Fractured families, fractured systems: overcoming the silo mentality in family justice work

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 27-40
Author(s):  
Amita Sehgal
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Justice System ◽  
Child Outcomes ◽  
Parental Conflict ◽  
Family Structures ◽  
Adult Mental Health ◽  
The Family ◽  
Hostile Parenting ◽  
Professional Systems

This article comments on the detrimental effects of inter-parental conflict, hostile parenting, and acrimonious divorce proceedings in terms of child outcomes, adult mental health, and quantifiable costs to the taxpayer. It refers to the growing concern that fragmentation within the family justice system works against supporting families through change. It draws upon the research conducted over many years by Tavistock Relationships in understanding the connection between family structures and professional systems, and suggests inter-agency collaboration as one way of mitigating obstacles. It puts forward the idea of developing cross-discipline consultative groups as a way of integrating services within the family justice system, and presents an example where this model has been informally trialled with some success.

scholarly journals Family Group Conferences as a Shared Decision-Making Strategy in Adults Mental Health Work

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shulamit Ramon
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Decision Making ◽  
Shared Decision Making ◽  
Child Protection ◽  
Implementation Process ◽  
Family Group ◽  
Shared Decision ◽  
Implementation Phase ◽  
Adult Mental Health ◽  
The Family

Family Group conferences (FGC) provide a system by which a client and their family reach jointly key intervention decisions, from a number of options proposed by professionals. The system originated in child protection social work.Conceptually FGC is based on the assumption that the family is potentially a supportive social system for an individual with a variety of difficulties, including mental ill health. Reaching a family network agreement can lead to long term positive outcomes in self-confidence and social relationships. This strategy of shared decision making (SDM) can re-unite the family around the client's needs and wishes. It fits well the strengths based and the recovery-oriented approaches to mental ill health.Methodologically, this article provides a narrative review of existing empirical research about FGC in the context of adult mental health. In addition, two community case studies consisting of videos of a mother experiencing mental ill health and a daughter are analysed in terms of their subjective experience of the FGCs they were involved in, and looks at both the process and the outcomes of FGCs.The key findings demonstrate a high level of satisfaction from participating in the FGC meeting, while the evidence pertaining to the outcomes is inconclusive. Only very few systematic review studies, or comparative studies of different approaches to family decision making, exist, and there are no studies which offer cost effectiveness analysis.Discussion: The observed gap between the satisfaction from the process of FGC by the participants vs. the inconclusive outcomes relates to the implementation phase, in which the decisions made by the family are tested. Evaluating FGC processes and outcomes is complex. A systematic and comprehensive research of the implementation process is missing at this stage.In conclusion, FGC is a promising strategy of SDM in adult mental health. The research evidence indicates the need for further exploration of its implementation process, evaluative methodology and methods.

Mental Health of War-Affected Youth in Two Conflicts: The Role of the Family, Community and Classroom

2008 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ivelina Borisova ◽  
Theresa Betancourt ◽  
Wietse Tol ◽  
Ivan Komproe ◽  
Mark Jordans ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
The Family

Where is the family in global mental health?

2018 ◽  
Vol 36 (2) ◽  
pp. 144-147 ◽  
Author(s):  
James L. Griffith ◽  
Jessica Keane
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Global Mental Health ◽  
The Family

scholarly journals Income disparity in school readiness and the mediating role of perinatal maternal mental health: a longitudinal birth cohort study

2021 ◽  
Vol 30 ◽  
Author(s):  
E. C. Law ◽  
R. Aishworiya ◽  
S. Cai ◽  
A.-A. Bouvette-Turcot ◽  
B. F. P. Broekman ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
School Readiness ◽  
Birth Cohort ◽  
Growth Curve ◽  
Household Income ◽  
Repeated Measures ◽  
Maternal Mental Health ◽  
Child Outcomes ◽  
Readiness Skills ◽  
Pregnant Mothers

Abstract Aims There is compelling evidence for gradient effects of household income on school readiness. Potential mechanisms are described, yet the growth curve trajectory of maternal mental health in a child's early life has not been thoroughly investigated. We aimed to examine the relationships between household incomes, maternal mental health trajectories from antenatal to the postnatal period, and school readiness. Methods Prospective data from 505 mother–child dyads in a birth cohort in Singapore were used, including household income, repeated measures of maternal mental health from pregnancy to 2-years postpartum, and a range of child behavioural, socio-emotional and cognitive outcomes from 2 to 6 years of age. Antenatal mental health and its trajectory were tested as mediators in the latent growth curve models. Results Household income was a robust predictor of antenatal maternal mental health and all child outcomes. Between children from the bottom and top household income quartiles, four dimensions of school readiness skills differed by a range of 0.52 (95% Cl: 0.23, 0.67) to 1.21 s.d. (95% CI: 1.02, 1.40). Thirty-eight percent of pregnant mothers in this cohort were found to have perinatal depressive and anxiety symptoms in the subclinical and clinical ranges. Poorer school readiness skills were found in children of these mothers when compared to those of mothers with little or no symptoms. After adjustment of unmeasured confounding on the indirect effect, antenatal maternal mental health provided a robust mediating path between household income and multiple school readiness outcomes (χ2 126.05, df 63, p < 0.001; RMSEA = 0.031, CFI = 0.980, SRMR = 0.034). Conclusions Pregnant mothers with mental health symptoms, particularly those from economically-challenged households, are potential targets for intervention to level the playing field of their children.

Fuel to the fire: The escalating interplay of attachment and maltreatment in the transgenerational transmission of psychopathology in families living in refugee camps

2020 ◽  
pp. 1-14
Author(s):  
Florian Scharpf ◽  
Getrude Mkinga ◽  
Frank Neuner ◽  
Maregesi Machumu ◽  
Tobias Hecker
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Structural Equation ◽  
Child Psychopathology ◽  
Child Outcomes ◽  
Parental Psychopathology ◽  
Insecure Attachment ◽  
Model Fit ◽  
Equation Modeling ◽  
Refugee Camps ◽  
Attachment Representations

Abstract Maltreatment by parents can be conceptualized as pathogenic escalations of a disturbed parent–child relationship that have devastating consequences for children's development and mental health. Although parental psychopathology has been shown to be a risk factor both for maltreatment and insecure attachment representations, these factors` joint contribution to child psychopathology has not been investigated. In a sample of Burundian refugee families living in refugee camps in Western Tanzania, the associations between attachment representations, maltreatment, and psychopathology were examined by conducting structured interviews with 226 children aged 7 to 15 and both their parents. Structural equation modeling revealed that children's insecure attachment representations and maltreatment by mothers fully mediated the relation between maternal and child psychopathology [model fit: comparative fit index (CFI) = 0.96; root mean square error of approximation (RMSEA) = 0.05]. A direct association between paternal and child psychopathology was observed (model fit: CFI = 0.96; RMSEA = 0.05). The findings suggest a vicious cycle, wherein an insecure attachment to a mother suffering from psychopathology may be linked to children's risk to be maltreated, which may reinforce insecure representations and perpetuate the pathogenic relational experience. Interventions targeting the attachment relationship and parental mental health may prevent negative child outcomes.

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