2006 Press Release -SAMHSA Awards $41 Million in Grants for Child Mental Health Services

Advisory


	Date:	Sept 6 , 2006
	Media Contact:	SAMHSA Press
	Telephone:	240-276-2130



	SAMHSA Awards $41 Million in Grants for Child Mental Health Services
	Assistant Surgeon General Eric Broderick, DDS, MPH, Acting Deputy Administrator of the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), today announced the award of five cooperative agreements totaling $41 million over six years to provide comprehensive community mental health services for children and youth with serious emotional disturbances and their families. These grants will be used to implement a “systems of care” approach to services, based on the recognition that the mental health needs of children with serious mental health needs can best be best met within their home, school, and community, and that families and youth should be the driving force in the transformation of their own care. The grants will be used to provide a full array of mental health and support services organized on an individualized basis into a coordinated network in order to meet the unique clinical and functional needs of each child and family. “Experience has shown that children with serious emotional disturbance and their families benefit from an integrated approach to care and services,” said Dr. Broderick. “With appropriate care, these young people are far more likely to experience success in school and far less likely to become tangled in either the juvenile justice system or the institutional care system. The awards we announce today represent a wise investment that both helps preserve families and protect every child’s right to a future.” Recent SAMHSA data suggest that systems of care save taxpayers money when compared to traditional mental health service delivery systems. On average, systems of care save public health systems $2,776.85 per child in inpatient costs over the course of a year, and save juvenile justice systems $784.16 per child within the same time frame. The five awards are for up to $1 million in the first year and are renewable for up to six years. The total funding for 2006 is $5 million. Over the course of the grants, an increasing ratio of non-federal dollars are required to match the program’s federal dollars. Continuation of these awards is subject to both availability of funds and progress achieved by awardees. Grants were awarded to: Arizona Pascua Yaqui Tribe, Tucson -- $1 million for the first year to develop the Sewa Uusim program, a sustainable tribal system of care for children with severe emotional disturbance (SED) and their families that is culturally-based and consistent with evidence-based practices, utilizing a wraparound service methodology that incorporates community members as caregivers and family members as advisors. Iowa Iowa State Department of Human Services, Des Moines -- $1 million for the first year to support the Northeast Iowa Child Mental Health Initiative’s efforts to implement a wraparound approach to support individualized, community-based child-and family-centered services for children with serious emotional disturbances who are at particular risk for out-of-home placement or hospitalization, or who are transitioning into adulthood Minnesota Polk County, Crookston -- $1 million for the first year to support the Our Children Succeed Initiative, a collaboration among six rural counties in northwestern Minnesota, to completely bring to scale a system of care to serve children and youth with serious emotional disturbances, building on a network of core services not only to serve young children, but also older youth who are at particular risk for dropping out of school, involvement in the justice system or in transition to adulthood. Mississippi Mississippi State Department of Mental Health, Jackson -- $999,713 for the first year to develop, through the Pine Belt System of Care project, a system of coordinated, individualized care for children with serious emotional disturbance (SED) or co-occurring SED and substance abuse and their families living in some of the state’s most rural areas. Missouri Missouri Department of Mental Health, Jefferson City -- $999,999 for the first year to support the Circle of H.O.P.E. program to provide a system of community-based, family-driven, integrated behavioral and physical health care within primary care settings at school-based service sites, thereby promoting care “where the children are.” Since its inception in 1992, The Comprehensive Community Mental Health Services Program for Children and Their Families has funded a total of 126 programs across the United States that have helped transform the way in which treatment and care are provided to children with mental health needs and their families.



	SAMHSA, is a public health agency within the Department of Health and Human Services. The agency is responsible for improving the accountability, capacity and effectiveness of the nation’s substance abuse prevention, addictions, treatment, and mental health services delivery system.

SAMHSA is An Agency of the U.S. Department of Health & Human Service