Do professionals ask about children when establishing a collaborative individual plan for clients? A cross-sectional study.

Aim: To examine the extent to which structured action plans, i.e. collaborative individual plans (CIPs), used by professionals within the psychiatric care, substance use treatment services and social services, evaluate if clients have children, and if professionals take actions if clients do have children. According to Swedish law, a CIP should be established when a client is in need of care from more than one branch of the care network. Professionals who meet adult clients have the opportunity to identify children at risk. Including a question in the CIP on whether a client has a child is a good approach to identify children in need of support.Methods: Cross-sectional data from professionals were collected prior to attending a three-day CIP course. A total of 705 individuals (n = 797 invited) responded to the questionnaire.Results: More than 90% reported that they meet clients for whom a CIP should be established, and 52.6% of these (n = 346) were aware of an existing CIP template within their organization. Approximately 30% (n = 203) reported that this template included an item on whether the client has one or more children. Of these, a majority reported ensuring that the children receive adequate care (83.3%, n = 169), and that they follow up on the receipt of such care (62.6%, n = 125).Conclusions: The care network needs to implement CIPs to a higher degree, and CIP templates need to include items about the clients' children to ensure that children at risk are identified and thereby can receive adequate support.