NCJ Number
201140
Journal
Child Abuse Review Volume: 12 Issue: 2 Dated: March-April 2003 Pages: 114-118
Date Published
March 2003
Length
5 pages
Annotation
This paper describes a British joint training program in which child protection workers and mental health workers become familiar with how a parent's mental disorder can contribute to parenting behavior that inflicts some form of abuse on children.
Abstract
The training offers the opportunity for the participants to learn about how the other profession does its work and the importance of cooperation in serving both the needs of children and parents when the parents have a mental disorder. One of the most effective activities of the 2-day training is small-group brainstorming on the impact on a child of living with an adult who has a mental health problem. Through these groups, mental health professionals typically gain insight into the impact on children of living with the adults whom the mental health professionals treat. Issues discussed include the importance of taking children into account when conducting a psychiatric risk assessment of adults who are parents. Child protection workers learn about the link between what mental health workers describe as "dysfunctional personality" and "poor parenting capacity." In another exercise participant pairs practice talking to children about mental disorder, taking turns as practitioner/child. This exercise provides insight into how important it is to avoid jargon and promises that cannot be kept. The paper concludes with a review of the multi-agency benefits and outcomes of the joint training. 4 references