Iconic Liverpool statue gets shocking 'makeover' as Children's Society reveals mental health support shortfall

The new poll by The Children’s Society highlights the growing shortfall in young people’s mental health support, revealing that 42% of parents who sought help for their child reported “that they did not receive the support they needed’, leaving thousands of children stuck in limbo and at “risk of escalating into a full-blown crisis”.

As part of Children's Mental Health Week (3-9 February) the charity has launched a new initiative to highlight these “concerning” findings, transforming well-known statues across the country with messages about waiting for mental health support.

In Liverpool, they have transformed the Peter Pan statue at Sefton Park with the message: “Peter Pan never ages - but Liverpool’s children do. They can’t wait months for mental health support. Statues stand still. Childhoods can’t.”

While the physical statue has not been modified, the charity says it hopes the digitally-edited message will get the message across that “the delays aren't just statistics - they are children's lives on hold”.

The Children’s Society says the survey of 3,000 parents in England and Wales, whose children are aged 4-17, reveals a system “struggling to keep pace with soaring demand” - 45% of parents said their child had independently sought mental health support, yet over a third (36%) of these requests went unmet.

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Some of these children and young people experience emotional or mental health issues that will not meet the current threshold and criteria for specialist mental health support. The Children’s Society warns that the overstretched thresholds for specialist services and fragmented early intervention programmes are failing families, but stresses that targeted investment could significantly improve the situation and make a real difference for children and young people.

Mark Russell, Chief Executive of The Children’s Society said: “Parents aren’t asking for miracles – they’re asking for basic support before problems snowball but instead are met with barriers and delays. Far too many children are counting down the days to crisis this winter - their childhoods are hanging in the balance.

“Children can’t wait for weeks or months for treatment, they need immediate help before their issues hit crisis point. We must act now to ensure every child has access to the mental health care they need.”

Responding to the new polling by the Children’s Society, Cllr Arooj Shah, Chair of the Local Government Association’s Children and Young People Board, said: “The growing children’s mental health crisis needs to be tackled with a cross-government plan to support children and young people.

“In addition to adequately funding children’s services in the upcoming Spending Review, government should review mental health support teams in schools, with a named mental health professional supporting each school.

“Councils should be supported to provide parenting support programmes and to set up local peer support networks for parents and carers with children with mental health needs. We would also like to see mental health training become a core element of training for all staff that support children and young people.”