The following is a summary of key information for workers and services in the Youth
and Community Work sectors taken from the document, "Principles and Actions For
Services and People Working with Children of Parents with a Mental Illness"
released in 2004 by the Australian Government Department of Health and
Ageing.
Background information relating to the "Principles and Actions" document
can be accessed here.
Support for families and children
Mental health workers, child and family health workers and community workers
(and where a risk to a child's safety has been identified, in partnership with
the child protection services) can provide support for families by:
examining and responding to the needs of the family as well as of
specific members.
recognising family needs and advocating for the provision of ongoing support
and monitoring of family preservation.
providing information about local support services and assistance to access
these services if necessary.
providing consultation assistance to mainstream parent support agencies to
help them support parents with mental illness throughout the life span as
the demands of the children change.
Community workers, mental health workers and relevant staff in the
education sector can also assist in increasing the capacity of the family
and it's members by:
advocating for and providing services to assist children
of parents with a mental illness to remain well by having access to
factors which increase resiliency such as:
a contact person in the event of a crisis regarding their parent
someone to talk with
opportunities to meet adults with whom they can develop supportive links
participation in activities where they can meet other children
opportunities to talk about their feelings and experience
opportunities for peer support
opportunities for support in the community environment
opportunities to develop coping skills and age appropriate problem solving
capacities.
advocating for and providing service and information to assist
parents with a mental illness, their partners and family
members to build on their strengths and implement strategies which increase
resiliency and help their children remain well.
advocating for and providing services and information to assist
young carers of mentally ill parents to participate in social
and leisure activities, education, training and employment at rates approaching
those of their peers who do not have caring responsibilities.
Community workers can assist continuity of care of children in families
affected by parental mental illness by:
assisting parents while they are well to plan with their families for care
for the children and management of related family affairs should the parents
experience a relapse of their illness and be temporarily unable to care
for their children.
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Addressing grief and loss issues
Mental health workers, community workers (and child protection workers and the
justice sector where applicable) can effectively assist family members where a
parents has a mental illness to minimise or address feelings of loss and
grief by:
working together to implement prevention and early intervention strategies aimed
at promoting the child-parent relationship and avoiding child-parent
separation.
supporting the right of the child who is separated from one or both parents to
maintain personal relations and meaningful contact with both parents
on a regular basis except if it has been assessed to be contrary to the child's
best interests.
planning for and assisting in the reunification of the parent
and child/ren following temporary separation.
offering and maintaining appropriate support to both the
parent and child in the event of loss of primary care provision by the parent
to the child/ren.
offering strategies to promote and strengthen the child-parent
relationship to the parent even if the child is not in their care.
minimising multiple-care placements for children and planning for
permanency of placement as soon as possible if this has been comprehensively
assessed and judged to be necessary.
identifying and addressing grief and loss issues of consumers, their
partners or other family members/personal support people involved in the care of
their children which relate to the parent's mental illness.
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Information and education
Youth and community workers can facilitate access to information and education
for children of parents with a mental illness by:
encouraging and supporting parents to speak to their children about
their illness and being aware of materials and resources to assist them to
do so.
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