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Aims and MethodTo provide multiple estimates of the numbers of Australian and Victorian families and children living in families where a parent has had a mental illness. We used the Australian Bureau of Statistics Victorian Mental Health Branch service usage and data collected from 701 community participants to triangulate prevalence information.ResultsAccording to population estimates, 23.3% of all children in Australia have a parent with a non-substance mental illness, 20.4% of mental health service users have dependent children and 14.4% of the community study participants report having at least one parent with a mental illness.Clinical ImplicationsThe multiple prevalence estimates of the numbers of children in families with parental mental illness provide fundamental information for psychiatric policy, planning and programming.