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News from the field of Child and Youth Care

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30 OCTOBER

NEW ZEALAND

Eastern Bay of Plenty Children’s Team goes live

Social Development Minister Anne Tolley has today officially launched the Eastern Bay of Plenty Children’s Team in Whakatane, the seventh to be rolled out across the country.

The new team will ensure that children with multiple and complex needs have a single point of contact and an individually-tailored and co-ordinated support plan, with agencies working together to provide the best outcomes for kids, so they don’t need state intervention.

The Eastern Bay of Plenty Children’s Team will cover Matata, across to Waihau and down to Minginui, and includes Whakatane, Opotiki, Edgecombe and Kawerau. It is expected to work with around 400 vulnerable children in the first two years.

“Children’s Teams are about working together in a different way to get better outcomes for at-risk children, and to keep them safe from abuse and neglect,” Mrs Tolley says.

“If everyone working with a child sits around the table, shares information and co-ordinates services we can get better outcomes for these children and their families.

“This is not about adding more services, but making sure those children who need support have access to the right services at the right time.”

“A lot of work has gone into launching the Eastern Bay of Plenty Children’s Team and I want to thank all of those involved for their hard work and dedication,” Mrs Tolley says.

“While the hard work is just beginning, I know everyone involved in this Children’s Team is dedicated to making sure vulnerable children in the Eastern Bay of Plenty have every opportunity to succeed.”

Children’s Teams are also being established in Whanganui, Christchurch and Counties Manukau. Children’s Teams have already been launched and are accepting referrals in Rotorua, Whangarei, Marlborough, Ōtaki/Horowhenua, Hamilton and Tairawhiti.

http://www.beehive.govt.nz/release/eastern-bay-plenty-children%E2%80%99s-team-goes-live

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28 OCTOBER

IRELAND

Minister Reilly welcomes the publication of the Child Care (Amendment) Bill 2015

Dr. James Reilly TD, Minister for Children and Youth Affairs today welcomes the publication of the Child Care (Amendment) Bill 2015 which, among other things, will provide for a statutory right to an aftercare plan for eligible children and young people for the first time.

Minister Reilly said:

“I am delighted to have this Bill published and look forward to bringing it before the Oireachtas for consideration. This Bill builds on the progress made in relation to the provision of aftercare in the recent past and will provide, as a right, for eligible children and young people to have a plan for their transition from State care into independent living, prepared by Tusla the Child and Family Agency.”

Aftercare is the term used to describe the planning and support put in place to meet the needs of a young person who is leaving statutory care at 18 years of age, to assist him or her in making the transition to independent living.

The Bill obliges Tusla, the Child and Family Agency to prepare an aftercare plan for an eligible child or eligible young person. Tusla will, when the Bill is enacted, have a duty to identify the child or young person’s need for assistance and to prepare a plan that identifies the relevant aftercare supports.

Under the provisions contained in the Bill, the Child Care Act 1991 will be amended and an obligation placed on the Child and Family Agency:

(i) to prepare an aftercare plan for an eligible child before they reach the age of 18,

(ii) to prepare an aftercare plan, on request, for an eligible adult aged 18, 19 or 20 , and

(iii) in relation to an eligible adult to review the operation of an aftercare plan where there has been a change in that adult’s circumstances or additional needs have arisen.

Minister Reilly further added:

“A decade ago aftercare was non-existent. We have now moved to the point where young people leaving care will have a right to an aftercare plan. This has come about in recognition of the particular challenges linked to moving into independent adult living – challenges shared by all young people but that may prove a greater hurdle for some leaving State care. This Bill is a significant development. This Bill, the establishment of Tusla and the very positive responses received from key stakeholders in terms of recognising and responding to the particular vulnerability attached to some care leavers lays the foundations for better aftercare support.”

