly those with oppositional, aggressive and anxious behaviour. Maintenance of his own personal participation has been axiomatic. He has carried his skills and knowledge into many different contexts, including those concerned with adults, but has derived especial enjoyment from work with paediatricians and children with disabilities. He has been Chair of two ACPP branches, East Midlands and South West.