Families for Reform of CAMHS is an advocacy and support group made up of over a thousand families across Ireland calling for urgent and real reform of the Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service (CAMHS).

Our children are found in communities, groups and families across Ireland. Nobody knows if or when mental health challenges will occur, but we all hope that support will be available if we or our loved ones need it.

At present, the children of this country are being consistently failed and our families left alone without adequate support at a time when they most need it.

If you are a family member of a young person in CAMHS and would like to be part of this group, please email us - all welcome! Email: familiesforreformofcamhs@gmail.com

For more information on our group, its members and our experiences, see our group profile document below. 

Some key findings include: 

• Only 12% of our members have a key worker and care plan for their child despite the HSE CAMHS Operational Guidelines setting out that these should be provided to each child. 
• 59% of our members have an autistic child and of that group 85% believe that having a diagnosis of autism has negatively impacted the service and support received by their child. 
• 31% of members have a child who requires support from a CAMHS intellectual disability (CAMHS-ID) service and of that group 81% do not currently have access. Of the members who do have access, 80% feel they have not received adequate support.
• 23% of our members have submitted a complaint and out of those members, 74% were not happy with how it was handled. 35% of our members would like to submit a complaint but are/were worried about how it would impact their child's care.
• 98% of our members are not in favour of the Government's current consideration to reduce the number of CAMHS teams nationally.
• 98% of our members do not believe the Government will prioritise urgent action to address the shortcomings of CAMHS following the recent report of the Mental Health Commission.