Helping Parentified Children
A Guide For Counselors
Linkages to Community Supports
Parentification occurs more often in lower socioeconomic households and marginalized communities. One of the reasons parentification occurs is that they have fewer and less accessible resources. It is important to not only work on the mental health of the child, but to also offer concrete, practical assistance via linkages to resources. Help parents navigate the federal and local government websites for assistance. This can be a daunting task to do on their own. Some examples of linkages may include:
9
Women, Infants, and Children programs (WIC)
Reduced childcare programs
Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP)
Free and/or reduced school lunch programs
Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP)
Federally Qualified Health Centers (FQHCs)
Housing/Renal Assistance Programs
Reduced utilities cost programs
Free/reduced cost transportation services to appointments and/or grocery shopping
Final Thoughts
It is important to be able to hold space for these families to share their thoughts, fears, anger, and hurt. In order to do this safely, they will need to feel unjudged. It is important for you to be attuned to your own possible countertransference. It is common for people who have had to assume caregiving roles to gravitate towards helping professions. Knowing what to do from a psychoeducational perspective is just one part of the work that we do. The other part is staying attuned to how your use of self can hurt or help the healing process for your clients. Not all parentified children will have mental health or behavioral struggles, and some will develop resilience. With the proper supports, they and their family can navigate a chaotic landscape, emerging more resilient than before, with an end result of the child being heard and seen.
11
6
Returning to Casey: Interventions
Llinkages to community resources such as access to food pantries and programs which lowered utility services were made. Additionally, through the re-connections to family members and friends, Casey’s mother was able to ask other adult family members to help watch Casey and her younger brother at times so that it would not always fall on Casey to be the forever caregiver.
We have reached the end of Casey's story. In reviewing her case, how would you approach her case if she showed up at your office?
What would be the MOST effective way to intervene?
1) Teach anixety management skills to Casey so that she can emotionally regulate.
2) Have family sessions to help Casey and her mother communicate more effectively.
3) Link the family to resources as they clearly need more support.
4) All of the above and then some.
Technically, you are not wrong if you chose any of the first three options. However, know that you may be working on the symptoms and not the root if you chose only one of them. To work in a more comoprehensive manner, it will be most effective to do all three.