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.