Formally announced at a State House press conference, the campaign was kicked off by the release of a paper, "Children's Mental Health in the Commonwealth: The Time is Now," co-authored by the MSPCC and Children's. The paper describes a mental health care system that is seriously flawed, resulting in an estimated 100,000 children in Massachusetts who do not receive the mental health care they need, and outlines a specific set of guidelines to address these challenges.

"We've had enough with talk and good intentions," said Marylou Sudders, president of MSPCC and former state commissioner of mental health. "The time has come to act to introduce a bold vision and systemic change, not incremental efforts. We propose a mental health system for children that focuses on prevention, timely diagnosis and appropriate intervention."

"The stakes are very high, and we are confident that the legislature and Governor-elect Patrick will act," added David DeMaso, MD, chief of Psychiatry at Children's. "Too many kids are falling through the cracks in our mental health care system. And the consequences for these children and their families can be devastating and tragic."

MSPCC and Children's are honored to collaborate with HCFA's Children's Health Access Coalition (CHAC) in driving a legislative campaign to advocate for these recommendations. The Coalition, consisting of advocacy and community organizations, families, legal and mental health advocates, and health care providers seeks to eliminate fragmentation of the mental health care system and create a more coherent mental health policy. With this campaign, the Coalition aims to:

• Establish evidence-based principles and standards for the delivery of culturally competent children's mental health services
• Pass of a comprehensive mental health parity law that would place mental health on par with physical health and provide comprehensive insurance coverage of mental health care
• Provide pediatricians, preschools and early child care settings, public schools and the juvenile justice system with resources to detect and screen for, diagnose and treat mental health problems.

"Mental health is a critical part of a functioning health care system," said John McDonough, executive director of Health Care for All. "As we move forward to implement this historic health reform legislation, we need to ensure that this part of the system works seamlessly for children. These reforms will rationalize the delivery of mental health services, emphasize preventive care and reduce long-term health care costs."

The decision by the U.S. District Court in January 2006 in the Rosie D. v. Romney case provided a powerful impetus for creating an integrated mental health care system that provides coverage for prevention, timely diagnosis and effective treatment for all children needing mental health care. In that case, Judge Michael A. Ponsor decided that the Commonwealth of Massachusetts violated the federal Medicaid Act by failing to provide appropriate home based mental health care to an estimated 15,000 children.

"It is our hope that together we seize the opportunity to provide a high quality, mental health care system for all children of the Commonwealth," said Sudders. "Nothing less should be acceptable."

Contact:
Anna Gonski
617-355-6420
anna.gonski@childrens.harvard.edu

The Massachusetts Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Children (MSPCC) is a private, non-profit agency dedicated to leadership in protecting and promoting the rights and well being of children and families through essential child welfare and mental health treatment, and effective public advocacy. Since 1878, MSPCC has provided services across Massachusetts designed to respond to the individual needs of infants, children, adolescents and their families. For more information about MSPCC please visit: www.mspcc.org.