Mental health nurse 'child risk'

Mental health nurses play a key role in assessing parenting abilities

Children may be being put at risk because nurses carrying out assessments on mothers with mental illnesses do not have enough training, an expert says.

Mental health nurses are often asked to assess the parenting capabilities of mothers with serious conditions such as schizophrenia and bipolar disorder.

But Sarah Rutherford, from Manchester Metropolitan University, said they did not get enough guidance or training.

She called for a thorough review of practices across the UK.

Ms Rutherford, a registered mental health nurse herself, analysed the policies in place and 30 previous pieces of research on the issue, the Journal of Psychiatric and Mental Health Nursing reported.

We do not know if children are being put at risk either emotionally or physically Sarah Rutherford, of Manchester Metropolitan University

She said developments in treatment meant many mothers were being allowed to care for their children while receiving care for serious mental health problems.

Some studies showed that as many as four in five of mothers under psychiatric care were still involved in bringing up their children.

Ms Rutherford said: "It used to be the case that children were taken away from mothers with serious mental health problems.

"Now, this is not the case and that is a good thing because children are often better off with their parents.

"But we do not know if children are being put at risk either emotionally or physically."

Responsibilities

It is up to mental health nurses to flag up to social services where an individual's illness may compromise their child-caring responsibilities.

But Ms Rutherford said there was no specific guidance from government about how this assessment should be carried out.

And she said while the nurses get training about child protection, there was nothing about judging parenting abilities.

She has called for an audit of the way parenting capacity is currently being assessed, follow-up studies on mothers who have been through the system and improved training.

A Department of Health spokesperson said: "Mental health nurses do receive training in the assessment of mental health and in addition work closely with specialist social workers in multidisciplinary teams to support people with mental health problems."