This paper presents an approach to working with the diagnostic and therapeutic challenges posed by the "placed child". A thorough knowledge of child development, combined with awareness of the basic tenets of crisis intervention, offers the child mental health professional guidelines to assist placed children in coping with their uncertain environment. Parents and agencies are guided toward stabilizing the child's environment, while the child is maintained in play therapy to assist him in coping with the confused and frightening emotions that attend the experience of placement separation. Three clinical cases are presented that illustrate an active short-term therapy, a form of primary prevention attempting to forestall the potential damage of unresolved placement separation crises.