Abstract
Some clinicians consider children whose parents have a mental illness to be a relatively homogeneous group, with the same needs and issues (Steer et al., 2011). The consequence of such an assumption is that youth are then grouped together and provided with the same intervention, such as peer support groups (Reupert et al., 2012). Grouping children together for the purposes of intervention may or may not be appropriate. However, we know that the risk exposure for children is not uniform; instead there are multiple influences that affect children’s developmental outcomes, influences from within them, and from their parents, their family, and the community in which they live and the services they have access to. This chapter will consider whether, and in what way, a parent's mental illness diagnosis may affect children's well-being and mental health. Such information is important to identify the children at greatest risk of adverse outcomes, ensure that intervention goals meet the needs of participants, and ensure that appropriate participants are selected for different interventions. Moreover, such information may also allow us to consider whether a public health approach is needed for all children whose parents have a mental illness and whether specific programs are needed for different groups of children, using a specific eligibility criterion such as their parent's mental illness diagnosis.
