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Beth Chadwick Paper
Measuring the mental health status of Georgia's minor
children is difficult. When viewed from the perspective of emotional
wellbeing, however, we can analyze the following situations.
· In 2001, 33 children committed suicide.
· Over 75,000 children were reported abused or neglected in Georgia.
· Over 12,000 children are in the custody of the State because of abuse
and neglect.
· Over 50,000 children will find their way into the juvenile justice
system.
· Nearly 35% of all youth will never graduate from high school.
· 10% of our children are not in school and not working.
· Alcohol and substance abuse continues to be a big problem among
teenagers and young adults.
· The 2003 Kid Count Data Book ranks Georgia 41st in it care of its
children when compared to other states according to several measures.
These measures do not speak well of the mental health of
many of Georgia's children.
What can be done to address these concerns? Childhood mental health
must be addressed in a coordinated fashion by the system the cares for the
wellbeing of our children in the home, community, schools, child welfare
agencies and public health organizations. Georgia has taken
some important steps in moving toward a system that can address the
realities children face. One important finding of the Governor's Action
Group for Safe Children is that "Georgia, like most states, does not have
a coordinated multi-disciplinary approach to child protection in which the
roles of the Division of Family and Children Services [DFCS], law
enforcement, the juvenile courts, mental health, juvenile justice, public
health departments, schools, health care institutions,
and non-governmental partners are clearly defined to ensure consistency of
philosophy, approach and the availability of effective service throughout
Georgia's 159 counties."
In response to this finding, the Action Group recommended that Georgia
explore other options for managing children's services, including mental
health services. Mental health services must be coordinated with other
childcare agencies, communities and families where children live. Joint
planning, fiscal management, and innovative approaches would characterize
such a system. Only through such a coordinated approach can Georgia
succeed in successfully meeting the mental health needs of children.
Georgia's leadership presently is exploring ways in which this can be a
reality.
Bulleted talking points follow:
There must be a clear state vision to create a system for children's
mental health which lays out a well-defined multi-year plan to build
capacity.
> There must be created a Children's Cabinet accountable to the Governor
which is authorized and charged with insuring that all services AND
budgets for child-serving systems are compatible, mutually supportive,
nonduplicative and make the best coordinated use of
available resources for children. The cabinet will have authority to look
at flexible and pooled funding opportunities. This cabinet shall also have
authority to evaluate the responsiveness of these state agencies against
identifed goals and outcomes.
> There must be clear and appropriate assessment of all children and youth
entering care, or identified as being at risk of entering care, to guide
the development of a responsive case plan, and placement if necessary.
> Data systems for children and youth must be upgraded and automated, with
capacity to share critical information across agency lines.
> Common assessment components shared by agencies should include
information on :
* Safety { the child's and community's}
* Risk Factors
* Resources {strengths}, and
* Family dynamics
> Funding must be consistently available to a child regardless of the
agency responsible for the child.
> Caseloads must be reduced to meet the standards of the Child Welfare
League of America.
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