Psychiatric services - Vulnerable children let down by state

IN THE past two days three reports were published, each of which challenges our commitment to protective, humane and user-friendly childcare.

Earlier this week the state’s mental health watchdog pointed to the great need for more psychiatric facilities for children. This call came because last year almost 200 children were admitted to adult mental facilities last year. Some were as young as 14.

Between January and June this year 113 children were forced to stay in such facilities, so it looks as if last year’s figure may be surpassed before this year’s end.

You would not have to be terribly perceptive to realise that this Dickensian practice cannot be good for children, especially ill, vulnerable children in need of great care and attention. The Mental Health

Commission (MHC) says the practice can have an adverse effect and should be used only as a last resort.

Inevitably, the impact of this unacceptable practice is not confined to children as it must have a profound impact on the family, especially the parents, of these unfortunate people.

Imagine the sense of powerlessness and frustration you would naturally feel, the heartbreak and the anger, if you had to walk away, leaving one of your young sons or daughters in an adult psychiatric facility because no suitable alternative was available. Yet, that is what hundreds of families, some of your neighbours or cousins, will have to do this year.

We are awash with statistics and reports about areas of our health services that are not as wonderful as we might wish them to be and this is certainly true of psychiatric services for children.

Indeed psychiatric services for adults are not what we might wish either. We can see evidence of this in our courts on an almost daily basis where people in need of medical attention face charges because of events brought about by their illness.

Though it is little comfort to the victims of these crimes, it is an indictment of our society that someone suffering from a mental illness can face criminal charges because of that illness. In many cases had there been effective intervention by our health system our justice system would not have had to become involved.

Another report published yesterday records that our child protection services are viewed as “powerful, unsympathetic and intimidating”.

The National Review of Compliance with Children First: National Guidelines for the Protection and

Welfare of Children published two documents as part of a review of compliance with protection guidelines.

The Children First guidelines were established in 1999 to assist in identifying and reporting child abuse and to improve professional practice in statutory and voluntary agencies and organisations that provide services for children and families.

Though improvements have been made in this area, there remains, as those involved will admit, room for more. Let us hope that the sorry treatment and the shameful litany of broken promises surrounding psychiatric care does not stymie progress in this area too.