Feds Study Mentally-Ill Juvenile Offenders

WASHINGTON – Nearly 2,000 children awaiting mental-health treatment are incarcerated on any given night in juvenile detention centers across the country, where many attempt suicide or attack others, according to a recent federal study.

Lawmakers and advocates for mentally ill children said at a Senate hearing that the report prepared for Sen. Susan Collins, (R-Maine) and Rep. Henry Waxman (D-Calif.) should spur Congress to pass legislation that steers children toward treatment rather than incarceration.

Problems include a failure by federal and state officials in social service, criminal justice and educational agencies to communicate and agree how to treat any given child.

In addition, the cost of treatment often prevents parents from seeking services. The General Accounting Office found in 2001 that parents surrendered 12,700 children to the government for Medicaid treatment because the families couldn’t afford mental-health care on their own.

The report surveyed 500 juvenile-detention administrators in 49 states–New Hampshire was not included. It included about three-quarters of all facilities and covered the first half of 2003. More than 1,900 juveniles were incarcerated on any night while waiting for mental-health services. Two-thirds of the facilities reported that youths either attempted suicide or attacked others.