Summarizes and discusses the implications of a recent national study of public policies affecting the delivery of mental health services to disturbed children and adolescents. Discusses fiscal, administrative, and service inadequacies as well as innovative programming and policy efforts. Addresses implications for the policymaking and…

In the national discussion of mental health problems, in the literature on the subject, minorities seem to have been almost deliberately omitted. The reasons for such omission of blacks, Spanish-speaking people and Indians from literature and mental health practice are discussed. (Author/RK)

This field work examines womens' participation in 50 alternative self-help support systems covering 10 states and notes that variety is the outstanding characteristic of these services. (Author/AM)

Many children served in afterschool programs would be left alone in dangerous neighborhoods, potentially engaging in risky sexual and criminal behaviors, if not for their participation in structured programming. In fact, research has shown that students who spend the majority of their afterschool hours in unsupervised activities are more likely to…

"Data Trends" reports present summaries of research on mental health services for children and adolescents and their families. The article summarized in this "Data Trends" presents the results of a study of 40,636 children entering the Illinois domestic violence service system over a five-year period. The results of this study…

Recent reports have documented how some parents choose to place their children in the child welfare or juvenile justice systems in order to obtain the mental health services that their children need. Senators Susan Collins and Joseph Lieberman of the Senate Committee on Governmental Affairs asked the General Accounting Office (GAO) to testify on:…

Challenge initiatives are used by many mental health agencies to facilitate a variety of therapeutic changes within participants. There are several ways to lead these challenge initiatives, including whole training, fixed training, and adaptive training. This paper presents a theoretical basis for considering adaptive training to be the most…

This study uses a historical perspective to examine the interface of the Maryland Juvenile Justice Department and the Mental Hygiene Administration in their efforts to provide services to youth involved with the juvenile justice system who were found to have mental disorders. A time line was constructed documenting developments from the 16th…

This article highlights the untended mental health needs of children across the United States. Citing troubling mental health statistics, the author suggests creating a community culture that does not stigmatize or ignore mental health problems, specifically by making prevention and treatment the rule. One of the potential stumbling blocks…

This study provides comparative data describing the quality of 1,175 psychological sites currently available on the Internet. A rating scale was used to assess six dimensions of site quality including accuracy, practicality, normalization and sense of belonging, referral, and feedback mechanisms. One-way ANOVA on the six separate quality items and…

Mentally retarded citizens have been denied their human and civil rights, not only by the public, but by professionals--including social workers. The author claims that most programs for the mentally retarded are, at best, dehumanizing. Professionals have an ethical obligation to refuse to refer children to such programs. (Author)

Reviews dilemmas confronting Comprehensive Community Mental Health movement, documents existent paradigms on various campuses with special reference to program at University of Florida. Outlines campus utilization of College Community Model for training of psychiatric resident. (Author/CJ)

There is a striking variation in quality of work rehabilitation in the United States from progressive sophisticated programs to those that incorporate the shadier practices of custodial care. Long range funding is imperative to the establishment of good programs. (Editor/SB)

This paper considers differential patterns of program utilization and the overall potential of the helping model for bringing needed services to otherwise unreached, maladapting school children. (Author)