One of the drivers of the current lack of facilities for foster children is the lack of sufficient mental health care. According to the American Academy of Pediatrics, “Mental and behavioral health is the largest unmet health need for children and teens in foster care.” This lack of resources leads in an almost straight line to the inability of foster homes to cope with behavioral challenges to the lack of residential psychiatric beds to “hoteling” foster children with complex needs.
The problem is only getting worse as residential psychiatric facilities are closing down because they can’t sustain themselves. Eye-popping jury verdicts also exacerbate the problem. There is no simple solution, and we have to tackle the problem on many fronts. There is no doubt, however, that we have to start building our mental health infrastructure if we are to have any hope of helping our children deal with our current historic levels of anxiety and depression.
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