Protected children require comprehensive mental health care. These are results gathered from a sample of children in care evaluated in the UMERP (Madrid, Spain)

Abstract

Introduction The Community of Madrid protects more than 4000 children. These children have an elevated psychopathology (Fisher, 2015). In Hospital General Universitario Gregorio Maranon (Madrid) in 2004, the UMERP (Unidad de Menores en Riesgo Psiquico) was created to attend children in care throughout the Community of Madrid (Spain). Its aim is to identify and treat their Mental Health needs. Objectives To carry out a descriptive analysis of the sample of patients evaluated in the UMERP and a literature review in recent years. Methods SPSS was used for statistical analysis. Pubmed was utilised for literature search. Results Twenty-nine patients were evaluated from March to September 2015. The age of contact was 13.41years (SD 3.418). In total, 58.6% were male and 41.4% female, 72.4% had psychiatric history and 100% of the evaluated minors had at least one psychiatric diagnosis (ADHD n =13, conduct disorder n =12, depression n =7 and drugs disorders n =7, were the most frequents diagnosis). The school failure in the last year (51,7%) and absenteeism (27.6%) were very high. The 34.5% had at least a medical disease and 31.03% recognized drug consumption in the last month. Conclusion All evaluated patients had psychopathology, so we suppose that an indefinite number of minors does not have access to treatment. We are beginning groups with children's homes staff to increase their knowledge of Mental Health so they can recognize psychiatric symptoms earlier. We have to coordinate with schools to strengthen access to interventions. We need to contact with other medical specialties and drug addiction centres.