Mentally disordered young offenders in transition from child and adolescent to adult mental health services across England and Wales
Abstract
Purpose
This paper provides an overview of transitions across forensic child and adolescent mental health services in England and Wales. The purpose of this paper is to delineate the national secure services system for young people in contact with the youth justice system.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper reviews findings from the existing literature of transitions across forensic child and adolescent mental health services, drawing attention to present facilitators and barriers to optimal transition. The authors examine the infrastructure of current services and highlight gaps between child and adult service continuity and evaluate the impact of poor transitions on young offenders’ mental health and wellbeing.
Findings
Young offenders experience a broad range of difficulties, from the multiple interfaces with the legal system, untreated mental health problems, and poor transition to adult services. Barriers such as long waiting lists, lack of coordination between services and lack of transition preparation impede significantly smooth transitions.
Research limitations/implications
The authors need to develop, test and evaluate models of transitional care that improve mental health and wellbeing of this group.
Practical implications
Mapping young offenders’ care pathway will help to understand their needs and also to impact current policy and practice. Key workers in forensic services should facilitate the transition process by developing sustainable relationships with the young person and creating a safe clinical environment.
Originality/value
Transition of care from forensic child and adolescent mental health services is a neglected area. This paper attempts to highlight the nature and magnitude of the problems at the transition interface in a forensic context.
Keywords
Acknowledgements
Declarations – Ethics approval and consent to participate: not applicable, consent for publication: not applicable, availability of data and materials: this paper does not include any raw data, competing interests: the authors declare that they have no competing interests.
Funding: this paper does not require any additional funding. The lead author is funded by NIHR CLAHRC West Midlands for the completion of her PhD and this overview is part of it.
Citation
Livanou, M.I., Furtado, V. and Singh, S.P. (2017), "Mentally disordered young offenders in transition from child and adolescent to adult mental health services across England and Wales", The Journal of Forensic Practice, Vol. 19 No. 4, pp. 301-308. https://doi.org/10.1108/JFP-01-2017-0002
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
Copyright © 2017, Emerald Publishing Limited