Artículo 16 – Construyendo la infancia: casa verde, un proyecto de prevención, apoyo y seguimiento para hijos de personas con trastorno mental o inestabilidad emocional.

CONCLUSIONES: El Programa CASA VERDE ha puesto de manifiesto la capacidad de las personas con diagnósticos psiquiátricos severos para cuidar de forma adecuada a sus hijos, desde el embarazo hasta los 5 años, siempre que ellos puedan ser cuidados y apoyados cuando lo necesitan, igual que nos ocurre a cualquiera de nosotros.

BUILDING INFANCY: CASA VERDE, A PROJECT FOR THE PREVENTION, SUPPORT AND FOLLOW-UP OF CHILDREN OF PEOPLE WITH A MENTAL DISORDER OR EMOTIONAL INSTABILITY

ABSTRACT

OBJECTIVES: Since 2011 the CASA VERDE project of Fundacion Manantial (Madrid, Spain) supports parents with Mental Disorders to help them perform their parental roles from the antenatal period to the age of 5 years while also ascertaining the children’s adequate developmental progress.

METHOD: The research done by Fundacion Manantial working with Madrid’s Complutense University, conducted by Muñoz and Panadero in 2010, showed that up to 43% of parents suffering from a severe Mental Disorder lost the custody of their children. This justified the need for a project like CASA VERDE.

The main interventions with parents and children are described including the evidence supporting those interventions and also the assessment tools and checks of the children’s developmental progress.

RESULTS: After 9 years of working with 118 families with one or two parents suffering from psychosis, personality disorder, depression, maladaptive behaviour, etc., only one family lost the children’s custody as opposed to the 43% of families losing custody in the Complutense University’s study.

CONCLUSIONS: The CASA VERDE programme has shown that people with severe mental disorders can rear children from the antenatal period to the age of 5 years as long as they are cared for and supported when they need it in the same way that parents with no mental health problems would be.