Parents: New York Children’s Mental Health
System Fails Kids
Children Lack Access to Needed Services, Say Families
(Albany, NY) Feb. 11, 2003 — Despite a legal obligation to
provide medically necessary services, New York State is failing
its Medicaid-eligible children with emotional disturbances, according
to parent reports in a study released today by New York child mental
health advocates and one of the nation’s leading legal advocates
for people with mental disabilities.
“This report echoes the heartbreaking stories we hear from
parents every day,” said Paige Macdonald, executive director
for Families Together of New York State (FTNYS), a group of New
York parent advocates for children with emotional, behavioral, and
social challenges. “Across the state, children are in crisis
and parents are desperately seeking the mental health services their
children are entitled to under Medicaid.”
The report, which was authored by the Washington-based Bazelon
Center for Mental Health Law, was released at a news conference
this morning. It details findings from three focus groups conducted
in New York City and in Onondaga and Schoharie counties. Thirty-five
New York families with 40 children on Medicaid were asked about
their experiences seeking mental health services for their children
with serious mental disorders.
While the state’s Medicaid plan covers a wide array of community
mental health services for children, focus group participants reported
that actually accessing needed services is extremely difficult.
“We believe that these parents’ experiences illustrate
an approach by New York State to children’s mental health that
is inefficient, costly and cruel,” said Rafael Semansky, senior
policy analyst at the Bazelon Center for Mental Health Law. “The
families we spoke with had a hard time getting any services at all
and when they did, they often felt that the services provided were
inadequate.”
Parents reported great difficulties and delays in obtaining almost
all types of mental health services covered by the state’s
Medicaid plan, beginning with diagnosis of a mental disorder, and
including therapy, case management and intensive services such as
day treatment and home-based services. Some parents reported that
they had turned to the juvenile justice and child welfare systems
to obtain help for their child.
“There is something terribly wrong with a system where calling
the police or child welfare is one of the only ways parents feel
they can obtain access to needed mental health services,” continued
Macdonald. “These are not options that loving families should
be forced to consider.”
Parents cited several barriers to accessing needed services, including:
- Failure to identify and assess children early;
- An overemphasis on basic medical and clinical treatment;
- Lack of appropriate providers;
- Failure to individualize care;
- Lack of treatment planning for children being discharged from
residential settings; and
- Poor collaboration across child-serving systems.
Focus group participants also identified areas of accomplishment
in the state. Parents reported that some innovative programs—notably
the state’s use of a Medicaid waiver to provide home- and community-based
services, the Coordinated Children’s Services Initiative and
the Friends program in New York City—helped their children
access services. But these programs are available to only a fraction
of families across the state.
The report makes specific suggestions for how New York could improve
its child mental health system, including:
- Expanding the number of New York families who can benefit from
Medicaid funding for needed services under the state’s waiver
for home- and community-based services;
- Investing in intensive community rehabilitation services such
as day treatment, in-home service providers and after-school and
summer programs;
- Improving crisis response systems;
- Training non-mental health professionals to better recognize
serious mental disorders; and
- Supporting collaboration between child-serving agencies.
The report’s release comes just weeks after Governor George
Pataki called for drastic cuts in state spending. Acknowledging
the state’s budget difficulties, the groups emphasized the
long-term benefits of an improved approach to children’s mental
health.
“In the end, providing limited services and delaying care
isn’t the way to save money,” said Semansky. “Without
early intervention, children’s conditions worsen, making necessary
more intensive— and therefore more expensive— mental health
services.”
“This could be a win-win situation,” said Macdonald.
“Families could get the services they need and the state could
save money, but that’s not going to happen until the state
makes this issue a real priority.”
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The Bazelon Center
for Mental Health Law is the nation’s leading legal
advocate for the rights of people with mental disabilities.
Families Together
in NYS, Inc. is a non-profit, parent-run organization that strives
to establish a unified voice for children with emotional, behavioral,
and social challenges. Our mission is to ensure that every family
has access to needed information, support, and services.
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