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Mental health challenges during adolescence are a critical public health concern, especially among young people at particular risk. The study reported by Judd and colleagues in this issue of the MJA highlights the substantial mental health‐related hospitalisation burden among adolescents aged 12–17 years who have had contact with child protection services. In their whole‐of‐population descriptive study, including 175 115 South Australian adolescents born during 1991–1999, they found that 44.9% of mental health‐related hospitalisations were of young people with histories of child protection contact before the age of 11 years, despite only 15.5% of all adolescents having had such contact. Adolescents placed in out‐of‐home care as children were at particular risk. Strengths of the study include the use of comprehensive linked data; limitations include the non‐inclusion of private hospitals data and the underestimation of the overall mental health‐related burden by focusing solely on hospitalisations. The study by Judd and colleagues helps highlight the implications and cost to the health care system of mental health problems among people who had contact with child protection and the importance of developing strength and long term resilience.

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Authors: Paul Hotton

Article Type: Editorial