The mental health and wellbeing of children and adolescents in home-based foster care.

OBJECTIVE: To identify the prevalence of mental health problems, rates of suicidal ideation and behaviour, and use of professional mental health services among children and adolescents residing in home-based foster care, and to compare these rates with those reported for children and adolescents in the general Australian community.

DESIGN: Cross-sectional survey.

PARTICIPANTS AND SETTING: 326 children and adolescents (aged 6-17 years) residing in home-based foster care in the Adelaide metropolitan region between August 2004 and January 2006.

MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Prevalence of emotional and behavioural problems, suicidal ideation and behaviour, and use of professional services to obtain help for emotional and behavioural problems.

RESULTS: 61.0% of children and adolescents living in home-based foster care scored above the recommended cut-off for behaviour problems on the Child Behavior Checklist and 35.2% of adolescents scored above the cut-off on the Youth Self Report. 6.7% of 13-17- year olds in home-based foster care reported a suicide attempt that required medical treatment during the previous year. Caregivers reported that 53.4% of children needed professional help for their mental health problems but only 26.9% had obtained help during the previous 6 months.

CONCLUSION: Children in home-based foster care experience high rates of mental health problems but only a minority receive professional help for their problems.