Ms Karla Charles:

We would like to draw the committee's attention to the long waiting lists that currently exist and the need for children and young people to receive creative therapeutic intervention at the earliest appropriate opportunity. More services need to be developed. We need to take an holistic and multidisciplinary approach. We must look at trauma support earlier, as soon as children are able to involve themselves in this.

The provision of both universal and targeted measures to promote positive mental health among children and young people in the care system must take place.

Children in care should receive a level of priority for child and adolescent mental health services, CAMHS, and adolescent community treatment schemes, ACTS. There should be an opportunity for all children in care to have a dedicated service such as the Tusla national psychology service in special care, which should be open to all children in care.

We need more focus on behavioural issues because CAMHS will only work with a child if there is a diagnosed mental health issue. We need to look at transfers from CAMHS to adult services, as has been mentioned.

We need to focus on advanced trauma informed training. We wish to point out that no child in care should have to be placed out of state.

Schools must be used more as a gateway to accessing and supporting children in care. We also stress the need for an independent advocacy that currently exists for adults admitted under the Mental Health Act. The same provision should exist for children accessing mental health services.

Positive mental health is the cornerstone to positive lived experiences for children and youth. Early intervention and prevention must be a priority in attaining this goal. A root-and-branch review of CAMHS is now a priority. Children in the care of the State are a particularly vulnerable group who need much more attention.

If time permits, I would like to read a quote from a young person in care who had direct experience of mental health services. I acknowledge and thank the young person in question for sharing her experience with us. She said:

I did not have a good experience of CAMHS and anyone I talked to who had gone to CAMHS felt the same. They just don’t understand and the tactics they use just don’t work. They need to change how they work with children and young people, especially as it is the first interaction you have with therapeutic services, it would turn you off counselling in the future. It is not child friendly - writing in their notebooks, all very daunting.

The only way to get seen by the CAMHS service is to be a danger to yourself and even at that you have to wait three weeks before you get an appointment. You have to be literally in intensive care to get an appointment with CAMHS.

In relation to CAMHS and the care system, I felt they had no understanding of the care system, the terms, how the system works. No understanding that a huge amount of young people in care experience attachment issues, they don’t understand this and just see you as acting out and work on trying to fix you.

The effect being in care has on children needs to be explained to children at a young age as they don’t understand what they are going through and they compare themselves to their friends who have come from a stable home. They need to be helped to understand at a young age why they are feeling the way they are feeling. It is not a mental health illness, they just can’t regulate their emotions because of attachment issues.

I thank the committee very much.