Mental Capacity
You might have heard of ‘mental capacity’ being talked about and wondered what is it and what does this mean for parents and their child?
The Mental Capacity Act (2005) is an important law that is designed to help people make their own decisions, where they are able to. It is also really important to protect those who aren’t able to make decisions on their own too.
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So what is Mental Capacity?
Mental Capacity just means the ability to make a decision. It is as simple as that. But, the Mental Capacity Act only applies to people aged 16 years and older.
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Does this mean parents can’t make decisions for their children?
As you will know parental responsibility doesn’t end until the age of 18, but the Mental Capacity Act kicks in at the age of 16, so we must follow the rules of mental capacity. This means other people can make decisions on behalf of 16 & 17 year olds and do every day, but must make sure we only do so when the young person can’t make a specific decision at a specific time and it is in the young person’s best interests.
Remember – under 16 years old parental responsibility is still in place but we should be helping children and young people learn about decision-making and giving those experiences and opportunities to learn new things.
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How do you know if someone can make a decision?
Capacity to make decisions is time and decision specific – this means that nobody can ever say somebody is unable to make all decisions about their life all the time. We have to decide if someone can make that specific decision at that specific time… you will do this everyday!
An example - it is raining heavy outside, is windy and cold, the young person wants to wear their shorts, Hawaiian shirt and flip flops to college. This isn’t a good idea for many reasons - you think that they can’t make the decision to wear weather appropriate clothes on that particular morning. So you pick out clothes that will keep them warm, dry and comfortable – you just made a decision for them, in their best interest.
So what we have to think about is can the person do the following to make that decision at that time:
- Understand the information relevant to the decision – Do they understand the main and important points to allow them to make a decision?
- Retain the information – can they remember the information for long enough to make a decision?
- Use or weigh the information – can they think about the positives, negatives or risks of making that particular decision?
- Communicate their decision – can they tell us in any way what their decision is? Remember that it isn’t just spoken words, this can be through behaviour, sign language, actions or written response.
If the answer is ‘no’ to any of those questions, then the person isn’t able to make that decision at that time and someone else needs to make that decision on their behalf.
Mental Capacity Assessment Flowchart
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What decisions can be made and who can make them?
Day to day decisions will continue to be made by those who are supporting the young person, such as what to wear, food, drink, crossing the road, going school/college.
Larger decisions such as what care they might need, where they might live, important health decisions might need to be made with other people, such as Social Workers, health professionals, school staff as well as parents and carers. It might be that for more important decisions that a discussion together to think about the options available and what is the best option is needed– this is called a ‘best interest meeting’.
There are some decisions which cannot be made on behalf other people such as to enter a marriage or to have sex with another person.
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Where can I get more information?
There are loads of resources available about mental capacity and what this means for young people.
Below are some that are available online to read more about.
If you have any questions or want more information, don’t hesitate to ask your Social Worker or contact the team.
- Council for Disabled Children – Factsheet on Mental Capacity -
Mental Health Fact Sheet
- Preparing for Adulthood website have some good resources on Mental Capacity and other information on transition to adulthood too -
Preparing For Adulthood Website
Making Decisions Easy Read Guide
- The Mental Capacity Act Code of Practice is available online too – this tells everyone what they need to do and how to do it in terms of mental capacity. We also have a copy of this book in our Lending Library which you can read at our unit in Castleford -
Mental Capacity Act Code Of Practice
