Image by mySAPL via FlickrFound an article that equates poverty to having mental health problem(s). How true, I don't know. I actually disagree. You'd be more nuts worrying about keeping your money safe, than simply worrying about how or where you'd get the next meal. I'm talking of extreme cases here. But stranger than the truth is the fact that those who have just enough, or less, of finances, can sleep better than those who have to upkeep, and therefore, keep up, their financial status of being rich.
Agree?
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SIDNEY – Eleven percent of Nebraska children between the ages of 2 and 17 have at least one emotional, behavioral or developmental condition – and the statistics are growing every year. The state’s increasing poverty level is but one of a number of contributing factors, according to the 2010 Kids Count in Nebraska report issued Tuesday by Voices for Children. Other factors include geography, out-of-home care and contact with the juvenile justice system.
Just more than 66,000 Nebraska children were living in poverty in 2009. That’s 15.2 percent of the state’s youth, and increase from the 2000 rate of 10 percent. The 2008 economic recession is in part to blame for the increase, said Melissa Breazile, research coordinator for Voices for Children in Nebraska.
Economic well-being is not a cause of behavioral health disorders, but it is an environmental stressor that increases the chances of episodes for susceptible youngsters and it can leave families with hardships in addressing the issues.
As the state’s poverty rate has increased, so has its child abuse and neglect rates. Nebraska’s Child Abuse and Neglect Hotline registered 25,106 calls in 2009, an increase over the prior year’s 24,073 calls. Of the 2009 reports, 56 percent were investigated and 16 percent were determined to be “unsafe” situations.
But this year’s report, comprised of the latest data from 2008 and 2009, is not all bad news. Graduation rates have increased. Dropout, expulsion and juvenile arrest rates are down. Infant mortality rates have also decreased.
Families struggling with mental or behavioral issues have an easier time accessing the help they need. Much of that was the state’s response to the 2008 debacle with the Safe Haven Law that allowed parents to relinquish custody of children of any age. Thirty-six children were left to state custody before lawmakers closed the loophole. Thirty-four of them had received prior mental health treatment.
Breazile said the children’s parents felt the only way to find adequate services to help them was to leave their children in the state’s custody.
“Parents should not have to give up custody of their children to get help,” said Region 3 Behavioral Health Services Administrator Beth Baxter.
After fixing the Safe Haven Law, the state implemented the Nebraska Family Helpline, Family Navigator Services and the post adoption/guardianship program, Right Turn. But concerns now turn to the state’s increasing budget shortfalls and how that could affect the future of the programs.
“As the state attempts to strengthen its services, project budget shortfalls threaten even existing programs,” Breazile wrote in the report. “Already, the Nebraska Family Helpline and Family Navigator Services – implemented in 2010 – have been listed as potential programs to cut in an effort to reduce the DHHS budget.
“Some of the framework is in place for an effective system, but it’s a work in progress,” Breazile said. “That’s why we believe that the helpline and family navigator services are critical front doors for families entering and trying to find their way around the behavioral health system.”
Phone services for families in a state as large as Nebraska play a critical role in connecting families with needed resources. Only 14 percent of Nebraska children live in counties with no mental health service shortage. About 57 percent live in counties with no services and another 29 percent live in counties where services may be hard to find.
Baxter said one one-quarter of Nebraska children get the behavioral health care they need.
“That means three-quarters of them are not getting help,” she said. “Nineteen percent of all pediatrician visits involve some type of psychosocial problem, making it the most chronic condition for pediatrician visits – more than asthma.”
That’s why Breazile emphasized an importance on keeping the existing services available.
“If we address the health needs now, it increases the chance all children will grow up to be productive and prosperous,” Breazile said.
Just more than 66,000 Nebraska children were living in poverty in 2009. That’s 15.2 percent of the state’s youth, and increase from the 2000 rate of 10 percent. The 2008 economic recession is in part to blame for the increase, said Melissa Breazile, research coordinator for Voices for Children in Nebraska.
Economic well-being is not a cause of behavioral health disorders, but it is an environmental stressor that increases the chances of episodes for susceptible youngsters and it can leave families with hardships in addressing the issues.
As the state’s poverty rate has increased, so has its child abuse and neglect rates. Nebraska’s Child Abuse and Neglect Hotline registered 25,106 calls in 2009, an increase over the prior year’s 24,073 calls. Of the 2009 reports, 56 percent were investigated and 16 percent were determined to be “unsafe” situations.
But this year’s report, comprised of the latest data from 2008 and 2009, is not all bad news. Graduation rates have increased. Dropout, expulsion and juvenile arrest rates are down. Infant mortality rates have also decreased.
Families struggling with mental or behavioral issues have an easier time accessing the help they need. Much of that was the state’s response to the 2008 debacle with the Safe Haven Law that allowed parents to relinquish custody of children of any age. Thirty-six children were left to state custody before lawmakers closed the loophole. Thirty-four of them had received prior mental health treatment.
Breazile said the children’s parents felt the only way to find adequate services to help them was to leave their children in the state’s custody.
“Parents should not have to give up custody of their children to get help,” said Region 3 Behavioral Health Services Administrator Beth Baxter.
After fixing the Safe Haven Law, the state implemented the Nebraska Family Helpline, Family Navigator Services and the post adoption/guardianship program, Right Turn. But concerns now turn to the state’s increasing budget shortfalls and how that could affect the future of the programs.
“As the state attempts to strengthen its services, project budget shortfalls threaten even existing programs,” Breazile wrote in the report. “Already, the Nebraska Family Helpline and Family Navigator Services – implemented in 2010 – have been listed as potential programs to cut in an effort to reduce the DHHS budget.
“Some of the framework is in place for an effective system, but it’s a work in progress,” Breazile said. “That’s why we believe that the helpline and family navigator services are critical front doors for families entering and trying to find their way around the behavioral health system.”
Phone services for families in a state as large as Nebraska play a critical role in connecting families with needed resources. Only 14 percent of Nebraska children live in counties with no mental health service shortage. About 57 percent live in counties with no services and another 29 percent live in counties where services may be hard to find.
Baxter said one one-quarter of Nebraska children get the behavioral health care they need.
“That means three-quarters of them are not getting help,” she said. “Nineteen percent of all pediatrician visits involve some type of psychosocial problem, making it the most chronic condition for pediatrician visits – more than asthma.”
That’s why Breazile emphasized an importance on keeping the existing services available.
“If we address the health needs now, it increases the chance all children will grow up to be productive and prosperous,” Breazile said.
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Taken from Sun Telegraph; source article is below:
