Mental health of Australian children deteriorated in decade

A study showed on Tuesday psychological well-being of Australian children has deteriorated, with increasing number of children has mental disorder, and teenage self-harm attempts almost doubling in a decade. The For Kids' Sake report, commissioned by the Australian Christian Lobby, showed child abuse or neglect have risen by about 250 percent, with the number of children in out-of-home care has more than doubled between 1997 and 2009. The report's author, Sydney University family law professor Patrick Parkinson, also found one in four people aged 16-24 has a mental disorder, and 6500 children are using anti-depressants. Other signs of social breakdown include the number of women aged 15-24 hospitalized for acute alcohol intoxication increased 52 percent from 1998 to 2005. There was a 66 percent increase in 12 to 14-year-old being hospitalized as a result of self-harm between 1996 and 2006. There was a 90 percent rise in the hospitalization of 15 to 17-year-old girls for self-harm. Parkinson said the situation facing children is "deteriorating at an extraordinarily rapid pace", and he believes family breakdowns are a major contributing factor to the figures. "The numbers of kids who will experience their parents living apart by the time they're 15 has almost doubled in a generation," he said in the report. "This is not so much divorce, it's actually about the break-up of cohabiting relationships with kids, which are about four times as likely to break up as a married couple." He said the federal government should boost couples' education and parent-child education programs as well as establishing a new "community trust" fund to help at-risk children.