MHANYS - Community Connections, Fall 2002

Protecting a Parent’s Rights
By Rue Zalia Watkins, Director, Manhattan Parent Resource Center, MHA of NYC

All parents need help! In the best of circumstances many parents need the help of a mentor, a relative, a school counselor and often a therapist to help their children resolve behavioral difficulties or emotional disorders.

For parents who have psychiatric disorders, some of the same global issues and needs arise. For these parents, however, there is so much more to be considered and addressed, the most pronounced being the effect of discrimination on their lives and those of their children.

Imagine not being able to participate in your child's educational planning because you have asthma, or consider having your parental rights terminated because you are a diabetic. For many these seem like foolish possibilities, but many parents with psychiatric disorders face these battles daily. For any agency serving parents, respect and the belief that needing help is normal for all parents are the cornerstones required to build a foundation for lasting family stability.

To provide services for these parents, and keep their families together, here are a few strategies that have proven successful:

Create family case management structures that include 24 hour access in case of an emergency;
Provide therapeutic services to all family members, as needed, including in-home services;
Develop professional training for all staff persons working with families to ensure a strength based approach to service delivery;
Assign qualified parent advocates to each parent to accompany them and assist them with family case managers and assist parents with schools, social services agencies and family courts;
Ensure that the family has well trained and consistent respite care services for the children, including emergency coverage in case the parent needs emergency care;
Search for additional funding to provide assistance with lessons, camps and other specialized items for the children;
Connect parents to support groups to ensure that they have another vehicle for expression and social interaction.

For many families life skills and parenting, as well as finding housing, community resources and recreational activities for the children, are challenging. For parents with mental illness, these same challenges exist. However, failure to demonstrate proficiency in any of these areas in combination with a psychiatric disorder can swiftly lead to processes to terminate their parental rights. It is crucial that a two-strand approach be developed to protect families and prevent this common trend. First, your agency must identify several lawyers who work with families to restore their parental rights. These lawyers will be more proficient at preventing termination of rights. These lawyers can be found in some community-based legal aide offices or you can check with legal advocacy groups in your area or check the Bar Association which has a web site in New York State.

The best way to prevent a violation of parental rights is through training and education. Parents with psychiatric disorders who are given specific, in depth training on running a household, budgeting, parenting, understanding the school system, parental rights, patient's bill of rights, as well as service delivery systems and foster care laws, are more capable of providing for their children and preventing problems because they know the ground rules of their systems. Education programs such as these should be delivered in comfortable environments, with user friendly materials and adequate time for processing the information to ensure usage.

The health and survival of the families that you serve is contingent upon the array of services that you provide and the education mechanisms that you create. It may seem like a lot to do, but you already have a head start, because you care. The price of protecting parent's rights may be costly but the union between parent and child remains priceless.