Desperate parents reveal how suicidal kids are being failed by the system

Desperate Aussie parents with kids as young as 14 are speaking out after their suicidal kids have been failed, with no help. WARNING: GRAPHIC

Suicidal kids are being admitted to adult mental heath units because youth facilities are either full or not equipped to deal with complex cases.

Others are arriving at emergency departments and being sent away hours later with not even a list of helpline numbers.

In some cases children as young as 14 go to hospital after self-harming and their parents are not told because of privacy issues.

Those working within the system say it’s failing our most vulnerable young people — and children are dying as a result.

“They are not getting the care they need,” said leading child and adolescent psychiatrist Professor Patrick McGorry.

Prof Pat McGorry says children are not getting the mental health support they need. Picture: NCA NewsWire / David Crosling

“This is why young people are dying from suicide.”

He said there are tens of thousands of children across the country who need more than just counselling to work through their mental health problems.

He terms them “the missing middle”.

The most up to date Australian Institute of Health and Welfare data shows that the total number of public sector mental health beds for children aged up to 17 has not kept pace with the population increase or the rise in young people with mental health issues.

At 13, she had the world at her feet. But now her parents say: “Our daughter has been let down by everyone from her school, to hospitals, courts, mental health services, child protection and police. “It’s hard to imagine what she has been through.” Picture: Supplied

In Australia in 2019-2020 there were 5.5 public sector mental health beds for children aged up to 17, per 100,000 population, compared with 5.6 per 100,000 in 2009-2010.

The parents of a 16-year-old north Sydney girl – who has attended hospital 40 times and has tried to take her life six times – have been fighting for three years to get their daughter the help she requires.

Their youngest child – who cannot be named – was admitted to an adult unit three weeks ago.

Her parents claim five youth facilities have turned her away, with no explanation.

“She will die if she doesn’t get help,” her distraught mum said.

One teenager who didn’t make it was Josh Gill.

Andrew Gill and his wife Diana Gill holding a photo of their boy Josh, 14, who died in tragic circumstances. Picture: Richard Dobson

His father Andrew, a lawyer in Sydney, said the 14-year-old was a casualty of a failing system which saw “problem children, rather than children with problems”.

He said Josh was a “sensitive, but troubled” boy, who had an alcohol problem and became addicted to inhaling aerosols.

He was also turned away from a series of facilities and died in August last year in a car fire, which the coroner has yet to rule on but is believed to have been started by a lit match.

Four days earlier, he had been taken to hospital after repeatedly smashing his head against the wall of a police cell until he knocked himself unconscious, but he was not given a mental health assessment.

Mr Gill alleges that he and his wife were not told about the hospital visit at the time.

“These vulnerable young people are in pain and they need help,” Mr Gill said.

Parents For Change is hoping to raise awareness of the failures in the system.

Melissa Kingston-Lee is part of Parents for Change, a group that is calling on the parties to commit to more youth mental health funding. Picture: Naomi Jellicoe

Campaigner Melissa Kingston-Lee, 39, from Adelaide, said her transgender son, 17, who also has autism, has been turned away from multiple services, because his issues are complex.

She said her child has been taken by police or ambulance to the emergency department up to 200 times in three years.

He is often discharged within hours and sent home.

Following one suicide attempt last December, he walked out of emergency, lay down in the road and was run over by a car.

He survived, but is still recovering from his physical injuries.

“The system has totally failed my child, Ms Kingston-Lee said.

She said they have reached out to multiple services for help.

“One will say, ‘We don’t work with children with autism, try this service’ and then when we try that service they send us back to the other one. Others say my child is ‘very suicidal’, and it’s too much for them.”

Ms Kingston-Lee said due to the desperate shortage of psychiatrists and psychologists, combined with her child’s complex needs, it took two years to find one.

She said new medication and therapy was helping, but that her child was still very vulnerable.

News Corp asked Labor’s new Health Minister Mark Butler for comment.

Josh Gill’s mental health needs were complex and his parents say he didn’t get the help he needed before he died.

HOW TO FIX THE MENTAL HEALTH CRISIS

More funding is needed for intensive community based support and specialist mental health inpatient units to cater for “the missing middle” – young people who have sustained and complex mental health needs.

The federal government’s new Head to Health Kids Hub for children aged up to 12, needs to be extended to include children up to 18 and include those with NDIS plans.

No child who arrives at an emergency department following a mental health crisis should leave without a comprehensive care plan and referrals or information on where to get support.

The nationwide shortage of psychiatrists and psychologists needs to be addressed, so children are not left on wait lists for months without support.

NUMBERS TO CALL IF YOU NEED HELP

In an emergency 000

Kids Helpline 1800 551 800

Lifeline 13 11 14

Beyond Blue 1300 224 636

Originally published as Desperate parents reveal how suicidal kids are being failed by the system