Anglicare's Better, Bigger, Stronger Report highlights the inequality that exists for this cohort of children in trying to access support services for their often complex trauma.

Report author Catherine Robinson interviewed more than 60 professionals including psychologists, social and youth workers, homelessness and mental health providers statewide.

She also interviewed 15 young people to speak with them about their experiences of being an unaccompanied homeless young person.

Dr Robinson wrote that assistance, from schools, mental health service, hospitals and other services were "vague interventions" in the cycle of abuse, vioelnce, adversity, family chaos and conflict.

"Such fragmented care did not match the at times overwhelmingly complex mental health issues children and young people described," she wrote.

Viviana, one of the young people, told Dr Robinson that everything was a mess.

"I didn't even know how to go get help...Like you kind of sit there and you're like, I'm cold and I want food. I want somewhere to sleep. I want to be with somebody."

Data shows that there were 393 unaccompanied children aged 10 to 17 accessing homeless services, and of these 242, or 62 per cent, of these children reported a mental health issue.

The challenges faced by this cohort in getting real help from anywhere were highlighted.

One example is an inability to access bulk-billed medical supports due to not having a Medicare number, which is not issued until age 15, which becomes impossible without supportive parents or guardians.

"Nearly all professionals raised the desperate struggle statewide for GP access," Dr Robinson wrote.

"Professionals also raised significant concerns with the quality of GP care provided... issues encountered included the blacklisting of children and young people from medical practices due to failing to present for previous appointments...[and no] awareness that children may not be able to afford medication."

She wrote that when GPS and mental health care plans were accessed, the issue was then finding bulk-billing psychologists and long wait lists.

The report makes four recommendations for improvement, including increased social work capacity in primary schools, to identify kids suffering at an early age, and to prevent development of poor mental health down the line.

It also wants to see a complex mental health service with significant outreach capacity, and additional investment in the Youth Health Fund.

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