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The Addiction Environment: The Impact on Children and Young People Living in Families with Addiction Problems.

Trish Gledhill

This paper addresses the impact that an environment has upon children both in terms of the factors that place children at risk and the factors existing in home, school and community environments that provide resilience from harm. The material presented in this paper will be based on the presenter's book 21 Fun Street, Kool Kids - Therapeutic Programmes for Children Living with Addiction. Other current literature and research will be included. Children living in these family environments have limited access to support and specialist services. Services continue to focus predominantly on the identified adult for treatment without considering the needs of the child in this context. The implications for policy and practice to address these needs are discussed and a therapeutic group environment is described that provides opportunities for these children to develop their strengths and resources. Report

Principles and Actions for Services and People Working with Children of Parents with a Mental Illness

Prepared by the Australian Infant, Child, Adolescent and Family Mental Health Association Children of Parents With A Mental Illness (COPMI) Initiative for the Commonwealth Department of Health and Ageing.

This document marks an important milestone in the COPMI project. Following broad ranging consultations across Australia and an extensive literature search, a Discussion Document was developed and widely circulated for comment. Formal responses were received, emanating from all states and territories, from local and national bodies, and from individuals and groups of consumers, carers, young people and service providers across a range of sectors.

Consultations relating to the Discussion Document were also held with children and young people living in urban and rural areas of Australia, who have a parent with a mental illness. This draft document is the culmination of the consultation process, and service providers at the individual, team, organisation and systems level will now subject the action statements contained within it to review and evaluation. Report

Barnardos: Family Minded - Supporting children in families affected by mental illness.

Family Minded is based on the experiences of a number of Barnardo's services that work with children whose lives are affected by parental mental ill-health. It is informed by the academic literature in this fi eld. We explore the challenges of parental mental illness for both policy and practice, addressing mental health policy and practice in all four nations of the UK.

A wide range of Barnardo's services work with children and young people whose parents live with a mental illness. These include services for young carers; children's centres; parent education projects; behaviour support; family centres; help for people with substance abuse problems, and psychological support. Report

Supporting Families With A Mentally Ill Parent - European Perspectives On Interagency Cooperation.

Rachael Hetherington & Karen Baistow

This paper reports on the findings of a cross-country comparison of cooperation between services for community mental health and chils protection in 11 states. The authors consider the implications of the findings for English practice. Report

A Research Study of Young Carers: The development of a recording tool for agencies to identify young carers (Final Report).

The Children's Issues Centre, on behalf of Carers New Zealand, undertook this research project. The Ministry of Health funded the project. The review of literature describes the emerging field of young carers research that is now reasonably well established in the UK, has begun to develop in Australia, but is a new topic of study in NZ. Report

Parents In Hospital: How mental health services can best promote family contact when a parent is in hospital.

This review of contact arrangements in Mental Health settings investigated the policies, arrangements and facilities that promote contact between parents and children when a parent is in hospital. The project presented a unique opportunity to explore the views and experiences of a range of informants, including staff working in in-patient adult mental health services and current and previous patients who are parents. Children of parents who have been hospitalised with mental health problems also made an important contribution to the review. Report.

Supporting_Families_With_a_Mentally_Ill_Parent.pdf
Trish_Gledhill_Addiction_paper.pdf
copmi_Australia_draft_2003_pdf.pdf
family_minded_report.pdf
research-study-young-carers-v2.pdf