Social workers are warning of a rise in the number of children with mental health problems since the start of the pandemic, with official figures recording a 25% increase as successive school closures take their toll.
The councils said they have “serious concerns” about the growing demand for help, with nearly 1,500 children a week exhibiting mental health problems, an increase that could cost the councils an extra £600m a year.
As of March 31, 2021, city councils had assessed 77,390 children with mental health needs, a 25% increase from the 61,830 seen two years earlier, according to statistics from the Education deparment.
The pandemic has triggered increased pressure from gangs, through drug trafficking networks on the county line, as well as sexual harassment, social workers reported. The most common issues continued to be the impact of a parent being subject to domestic violence and poor mental health of parents.
The increase may be an undercount, as there has also been a 31% drop in the number of referrals from schools (36,000 fewer cases), reflecting restrictions on school attendance in place for parts of the year through April 2021.
“Hundreds of children each week are seen by social workers because they need help with their mental health and we expect this number to increase as the full impact of the pandemic is felt,” said Cllr Anntoinette Bramble, president of the Local Government Association for boys and girls. youth board. “This reinforces the importance of fully funding the entire child mental health support system, including counseling and National Health Service, to make sure kids get the help they need, when they need it. That includes early help to prevent children from reaching a crisis point.”
A pastoral care officer at a school in the south-west told The Guardian there were no social workers on Thursday to refer urgent cases to. They said that more Year 11 students than ever before, including those who tend to be more successful, are asking for help with exam anxiety and stress.
“These children were 14 years old when homeschooling began,” they said. “At that age, many of them were not able to learn remotely effectively. Students suffer, they fall apart, they fear they won’t succeed in the subjects they want to do well in. Others have simply tuned out.”
Rebekah Pierre, professional officer for the British Association of Social Workers, told a increase in domestic abuse during lockdowns made worse for children by the lack of a safety net provided by schools. She said caseworkers had seen more referrals when school closures or vacations ended. Online child sexual exploitation “it has never been worse” and may have led to an increase in self-harm.
“Children feel anxious and almost in pain because of what they have lost through Covid,” he said.
Pull apart Figures from the National Health Service showed that in 2021, one in six children in England had a probable mental disorder, up from one in nine in 2017, and girls aged 11-16 were more likely to have experienced a decline in mental health than boys. children of the same age. The proportion of children aged 11 to 16 with eating problems nearly doubled between 2017 and 2021.
Thirteen percent of 11-16 year olds and 24% of 17-23 year olds felt their lives had been made “much worse” by coronavirus restrictions.
The most common factors recorded by social workers handling cases of children in need were concern that a parent would be subjected to domestic violence, the parent’s mental health, emotional abuse, neglect, concern for the child’s mental health, parental drug use and domestic violence. against the child
