Mental Health Bill [HL]

Part of the debate – in the House of Lords at 5:30 pm on 17 January 2007.

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Photo of Baroness Gibson of Market Rasen Baroness Gibson of Market Rasen Labour 5:30, 17 January 2007

Amendments Nos. 35 and 37 relate to the children of mentally ill patients. The amendments are supported by Barnado's, Young Minds, NCH, NCB and the NSPCC.

It is estimated that one-quarter of adults who are known to mental health services are parents. In at least one-third of families who are referred to social services due to concern about child protection, parental mental health or substance misuse plays a major role. Very often a child of a parent with mental health difficulties finds himself or herself as a main carer for the parent. Such children face a number of difficult or distressing situations that they have to overcome on their own. Severe mental health problems can have a serious effect on a parent's ability to parent, especially if there are few other adults around to give support.

It is estimated that there are 175,000 young carers aged under 18 in the UK, a substantial number. Their average age is 12, but they can be as young as five. Twenty per cent of young carers miss school because of their caring responsibilities at some time or other. Generally, schools do not or cannot provide either counsellors or other means of support to help these very vulnerable and often isolated young people, and young carers themselves are often reluctant to tell teachers or social workers of their situation. The experiences of young carers obviously differ but they have one thing in common. As one Barnardo's children's services manager put it,

"The kids we see grow up fast. Young carers are adults".

Because of their parents' condition, children may find themselves affected by what we would regard as inappropriate behaviour; for example, a child being kept up all night to play by a parent who is in a manic phase of their illness, or a child having to look after themselves and get their own meals because of a parent's depression. The child does the housework, the washing and anything else that needs to be done. Such examples were provided to me by Barnardo's, and they show how vital support for such carers is.

Young people who are responsible for the care of their parents have enormous responsibilities not faced by other children of their age and can find their own mental health affected by their circumstances. Often they suffer from stress and have low self-esteem. Unfortunately, there is quite a lot of evidence that the needs of children who are carers are too often overlooked by our welfare services and that children's and adult services do not work together to ensure that services provided to an adult are placed in the context of the wider family.

In research from a Joseph Rowntree report, published in 1998, children who had experienced parental health problems, domestic violence or parental substance misuse reported that they had no confidence that a professional would help them and that professionals often spoke to them in a way they did not understand. That experience is summed up by one young person who said, "I needed good age-specific information about my mother's condition and its consequences. And I needed someone to talk to who would listen in confidence and help me to express and explore the complex feelings and situations I was dealing with". Equally, there is evidence in research by Kroll and Taylor in 2003 in a number of settings, not only mental health. They found that many professionals were themselves uncertain about making referrals to children's and families' social work teams in respect of parents and were often unsure about when or how to make a referral.

Section 5.6 of the National Service Framework for Children, Young People and Maternity Services refers to adult health services. It states that the safeguarding of children is a priority in any assessment or ongoing treatment of parents who may be unable to respond to their child's developmental needs. It also states that any care programme responding to an adult health or treatment need should include consideration of the needs of any child or young person. However, as currently drafted, the Bill provides no clear link between treating the adult and assessing the needs of any children in the household. Additionally, the Bill has no specific provision for an assessment of need for any children living in the same household as a person subjected to compulsory treatment. It may be that an assessment of a child, such as one under Section 17 of the Children Act, could take place when a parent is subjected to compulsory treatment. However, the Act does not require such joined-up action to take place.

The purpose of these amendments is to strengthen the current position by making it compulsory for the child to be informed of what is happening in an age-appropriate way and for a full assessment of the child's needs to be made. I beg to move.