Published on 21 October 2015

http://www.dcya.gov.ie/viewdoc.asp?CatID=11

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26 OCTOBER

Violent Video Game Effect on Children and Adolescents. Theory, Research and Public Policy

Violent video games are successfully marketed to and easily obtained by children and adolescents. Even the U.S. government distributes one such game, America's Army, through both the internet and its recruiting offices. Is there any scientific evidence to support the claims that violent games contribute to aggressive and violent behavior?

Anderson, Gentile, and Buckley first present an overview of empirical research on the effects of violent video games, and then add to this literature three new studies that fill the most important gaps. They update the traditional General Aggression Model to focus on both developmental processes and how media-violence exposure can increase the likelihood of aggressive and violent
behavior in both short- and long-term contexts.

Violent Video Game Effects on Children and Adolescents also reviews the history of these games' explosive growth, and explores the public policy options for controlling their distribution. Anderson et al. describe the reaction of the games industry to scientific findings that exposure to violent video games and other forms of media violence constitutes a significant risk factor for later aggressive and violent behavior. They argue that society should begin a more productive debate about whether to reduce the high rates of exposure to media violence, and delineate the public policy options that are likely be most effective.

As the first book to unite empirical research on and public policy options for violent video games, Violent Video Game Effects on Children and Adolescents will be an invaluable resource for student and professional researchers in social and developmental psychology and media studies.

http://scholar.google.co.za/scholar?q=children+youth+PRESS+RELEASE&btnG=&hl=en&as_sdt=0%2C5&as_vis=1

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23 OCTOBER

UNICEF Canada honoured to be receiving the Canadian Association of Paediatric Health Centres’ Citizenship Award

UNICEF Canada is honoured to be recognized with the Canadian Association of Paediatric Heath Centres’ (CAPHC) Citizenship Award for its commitment to the health and well-being of Canada’s children and youth.

The 2015 CAPHC Citizenship Award will be presented to UNICEF Canada’s President and CEO, David Morley, on October 20th at CAPHC’s Annual Awards Luncheon at the Quebec City Convention Centre.

“We work with policymakers and a range of institutions and organizations in Canada, as UNICEF does worldwide, to promote the best interests of children, informed by international standards and by the best evidence,” said David Morley, UNICEF Canada President and CEO. “We are proud to collaborate with partners like CAPHC to make concrete advances for children – in laws, services and other actions to help our children thrive.”

“It is a privilege for CAPHC to recognize UNICEF Canada for its long-standing commitment to advancing human rights of children through policy, dialogue and advocacy,” said Elaine Orrbine, President and CEO of CAPHC. “The work of UNICEF Canada has influenced governments and other organizations that develop policy, law and practice and has helped to place children at the centre of decisions and action.”

http://www.unicef.ca/en/press-release/unicef-canada-honoured-to-be-receiving-the-canadian-association-of-paediatric-health-c

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21 OCTOBER

Excessive social media use harms children's mental health

Children who go on social networking sites like Facebook, Twitter and Instagram for more than three hours a day are more likely to have mental health problems, a study has shown

Children who spend more than three hours each school day on social media sites like Facebook and Twitter are more than twice as likely to suffer poor mental health, official figures have shown.

While 12 percent of children who spend no time on social networking websites have symptoms of mental ill-health, the figure rises to 27 percent for those who are glued to the sites for three hours or more a day, a report from the Office for National Statistics showed. Experts say such children risk delays in their emotional and social development because they spend so much time in the virtual world.

Around eight percent of young people aged between 10 and 15 spend over three hours every day using social media sites and apps like Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and Snapchat. The majority of young people (56 percent) reported spending up to three hours a day on social media. Only 11 percent of those children suffered mental health problems.

Girls are far more likely than boys to spend excessive amounts of time on social sites. One in ten girls (11 percent) were found to be in the top category for time spent on the websites, compared to only one in twenty (5 percent) of boys.

The report said that social media “may provide an additional way to connect with others and form relationships”, they are also potentially “a source of social comparison, cyber bullying and isolation”.

