Client L was referred by a social worker. L was a young male detained under section 2 at the CAMHS unit. The Unit was a long way from L’s home and the social worker was concerned about the ability of his parents to offer him support within this setting. This concern was compounded by the fact that L had lapsed into a vacant and uncommunicative state without a known cause. A Child Protection Referral had been submitted and the potential existed for care proceedings to be instigated.
Statements were made to the IMHA that because of the L's current lack of communication he would not be able to engage in advocacy.
Subsequent to the review meeting a decision was made that L would be better served at home with support provided by community CAMHS practitioners.
L was discharged from the unit. He still exhibited no communication at this time. The social work team and unit staff reported to the IMHA that there was very little coordination and communication between the two teams.
The IMHA was able to communicate with the social work team following discharge and to ensure that concerns that arose at the unit with potential relevance to the child protection proceedings were made available to the members of the child protection conference.