"When the Bough Breaks, ......"

Child Psychiatry

Advocacy is an "in" term these days. When we advocate are we really pursuing the best interests of those on whose behalf we are advocating? Or are we only trying to placate and tell people what they want to hear? Then, too, there are often a lot of stock cribs which advocates may parrot easily off in the hope of gaining kudos or easy respect from the judges - the administrators and the public.

Norah Gibbons penned an article "Have we let the bough break?" which appears in this morning’s edition of The Irish Times. Ms Gibbons is director of advocacy with Barnardo’s and her thesis is that childhood should be nurtured by the State and better protected by law.

The fourth paragraph in her article reads as follows

"There are 2 000 children on the waiting list for psychiatric assessment and waiting times are running between 12 and 18 months. And when they are eventually seen, there are only 20 in-patient beds available nationally for the assessment and treatment of adolescents under the age of 16."

There are five bulleted points in what is a long article. The first of these is

"Children continue to be admitted to adult psychiatric wards in contravention of stated policy. Specialist support services for children and teenagers continue to be neglected."

Now it may not be true that Gibbons is merely rehearsing chic pap which we have heard a hundred times before to cultivate favoritism with a gullible public. But there is, at least, a certain element of double-think in the case she is advocating.

Does she mean more children should be put into mental hospital?

Does she think it is ok for adults to be confined in mental hospitals but it is not ok for children i.e. any old thing will do for adult mental patients?

Does she think that the treatment children receive at the hands of psychiatry is essentially any different to the treatment women and men receive?

Does she mean by "support services" more tablets and injections for children?

Barnardo’s launched this a.m. (if The Irish Times is to be believed) a document called "A Million Reasons to Get It Right - the Children’s Declaration."