Some papers:

Soc Work Health Care. 2010;49(7):630-46. doi: 10.1080/00981380903364791.

"Knowledge is power": educating children about their parent's mental illness.

Reupert AE, Maybery D.

Contemp Nurse. 2004 Dec-2005 Jan;18(1-2):67-80.

Addressing the needs of children of parents with a mental illness: current approaches.

Foster K, O'Brien L, McAllister M.

Developing resilient children and families when parents have mental illness: a family-focused approach.Foster K, O'Brien L, Korhonen T. Int J Ment Health Nurs. 2012 Feb; 21(1):3-11. Epub 2011 Jun 22.

The research group from the Orygen Youth Health Research Centre, Melbourne School of Population and Global Health, University of Melbourne did some excellent research in this field.

• Jorm AF, Wright A. (2007). Beliefs of young people and their parents about the effectiveness of interventions for mental disorders. Aust N Z J Psychiatry. 41(8):656-66. [PMID: 17620162].
• Jorm AF, Wright A, Morgan AJ. (2007). Where to seek help for a mental disorder? National survey of the beliefs of Australian youth and their parents. Med J Aust. ;187(10):556-60. [PMID: 18021042].
• Fischer JA, Kelly CM, Kitchener BA, Jorm AF. (2013). Development of Guidelines for Adults on How to Communicate With Adolescents About Mental Health Problems and Other Sensitive Topics. A Delphi Study. SAGE Open October 1, 2013 3: 2158244013516769 [DOI: 10.1177/2158244013516769]
• Morgan AJ, Reavley NJ, Jorm AF. (2014). Beliefs about mental disorder treatment and prognosis: comparison of health professionals with the Australian public. Aust N Z J Psychiatry. 48(5):442-51.
• Reavley NJ, Jorm AF. (2014). Associations between beliefs about the causes of mental disorders and stigmatising attitudes: Results of a national survey of the Australian public. Aust N Z J Psychiatry. 48(8):764-771.

See and contact Prof Anthony F Jorm for more information.

http://www.findanexpert.unimelb.edu.au/display/person60295

http://www.findanexpert.unimelb.edu.au/display/person60295#publications

https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Anthony_Jorm

Some suggested literature, would also be interesting to look at the narrative component from a child's perspective with mental illness:

• Potokar, D. N., Stein, C. H., Darrah, O. A., Taylor, B. C., & Sponheim, S. R. (2012). Knowledge and attitudes about personalized mental health genomics: Narratives from individuals coping with serious mental illness. Community Mental Health Journal, 48(5), 584-591. doi:10.1007/s10597-011-9400-2
• Van Loon, Linda M. A, Van de Ven, Monique O. M, Van Doesum, Karin T. M, Witteman, C. L. M., & Hosman, C. M. H. (2014). The relation between parental mental illness and adolescent mental health: The role of family factors. Journal of Child and Family Studies, 23(7), 1201-1214. doi:10.1007/s10826-013-9781-7
• Diareme, S., Tsiantis, J., Romer, G., Tsalamanios, E., Anasontzi, S., Paliokosta, E., & Kolaitis, G. (2007). Mental health support for children of parents with somatic illness: A review of the theory and intervention concepts. Families, Systems, & Health, 25(1), 98-118. doi:10.1037/1091-7527.25.1.98
• Gelkopf, M., & Jabotaro, S. E. (2013). Parenting style, competence, social network and attachment in mothers with mental illness. Child & Family Social Work, 18(4), 496-503. doi:10.1111/j.1365-2206.2012.00874.x
• Johansson, A., Andershed, B., & Anderzen-Carlsson, A. (2014). Conceptions of mental health care--from the perspective of parents' of adult children suffering from mental illness. Scandinavian Journal of Caring Sciences, 28(3), 496-504. doi:10.1111/scs.12074

Hope these help and look forward to your posts.

Stuart

hi

you might find the following of interest:

Reupert, A., & Maybery, D. (2010). “Knowledge is power”: Educating children about their parent’s mental illness. Social Work in Health Care, 49(7), 630-646. 

I have also written a book chapter with Rose Cuff and Darryl Maybery titled "helping children understand their parent's mental illness".  It is due to be published in May 2015 in the third edition of the Cambridge University Press publication, Parental Psychiatric Disorder: Distressed Parents and their Families.   

Another useful paper might be:

Grove, C., Reupert, A., & Maybery, D. (in press).  Gaining knowledge about parental mental illness: how does it empower children?  Child & Family Social Work. Accepted 1st  July, 2013. 

Others also include:

Ueno, R., and Kamibeppu, K. (2012).  Perspectives of Japanese mothers with severe mental illness regarding the disclosure of their mental health status to their children.  Archives of Psychiatric Nursing, 26(5), 392-403.

Focht, L., and  Beardslee, W. (1996).  ‘Speech after long silence’: The use of narrative therapy in a preventive intervention for children of parents with affective disorder.  Family Process, 35, 407-422.

Beardslee, W.R., and  Podorefsky, M.A. (1988). Resilient adolescents whose parents have serious affective and other psychiatric disorders: Importance of self-understanding and relationships. Psychiatry, 145(1), 63–69.

All of the above highlight the need for children to understand their parent's illness and strategies and approaches to promote this understanding.  Hope these help.