This month the new chairman of the Headmasters’ and Headmistresses’ Conference (HMC) of schools, Chris King, said children at leading independent schools are turning to counselling to help them cope with the pressures of appearing popular on social media.

Child and adolescent psychiatrist Dr Hayley Van Zwanberg, of the Priory Group said: “Children are totally immersed in a virtual world which is damaging both to the way they see themselves and the way they perceive the real world; some young children are finding it hard to unpick reality from fantasy.”

Dr Van Zwanberg, who works at the Priory’s Woodbourne Hospital in Birmingham, said children are too trusting of modern technologies, and do not realise the negative influences the internet can have.

“Children’s social skills and abilities to make small talk and actively listen, and develop empathy, are affected,” she said.

“They joke and send photos and videos without truly engaging with people, or truly listening to one another – and they send and make statements without seeing the immediate impact of their comments on the other person. At the other end of the conversation, these messages can be misconstrued.”

Screen time – including watching television, spending time on the computer and playing video games – has been associated in previous research with higher levels of emotional distress, anxiety and depression. The report found there was a “clear association” between longer time spent on social websites and the incidence of mental health problems.

The children’s well-being study asked children if they belonged to a social website “such as Bebo, Facebook or MySpace” and how many hours they spent chatting or interacting with friends on such sites on a normal school day.

The latest figures in the survey showed that between 2012 and 2013 the number of children spending no time on social networking sites increased compared with 2011 to 2012, from 32 percent to 37 percent.

These figures were compared to a child’s “difficulties score” – the official measure for the prevalence of mental health issues in children.

The report also found being bullied was strongly related to mental ill-health, with children who were bullied frequently four times more likely to suffer mental health problems.

A third of children who were relatively unhappy with their appearance reported mental ill-health, compared to one in 12 of those who were happy with how they looked.

The well-being survey found that for both 10 to 15-year-olds and 16 to 24-year-olds, 80 percent of those asked rated their life satisfaction as high or very high in 2014.

Sophie Jamieson

20 October 2015

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/health/children/11943810/Excessive-social-media-use-harms-childrens-mental-health.html

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19 OCTOBER

Ontario helping more children in care connect with waiting families

Province provides greater support to adoptive parents

Ontario is making it easier for children and youth in the care of children's aid societies to find forever families, while providing more support to adoptive parents.

To help more young people in the care of children's aid societies find a permanent nurturing home, Ontario is funding up to 15 targeted adoption recruiters in partnership with Wendy's Wonderful Kids, a successful adoption program run through the Dave Thomas Foundation for Adoption. In addition, Wendy's Wonderful Kids is also funding four additional Ontario adoption recruiters.

The province is also making the adoption experience more effective and efficient by requiring children's aid societies to expand their use of the AdoptOntario website so more children and youth can be matched with waiting families.

To help waiting parents and respond to the needs of adopted children and youth, Ontario is:

• Expanding the targeted subsidies program by extending the age of eligibility to, eight to 21 years (from 10 to 18 years), and updating the income threshold and subsidy amount to reflect current Statistics Canada data

• Investing in a provincewide post-adoption family support program

• Encouraging greater use of culturally appropriate placement options for First Nations children and youth.

For those youth who are still in care, Ontario is extending funding to their caregivers to provide a stable home if they require additional time to complete high school, from ages 18 to 21.

Matching more children with adoptive families and increasing supports for children in care is part of the government's plan to build Ontario up so that all children and youth be given the opportunity to reach their full potential.

Quick facts

• Approximately 6,400 Crown wards in Ontario are eligible for adoption.

• On average, children become Crown wards at eight years of age.

• There is no cost to adoptive parents to go through the public adoption process with a children’s aid society.

• On September 1, 2011, the Building Families and Supporting Youth to be Successful Act, 2011 came into force, removing legislative barriers to Crown wards being placed for adoption.

