by Alisa Greenwood | Aug 30, 2024 | Access to Mental Health Services, Child Welfare Competent MH, For Professionals, Mental Health
This Week in the News 8/26-8/30
It was a busy news week for topics related to child welfare and mental health. We read a few articles centered on the continued discussion around the over-reliance of residential treatment, a key issue that many of our partners have identified as well. While we know children fare best with their family or in another home environment, it is often difficult to meet their mental health needs with community-based services. These states are identifying solutions and implementing new programs that can meet the child’s mental health needs in their community rather than a higher level of care:
- California continues to enact safeguards to ensure the safety of youth placed in residential treatment facilities. At the same time, they are taking steps to reduce the use of congregate care. Years ago, Califo ia shifted its approach from traditional group homes to address the longstanding issue of housing children solely due to the inability of local agencies to find more appropriate placements. Group homes are now used as short-term treatment programs. There are currently 339 such programs licensed in Califo ia, serving 1,499 youth, according to an Aug. 21 bill analysis. That number includes 1,182 foster youth and 317 children sent to a facility by a probation department.
- California parents of children on the Autism Spectrum also struggle with accessing mental health services and are often forced to place their child with the child welfare system. Despite the growing diagnosis of Autism, which has been estimated to affect more than 2 million children and teens across the country, experts and advocates have identified glaring gaps in services to meet the mental health needs of this population.
- Ohio is expanding its treatment foster care program, aimed at placing youth in family settings with caregivers trained to handle children facing behavioral, mental, or health challenges. This initiative enables children to remain within their local regions, near their families, schools, and healthcare providers. Additionally, specialized foster homes allow siblings to stay together. Recently, Ohio launched the Treatment Foster Home Pilot program across 34 participating counties grouped into 10 regions. This initiative is proving cost-effective for the state and counties, as treatment foster care costs significantly less — between one-third to one-fifth — compared to congregate care.
- Tulsa, Oklahoma has implemented the Mighty Makers program as a solution to meet the mental health needs of youth in the community. The program is designed to help children ages 5-12 effectively manage their emotions, with the support of their families. One of the standout features of the Mighty Makers program is its accessibility. The program is completely free, eliminating financial obstacles that often hinder families from seeking essential mental health support for their children.
In addition to covering the mental health needs of youth, recent headlines address the needs of both parents and the child welfare workforce who support children and youth:
by Alisa Greenwood | Aug 28, 2024 | Child Welfare Competent MH, Mental Health, Webinars
WEBINAR SERIES:
Suicide Prevention and Lived Experience
Research indicates that youth involved in the child welfare system have higher rates of suicide ideation and attempts than their peers. During September, the National Center presented a 2-part webinar series about what parents, caregivers, and professionals can do to reduce this risk.
Webinar: Suicide Prevention in Child Welfare
Presented: September 17, 2024
Susie (수지) Reynolds Reece, Director of Lived Experience Initiatives with the Suicide Prevention Resource Center, will review suicide risk among child welfare-involved youth, brief interventions to help these youth, and what suicide prevention efforts look like in child welfare systems.
Watch webinar
Webinar: Learning from Those with Lived Experience with Suicide
Presented: September 24, 2024
In this virtual panel discussion, adoptive parents, an adoptee, and a birth parent will share how suicide has impacted their lives and what we can learn from their experiences.
Watch webinar
by Alisa Greenwood | Aug 27, 2024 | Access to Mental Health Services, For Professionals, Mental Health
Rady Children’s Successfully Reduces Frequency of Emergency Mental Health Visits
Written by Erin Bader
A recent article has highlighted a California approach to meeting the mental health needs of children before they reach a crisis point. According to the article from the Chief Healthcare Executive, Rady Children Hospital in San Diego has seen a recent decrease in children coming into the Emergency Department for mental health needs after the hospital started placing mental health providers in primary care clinics. To date, Rady Children’s has seen a 40% reduction in mental health visits to the emergency department. The system has also reported a 44% decline in anxiety symptoms and a 62% drop in depression symptoms. “The difficult truth is that children and adolescents often do not receive mental health care when they need it,” Domonique Hensler, senior director of systemwide Care at Rady Children’s, and a co-author of the study, said in a statement. “The need for effective, accessible treatment is more pressing than ever,” Hensler said. “Our interdisciplinary, team-based approach to pediatric mental health care has been shown to be efficacious, accessible, and cost-effective.”
