Parents living with mental illness or co-occurring mental health and substance abuse disorders face the same challenges that all parents face:

They also face challenges specific to their illness:

• medication,
• hospitalization,
• relationships with helpers,
• and stigma, including the belief that people with mental illness should not have or raise children. 

Families in which a parent has a mental illness or co-occurring disorders often have unmet service needs that can lead to family instability and disruption. 

Service systems may view adults with mental illness or co-occurring disorders in complete isolation of their children, and thus are not providing comprehensive, integrated services that could enhance family stability and self-determination.  To service providers, the children of parents with mental illness or co-occurring disorders are often “invisible.”

Invisible Children
Project Overview Project Information Project Sites Resources Services Outcomes
Strengthening Families Fact Sheets
	Recognizing Postpartum Depression*
	Positive Parenting*
	Effective Discipline Techniques for Parents: Alternatives to Spanking*
	Issues And Challenges*
	Child Custody Issues *
	From Risk To Resiliency: Protective Factors For Children *
	Serious Mental Illness And Parenting *
	Interventions And Services For Families *
	The Invisible Children's Project: An Example Of A Promising Program *
	Steps Toward Evidence-Based Practices for Parents with Mental Illness and their Families*
	The Invisible Children’s Project: A Family-Centered Intervention for Parents with Mental Illness*
	Critical Issues for Parents with Mental Illness and their Families*
	Resource List: Funding the Invisible Children’s Project*

* Adobe Acrobat required