Quotes

“Our government is committed to supporting stronger families by helping parents provide stable homes to adopted children. We want children in care to benefit from a forever family, with all the opportunities young people need and deserve to achieve success. With these new updates to Ontario’s adoption system, we are giving a foundation for adoptive families to provide secure and loving homes to their child.”

Tracy MacCharles
Minister of Children and Youth Services

“We are very pleased to partner with the Ontario government in finding more families for children – especially children who because of age or disability have a more difficult time finding permanent homes.”

— Rita Soronen
President and CEO, Dave Thomas Foundation for Adoption

“The initiatives announced today are a great step forward to increase the number of children and youth who will leave care with a family through adoption. It is very encouraging that our government is making this commitment to walk alongside adoptive and kinship families with the ongoing support they need to ensure that lasting permanency is achieved for our children and youth.”

Pat Convery
— Adoption Council of Ontario

https://news.ontario.ca/mcys/en/2015/09/ontario-helping-more-children-in-care-connect-with-waiting-families.html?_ga=1.183433249.687017597.1415540483

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16 OCTOBER

IRELAND

Tusla Budget Figures

Dr. James Reilly TD, Minister for Children and Youth Affairs has announced significant additional funding for Tusla, the Child and Family Agency, in Budget 2016. Minister Reilly also announced increased funding for the youth sector.

Minister Reilly said: “Building a strong and effective Child and Family Agency has been a high priority for me throughout my time as Minister for Children and Youth Affairs. Tusla has taken important steps to reform services and deliver a more prompt and consistent response to children and families across Ireland. I believe that Budget 2016 marks significant progress in that task, providing Tusla with increased resources to meet identified risks and service demands.”

Today (13th October 2015), Minister Reilly confirmed funding of over €676 million in 2016 for Tusla; this is an increase of €38 million on provision for 2015. The allocation includes capital funding to allow Tusla to progress a number of critical infrastructural projects next year.

TUSLA, THE CHILD AND FAMILY AGENCY
Minister Reilly has allocated targeted funding to address the findings of a recent national audit of child welfare and protection cases awaiting allocation to a social worker ; providing an effective response to this critical issue has been a high priority for the Minister.

Minister Reilly said: “When Tusla raised the issue of unallocated cases with me, I instructed the Agency to conduct a full audit of cases so that I could credibly approach Government with a plan to address this problem. Vulnerable children and young people need an allocated social worker so that their needs can be properly assessed and addressed. For the first time, we are putting in place a consistent approach to responding to children at risk. I have allocated targeted funding so that Tusla can recruit the extra social workers and associated staff needed for the response required to meet this critical need.”

Funding is also included to support a number of other developments including:

To support Tusla’s focus on performance and quality improvement, resources have also been allocated to necessary improvements to the Tusla organisational structure. Tusla is undertaking a wide ranging, and necessary, programme of reform, and the allocation for 2016 will allow the Agency to further advance the process of improving Ireland’s child welfare and protection services.

13 October 2015

http://www.dcya.gov.ie/viewdoc.asp?Docid=3628&CatID=11&mn=&StartDate=1+January+2015

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14 OCTOBER

UK

Children in care

“Most children are taken into care because of abuse and neglect. But too many of them are not getting the right placements the first time. If their complex and challenging learning and development needs are not correctly assessed and tackled, the result is likely to be significant long-term detriment to the children themselves as well as cost to society. No progress has been made in the last four years.If the Department is to break this pattern, then it needs to use its new Innovation Programme to understand what works, especially in terms of early intervention.” – Amyas Morse, head of the National Audit Office, 27 November 2014

The Department for Education cannot demonstrate that it is meeting its objectives for children in foster and residential care. The long-term consequences of such children not getting the right care are poorer outcomes for them and increased costs to local authorities and taxpayers.

Local authorities spent £2.5 billion in 2012-13 supporting children in foster and residential care, a real terms increase of 3% since 2010-11. However, according to the National Audit Office, the Department, which holds local authorities to account for delivery of these services, does not have indicators by which it measures the effectiveness of the care system. In addition, there is a lack of understanding of what factors contribute towards the costs of care.

