Children of mentally ill parents. Also a topic in the context of child protection

BackgroundSevere mental illness in parents increases the risk of neglect, physical and sexual abuse (adverse childhood experiences, ACE) of children.ObjectivePresentation of the current situation of child protection issues in psychiatric care in Germany and the derivation of needs and potential solution strategies.Material and methodsBased on aselective literature search, the needs and the current situation in Germany are presented and potential solution strategies are pointed out. The analysis is supplemented by adescriptive evaluation of specific consultation requests to the medical child protection hotline, which were descriptively evaluated and served as astarting point for the selective literature search. ResultsDespite the well-known comprehensive influence of mental illnesses of parents on their children, psychiatric patients have not yet been systematically registered regarding whether they have to care for underage children. There is a lack of systematic and comprehensive support for families at risk. Of all calls to the project medical child protection hotline, calls from the field of adult psychiatry and psychosomatics make up by far the highest proportion from the field of adult medicine. Conclusion An increased awareness of child protection issues is necessary in the field of adult psychiatric treatment. Systematic counselling services for acute cases and also networking and structured cooperation with other medical fields, such as child and youth psychiatry, pediatrics and child and youth welfare should be addressed.