3. Care environments and needs

It may be helpful to think about children in need in terms of three broad groups.

1. Children with relatively simple or straightforward needs.
2. Children or families with deep-rooted, complex or chronic needs with a long history of disability, difficulty or disruption, including abuse or neglect.
3. Children with extensive, complex and enduring needs compounded by very difficult behaviour who require more specialised and intensive resources.

We will look at these in more detail in this section.