Children in Care—the Association With Mental Disorder in the Parents

Abstract

A study was made of 31 families of children who had stayed in care for at least 12 months, and of 26 families (coming from the same district) with children who had been in care for up to three months. Information about the parents′ mental health was obtained from social work records, psychiatric records and interviews with the parents. The parents of children in care for the longer period were more likely to have received psychiatric treatment and appeared to suffer from more severe or longstanding disorders, as evidenced by admissions into psychiatric hospital and type of psychiatric diagnosis. However our most striking finding was the high rate of past and current psychiatric disorder in the total sample of parents; this appeared to be an important factor influencing children′s admissions into, and discharge from, care.