Children in care need mental health services on hand
● Report makes recommendations in wake of deaths of 42 youngsters
More needs to be done to ensure mental health services are available to children in care, a new report into deaths among looked-after youngsters has found.
A total of 42 children who were in care died between 2012 and 2018, according to the Care Inspectorate, with 14 cases involving youngsters whose “risk-taking behaviours culminatedin an untimely death ”. Nine of them were boys. These deaths were “typically as a culmination of life-threatening behaviours, including substance misuse, self-harm and attempted suicides” involving those aged between 13 and 17.
A further 19 youngsters aged between 18 and 26 who were receiving continuing care or ongoing support died between 2015 and 2018, bringing the total number of deaths among care-experienced children and young people to 61. As well as the 14 deaths linked to “risk-taking behaviours”, 16 children – nine boys and seven girls – died after suffering from terminal illnesses or lifeshortening conditions.
The Care Inspectorate stressed limited research into the deaths of children and young people in care meant it was “difficult to establish whether a child looked after by the state is more likely to die prematurely than a child in the general population”.
But a key message in the report was that “more needs to be done to ensure mental and emotional health services are available for vulnerable and looked-after children and young people”.
It stated: “A consistent feature of this group of lookedafter young people was longstanding needs in terms of mental well-being.
“From an early age, these young people were selfharming and frequently identified as experiencing suicidal thoughts or making actual suicide attempts. They were referred to child and adolescent mental health services, but rarely diagnosed with a recognisable mental illness.
“The chaotic nature of their lives and those of their families proved incompatible with keeping appointments or receiving therapeutic help on a planned basis.”
It added: “A further complicating factor was that many of these young people were misusing alcohol and drugs.
“This could be understood to be a means of self-medicating to dull their pain and manage the impact of post-traumatic stress.”
Care Inspectorate chief executive Peter Macleod said: “The death of a care-experienced child or young person is always traumatic for families, friends, carers and staff.”