Child mental health: learning from case reviews
It's important to think about the potential implications for child protection and safeguarding when working with children struggling with their mental health.
Published case reviews highlight the detrimental impact adverse experiences, such as abuse or neglect, can have on a child’s mental health. They also demonstrate how mental health problems can lead to safeguarding concerns. For example, in some case reviews a child's mental health problems led to self-harm or situations which put themselves or others at risk of harm.
This briefing is based on learning from a sample of case reviews published between 2021 and 2022 involving children with a wide range of different mental health problems. These ranged from diagnosed or undiagnosed mental health conditions, to wider concerns related to mental and emotional wellbeing.
Published: May 2023
Browse our full series of learning from case reviews briefings
Our series of thematic briefings highlight the learning from case reviews conducted when a child dies, or is seriously harmed, as a result of abuse or neglect. Each briefing focuses on a different topic or learning for specific sectors, pulling together key risk factors and practice recommendations.
More about case reviews
We work with local safeguarding partners to ensure that learning from case reviews can be accessed and shared at a local, regional and national level.
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