Mentally Ill Children to Get at-Home Care
Posted on: Thursday, 16 March 2006, 18:00 CST
By Troy Anderson LOS ANGELES DAILY NEWS
In a landmark decision that could affect thousands of mentally ill children in California psychiatric hospitals and group facilities, a federal judge has ordered the state to provide services in their homes and communities.
In his ruling this week in Los Angeles, U.S. District Judge A. Howard Matz ordered the state to provide two key home and community services for the children -- "wraparound" services and therapeutic care -- and said there is "substantial evidence" it will save the state money. Under a "wraparound" plan, a child receives coordinated services in a family setting from a variety of agencies.
More than 80,000 children are living in foster homes in California, with up to 84 percent having experienced a mental- health problem, according to some estimates. The state currently addresses the needs through institutional care, spending $540 million a year to maintain 4,500 children in high-level group-home placements.
Public-interest law firms had challenged the practice in 2003, filing a class-action suit alleging the state and counties treat children with serious mental-health problems in restrictive group homes and psychiatric hospitals rather than treat them at home.
"This order is a tremendous victory for California's most vulnerable children and should lead to major restructuring of how mental health services are delivered to foster youth," Western Center on Law & Poverty attorney Robert Newman said Wednesday.
"Children will receive services in their homes and communities, as opposed to being needlessly confined in institutional settings."
After the Los Angeles County Department of Children and Family Services began using the programs and taking other steps to reform the system in 2002, the number of children in foster homes dropped from 30,000 then to 22,400 now.
The department also saw a 23 percent decrease in the abuse of children in foster care during that time, DCFS Director David Sanders said.
Source: Daily Breeze
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