Demand for care is increasing and varies significantly across England. Local authorities in England looked after 68,110 children (at the end of March 2013), the highest level for 20 years. This is partly because of a rapid rise in the number of children being taken into care, following the widely reported abuse and death of ‘Baby P’ in 2007, while many local authorities expect or are already experiencing a rise in referrals linked to child sex exploitation scandals. Most children in care, 75%, are fostered. Nearly two thirds (62%) of children are in care because they have suffered abuse or neglect.

There has been no improvement since 2009 in getting children into the right placement first time and close to home. The Department has an objective to improve placement stability and measures the number of placements a child has in a year and whether they are placed within 20 miles of home. At the end of March 2013, 34% of children in care had more than one placement during the year, the same proportion since 2009 and 14% of foster children and 34% of those in residential care were placed more than 20 miles from home. The overall numbers have not improved in the last four years.

Children’s early experiences can have long-term impacts on their emotional and physical health, social development, education and future employment. Local authorities take children into care to improve outcomes for them but children in care do less well in school than their peers. In 2012/13 15% of children in care achieved 5 or more GCSEs at grades A* to C including Mathematics and English, compared with 58% of children not in care. They are also more likely to experience problems in later life, which can have a wider social impact and lead to higher costs to the public purse. For example, at the end of 2013, 34% of 19-year-olds who were in care at the age of 16 were not in employment, education or training (NEET), compared with 15.5% of 18-year-olds. Research by York University has estimated the lifetime cost of a young person being NEET at £56,000 a year.

In 2012-13, local authorities spent on average between £131,000 and £135,000 on residential care for a child and between £29,000 and £33,000 on foster care for a child. But costs vary between local authorities and by type of provider. The Department is aware of these variations in cost but not all of the reasons for them. Without a full understanding of the reasons for variations in cost the Department and local authorities will not be able to reduce them.

In 2014 the Department launched an Innovation Programme to learn about what works in commissioning to improve outcomes for children in care.

http://www.nao.org.uk/press-releases/children-care-3/

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12 OCTOBER

Runaway and Homeless Youth

Each year, thousands of U.S. youth run away from home, are asked to leave their homes or become homeless. Through the Runaway and Homeless Youth Program (RHY), FYSB supports street outreach, emergency shelters and longer-term transitional living and maternity group home programs to serve and protect these young people.

Family and Youth Services Bureau staff traveled to Denver earlier this month to discuss service needs and emerging supports for homeless young adults. The conversations took place at “TLP Day,” an annual event bringing together Runaway and Homeless Youth Program grantees operating transitional living programs and maternity group homes for youth ages 16 to 22.

The event kicked off with a welcome by Resa Matthew, director of the bureau’s Division of Adolescent Development and Support. Matthew was then joined by Program Specialist Deborah Yatsko to provide an overview of the two programs and their nearly 20-year history.

This year’s gathering encouraged attendees to get back to basics by revisiting the core services funded by the Reconnecting Homeless Youth Act of 2008. Participants shared their experiences creating plans that transition young people into independent living, for example, and for connecting them to health care under the Affordable Care Act.

http://www.acf.hhs.gov/programs/fysb/news/strengthening-transitional-living-maternity-group-homes

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7 OCTOBER 2015

Living Wage forum welcome, but increase in temporary contracts and precarious work needs to be tackled

39% of workers on the minimum wage aged between 18 and 29

The National Youth Council of Ireland (NYCI) – which represents youth organisations working with over 380,000 young people nationwide – has welcomed the decision to hold a forum on the Living Wage, but has warned that wider issues related to the changing nature of employment in Ireland also need to be addressed. The Living Wage forum has been taking place in Dublin Castle recently.

