Date submitted

10/6/02

Title

Ruah Inreach Family Services : Partnering Families

Contact Person/s

Chris Gardner (Snr Soc Wkr)  Angela Hislop (Reg Psychologist)   

Organisation

Ruah Community Services

Address

27 Cleaver St
 West Perth

State

WA  6005  Australia

Phone

08 9480 5500     

Email

inreachfamily@ruah.com.au

Fax

08 9227 7879

Program Description

Ruah Inreach Family Service co-works or consult with professional workers/case managers who are working with parents who: 

• Have a diagnosed mental illness.
• Have one or more children from 0-12 years of age.
• Have full custody of their children, or have regular contact.
• Reside within the Gosnells or Armadale area.           

The scope of the funding will allow for work with 10-12 families at any one time. Preference will be given to working with families where the age of the child/ren is under 6 years. It is planned that the service will extend to the Stirling Region in 2003. 

Policy: 

Work with families will be: 

• In-home or in the community.
• Addressing the support needs of the parents which range from practical housekeeping, child care, developmental knowledge, assistance in dealing with the outside world to encouragement to exercise as much responsibility as the condition allows.
• Addressing the needs of the child/ren such as continuity in all aspects of their life, debriefing after frightening or highly emotional incidents, and limits to taking over household responsibilities, developmental opportunities.
• Addressing the needs of both parents and children for information about the situation and the illness, respite, coping strategies and skills.
• Negotiated at worker/family meetings which will be minuted and copies of the Family Service Plan given to all parties.( i.e goals clients want or need to achieve, what needs to be done by whom, in what length of time and to what end)
• Regularly reviewed with a Family Service Review at a negotiated time.
• Flexible, yet provide continuing support to enable parents to sustain their parenting role. 

Strategies: 

Family support strategies include:

• co- working and consultation with case managers and other professionals. • counselling • in-home inreach • liaising with other services locally and state wide. • accessing local recreation or child care services. • children's programs as needed • group work with parents as needed

Evaluation

Action Research - a combination of quantitative and qualitative research with clients and professionals.
Contact us directly for more information.

Evidence

Research and clinical experience (experienced social worker and psychologist working on this team). 

Research indicates that poor family functioning and marital and/or familial conflict have consistently been related to reduced psychological health in children of parents with mental illness (Cowling & Hay, n.d.; Cummings et al., 1995, cited in Devlin & O’Brien, 1999; Emery et al., 1982; Feldman et al., 1987; Rutter & Quinton, 1984; Rutter, 1986, cited in Beardslee et al., 1996; Rutter, 1989;  Sameroff et al., 1984; Werner & Smith, 1982).  In contrast, a stable, supportive family with an effective level of functioning and positive marital relating has been associated with improved psychological health of children (Garmezy, 1987; Quinton & Rutter, 1985, cited in Lancaster, 1999; Rutter, 1987; Rutter, 1989).  The quality of parent-child relationship has also been related to psychological wellbeing in children with mentally ill parents, with a poor relationship being predictive of disturbances in children (Burbach & Borduin, 1986, cited in Pedersen, 1984; Canetti, Bachar, Galil! i-Weisstub,  De-Nour, & Shalev, 1997; Feldman et al., 1987; Kauffman et al., 1979; Radke-Yarrow et al., 1992; Sameroff et al., 1982).  Alternatively, a positive relationship with at least one parent, especially during infancy and early childhood (Rutter, 1971, cited in Rutter, 1985; Rutter, 1978, cited in Rutter, 1987; Werner & Smith, 1982), and specifically a warm and caring relationship with mother (Devlin & O’Brien, 1999), have all been predictive of improved psychological functioning in children.  In addition, involvement with another positive, well adult (Devlin & O’Brien; Feldman et al.; Rutter, 1989; Werner & Smith), positive peer relations, and involvement with a supportive extended social network also appear to protect children from considerable disturbance (Cowling & Hay, n.d.; Garmezy, 1987; Holahan & Moos, 1987; Rutter, 1989; Pellegrini et al., 1986, cited in Devlin & O’Brien).

Recent research has recommended that intervention with these families should include increasing the family’s awareness of the parental psychiatric condition, developing children’s social competency and coping skills, improving family relating, developing a supportive mother-child bond, and providing parenting skill training to mothers with psychiatric ilness (Silverman, 1989; Feldman et al, 1987; Rubovits, 1996; Cohler, Stott, & Musick, 1996).

Other information

Mission Statement:
The Ruah Inreach Families Team dedicates itself to supporting those families in which a parent  has a  mental illness and is raising young  children. We do this because we acknowledge the family to be the best “ natural resource” for all social beings and we understand something of the effects of mental illness on parenting. By partnering families in the parenting process we will acknowledge their strengths and skills, encourage them through difficult times and use our knowledge and skills to help them cope. The manner in which we will work will be respectful, professionally ethical, creative and in the families immediate community.