Family Action chief calls for priority interventions for families with mental health issues
Neil Puffett
Friday, January 28, 2011
Families with mental health issues must be made a priority under government plans to adopt an early intervention approach in the children's sector, a charity has said.
Family Action has launched a new call for a joined-up approach to services and financial support for families with mental health needs.
Helen Dent, Family Action's chief executive, also warned the government that plans for Family Champions would need to address a number of challenges in working with the most vulnerable families.
Speaking at an Inside Government conference on child poverty, Dent launched Against All Odds, a campaign to raise awareness of parental mental health and the impact on children's life chances and child poverty.
She said: "The families we work with are staying together and flourishing against all odds. Four hundred and fifty thousand parents have mental health problems and many are unable to work. Their children are twice as likely to experience psychiatric disorder.
"Research shows parental mental health may be a lead factor in up to a third of care proceedings.
"In 67 per cent of Family Action projects we work with parents and children where parental mental health difficulties are an identified issue.
"These families must be a priority for early intervention and the forthcoming child poverty strategy.
"It is vital amid the health reforms and changes to commissioning that services are targeted effectively at the most vulnerable families in a holistic way."
