Blue Ribbon Policy Council for Early
Childhood Mental Health

Healthy Minds, Strong Futures Policy Toolkit

Toolkit Sections:

BRPC Toolkit Home

Colorado Opportunities

  • House Bill 1451
  • Mental Health Special Tax Districts

Key Messages

  • Invest in young children's social and
    environmental development
  • Mental health is fundamental to the overal
    l health and well-being of young children

Resources

Other Tips

  • In the community
  • In the classroom
  • At colleges and universities
  • In faith communities
  • Creating and presenting organized and
    compelling speeches
  • Creating powerful data presentations
  • Overcoming stage fright

About the Blue Ribbon Policy Council

  • Members

Quick Facts: National Data

(Adapted from The National Center for Children in Poverty, Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health's Children's Mental Health: Facts for Policy Makers. For more Quick Facts go to http://nccp.org/pub_ucr06b.html. )

Did you know?

Mental/Emotional/Behavioral

  • One in 5 children has a diagnosable mental disorder (New Freedom Commission on Mental Health. (2003). Achieving the promise: Transforming mental health care in America. Final report (DHHS Pub. No. SMA-03-3832). Rockville, MD: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration).
  • One in 10 children and adolescents has a mental illness that is severe enough to cause some level of impairment. Only about one in five of them receives mental health services in any given year (U.S. Surgeon General's Conference on Children's Mental Health, 2000).
  • Child mental disorders can continue into adulthood. 74% of 21-year olds with mental disorder had prior problems (U.S. Surgeon General's Conference on Children's Mental Health, 2000).
  • The onset of major mental illness may occur as early as 7 to 11 years old (Kessler, R.C., Beglund, P., Demler, O., Jin, R. & Walters, E.E. (2005). Lifetime prevalence and the age-of-onset distributions of DSM-IV disorders in the National Comorbidity Survey Replication. Archives of General Psychiatry, 62(6), pp. 593-602).
  • New data on young children with diagnosable disorders reveal that about 17% show some kind of significant mental health disorder, with rates varying by problem. About 10% of them have acting out, agressive disorders (Johnson & Knitzer, 2005).

Risk Factors

  • Poverty is the greatest risk factor for poor developmental outcomes, whether social, emotional, health related, or academic. Over 40% of all young children are from families at or below poverty level, and half of those live in extreme poverty (Johnson & Knitzer, 2005).

Mental Health Treatment

  • Most children and youth with mental health problems do not receive needed services. 75-89% of children and youth in need of services do not receive them (Kataoka, S., Zhang, L. & Wells, K. (2002). Unmet need for mental health care among U.S. children: Variation by ethnicity and insurance status. American Journal of Psychiatry, 159(9), pp. 1548-1555.
  • Latino children and youth are less likely to receive services for their mental health problems than children and youth of other ethnic groups. 88% of Latino children have unmet mental health needs. (Kataoka, S., Zhang, L. & Wells, K. (2002). Unmet need for mental health care among U.S. children: Variation by ethnicity and insurance status. American Journal of Psychiatry, 159(9), pp. 1548-1555).
  • 31% of white children and youth receive mental health services (Ringel, J.S. & Sturm, R. (2001). National estimates of mental health utilization for children in 1998. Journal of Behavioral Health Services & Research, 28(3), pp. 319-333).
  • 13% of children from diverse racial and ethnic backgrounds receive mental health services (Ringel, J.S. & Sturm, R. (2001). National estimates of mental health utilization for children in 1998. Journal of Behavioral Health Services & Research, 28(3), pp. 319-333).
  • 85% of children and youth in need of mental health services in the child welfare system do not receive them (Burns, B., Phillips, S., Wagner, H., Barth, R., Kolko, D., Campbell, Y. & Yandsverk, J. (2004). Mental health need and access to mental health services by youths involved with child welfare: A national survey. Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, 43(8), pp. 960-970).
  • 79% of children with private health insurance and 73% with public health insurance have unmet mental health needs. 87% of children who are uninsured have unmet mental health needs. (Kataoka, S., Zhang, L. & Wells, K. (2002). Unmet need for mental health care among U.S. children: Variation by ethnicity and insurance status. American Journal of Psychiatry, 159(9), pp. 1548-1555).

