Childhood depression: new theoretical formulations and implications for foster care services.

The current emphasis on permanency planning should not derail traditional concern about helping foster children to grow developmentally while in care. This concern coincides with the importance of enabling foster children, who frequently manifest symptoms of childhood depression, to overcome the learned helplessness that is so often a feature of depression. This kind of treatment may be called social care, and is inherent in daily living, as guided by trained foster parents and caretakers.