ADHD persists in to adolescence and adulthood. A large majority of children drop out of treatment by the age of 15 years and won’t present to clinical services until they are in their 30s. A lot is lost during those crucial years for many and even when they recognize the need for re-engaging in treatment, they often face many hurdles: It is often difficult to establish a diagnosis of ADHD at that age, without collateral history, childhood records are often not available, and ADHD may be complicated, and often over shadowed, by other conditions such as depression, anxiety, and substance misuse. Moreover, as you know, services for young people and adults are really patchy across the UK, and non-existent in some boroughs.
ADHD runs in families. A large number of parents of children with ADHD have full-blown ADHD/residual ADHD symptoms with significant functional impairment and there are no systems currently in place to provide treatment for children and their parents with ADHD under the same roof- leading to poor outcomes for children. Similarly, adults who seek treatment for ADHD have children with ADHD and they need to be fast tracked in to assessment and treatment to ensure better outcome for the whole family.