This report presents data from the first national survey of the mental health of young people looked after by local authorities in England. The survey was carried out by the National Statistics on behalf of the Department of Health between October 2001 and June 2002. It covered children who were in residential care, foster care, living with their birth parents and 16 to 17 year-olds living independently under local authority supervision. The main purpose of the survey was to produce rates of three main categories of mental disorder: conduct disorder, hyperactivity and emotional disorders by the characteristics of the children and where they lived. The survey also looked at the impact and burden of children’s mental health problems and their use of health, social and educational services.