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Children 'unnoticed' in family mental health issues

11/06/2008

Children often go unnoticed when their parents need mental health treatment, according to a new report today.

The study from Barnardo's offers a number of recommendations for services working with mentally ill people to ensure the needs of children are met.

About one in six adults in the UK experience some form of mental illness in their lifetime and Barnardo's currently works with an estimated 14,500 children and young people across the UK whose parents have been affected by mental illness.

Barnardo's chief executive Martin Narey said: "Barnardo's experience is that, at times, children go unnoticed when a parent needs mental health treatment.

"Promoting collaborative working between adults' mental health services and children's services is critical. Everyone needs to remember the patient's crucial importance as a parent."

The report, Family Minded, advises that healthcare providers offer age-appropriate information to help children understand and cope with their parent's mental illness.

It also calls for hospital visiting facilities to be made as child-friendly as possible for when parents are treated as hospital in-patients.

Awareness of the stigma that can surround mental illness must continue to be raised, the report adds, along with understanding of how this can prevent some families from asking for help.

Barnardo's Policy and Research lead on Mental Health, Alison Webster said: "Children rely on their parents for emotional and practical support but when parents are affected by mental illness their role can become a struggle.

"Our proposals would mean that the whole family would get more of the support they need, during what can be a very difficult time."