A recent Children’s Hospital Association survey found almost all pediatric hospitals (94%) said they have seen an increase in the number of children and teens requiring mental health services. More than half of children’s hospitals (58%) surveyed said they are conce ed about a lack of mental health resources to care for those patients. The number of young people visiting emergency departments for mental health reasons rose from 4.8 million in 2011 to 7.5 million in 2020, according to a study published by the Jou al of the American Medical Association.
The National Center can help your State, Tribe, or territory to build this type of cross-system collaboration through intensive technical assistance. To lea more about this practice and the research findings, you can read the full article on the Knowledge Hub.
by Alisa Greenwood | Aug 27, 2024 | Access to Mental Health Services, Mental Health
New Research by Children’s Hospital Los Angeles Reveals Nationwide Gaps in Pediatric Psychiatric Care
Written by Erin Bader A new study led by Children’s Hospital Los Angeles evaluated the pediatric inpatient psychiatric capacity. Key research findings between 2017 to 2020 show:
- This national study found no significant increase in the availability of inpatient pediatric psychiatric beds since 2017
- A child’s access to pediatric inpatient psychiatric beds varies widely by state—from zero pediatric inpatient psychiatric beds in Alaska to 75 beds per 100,000 children in Arkansas
- Almost 89% of hospitals with inpatient pediatric psychiatric beds were located in cities—meaning kids in rural areas have to travel long distances to receive care
- About half of inpatient pediatric psychiatric beds were in free-standing psychiatric hospitals
- 17% of inpatient pediatric psychiatric beds were in children’s psychiatric hospitals
- 23% of inpatient pediatric psychiatric beds were in hospitals specializing in pediatric care
These findings validate the need for creative solutions to ensure that children have access to the mental health services they need. The study author, Anna Cushing, MD, an attending physician in the Division of Emergency and Transport Medicine at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles, says “We’re seeing a greater need for mental health services for children nationwide, and children increasingly having to wait in the emergency room for long periods of time because there are not enough inpatient psychiatric beds available,” Cushing said. “All children should have access to high-quality mental healthcare regardless of where they live, their household income or their background.” The National Center shares Dr. Cushing’s mission. We will work with States, Tribes, and territories to build sustainable cross-system collaborations to improve accessibility and availability to competent mental health services.
To read the full article, New Research by Children’s Hospital Los Angeles | Newswise. Visit the Knowledge Hub to access the study findings report.
by Alisa Greenwood | Aug 16, 2024 | Adoption Competent Services>Trauma-Informed Care, Child Welfare Competent MH>Adoption Competent Services, Parenting
Child-Parent Therapy Has Biological Benefits for Traumatized Kids
Written by Erin Bader
A recent University of California-San Francisco study finds that Child-Parent Psychotherapy may slow down biological aging and prevent serious disease in children who have experienced trauma. According to ACES research, traumatic experiences can have lasting effects on health and well-being in childhood and well into adulthood. The 45 children who received therapy as part of the UCSF study had less age acceleration than the 110 who didn’t. “These findings bolster the case for making sure families who experience trauma and stress can access child-parent therapies, in order to improve mental and physical health,” said Bush, the Lisa and John Pritzker Distinguished Professor of Developmental and Behavioral Health.
This study helps to support the case for adoption competent mental health services for children with child welfare experience. Adoption competent mental health professionals understand that family-based, attachment-focused approaches are necessary in addressing the critical issues of trauma and attachment. They also acknowledge the vital role of parents in facilitating the child’s healing and supporting them by strengthening their capacity for therapeutic parenting and for communicative openness related to adoption.
To learn more about adoption competence and the National Center for Adoption Competent Mental Health Services, visit our website.
