Does the use of health care and special school services, prior to admission for psychiatric inpatient treatment, differ between adolescents housed by child welfare services and those living with their biological parent(s)?

We examined whether the use of health care and special school services, prior to admission for psychiatric inpatient treatment, differed between adolescents from child welfare units and those living at their parental home. 208 boys and 300 girls aged 12-17 years were admitted for psychiatric hospital between 2001 and 2006. Child welfare adolescents had used more health services/treatments prior to psychiatric hospital admission than adolescents living with their biological family. The best discriminating factors between study groups for both genders, were previous psychiatric hospitalizations, unemployed parents, use of special school services and self-perceived serious anxiety/tension or trouble controlling violent behavior. Repeated school grades and previous use of psychotropic medications were discriminating factors only in girls. Adolescents in child welfare deserve adequate mental health evaluations at an early stage, with referral to appropriate adolescent psychiatric services if required. Appropriate service provision and properly planned treatments may reduce the amount of intensive and sometimes unnecessary psychiatric inpatient treatments.