A Historical Perspective on National Child Mental Health Policy

Abstract

This country has never had a formalized child mental health policy, if one uses the definition of child men tal health policy as the existence of governmental commitment to ensure the availability of appropriate mental health services to children (birth-21 years) and their families. Over the past century, the field of children's mental health has borrowed policy from child welfare, juvenile justice, special education, and adult mental health, but attempts to form a comprehensive policy have been inadequate in scope and follow-through. The latest attempts at the creation of such a policy through the managed behavioral healthcare revolution and the federal government's Child and Adolescent Service System Program and Child Mental Health Services Initiative have been no more successful than past efforts in creating meaningful policy. Until a comprehensive policy is forged, children's mental health services will remain informal, incomplete, and piecemeal, making it difficult for children with mental health problems and their families to receive appropriate services.

Including School Resource Officers in school-based crisis intervention: Strengthening student support

“…The latter problem has increasingly escalated since the advent of the 1963 US Community Mental Health Act which released previously hospitalized individuals with mental illness, placing them back into communities with minimal supervision and shifting the heavy responsibility of care to families and caregivers. This rapid transition also released psychiatrically hospitalized children, increasing the need for school-based mental health support and special education services (Heath, Nickerson, Annandale, Kemple, & Dean, 2009;Lourie & Hernandez, 2003;Sormanti & Ballan, 2011).…”

Child and Adolescent Mental Health Policy in Low- and Middle-Income Countries: Challenges and Lessons for Policy Development and Implementation

“…Although CAMH can be covered in policies of education, social welfare, and general health, a specific CAMH policy is still needed (33). On one hand, having a specific CAMH policy in place can demonstrate the government's commitment (34).…”

Juvenile Justice

“…As formal youth courts developed to address issues of delinquency, a concurrent movement to address children's mental health began to emerge (Lourie & Hernandez, 2003). In 1909, the Juvenile Psychopathic Institute was established in Chicago to provide assistance to the Chicago Juvenile Court (Tanenhaus, 2004).…”