Lack of mental health resources harms children, says ISPCC

Thousands of children are struggling to cope with mental health problems due to the failure to properly resource emergency and acute services.

In its annual report for 2015, the Irish Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children said the lack of investment in prevention and early intervention for at-risk children meant demand for services were reaching “crisis point”.

“We can point to many examples of children being adversely affected by a lack of 24-hour social work services. Demand for emergency and acute services means that, as a nation, we continue to under-resource prevention and early-intervention — so with each passing week, children in need of support are having those needs ignored. We are rapidly reaching crisis point,” said the report.