Six children in state care died by suicide last year amid dearth of support for those at risk

 4th October 2022

Ongoing weaknesses in mental health services for vulnerable young people have emerged as a new report found 27 children in state care or known to social services died last year.

Of the 27 deaths, 14 children died from natural causes, including sudden infant death, and six by suicide. One child was the victim of homicide, another died after an accident and a third died following an overdose.

In the case of another four children, the coroner has still to reach a conclusion on the cause of death, according to the National Review Panel (NRP) which examines notified deaths.

The findings show inadequacies and inconsistencies in the response of the Children and Adolescent Mental Health Service (CAMHS) to children in distress, many of whom had been referred to the

state service for help.

Suicidal thoughts do not constitute a mental illness as per the service’s guidelines, it noted.

In one case of a child with suicidal ideation, the CAMHS response was well co-ordinated and reflected the views of psychiatrists that there is a dearth of specialist residential mental health services for children in this predicament.

In a different case, where the child took her own life, the view was that suicidal ideation did not qualify as a mental illness.

It said if a young person who self-harms is admitted to hospital they are referred to CAMHS but can be later discharged because they are not deemed mentally ill.

A more targeted approach to supporting children who are self-harming is needed by the HSE and Tusla.

The majority of deaths occurred in two age groups – infants under a year and 17- to 20-year-olds, with the next highest group being 11- to 16-year-olds.

The number of these tragedies was three fewer than 2020. Four of the young people under 18 years – whose deaths were notified – were in care at the time of their death, an increase of one on 2020.

The remaining 23 children or young people/adults were known to Tusla and living in their communities at the time of their deaths.

Two of the young people in care at the time of death experienced multiple changes of placement.

The review also highlighted other deficiencies including delayed and inadequate assessment and confusion in the investigation of sexual abuse.

There were weaknesses in different agencies working together and this was evident in one case, while, for another two children there was inadequate communication between Tusla and gardaí.