Exclusion From Childcare Centre Attendance in Toddler and Preschool Patients in a Psychiatric Day Clinic: Patterns From Comparison of a 2018/2019 and a 2023/2024 Cohort

BACKGROUND: Childcare centres for toddlers and preschool-aged children serve as a setting crucial to mental development, as stable relationships with caregivers and peers outside the family form. Children with early mental health disorders, especially externalising behaviours, are at increased risk of being excluded from access to these institutional services. METHODS: The retrospective study investigates partial or full exclusion from childcare centre attendance among toddlers and preschoolers (N = 177) who received psychiatric day clinic treatment within two periods (2018/2019 and 2023/2024). We compared excluded and non-excluded children regarding clinical parameters in a binary logistic regression. Furthermore, treatment trajectories were examined to assess reintegration into childcare settings as a potential therapeutic outcome. RESULTS: Among the patients in the psychiatric day clinic for toddlers and preschoolers, the rate of exclusion from childcare centre attendance was 25.5% (2023/2024) and 8.0% (2018/2019), respectively. Boys were predominantly excluded from childcare centre attendance with 66.7% (2018/2019) and 92.3% (2023/2024). Overall for both cohorts, while male sex (p = 0.028) and cohort membership in the 2023/24 cohort (p = 0.009) predicted exclusion, other investigated variables (i.e., socioeconomic status, migration status, parental psychiatric condition) did not show an effect. In 78.1% of the excluded patients in the combined samples, (partial) reintegration or improvement of social integration was recorded or initiated during treatment. CONCLUSIONS: In our study, exclusion from childcare attendance differed between 2018/2019 and 2023/2024 in toddler and preschool children, especially affecting boys. In line with the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, 1989, ensuring inclusive access to early education regardless of physical or mental impairments should be an important therapeutic goal. Mental health professionals should pay special attention to and actively support prevention and reintegration regarding early life exclusion experiences from childcare centres.