The Mental Health of Children and Young People: A Framework for Promotion, Prevention and Care

7. Additional and Specific Supports

Context

7.1 Evidence suggests that some groups of children and young people are at greater risk of developing mental health problems than their peers. There is also evidence to suggest that some groups are likely to find more difficulty accessing support and help that they need. Additional or specific action is required to ensure that these children and young people are able to access support for their emotional and mental health and wellbeing across promotion, prevention and care.

7.2 Among those at greater risk of developing mental health problems are children and young people:

• Who are or have been looked after or accommodated, including those adopted from care
• Who have experienced or are at risk of neglect or abuse (including domestic abuse)
• Who have a learning and/or physical disability (or multiple variations thereof)
• Who have a chronic or enduring illness (including mental illness)
• Who are from homeless families or who are homeless
• Whose parents have problems of illness, dependency or addiction
• Who are refugees or from asylum-seeking families
• Who are gay, lesbian, bisexual or transsexual
• Who are at risk of or involved in offending, or are in custody
• Who are from ethnic minority or cultural minority backgrounds (including travellers)
• Who have communication difficulties
• Whose parents are in prison
• Who have experienced trauma/loss
• Who are involved in custody or access disputes

This is not an exhaustive list.

7.3 All agencies and professionals in contact with children and young people have a shared responsibility for protecting and safeguarding their welfare. However, it is the core function of children and families social work to safeguard and promote the welfare of children in need. On behalf of local authorities, social work services carry out statutory duties under the Children (Scotland) Act 1995 ⁷⁶ including the identification, assessment and support of children in need; provision of support to families; provision of assessments and information to the Children's Reporter and Children's Hearings; provision of services to children with and affected by disability; the protection of children who may be at risk of abuse and neglect; services to looked after and accommodated children including fostering, residential and after care services, and adoption services. Social work services intervene in the lives of some of the most vulnerable children and their families and have a key role to play in promoting their mental health and wellbeing through identifying and assessing needs and risks and delivering help and support to build resilience and protective factors.

7.4 Within the NHS, hospital and community child health services have an important role in early identification and early intervention for children and families where emotional and behavioural problems are emerging alongside physical health problems. Community child health services have a particularly important role in providing and co-ordinating appropriate services for children and young people with complex needs, in close partnership with local authority and other partners.

7.5 The Additional Support for Learning (Scotland) Act 2004 provides a further legislative framework for assessing and meeting the needs of children and young people, whatever those needs might be.

Overarching philosophy and culture

7.6 Although there are many factors which are well established as increasing children's vulnerability to mental health problems, there are also many protective factors which need to be considered and supported. These include an individual child's attributes, their relationship with a range of others including their families and their peers, and the availability of support networks, such as befriending schemes. Any assessment of a child's needs, whether formal or informal, should therefore focus on their strengths and skills as well as their difficulties.

Service elements and activities

* In the "Lead Partners" column, 2-3 partners are identified, with the suggested lead partner highlighted in bold. This is indicative only, and there is a much wider network of partners who should be consulted as appropriate. These are listed in Annex 1. The involvement of children, young people, parents and carers is assumed.