21st January 2015 9:00
By Blue Tutors
New research suggests that children’s mental health is of growing concern to schools and parents. Charity Action for Children has said that 40% of parents they surveyed were more worried about their children’s emotional well-being than any other health issue. The charity said that more mental health problems were being flagged up by parents and schools than ever before, and children’s services are coming under an increasing amount of strain. They urged parents to come forward to ask for help, but also warned about cuts to services.
Action for Children said that it was vital for families to get the support the needed earlier on in order to prevent serious problems developing. A spokesperson for the charity said that “spending time and money preventing a problem rather than repairing the damage is the right and logical thing to do”. Parents and schools are being urged to watch out for children’s mental health, and ensure that children suffering from anxiety and emotion distress are provided with the help they need. Action for Children cited family problems, bullying and eating disorders as major causes for concern amongst the children they work with.
The charity also noted that the cut in funding available for children’s mental health services was a significant cause for concern. They said that the cuts meant that it was even more vital that problems were detected earlier on before they develop into worse problems which cost more to address. The Local Government Association said that local councils should play a key part in ensuring that mental health services were available to children and families. They emphasised the need to provide local councils with the necessary funds and powers to address issues in their communities as they arose.