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Changes are Needed for KidsThe Maine Children's Alliance would like to thank the Maine Sunday Telegram and reporter Barbara Walsh for providing readers with an insightful report on the status of Maine's mental health services for children ("Castaway Children: Maine's Most Vulnerable Kids," August 18-20, 2002). In particular, we thank Ms. Walsh for focusing public attention on the crisis our fragmented system is for Maine children and families. Despite competent and caring physicians, psychologists, counselors, and case managers, the obstructive and often harmful effects of systemic disorganization on families is unambiguous. Unfortunately, this "systems fragmentation" is not news for many service providers, policymakers, and advocates throughout the state. In fact, two years ago, the Maine Children's Alliance (Maine's only statewide, nonpartisan child advocacy organization) began a Mental and Behavioral Health Initiative with the ultimate goal of securing an effective, coordinated system of care for children and families. As part of the initiative, we convened families, mental health providers, lawmakers, administrators and staff from relevant state agencies to participate in a Behavioral Health Conference, which was held in June. One of the objectives of the Conference was to adjourn with a set of recommendations for improving the system of care. There were two points about which there was universal agreement: First, while services have expanded dramatically over the past several years, Maine is not making crucial improvements to the core of the service system. In other words, we have been building on a fractured foundation, and until that foundation is repaired, we cannot hope to have a stable structure of care and services for needy families. Second, there is really only one relevant cost in failing to restructure the way we care for children and families in need: the healthy development of our children. It is on that point that Ms. Walsh's series succeeds where discourse on "systems" often fails, and that is to remind us of just what is at stake. Doug Nelson, the President of the Annie E. Casey Foundation, gave the keynote address at our Mental and Behavioral Health Conference. He asserted that, throughout the country, our systems of care for children are not the creations of bad intentions or indifference, but the products of 50 years of disastrously uncoordinated good intentions.' He argues that because the systems have been constructed in the absence of a cohesive and enduring plan, "the result is not unlike a house built by scores of architects and scores of contractors all building rooms without much regard to what anyone else has constructed." Mr. Nelson encouraged us all, in our efforts to try to improve Maine's behavioral health system, to refrain from adding on another room or two. Instead, he urged us to fundamentally redesign the home that we've all inherited, and to do so from the ground up.' The Maine Children's Alliance is heartened by recent conversations with gubernatorial Candidates and state legislative leaders who have assured us that they are ready to make the changes our children and families deserve. They know that Maine has both the will and the expertise necessary to create meaningful reform for our children. Ms. Walsh's series has called public attention to the fact that the current organization of mental and behavioral health services for children is destructive to children, their families, and to the competent professionals who seek to provide care. We urge Maine citizens to challenge lawmakers to release our children, and all of us, from the snares of this tangled net, once and for all. Elinor Goldberg Executive Director Maine Children's Alliance 207 623 1868 x 203 303 State Street Augusta, ME 04330 egoldberg@mekids.org www.mekids.org Updated: Sep 4th, 2008 - 15:24:01 |
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A Strong and Powerful Voice to Improve the Lives of All Maine's Children, Youth and Families
© 2002 Maine Children's Alliance, 303 State Street, Augusta, Maine 04330 v. (207) 623-1868 f. (207) 626-3302 e. Mainekids@mekids.org Section 508/Bobby Approved. www.mekids.org |