Recent research from Cafcass flagging the issues around mental health for children in family proceedings prompted further discussion by experts on child and adolescent mental health at the Cafcass open board meeting in March this year.
Representatives from the charity Young Minds spoke at the meeting of their organisation’s efforts to understand the landscape of children’s lives today and the pressures they face which may cause them to develop mental health difficulties. They urged professionals in the wider health and social sector to promote resilience, prevention and early intervention.
The Earl of Listowel, whose work in the Lords has focused extensively on vulnerable young people, talked about mental health issues affecting children in care and the positive role of nurses practising in mental health in often providing strong, secure relationships which assist young people to form positive relationships in adulthood. A member of the family justice young people’s board also gave a compelling account of her own experiences of mental health problems, emphasising the difference that one-on-one work had made to her life.
Wider research in the sector has suggested that relationship breakdown may have a direct impact on the mental wellbeing of children and adolescents, possibly suggesting a link between family court proceedings and mental health issues, while recent guidance published by the PSHE association points to family relationship difficulties as one of the common triggers for mental health issues among children. It is thought that many of the difficulties, particularly at the lower end of the spectrum, may abate once family conflict diminishes.
Preventing the issues in family court proceedings being entrenched, preventing hearings being drawn out and protecting children from exposure to family conflict, are important factors in reducing the impact of proceedings on children. Progress on these aspects may therefore help to prevent more low-level mental health problems from escalating.
The government’s increased emphasis on out-of-court solutions to parental disputes and introduction of mandatory mediation in private law cases unless an exemption applies, is one measure being taken in a bid to help families resolve their disputes away from stressful court proceedings. In this context, Cafcass too has recognised the opportunity for practitioners to increasingly draw on their own dispute resolution skills, where appropriate, to assist parents to focus on their children’s needs and move past their conflict. Resources such as the Cafcass parenting plan and the separated parents information programmes also help parents to focus in this way.
New pilots being trialled by Cafcass aim to enhance practitioners’ capacity to identify and respond to the welfare and mental health needs of children in proceedings, as well as assisting them in moving cases forward wherever possible, preventing protracted conflict and lengthy proceedings. One pilot provides practitioners with the opportunity to consult with three accredited clinical psychologists, providing a sounding board to discuss cases. While not directly offering case analysis themselves, the specialist knowledge of psychologists can provide insight and clarification around certain issues at play in a case, helping practitioners to consider new ways to approach entrenched issues in order to move the case forward.
By helping practitioners to strengthen their social work analysis and recommendations to court, through increased understanding of mental health issues and giving consideration to new approaches to a case, it is hoped difficult issues will be overcome and cases can reach a speedier resolution for children.
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