The Member of the Welsh Parliament for Aberconwy – Janet Finch-Saunders MS – has contributed to a Welsh Conservative Senedd debate, calling on the Welsh Government to set a target of reducing child abuse, neglect, and other adverse childhood experiences by 70% by 2030.
During the speech, Janet urged the Welsh Government to review what new steps they can undertake to ensure that there is a sufficiently resourced ‘no wrong door’ approach with tie-in between services across the board.
Figures for July 2021 showed that 432 patients of a total of 720 were waiting four weeks or more for their first appointment with specialist child and adolescent mental health services.
Speaking after her contribution, Janet said:
“Last year, a Cardiff University report found that around 19% of young people in Wales reported very high levels of mental health symptoms before the COVID-19 pandemic. Schools have made clear that they are not adequately equipped to cope with demand for necessary support, despite going above and beyond to implement whole-school approaches to provision.
“Barnardo’s tell me that the central factor impacting youth mental health was a stressful living environment, with an increasing number of children turning to the use of cannabis as an alternative to addressing their trauma.
“In Conwy, I am pleased that the charity is funded to support families who are affected by substances and alcohol abuse. But the charity says that it is difficult to continue with their experienced provision when staff do not know whether their position will be funded year-to-year.
“Funding needs to be provided to support healthy lives and environments. So, I have also challenged the Minister to collaborate across Government to review what steps can be taken to provide longer term funding commitments and assurances to those services who are assisting our schools in addressing the factors behind the attainment gap.”
