For Cafcass practitioners, who work with over 145,000 children each year, children's mental health is a factor in many of the cases they deal with in the family courts, either as an element in proceedings or as a by-product of parental acrimony.
One in ten children aged between five and 16 have a clinically diagnosed mental health problem. Half of those with lifetime mental illness first experienced symptoms by the age of 14. It is an area which often requires specialist support services outside of increasingly swift court processes. It is also an area which is gaining an increasing profile, publicly and politically.
The Department of Health recently released its 25 priorities for mental health, inclusive of children and young people. The Time to Change campaign by Rethink and Mind has been praised for raising awareness and de-stigmatising mental health, and the Commons' health committee has launched an inquiry into children's mental health.
By the very nature of care proceedings (where a local authority takes action because the threshold for significant harm towards a child has been met), children's mental health is often an issue that the court and professionals are aware of. Around 60% of looked after children and 72% of those in residential care have some level of emotional and mental health problems.
In this arena intervention and support for children, such as that provided by the Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services, has a head start - because the threshold is met, children are more likely to be in need of intervention in terms of mental health and emotional wellbeing. In these circumstances, the child is in a good position to access that help as they have a professional network around them to help negotiate what can be a complicated referral system.
In contrast, a child involved in private law proceedings is not seen as being overtly 'at risk' of developing mental health issues. However children's long-term emotional and mental health can be put at risk through enduring family or parental conflict, sometimes with long-term, detrimental effects.
The impact separation can have on a child is captured by Childline – who cite parental separation as one of the most common reasons given by children who make contact with them. Childline reported an increase in the number of children contacting them about problems relating to their family situation, and a 122% rise in children contacting them about their parent's separation or divorce, with parents' divorce/separation ranked at number two in the top ten reasons for making contact.
Emotional harm has long been understood as being one of the most difficult areas to assess and quantify but Cafcass sees many cases where the impact of parental acrimony is such that it comes close to, or could be considered, as emotionally harmful for children.
All too often children are caught up in adult disputes, with children forced into the position of playing inappropriate roles - that of spy, messenger, judge, or witness, for example. When parental disputes include the child witnessing volatile behaviours between parties, and at times domestic violence, their behaviours confirm the emotional distress they are suffering.
In one case a boy of six regularly hit and swore at his peer group. In another, a Cafcass officer could do nothing at that first meeting with a young person in her first year of secondary school but allow her to cry silently. She had 'been caught in the middle' for years, desperately trying to please both parents and the emotional distress she was suffering as a result was both acute and chronic. Children are resilient, but this can only go so far, and the hidden harm evident to this girl is a theme that carries through many private law cases.
There is continuing debate as to the benefits of providing a therapeutic service to children and young people until there is stability within their lives. This lends further weight to swift resolution within the family court. If court proceedings are protracted their lives continue to be in a state of flux – for example not knowing where they will live.
At the end of proceedings transitions between agencies and services for monitoring and support, is vital. In care cases this should form part of the care plan. There are innovative projects, such as looked after children team pilots for children who are recently adopted and also for the adopters themselves to receive help in their first year of placement with the intensive support of psychotherapists.
In private law cases there may not be a team around the child, or professional to help a child access services. In some cases a referral is made to a local authority, to carry out work with the family to rebuild or protect children from further distress. Cafcass has also produced a quick reference information sheet to signpost children and parents to local and national services. These include voluntary projects offering support groups and counselling services for children, focusing specifically on parental separation.
The week commencing 16 May 2014 is Mental Health Awareness Week – working with children with mental ill health. Cafcass will be submitting a response to the Commons' Health Committee inquiry into children's mental health.
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