Katie A.

As California prepares to implement massive changes in how it provides care for foster children, many of the local agencies that will determine the failure or success of the effort — the county behavioral health departments — are completely unprepared to deliver on the promise of improved care.

In February, in response to advocacy by Young Minds, the Department of Health Care Services (DHCS) announced a landmark policy shift that made thousands of young people with mental health needs in California newly eligible for community-based mental health care.

California counties will now be able to offer a therapeutic treatment model in a supportive family setting through its Medi-Cal services, thanks to an agreement with the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS).

The consequences of untreated mental illness are depicted in the news a lot. Families and whole communities have been and continue to be torn apart because people with serious mental health needs aren’t getting adequate treatment.

As many as 70 percent of young people involved in the juvenile justice system may have a serious mental health condition. But only 8 percent of these youth received treatment within six months after entering detention.

For out-of-county children on a path to adoption, the lack of consistent and timely mental health resources can have especially perilous consequences.

The California Council of Community Mental Health Agencies, in collaboration with other statewide advocacy groups, recently released a report detailing the lack of service options for children and youth experiencing mental health crises across California.

Proposed legislation, and the prospect of yet another class-action lawsuit against the state, may press lawmakers to resolve the issues preventing kids placed in out-of-county foster homes from getting needed mental health treatment.

Pending DOF Decision Regarding EPSDT Allocation Formula Will Significantly Affect Access to Mental Health Services for Low-income Youth in California Last month, we at Young Minds Advocacy Project shared highlights from the California Senate Budget Subcommittee’s hearing on proposed changes to the methodology used to allocate 2011 Realignment Behavioral Health Growth funding to county mental health programs.