APRIL 19, 2016 – A coalition of children’s advocacy organizations have released Failing Grade: How California’s School Districts Have Abandoned Children with Disabilities, a new report that details how 580,000 children with mental disabilities have been left without help and have, in some cases, been sent to juvenile hall, rather than getting the school based mental health services to which they are legally entitled. This failure is particularly egregious in light of the massive state payments to local school districts that supposedly paid for the services. The full report can be read here.
Among the report’s findings are that:
- School districts have done little to identify the 580,000 children who need and are eligible for mental health services at school but who do not get that help
- Only 1 out of 7 children eligible for mental health services receive them
- Less than half of the children actually receiving services are receiving the right type of services
- Fewer children now receive school based mental health services than did in 2010
- Children are being sent to the juvenile justice system rather than being given mental health care
