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Understanding Children and Young People’s Mental Health

Children in the care system

The majority of children coming into care have already had to deal with negative
experiences in life, including abuse and neglect. They are much more likely – over
four times more likely, in fact – to struggle with mental ill health than children in the
general population, and this puts them at further risk of instability and uncertainty.

All of this can lead to behaviours that can be challenging for those people caring
for them and have a serious impact on those in the caring role. The caregivers face
psychological and emotional challenges, as well as the challenges of dealing with
the behaviours.

A recent Education Select Committee highlighted the fact that many local authorities
are not picking up on children’s mental health difficulties when they first enter care.
The report, which reviewed foster caring, makes many observations about the impact
on foster carers (and on the children themselves) of correctly matching the child to a
foster family, and the provision of accurate and up-to-date information that enables
children to recover from the traumatic experiences they’ve had and facilitates
stability in other areas of life, such as the ability to develop friendships.

Key Fact

Poor matching and placement breakdowns are regularly cited as
factors in foster carers’ decisions to give up fostering.

https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm201719/cmselect/
cmeduc/340/34006.htm#_idTextAnchor011

Future in Mind recognises that a key aim of effective services for children and young
people is that there should be more support for staff who work with vulnerable groups,
such as children in care in the form of access to high quality mental health advice
when and where it is needed.

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