Almost half of children in care have a diagnosable mental health disorder and a report from the committee also finds that Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS) are turning away vulnerable young people in care because they have not met high thresholds for treatment or because they do not have a stable placement.
Under statutory guidance, children in care should never be refused a service on grounds of their placement.
Highlighting this key problem, the report includes the story of one 16-year-old young woman in foster care who said she had been waiting for CAMHS for more than two-and-a-half years but had been unable to access services because she had moved 13 times during that time period.
MPs heard that CAMHS are often unwilling to begin treatment if a child moves placement, even when this is within the same local authority. The committee is now calling for children in care to get priority access to mental health assessments and to never be refused care based on their placement or severity of their condition.
The report also calls for better teacher training, including a specific focus on mental health and wellbeing during initial teacher training as well as in teachers’ CPD.
The MPs praised the current Schools Link pilot project – a £3 million initiative to train a single point of contact in 255 schools to be responsible for developing strong relationships with their local CAMHS.
The report suggests that if the pilot is successful the initiative should be rolled out more widely in a bid to “improve the interface” between schools and health services.
It also recommends that school-based counselling could have a key role in helping schools to spot the early signs of mental health problems and in signposting children to more specialist care.
It adds: “The interface between schools and health services needs to be strengthened to ensure that teachers and schools are better equipped to identify, assess and support children and young people with mental health difficulties.
“However, schools must not be relied on to provide specialist care and treatment.
“Schools have a clear role in teaching about mental health and wellbeing, and should work with partners in health and local authorities to direct students to further support.”
The report, entitled Mental Health and Wellbeing of Looked-after Children, can be downloaded at http://bit.ly/1Y2v6n1