With Illinois Children In ‘crisis, Pritzker Releases Report Designed To Improve Behavioral Health Care

Governor J. B. Pritzker plans to release Friday a comprehensive report on improving behavioral health care for children in the state, written largely by Chapin Hall child protection experts and using research from multiple state agencies and more than 700 advocacy groups.

In March 2022, Pritzker announced the Illinois Initiative for Transforming Children's Behavioral Health to try to get agencies to work together to help children with significant behavioral health needs and help parents, caregivers and family members make child care simpler and more transparent. way. care about.

The report offers 12 recommendations to transform the management system, including improving information sharing and coordination between child and adult care systems across all agencies.

The initiative's director, Dr. Dana Weiner, also helped lead a six-week review of the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services in 2019, which found a lack of cooperation between investigators and caseworkers and a gap in historical information about allegations. .

"My hope is that this plan will make it easier for families to access youth assistance," Weiner said of the new initiative. "It will be easier to know where to go. It will take less time to make an appointment, and the available services will be more understandable.

The report found that there is no central hub for children to access behavioral health care, creating a "fragmented system and confusing process". These problems are exacerbated by staff shortages, a "blurring of the continuum of care" and inconsistencies in geographic and clinical distribution, the report says, which has led to longer wait times in medical facilities, emergency departments and psychiatric wards.

In some cases, parents choose to turn over custody of their children to the state in exchange for hospital treatment or paying for mental health services, said Weiner, a senior fellow at Chapin Hall, an independent policy think tank and nonpartisan state. University. from Chicago

"Several state agencies operate programs that provide behavioral health support services for children, but there is minimal systematic coordination and no holistic development approaches to meet the needs of youth," Weiner wrote in the 92-page report.

"Without a single point of entry to help families navigate, children and families must access services differently from agency to agency, meet agency-specific eligibility criteria, and maintain access to services." with minimal assistance.

Pritzker's proposed 2024 budget includes a request for $22.8 million related to the initiative, including $10 million to expand a program that provides 24-hour services to youth who are dependent on their parents and who have "left home and run away." at home or not in parental care and in immediate danger. It also includes $8 million for a resource referral tool, $2 million for children's mental health education and $1.5 million for a recruitment portal where families can easily access information and support.

Weiner recommended that the state create a statewide resource referral database that can be used on mobile devices so that anyone who comes into contact with a family member can be quickly referred for services, including clinical, tutoring or recreational services.

"Parents report that navigating our service system can be confusing and scary, and many people who work in government agencies or community providers help families," Weiner said. "They want their services to reach the people who need them."

At the beginning of the pandemic, mental health problems among children increased. In essence, Illinois is experiencing a teen mental health crisis, according to the report, with 40 percent of Illinois teens experiencing major depressive episodes lacking access to mental health care.

"Certainly, the isolation and lost opportunities for social and academic interaction during the pandemic have not improved the situation," Weiner said. "But I don't think the pandemic is the only reason for the increase in behavioral health problems in children. . . . There is no doubt that young people, people of all ages, are still recovering from the pandemic."

The report is just the beginning, Weiner said, and as a researcher she will look for metrics to measure success.

"I want to see shorter wait times for care. I want to see fewer children hospitalized for psychiatric reasons and certainly fewer children hospitalized for non-medical reasons. We're already seeing that," Weiner said.

"I would like to see more awareness among parents and families, so if you ask parents, 'Do you know where to go for help?' They would have an answer for that.

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