Parents with dual diagnosis – the impact on children
A new research paper published in The Clinician journal examines the links between child protection reports and incidences of dual diagnosis in parents – a condition that involves both mental illness and substance abuse.
Mind the Gap – The Impact of Parental Dual Diagnosis on Children shows that although there is considerable literature on the effects of either parental mental illness or substance abuse on children, there is a gap in research that targets the dual condition.
The research provides individual literature reviews on the effects of substance abuse and mental illness on factors such as parenting, family dynamics, accessing services, and levels of child abuse and neglect.
Researchers identify an escalating trend in child protection reports of children in families where dual diagnosis has been identified.
Copies of the paper can be found on the Mental Health Coordinating Council website at www.mhcc.org.au.
Support for children with parental mental illness and substance abuse
The Mind the Gap research is part of the National Illicit Drug Strategy’s (NIDS) Mental Illness and Substance Abuse (MISA) project.
The project aims to help families, carers and service providers to improve standards of care for children of parents with MISA issues.
To do this, project workers are currently developing a number of resources including training packages, fact sheets and referral protocols to assist workers dealing with families affected by MISA.
The resources and training packages will be available by the end of the year.
The project is a joint initiative of DoCS and the Mental Health Coordinating Council (NSW) and is sponsored by the federal Department of Family and Community Services.