Care leavers with mental health problems lack specialist support

By Lauren Higgs Thursday, 26 November 2009

Care leavers with mental health problems are missing out on vital support due to a shortage of specialist transition services, a report commissioned by the Local Government Association (LGA) has found.

Care leaver. Credit: Malcolm Case-Green

The report, by the National Foundation for Educational Research, found too many leaving care teams lack mental health experience and therefore struggled to support care leavers and lacked knowledge of existing provision such as that which is provided by the voluntary sector.

Appropriate accommodation for care leavers with mental health difficulties was found to be scarce, particularly for those with the highest levels of need.

Conflicting models of practice between child and adolescent and adult mental health services and higher thresholds for referrals into adult services also affected professionals' ability to provide care leavers with proper support.

Care leavers said they avoided using the available services because accessing support was emotionally challenging. A lack of satisfaction with services, poor relationships with staff and fear of stigma also deterred them from turning to mental health services for help.

Natasha Finlayson, chief executive of the Who Cares? Trust, warned that care leavers with mental health problems are often faced with an "abrupt and difficult" transition to independent living.

She said: "There is a lot of good work and goodwill in leaving care teams, but they are unable to fund specialist roles, such as mental health professionals, which have been proven to make a difference to young people."

A spokeswoman for the mental health charity YoungMinds said that all professionals working in leaving care teams should receive basic training to equip them with the ability to support care leavers with mental health problems.

She added that more funding must be targeted at mental health services for young adults. "Transitions between child and adolescent and adult mental health services are a big issue, particularly for those leaving care. Young people are falling into a gap in provision, which is unacceptable," she said.

The report recommends councils consider specialist multi-agency transition services for care leavers with mental health problems.