Pre-School and Educational Settings

  • Overall, over 10% of young children entering kindergarten are rated by teachers as showing some degree of behavioral problems. In samples of low income young children, reported rates of behavioral problems are often two to three times higher (Johnson & Knitzer, 2005).
  • Pre-school children face expulsion rates three times higher than children in kindergarten through 12th grade - a factor party attricbuted to lack of attention to social-emotional needs (Gilliam, W.S. (2005). Prekindergartens left behind: Expulsion rates in state prekindergarten programs (FCD Policy Brief Series 3). New York, NY: Foundation for Child Development).
  • African-American preschoolers are 3 to 5 times more likely to be expelled than their white, Latino, or Asian-American peers (Gilliam, W.S. (2005). Prekindergartens left behind: Expulsion rates in state prekindergarten programs (FCD Policy Brief Series 3). New York, NY: Foundation for Child Development).
  • Children and youth in elementary school with mental health problems are more likely to be unhappy at school, be absent, or be suspended or expelled. In the course of the school year, they may miss as many as 18-22 days. Their rates of suspension and expulsion are three times higher than their peers. Among all students, African-American students are more likely to be suspended or expelled than their white peers (40% vs. 15%) (Blackorby, J. Cohorst, M., Garza, N. & Guzman, A. (2003). The academic performance of secondary school students with disabilities. In The Achievements of Youth with Disabilities During Secondary School. Menlo Park, CA: SRI International).
  • Youth in high school with mental health problems are more likely to fail or drop out of school. Up to 14% of them receive mostly Ds and Fs (compared to 7% for all children with disabilities (Blackorby, J. Cohorst, M., Garza, N. & Guzman, A. (2003). The academic performance of secondary school students with disabilities. In The Achievements of Youth with Disabilities During Secondary School. Menlo Park, CA: SRI International). And, up to 44% of them drop out of school (Wagner, M. (2005). Youth with disabilities leaving secondary school. In Changes Over Time in the Early Post School Outcomes of Youth with Disabilities: A Report of Findings from the national Longitudinal Transition Study (NTLS) and the National Longitudinal Transition Study-2 (NTLS2) (pp. 2.1-2.6). Menlo Park, CA: SRI International).

Child Welfare and Juvenile Justice

  • Children with mental health issues in the child welfare system are less likely to be placed in permanent homes (Smithgall, C., Gladden, R.M., Yang, D.H. & George, R. (2005). Behavioral problems and educational disruptions among children in out-of-home care in Chicago (Chapin Hall Working Paper). Chicago, IL: Chapin Hall Center for Children at the University of Chicago).
  • They are also more likely to be placed out of home in order to access services (Hurlburt, M.S., Leslie, L.K., Landsverk, J., Barth, R., Burns, B., Gibbons, R.D., Slymen, D.J., & Zhang, J. (2004). Contextual predictors of mental health service use among children open to child welfare. Archives of General Psychyiatry, 61(12), pp. 1217-1224).
  • They are more likely to over rely on restrictive and/or costly services such as juvenile detention, residential treatment, and emergency rooms (U.S. House of Representatives, Committee on Government Reform, Minority Staff Special Investigations Division (2004). Incarceration of youth who are waiting for community mental health services in the United States (Report prepared for Rep. Henry A. Waxman and Sen. Susan Collins). Washington, DC: U.S. House of Representatives, Committee on Government Reform; Pottick, K. Warner, L.A. & Yoder, K.A. (2005). Youths living away from families in the US mental health system: Opportunities for targeted intervention. Journal of Behavioral Health Services & Research, 32(2), pp. 264-281; and Almgren, G. & Marcenko, M.O. (2001). Emergency room use among foster care sample: The influence of placement history, chronic illness, psychiatric diagnosis, and care factors. Brief Treatment and Crisis Intervention, 1(1), pp. 55-64.)
  • Young adults leaving the child welfare system experience major mental healht problems and drug and alcohol dependence at significantly higher rates than the general population (Pecora, P.J., Williams, J., Kessler, R., Downs, C., O'Brien, K., Hiripi, E. & Morello, S. (2003). Assessing the effects of foster care: Early results from the Casey National Alumni Study. Seattle, WA: Casey Family Programs).

Cost:

  • For every dollar spent on Early Childhood Education, between $4 and $13 are saved over time on special education, health care, "welfare" payments, and criminal justice (Barnett, N.D.).
  • The average cost of providing a year of Head Start for one child is $5,403 (North Carolina Legislative Advocacy Workbook, 2003).
  • The average cost of keeping a person in prison for one year is $20,000 (North Carolina Legislative Advocacy Workbook, 2003).
  • Every year we allow a child to grow up in poverty costs $9,000 in lost future productivity over his or her working life (North Carolina Legislative Advocacy Workbook, 2003).
  • According to a national study, the nurse home visitation program costs $7,733 per participant, but the benefit to taxpayers is $15,918 per participant. In other words, for every $1 invested, taxpayers receive a benefit of $3.06 (Aos, Phipps, Bamoski & Lieb, 2001).
  • According to that same national study, for early childhood education for disadvangated youth taxpayers receive a benefit of $1.78 for every dollar invested (Aos, Phipps, Bamoski and Lieb, 2001).

 

 

BRPC Toolkit Home | CO Opportunities | Key Messages | Resources | Other Tips | About the BRPC