Growing concern at static youth unemployment figures

The National Youth Council of Ireland (NYCI) – which represents youth organisations with 1,400 staff and 40,000 volunteers who work with over 380,000 young people nationwide – has voiced concerns that at 20.6% the youth unemployment rate is showing little sign of decreasing.

New figures released today (29.09.15) by the Central Statistics Office (CSO) show that the unemployment rate for those aged under 25 has remained stagnant for the past 6 months – ranging between 20.3 and 20.7%.

http://www.youth.ie/nyci/press-releases

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5 OCTOBER 2015

Bipartisan Response to Growing Child and Youth Homelessness Introduced

Advocates today applauded the introduction of bipartisan legislation to eliminate bureaucratic obstacles that deny federal assistance to nearly one million homeless children and youth.

The U.S. Department of Education estimates that nearly 1.3 million children and youth in America are homeless. Children and youth face the same problems as other homeless Americans, including hunger, health problems, and increased risk of exploitation and violence. But because the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) uses a different definition of “homeless” than other federal agencies, the bulk of the nation’s homeless children and youth cannot get basic HUD-funded assistance. HUD’s definition and associated paperwork requirements practically exclude many homeless families from a safe place to stay, employment assistance, help finding housing, counseling, and help accessing health care and child care.

The Homeless Children and Youth Act, sponsored in the United States Senate by Senators Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) and Rob Portman (R-Ohio), and in the U.S. House of Representatives by Congressman Steve Stivers (R-Ohio-15) and Congressman Dave Loebsack (D-Iowa-2nd), would eliminate the definitional obstacle and funding restrictions that effectively deny most homeless children and youth basic assistance. The bill would not require local governments and nonprofits receiving HUD funds to prioritize children and youth over adults, but it would empower local leaders to serve all homeless people and end current policies that deny most homeless children and youth the same assistance available to homeless adults.

Organizations endorsing the legislation included the First Focus Campaign for Children, the National Network for Youth, the National Association for the Education of Homeless Children and Youth, the National Law Center on Homelessness & Poverty, the National Center for Housing and Child Welfare, and Covenant House. Responding to the bill’s introduction, these organizations released the following statement by First Focus Campaign for Children president, Bruce Lesley:

“HUD denies help to nearly a million homeless children and youth who live every day with hunger, trauma, exploitation and violence. This bill offers a bipartisan plan to level the playing field, so Washington bureaucrats can no longer deny homeless people help just because they’re young.”

***

The First Focus Campaign for Children is a 501(c)(4) nonprofit organization affiliated with First Focus, a bipartisan children’s advocacy organization. The Campaign for Children advocates directly for legislative change in Congress to ensure children and families are the priority in federal policy and budget decisions. For more information, visit www.campaignforchildren.org.

The National Network for Youth (NN4Y) is the nation’s leading network of homeless and runaway youth programs. The Network champions the needs of runaway, homeless, and other disconnected youth through strengthening the capacity of community-based services, facilitating resource sharing, and educating the public and policy makers. NN4Y’s members serve homeless youth across the country, working collaboratively to prevent youth homelessness and the inherent risks of living on the streets, including exploitation, human trafficking, criminal justice involvement, or death. For more information, visit www.nn4youth.org.

The National Association for the Education of Homeless Children and Youth is a national membership association dedicated to supporting the educational success of children and youth experiencing homelessness. NAEHCY connects educators, service providers, advocates, families and youth to ensure school attendance and overall success for children and youth whose lives have been disrupted by homelessness. NAEHCY accomplishes its mission through advocacy, partnerships, and education. For more information, visit www.naehcy.org.

The National Center for Housing and Child Welfare (NCHCW) links housing resources and knowledge to child welfare agencies in order to improve family functioning, prevent family homelessness, and reduce the need for out-of-home placement. NCHCW also brings housing resources to child welfare agencies in order to ensure that older youth in foster care have a connection to permanent family as well as a solid plan for stable housing and services to help them be successful as adults.

