Help Hearing on Children and Mental Health

HEARING STATEMENT: HELP HEARING ON CHILDREN AND MENTAL HEALTH

Contact: Amanda Flaig
Wednesday, April 28, 2004
Speech of Senator DeWine
Thank you all for being here today. I also want to welcome Senator Reed from Rhode Island, with whom I have worked on many issues concerning children.
Today, we are meeting to talk about mental health issues concerning children and youth throughout their developmental process. The simple fact is that children and youth with emotional and behavioral needs face tremendous challenges to receiving care in our Nation today. Mental health care is dispersed across many systems for children, including schools, the juvenile justice system, the child welfare system, the substance abuse treatment system, through their primary care providers, and within their own families.
I have seen, in my own home state of Ohio, serious failures in the child mental heath system. Just a few weeks ago, a series of disturbing stories ran in the Cincinnati Enquirer newspaper regarding the child mental health system in Ohio. These articles focused on children who are mistreated at treatment centers, are in families unable to afford necessary care, and children whose parents give them up to child protective services in order to receive treatment. The many shortcomings of the current system resulted in mental health needs of children not being met and actual harm being done to children who were in the care of those paid to protect and help them.
Obviously, passing Senator Domenici's mental health parity legislation-officially called the "Senator Paul Wellstone Mental Health Equitable Treatment Act"-would be the best solution for many of the children in these articles, as well as many children facing similar problems in other states. We know that these children are many in number.
Each year, approximately 5 to 9 percent of children suffer from serious mental illness or serious emotional disturbances. However, fewer than 1 in 5 of these children will receive needed treatment.
Early childhood is a critical time period to prevent the onset of emotional and behavioral impairments. If these children do not receive appropriate treatment or if their illness is too severe, these children are more likely to continue on paths which lead to expulsion from school and childcare facilities for disruptive behavior, separation from their family, visits to juvenile justice facilities, and dropping out of high school.
Some of the issues concerning children and youth in the mental heath system were discussed at a hearing I held to examine the Final Report of the President's New Freedom Commission on Mental Health. The Report found that fragmentation of the mental health system and gaps in care for children were serious problems.
The Report also stated that the multiple programs created to finance and support children and youth with mental illness help foster an approach that is complex, fragmented, and inconsistent in its coverage, which makes the entire process very difficult for parents or caretakers. Mental health is absolutely fundamental to a person's overall physical health and well-being and is crucial to leading a productive and balanced life. Our children and young people deserve access to services that are appropriately and effectively provided. That is why I have worked with Senator Dodd and Senator Smith from Oregon to introduce the Youth Suicide Early Intervention and Prevention Expansion Act-a bill that would provide funding for the creation and expansion of statewide youth suicide early intervention and prevention strategies. Tragically, suicide is the third leading cause of death of children and youth ages 10 to 24.
I've also been working with Senator Reed on a bill we've introduced called the Campus Care and Counseling Act that would provide needed funds to mental and behavioral health centers on our Nation's college and university campuses. We know that rates of university age students seeking care while away at school are rising and counseling centers are struggling to keep up with the rising numbers.
I look forward to discussing all of these issues today and hearing the testimony from our witnesses. I believe that this testimony will serve to educate us on issues concerning the children and youth mental health system and am confident these recommendations will serve as a real starting point for change and improvement.