by James C. Sherlock
In Part 1 of this series I described the current Virginia Community School Framework (the Framework) and found it not only lacking, but counter-productive.
Its basic flaw is that it assumes all services to school children will be provided in the schools by school employees, including mental health services.
When you start there, you get nowhere very expensively, less competently, and with considerably more danger in the case of mental health than if the schools were to partner with other government and non-profit services.
This part of the series will deal with child and adolescent mental health services exclusively.
Public mental health, intellectual disability and substance abuse services for children and adolescents are funded by governments at every level. For the federal view of the system of care, see here.
In Virginia, those services are organized, overseen and funded through a state and local agency system.
- The state agency is the Virginia Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Services (DBHDS) in the Secretariat of Health and Human Resources. The Department of Medical Assistance Services (DMAS) (Medicaid) plays a funding and patient management role as well;
- Local agencies funded and overseen by DBHDS are the Community Services Boards (CSB’s) throughout the state.
Some schools and school systems seem to operate on a different planet from their local CSB’s. Indeed, the Framework mentions them only reluctantly and in passing.
The ed school establishment clearly wants to handle child and adolescent mental health problems in-house, with tragic results. They need to stop it now.
There is absolutely no need to wait. Continue reading