Covenant House was founded in 1972 with the simple, profound mission to help homeless kids escape the streets. Today we are the largest privately funded charity in the Americas providing loving care and vital services to homeless, abandoned, abused, trafficked, and exploited youth.

Ed Walz

http://campaignforchildren.org/news/press-release/bipartisan-response-to-growing-child-and-youth-homelessness-introduced/

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2 OCTOBER

Attitudes toward treatment limit Chicago’s former youth inmates’ access to health care

A significant number of former juvenile inmates in Chicago’s Cook County jail believe they don’t need mental health, alcohol or substance abuse treatment and most often believed their problems would go away on their own, according to research [PDF] published this month by the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention’s (OJJDP) “Northeastern Juvenile Project.”

The project studied 1,892 youth between the ages of 10 and 18 who had been incarcerated at the Cook County Juvenile Temporary Detention Center between 1995 and 1998. Other bulletins in the series found that formerly incarcerated young black men and women at the detention center faced dramatically higher mortality rates than the general population, and suffered from higher rates of substance abuse and mental health disorders.

Rates of psychiatric, conduct or substance abuse disorders are very high among juvenile inmates when compared to the general population. While governments are compelled to provide a minimum of health services to inmates, OJJDP notes “youth in custody are profoundly underserved,” citing statistics that only 15.4% of detainees with mental health disorders receive treatment.

The study may be one of the first of its kind to examine the impact of former youth inmates’ perceptions on their access to healthcare.

“How youth think about services helps determine whether they cooperate with referrals or remain in treatment,” the authors wrote.

In other words, if a child did not think there were services or programs out there to support them, or did not think they needed support, they were unlikely to receive treatment.

The most common perceived barrier to healthcare was the belief that problems would go away on their own. Those with “self-identified mental health needs” most often believed they did not require treatment. Interestingly, researchers found that family members often shared this belief, leading researchers to question whether this might be an intergenerational issue.

This is perhaps one of the most important perceived barriers to overcome because, for kids to get the care and services they need, researchers say they must “first understand that they need mental health services before they will seek them out and stay in treatment.”

31% of former youth prisoners were not sure who to contact or where to go for treatment and counseling. 19.1% reported difficulty in accessing available services. 27% reported “other” barriers, including denial that a problem exists, disinterest in treatment and dissatisfaction with a therapist or treatment.

The perceived obstacles to care were especially pronounced among minority former prisoners who were also found to receive substantially fewer services than their white counterparts – a disparity that exists in the general population as well. Black and Hispanic former prisoners were more likely to suggest they did not have a problem that required treatment. More white than non-white participants said they feared being labeled or suffering negative consequences as a result of pursuing treatment.

However, it is important to note that attitudes and perceptions alone do not explain racial and ethnic disparities in services and treatments for individuals. Researchers point to “external factors such as poverty, lack of sufficient minority service providers, and sociocultural barriers” instead.

The data was also markedly different when looking at males versus females. Formerly incarcerated young men in Cook County received fewer services than females. Significantly more males than females said they did not have a problem. Males who had not been treated were also significantly more concerned about what others might think of them than women. Males who had been referred but never received services expressed uncertainty about how and where to get help, compared to those who had had access to services. For males and females alike, significantly more who had never received services were worried about the cost of treatment than those who had.

Researchers point to national studies that include similar barriers to care for people in the general population, citing a problem with the healthcare system in the United States overall, characterized by fragmented services, unavailability of longterm or ongoing care, and the segregation of substance abuse and mental healthcare from general practice which limits opportunities for continuity in treatment and collaboration between healthcare professionals.

The OJJDP recommend investigations into the “charactertistics of mental health services that high risk youth receive and why they are satisfied with these services.” They also suggest further research into the gender and racial differences in the use of services and the role of social networks in a young person’s attitude toward treatment.

Brian Sonenstein
29 September 2015

http://shadowproof.com/2015/09/29/attitudes-toward-treatment-limit-chicagos-former-youth-inmates-access-to-health-care/

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