Description
The stakes are undeniably high when it comes to deciding whether a mother with mental illness can raise her child in a safe, nurturing environment. Now, mental health professionals will have sound assessment strategies—refined over 10 years of study—that fairly evaluate the parenting competency of mothers with a wide range of mental illnesses, from "baby blues" to schizophrenia.
Going beyond measuring only the mother's degree of mental illness, the safety of the environment, or the rate of child development, this groundbreaking resource integrates multiple approaches so that professionals understand the full picture of parenting competency.
Mental health professionals will
- Assess with confidence. This program is backed by more than 10 years of refinement and testing, and has been shown to produce superior evaluations.
- Accurately profile parenting strengths and weaknesses with state-of-the-art methodology.
- Enhance every part of their parenting evaluation process, including interviews and observations, home visits, report writing, sharing results with the family, and testifying in court.
- Discover the eight critical principles for ensuring that an assessment is sound.
- Learn about available assessment instruments and get guidance on when to use each.
- Limit bias by recognizing factors that can influence assessment results, such as cultural differences and high stress levels of parent and child.
- Get keen insight into life with mental illness through the compelling stories of mothers and children.
With this much-needed resource, psychologists, social workers, nurses, and child welfare professionals will be primed to conduct more accurate assessments, make informed decisions, build stronger mother–child relationships, and facilitate family preservation whenever possible.
Reviews
Review: Families in Society: The Journal of Contemporary Social Services
"The book emphasizes the importance of assessing parenting directly and the reality that mental illness affects parenting behavior versus focusing on the mental illness. This point is extremely important, often overlooked, and an excellent contribution of the book."
Review: Book News, Inc.
http://www.booknews.com/sci_issues/sci_mar2008/brookes1.html
Review by: Denise Kane, Inspector General, Illinois Department of Children and Family Services
"An indispensable reference . . . should be required reading for child welfare, mental health, and legal professionals who serve the children and families of our child protection courts."
Review by: Meghan Kirshbaum, Founder & Executive Director, Through the Looking Glass
"An invaluable resource for practitioners involved with mothers with mental illness and their children."
Review by: Joanne Nicholson, Professor of Psychiatry, Licensed Psychologist Provider, Center for Mental Health Services Research; Department of Psychiatry, University of Massachusetts Medical School
"An essential guide, drawing from an extensive review of the scientific literature, exhaustive consideration of relevant assessment tools and strategies, and years of research and clinical practice."
Review by: Cindy Lederman, Presiding Judge, Miami-Dade Juvenile Court
"What we can learn about the parent, the child, and the relationship with the help of Dr. Ostler's work can form the basis of individual case plans that can provide the case specific interventions we need to provide the best chance of keeping the family together."
Table of Contents
About the Author
Contributors
Foreword: Patrick Tolan
Acknowledgments
- Assessing Parenting in Mothers with Mental Illness: A Daunting Task
- Mental Illness: Types and Effects on Parenting
- Guidelines for Assessment
- The Assessment Process
- Assessing Caregiving Capabilities
- The Psychiatric Evaluation
- Social and Environmental Influences
Heather Hasslinger
- Childrens Perspectives and Needs
- Growing Up Crazy
Niki Grajewski
References
Appendix AInstruments for Assessing Risk of Child Maltreatment
Appendix BResources for Clinicians
Index