Pauline Tully (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister of State and her team. I echo what other speakers have said about CAMHS. The frustration I am hearing expressed by families regarding situations where children are sent to a service, and they may have been referred by a CDNT, only to be refused admission and sent back to the CDNT. These children are falling between two stools. The Minister of State spoke about this aspect. She also spoke about increased collaboration between the CDNTs. I welcome this because it is what is needed. The fact remains that these teams are understaffed anyway, so this is a major issue. The Minister of State has also been addressing this aspect. Until we fully staff all our CDNTs, however, children will not be able to get the services they require. I wonder how many autistic children would need to access CAMHS if they received the services they require through primary care or the CDNTs. I say this because many mental health issues are born out of these children not getting services such as speech and language or occupational therapy or psychology sessions in the CDNTs. The Minister of State spoke about this earlier. We must increase the size of our teams and collaboration between all our teams as well.

I wish to raise an issue concerning autistic adults and mental health issues. I will give an example, and similar cases have been raised with me by several people. A 19-year-old young lad, as his mother described to me, had distress-response behaviour. Again, he was not receiving the services he required within the community and he became quite irate, violent and a danger to himself and others. His mother reached out for help. The next thing that happened was that this young man was admitted to an adult mental health unit. The latter is not an appropriate setting for this young man. Even the team there has said this is the case. Yet he is still there eight months later. He will not be discharged to go home, which is what he wishes and what his family want. This is because the team in the adult mental health unit say it is necessary to wait until the service becomes available and they will be able to refer him on. It has not been made clear what this service is. His mother maintains this young man only needs speech and language therapy and perhaps some personal assistance. The adult mental health unit, however, will not allow him to go home.

This young man is not a ward of court. I know of another similar instance where someone was made a ward of court in the same circumstances. This was done against the wishes of that person and the family concerned, and even without their knowledge or understanding of what was happening. In the case I am referring to, section 26 of the Mental Health Act 2001 has been cited in the context of why this young man cannot go home. The team in the adult mental health unit has admitted he is not a mental health patient; this young man is autistic and needs supports. He is not getting these and this is having a very traumatic impact on him. His mother is extremely worried that if he is sent to another strange place, where he knows nobody, after the traumatic experience he has had in recent months in the adult mental health unit, it will only make things worse.

Can the Minister of State please address these issues? I believe this is happening on quite a regular basis. Young autistic adults are being sent into inappropriate settings and maintained there against their and their families’ will because a small number of services are not being provided for them in the community.