CORONAVIRUS (COVID-19) RESOURCE CENTER Read More
Add To Favorites

Mental Health Initiative 'System of care' for children gets grant

Omaha World-Herald - 9/14/2016

LINCOLN - State officials announced Tuesday that Nebraska will get a $12 million federal grant to improve the care of children with serious emotional disorders.

The money will continue a "system of care" initiative aimed at better coordinating services and supports for troubled children and their families. The initiative also aims to improve access to services.

Gov. Pete Ricketts said the goal is to eliminate the struggles that parents often have had navigating multiple, complex systems to get help for their children.

"Once fully implemented, the system (of care) will offer Nebraska the opportunity to simplify processes for families, increase quality of care, and become even more effective and efficient," he said.

The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration grant will provide $3 million per year for four years to continue work on the initiative.

According to state officials, the system of care model has helped other states improve school attendance and performance, keep more children at home or in home settings, put children into care earlier and reduce the average cost of care.

The approach emphasizes services tailored to the individual needs of children and families and delivered at home or in community-based settings. Children and families are involved in making decisions about services.

The model also coordinates and aligns various funding sources to do more with existing dollars.

"If someone is receiving services from Behavioral Health, Probation and Education, for instance, having all partners at the same table, including the youth and family, will lead to the most effective outcomes," said Sheri Dawson, behavioral health division director for the Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services.

More than 37,000 children in Nebraska have behavioral health disorders, according to the Data Resource Center for Child and Adolescent Health.

According to national reports, half of all lifetime mental illness begin at the average age of 14, and three quarters by age 24. Between 2 and 5 percent of children suffer from serious mental health disorders that cause substantial impairment in functioning at home, at school or in the community.

Work on bringing the system of care model to Nebraska began years ago. An implementation plan was finished by 2014, but it took a change in leadership at HHS to get the initiative under way, Dawson said.

She said it would take three to five years to fully implement the plan.

martha.stoddard@owh.com, 402-473-9583