Challenges and Opportunities in Children‘s Mental Health: A View from Families and Youth

This report documents critical issues in children's mental health policy and service delivery from the perspective of stakeholders in the family and youth movement. The National Center for Children in Poverty (NCCP) convened the meeting that this report summarizes, Best Practices in Policy for Children's Mental Health Consultation Meeting with Stakeholders: Family and Youth Perspectives. It was designed to solicit guidance from families and youth involved in the child mental health field to support a research study entitled Unclaimed Children Revisited. Among the key findings of the meeting was that through a family and youth lens, many effective practices, some with supporting policy, have emerged but not been taken to scale. Another set of core findings was that family members and youth acknowledged the gains made in children's mental health but cited obstacles to improved outcomes for children and families, such as service limitations, provider attitudes and training, lack of services integration, fiscal constraints, a weak infrastructure, and a sparse array of services. The report describes participants' perspectives on the status of family and youth support and advocacy systems. It also highlights selected current innovative interventions directed or heavily influenced by parents, youth, and community advocates that strengthen family and youth influence in mental health policy and service planning and advance improved mental health outcomes for children, youth, and families

Pilot Trial of The Incredible Years for Parents of Preschool Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder

Parents raising young children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) experience disproportionately high levels of stress and burden, which are associated with a plethora of other negative child and family outcomes. Yet, few interventions address parent mental health or related outcomes in this population. Chapter 1 describes a comprehensive review of randomized controlled trials which included parents of preschool-age children with ASD. Seven interventions met the review criteria. The studies were strengthened by the use of fidelity measures and developmentally-appropriate interventions. However, while all of the studies collected parent measures, none reported significant posttest improvements in parent mental health or other outcomes. Furthermore, numerous issues, such as unclear randomization strategies, small sample sizes, and poor external validity further limited the ability to draw significant conclusions regarding the promise of the interventions. The chapter concludes with a call to develop and rigorously test family-centered interventions aimed at improving both child and parent outcomes. Chapter 2 highlights the feasibility of implementing an existing evidence-based practice, The Incredible Years, tailored to parents of children with ASD. Two groups of parents raising preschool-age children (ages 3 to 6) with ASD (N=17) participated in a 15-week pilot trial of the intervention. The fidelity of the program was generally maintained, with the exception of program-specific videos. Qualitative data from individual post-intervention interviews reported parents benefited most from child emotion regulation strategies, parent stress management, social support, and visual resources. Chapter 3 reports on a mixed method test of the acceptability and results from the trial described in Chapter 2. Attendance was high (88% to 100% weekly) and attrition was modest (18%). Participants reported high acceptability of all aspects of the program (mean 3.3 out of 4). Parent stress decreased significantly after program completion, as compared to baseline. Parents highlighted several barriers to their success in the program, including trouble finding time to focus on their own needs and difficulty applying some program content (e.g., time-out for noncompliance) to children with sensory or self-regulation challenges. However, parents reportedly enjoyed the strengths-based, play-based approach of the program, as well as opportunities for social support and peer learning.Doctor of Philosoph

Strengthening Policies to Support Children, Youth, and Families Who Experience Trauma

This report reviews current policies and practices to support children, youth, and families exposed to trauma and highlights reasons for optimism and concern. Trauma-informed policy needs to balance current knowledge about effective practices with supportive financing, cross-system collaboration and training, accountability, and infrastructure development

Strengthening Policies to Support Children, Youth, and Families Who Experience Trauma

This report reviews current policies and practices to support children, youth, and families exposed to trauma and highlights reasons for optimism and concern. Trauma-informed policy needs to balance current knowledge about effective practices with supportive financing, cross-system collaboration and training, accountability, and infrastructure development

Unclaimed Children Revisited: The Status of Children's Mental Health Policy in the United States

The needs of children and youth who experience mental health difficulties, as well as the needs of their families, cannot be addressed adequately without solid policy foundations at both state and federal levels. Unclaimed Children Revisited: The Status of Children's Mental Health Policy in the United States aims to document and assess how well child mental health policies across the 50 states and three territories respond to the needs of children and youth with mental health problems, those at risk, and their families. Comprising a national study and four sub-studies, this report presents a range of data collected from service users, providers, family members, youth advocates, and state and county system leaders across the child serving spectrum. The report then uses these data to identify state- and federal-level policy implications and recommendations with the goal of promoting improved mental health service delivery through policy reform

Increasing Global Context in Social Work Education: Role of Internationally Experienced Faculty

The infusion of global social work concepts into social work curricula enhances the educational experience and understanding of practice, policy, and research for students at all levels. Having faculty members who participated in global work augments the presentation of these concepts in ways that connect to student learning. Yet, no known research has investigated the role of internationally experienced faculty in promoting a global perspective in social work education and practice. One mechanism for obtaining global experience is through service in the U.S. Peace Corps, an organization that has been available for U.S. citizens to serve their country since the 1960s. In order to determine the impact of this type of service on teaching social work, we surveyed a convenience sample of Returned Peace Corps Volunteers in faculty or teaching positions at schools of social work on the connection between their international experiences and social work education. The majority indicated that their international experiences affected how they taught social work, understood the concept of “diversity,” engaged with students in field practice, and advocated for and supported communities. Over half the participants saw a connection between current CSWE Educational Policy and Accreditation Standards (EPAS) and their globally informed academic activities. More research is needed to investigate the perspectives of faculty with other types of international experiences

Unclaimed Children Revisited: California Case Study

The purpose of the Unclaimed Children Revisited: California Case Study is to identify, document, and analyze effective fiscal, infrastructural, and related policies that support research-informed practices for mental health services to children and adolescents in California. The study also generates “lessons learned” from individual initiatives. CCS, together with the other components of UCR, examines the current status of children’s mental health policies in the United States, particularly those that support improved outcomes for children, adolescents, and their families

Considerations in implementing evidence-based early autism spectrum disorder interventions in community settings.

Evidence-based practices (EBPs) in early intervention for autism spectrum disorder (ASD) have the potential to improve children's developmental trajectories and address family needs. However, the successful use of EBPs in community early intervention settings requires careful attention to the context in which services are delivered. Implementation science, and specifically the Exploration, Preparation, Implementation, and Sustainment (EPIS) Model, provides a framework to examine context across multiple levels and identify barriers and facilitators to community EBP use. This article identifies several considerations most relevant for early intervention in ASD at the outer and inner context levels, as well as bridging and innovation factors. Outer context considerations include the policies and funding streams surrounding service delivery, the role of advocacy in shaping the service landscape, the availability of appropriate specialists to provide services, and family cultural characteristics. Inner context factors include the individual characteristics of both the children receiving the service as well as the provider delivering the service, in addition to the leadership and organizational climate surrounding the use of a particular EBP. We also discuss considerations of the specific innovation (in this case, EBP early interventions) to be deployed, as well as bridging factors

Black Caregivers\u27 Perspectives on Racism in ASD Services: Toward Culturally Responsive ABA Practice

Significant racial and ethnic disparities in health care and service access exist. In the present article, we reviewed qualitative studies investigating the racism-related experiences of Black caregivers of children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) in the U.S. health care system. Specifically, we examined institutional racism (i.e., systemic racism) and individual racism directed toward Black families when they seek diagnoses and services for their children with ASD. Additionally, we summarized culturally responsive and context-specific practice guidelines to work collaboratively with Black caregivers of children with ASD for applied behavior analysis practitioners