[A cooperative project in the district of Mettmann: preventive assistance for mentally ill parents and their children]. / Multiinstitutionelles Kooperationsprojekt im Kreis Mettmann: Präventive Hilfen für psychisch kranke Eltern und ihre Kinder.

Mentally ill parents are impaired in their ability to care for their children. To support the affected families from the perspective of the parents and the children alike a close cooperation between the institutions of psychiatry and child-welfare is of utmost importance. In the district of Mettmann a cooperation agreement was concluded to realize a cross-system concept to care for the families with mentally ill parents. To prevent children from developing psychiatric disorders the taboo of the psychiatric diseases has to be overcome, an early diagnostic clarification to be reached, and multiinstitutional help to be implemented. In the article the experience in dealing with the affected families in a multidisciplinary context is described.