A child whose future is in the hands of the family courts will be experiencing a wide range of challenges and emotions. Uncertainty around schools and potentially losing friends, not knowing where they will live and what this means for their pets or seeing wider family members, and being exposed to adult issues and conflicts are just some of the many factors which can be hugely upsetting and have a damaging impact on their wellbeing. Unfortunately for some children, their mental health will be one further factor they need to contend with. So how can we better support practitioners to understand these issues and work these cases more effectively?
It has been reported that half of all mental illnesses begin before the age of 14, and three-quarters have begun before the age of 24. With this in mind, Cafcass has used unique data and insight obtained from direct work with children and families for a small-scale study into the types of issues commonly encountered within family proceedings. The study begins to explore the prevalence and variety of child mental health issues within the family courts. The first stage, which is planned to form part of a larger research project, was recently presented at Cafcass’ bi-annual open board meeting on the subject of child and adolescent mental health.
The study adopts a broad definition of mental health in order to explore the full variety of issues that may be experienced by children going through family court proceedings – with issues identified ranging from lower-level difficulties, such as anxiety or unusual behaviour, to more severe and longer-term problems, including suicidal thoughts or eating disorders. By encompassing this wide spectrum of issues, the study aims to draw attention to a more comprehensive range of mental health concerns to which practitioners and others within the sector need to remain alert, as well as looking to identify any features that may emerge.
Drawing on recent Cafcass reports from 20 randomly selected cases across private (divorce and separation) and public (care) law proceedings, the study found that half of the cases featured children experiencing some level of impact on their mental wellbeing. A number of the difficulties experienced seem to have been relatively minor and discussion from the study considers that it might be expected that such difficulties stem from parental conflicts and antagonism, and therefore are likely to abate as the conflict diminishes. In this regard, the study gives a nod to mediation and Cafcass’ dispute resolution work potentially having an important role, where it is safe to take this approach.
The study also acknowledged a variety of support mechanisms provided to children involved in proceedings in line with their identified needs. Schools were found to be a primary support for children experiencing more minor mental health issues, reinforcing other findings within the sector – for example recent guidance released by the Department for Education emphasises schools’ pastoral role in identifying and monitoring those children with mental health issues, as part of a whole-school approach to mental wellbeing.
While the level of support in place ranged from informal support teams within schools to multi-disciplinary teams such as child and adolescent mental health services, the children in the small sample study with identified needs did appear, reassuringly in those cases, to be receiving at least some form of support.
Richard Green, Cafcass’ national child care policy manager, who oversaw the research, hopes that building on this study can directly assist with frontline work and feed into the wider discussions and exploration around mental health considerations when working with children and young people:
“Research such as this gives practitioners on the frontline an idea of the trends and themes that are occurring at a national level. Hopefully by providing an insight into the wider picture we can increase professional awareness and assist practitioners in remaining alert to the full variety of mental health issues that they may encounter.
“Although this is only a small study, it suggests there may be a number of children going through family proceedings who are experiencing some sort of impact on their mental wellbeing. It will be interesting to explore this further, as well as discussing the possible implications – for example whether lengthier cases are more likely to feature these types of concerns and if so, how those within the sector may be able to prevent or tackle this.”
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