The following is a summary of key information for workers and services in the Justice and Child Protection 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.

Child protection

Where concerns exist about the safety and welfare of a child of a parent with a mental illness, child protection workers play a clear role by:

working pro-actively to support families in the provision of care for their children.

leading the process by which parenting ability and family capacity is assessed and ensuring the process is collaborative, strengths based and comprehensive.

developing a safety and monitoring plan for the child.

The justice sector and child protection services can support children of parents with a mental illness with identified care and protection needs by:

ensuring that advice/evidence regarding the comprehensive strengths-based assessment of parenting competence of individuals with a mental illness is based, where possible, on:

child-parent observations in natural settings over a period of time, acknowledging the often episodic nature of mental illness.

linking specific qualities and functional aspects of parental behaviour with protective or risk factors for the child.

a multi-method, multi-source approach that includes information from mental health professionals who are familiar with the parent's mental health status.

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Support for families and children

Support for families is enhanced when community service providers, child and family health services, mental health services and child protection services (as appropriate) work together to ensure that:

practical and 'family friendly' domestic help is available to assist families to remain intact and supported during parental hospitalisation and in transition/rehabilitation periods, and also as a preventative intervention service.

parental support groups and parenting skill programs are available in the community that can respond to the needs of parents with a mental illness, acknowledging that many of the issues are generic to all parents and others are specific to the situation of living with mental illness.

support services and programmes are available to key care providers of children of parents with a mental illness, including consumer's partners and other family members/personal support providers

planned care and flexible respite care services are available for both children and parents (separately and together as requested and/or appropriate) during parental crisis and at other times. Continuity of education for the children, in addition to other needs, should be considered within respite care decisions.

supported, targeted and evidence-based early intervention programmes of sufficient duration and intensity are available to prevent or minimise the longer term consequences of disrupted or dysfunctional child-parent relationships.

consumers and their partners have access to relationship support (if relevant) to enhance their capacity to work together as parents

parents have access to information about the possible implications of their mental illness, treatment and/or co-morbid factors (eg. substance abuse) on their parenting and to information/training in building their coping skills and enhancing their relationship with their children.

families who are isolated (eg. living in rural and remote communities, or from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds) have access to information, training, care and practical domestic supports if required.

Mental health services (and the justice sector where applicable) can also:

provide safe 'family friendly' visitor facilities within adult mental health treatment and rehabilitation centres and/or correctional services facilities.

provide family residential facilities and services for consumers in order to facilitate attachment, and to assist the parent-child relationship and subsequent child development.

develop and implement policies that support family oriented practice, promote the parent-child relationship and minimise parent-child separation.

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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 parent 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.

ensuring that practice and procedures recognise and support the importance of secure attachment for infants' health and future wellbeing.

providing information, counselling and support to informal and formal temporary carers who care for the children during periods of parental illness or as a preventative strategy to maintain the parent's health.

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