Information for Police and/or Ambulance Officers
Improvements in community health care
have resulted in increasing numbers of adults with mental
health problems receiving treatment whilst living with their
families. Many adults living in the community with mental
illness are parents and many of these people fulfill their
parenting role exceptionally well despite the presence of
significant mental health problems. However, a mental illness
can sometimes impact on a parent's abilities to care for their
children. Police and ambulance officers attending a scene where
a parent has been identified as requiring mental health
assessment or care play an important role in supporting that
person's children.
Enquire about children (or any infirm
adult dependants).
Where a person has been identified as requiring mental health
assessment or care, police or emergency workers should ask if
that person has responsibilities for children (or infirm adult
dependants) and ask if they need any help or assistance for the
children. It is important to do this sensitively as many
parents are very fearful of their children being removed from
their care if they acknowledge that they are parents and have a
mental health problem.
Check that the children will be
adequately cared for.
When a person requiring mental health assessment or care is
identified, make enquiries and arrangements to ensure dependant
children (and any infirm adult dependants) are adequately cared
for. Some families where a parent has episodic experiences of
mental illness will have developed a written 'care plan' with
their children whilst the parent is well so that the child will
know who to contact should the parent become ill. Check with
the children to ascertain if they have such a plan. If no plan
is in place, police officers should implement their usual
actions for minors requiring care. Police or ambulance officers
who are responsible for transferring a parent into the care of
a health practitioner are encouraged to advise the health
practitioner about any dependants and of care arrangements made
for the dependants. (NB: This information may be included
on transfer forms in some jurisdictions - check local
procedures).
Explain what's happening.
Stigma still surrounds the issue of mental illness in our
community and this often results in people not talking about
the illness in the same way as they would if it were a physical
illness. If police or emergency workers are called to a
situation it is likely to be one which is potentially quite
scary for children if their parent is involved. Simple
explanations and reassurance can assist children to make sense
of what's happening. An explanation may be as simple as saying
that the parent is very unwell and needs to go to the
hospital/see a doctor to help them become well. If the parent
is being removed involuntarily, the children may need it
explained to them that the police/ambulance officers are not
wishing to hurt the parent but that they may need, for example,
to restrain the person to stop them hurting themselves or to
transport them to medical help.
Help the children understand that mental
illness is no-one's fault.
Children often mistakenly blame themselves for their parent's
illness and can easily misinterpret banter such as 'Have you
kids been driving your Mum crazy again?'. Police and ambulance
officers can help to reassure the child that they did not cause
their parent's mental health problems and that mental illness
is no-one's fault.