Mental Health Services: Parents
(asked on 27th February 2023) - View Source
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to help support parents of children with severe mental health conditions.
Answered by
Maria Caulfield
Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
We would expect that children and young people’s mental health services would routinely involve parents, carers and families in the care of children and young people with severe mental health conditions as appropriate. The Mental Health Act code of practice states that mental health providers should make efforts to support parents of children who are detained under the Mental Health Act 1983.
Our planned reforms to the Mental Health Act will help better ensure that parents are more closely involved in care planning and treatment decisions if their child is detained under the Mental Health Act, with the aim that this facilitates more trusting relationships with the clinical teams and better outcomes for the child.
Additionally, NHS England provides a MindEd portal which has specific content directed at parents, which is available at the following link:
https://www.mindedforfamilies.org.uk/
NHS England has published information for parents and carers of children in contact with children and young people’s mental health services, available at the following link:
The webpage contains information about where to seek advice and support for coping with anything affecting the child’s mental health or wellbeing. It also includes a link to the Royal College of Psychiatrists’ (RCPsych) advice leaflets for parents and carers about a wide range of mental health conditions, including schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, and eating disorders. RCPsych’s advice can be found at the following link:
www.rcpsych.ac.uk/mental-health/parents-and-young-people.
YoungMinds and other mental health charities have produced extensive resources and support for parents.