Through the Maze of Child Mental Health Care: Parents' Experiences and the Role of Social Work

Abstract

This qualitative study explored parents' experiences of professional care for children with mental health challenges, focusing on the role of social work. Fourteen semi‐structured interviews (mothers: n  = 11, fathers: n  = 3) were analysed thematically. Parents reported major barriers to timely, coordinated support, including insufficient specialist capacity, prolonged waiting lists, financial constraints and weak communication across health and social services. Initial contacts with services often set the tone, providing practical guidance and emotional support, whereas stigmatizing interactions and fragmented pathways increased the burden on families. Parents frequently assumed the role of primary coordinators, linking fragmented service providers and ensuring longitudinal continuity. In contrast, social workers and NGOs—particularly early intervention and family‐centred services—were experienced as accessible, relationship‐based sources of guidance and institutional navigation. Beyond confirming established access barriers, the study shows how fragmented provision becomes everyday coordination and emotional work for parents, whereas low‐threshold, relationship‐based support from social workers and NGOs was experienced as reducing this burden and sustaining continuity of care.