Children of parents with mental health problems or an addiction have more health risk factors
Children of parents with mental illness (COPMI) and children of parents with an addiction (CPA) are two to three times as likely to suffer from mental health problems or an addiction than children without a parent with mental health problems or an addiction. The risk of child abuse among this group is two to three times as high. Research shows that many of these children take on the role of parent (parentification), do not bring friends home, have feelings of shame and guilt, neglect themselves, have limited skills to deal with the situation and miss school (Trimbos, 2016).