Child Welfare Inequalities and Care in Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services

Rates of mental health need amongst children and young people are not evenly distributed, and those coming into contact with child welfare services (i.e., who are identified as children in need or at-risk of significant harm) are known to display increased levels of mental health difficulties, with children on the child protection register having much higher rates of mental health service use than the general population. Despite this overrepresentation, there is a lack of research addressing the experiences of these children and their families when accessing child and adolescent mental health service (CAMHS) provision. The experiences of CAMHS professionals serving this group are also important to empirically examine to develop an understanding of these children’s needs and help inform ways mental health and child welfare services can tailor their support strategies and work effectively together.

The aim of this NIHR-supported pre-application work is to develop a competitive funding proposal for fellowship activity in this area and a research project examining the nature of relationships between child welfare service-involved children and families and CAMHS professionals. It is anticipated that the research will help inform effective action by CAMHS providers regarding child welfare inequalities at policy and practice levels.