Crisis point fears as pandemic’s toll on young revealed
Perth and Kinross Council has revealed that young people still suffering from emotional harm, drug use and suicidal thoughts as a result of the pandemic has led to a rise in the numbers taken into care.
PKC support services are now facing an increased demand for residential care placements as the “social and psychological” impact of Covid continues to affect children, young people and their families.
The local authority revealed this week that the pandemic heralded a notable increase in the number of young people demonstrating “extremely high levels” of risk-taking behaviours, emotional harm, drug and alcohol use and experiencing suicidal thoughts.
The risks presented to many young people was so high that residential care placements were deemed “the only option” - a trend that has been seen across Scotland and has continued into 2023.
It has led to an increased demand for these placements and, adding to rising inflation, it has been described as an “enormous challenge” for the council.
The pressure on the council budgets from this increase in demand has been significant.
Additional funding of £2 million over two years to cover these costs and create extra capacity within the teams supporting young people at risk of requiring residential care and their families was agreed in March’s budget.
Next week members of the Learning and Families Committee will be updated on how this is being used.
Councillor John Rebbeck, convener of the committee, said: “The legacy of Covid goes beyond physical health.
“Young people in particular faced enormous challenges in the way that their lives were changed during the pandemic. The impact continues to be felt with more risk-taking behaviour reaching a crisis point for individuals where residential care becomes the only option to ensure their safety.
“This has proved an enormous challenge, but one I’m confident our staff can tackle.”
Councillor Steven Carr, vice-convener of Learning and Families, added: “Before the pandemic our children and families teams had made significant progress in reducing the need for residential care by working intensively with individual young people and their families to address and resolve issues and stay safely in their community.
“Residential care placements had reduced considerably.
“However, between the increased complexity of the cases coming forward and challenges in recruitment those teams now need a boost in resources to be able to offer that level of support to everyone who needs it.
“This funding will help get us back on track to minimising the use of residential care placements.”