About | HeinOnline Law Journal Library | HeinOnline Law Journal Library | HeinOnline

76 Iowa Law. 10 (2016-2017)
A Children's Mental Health System Is Finally on Its Way

handle is hein.barjournals/ialaw0076 and id is 82 raw text is: 


A children's mental health system is finally on its way
By Jerry Foxhoven


  For more than three decades, child
advocates and mental health advocates
have been concerned about the lack of a
children's mental health system in Iowa.
Over the past few years, mental health
reform has been taking place in Iowa in
an attempt to bring quality mental health
services to all Iowans, regardless of loca-
tion or economic status.
  In the past, adult mental health services
were the responsibility of each individual
county. The adult mental health system
has been transformed into a system using
regions instead of counties, This has
allowed counties to work together to pool
resources and design a comprehensive
mental health system for their areas of
the state. This wasn't possible under the
old system where every county was forced
to sink or swim on its own. All reports
seem to be that this new approach, while
still developing, is going very well.
  Recently, Gov. Terry Branstad ordered
the closure of two of the state's mental
health institutions for adults. One of those
institutions did not have a psychiatrist and
the other was faced with the retirement of
the psychiatrist on staff there. There is a se-
vere shortage of psychiatrists in Iowa, which
makes a robust mental health system almost
impossible. Iowa ranks 41st among states in
the number of practicing psychiatrists. The
shortage of child psychiatrists is even more
severe. Branstad has begun to address this
problem by proposing funding to support
residencies for psychiatrists in Iowa. One
expert has indicated that doctors who serve
their residencies at one of Iowa's two medi-
cal schools have a 75-80 percent chance of
staying in Iowa. While this may take some
time to increase the number of psychiatrists


in Iowa, it is a great step
in advancing compre-
hensive mental health
services in Iowa.
  In the last session,
the Iowa Legislature
ordered that a work-
group be created to
examine Iowa's systems
for children's mental
health and well-being,
the Children's Mental     Jerry Foxhoven (top
Health and Wellbeing      and Well-Being Wor
Workgroup, and to         Iowa State Capitol la
report to them with
specific recommendations prior to the
beginning of this session. I was selected
to co-chair that workgroup and assigned
to head the children's mental health
subcommittee. Our group (made up of a
diverse group of youth, providers, parents,
educators, legislators and child and mental
health advocates) conducted a compre-
hensive review of Iowa's current mental
health system and made recommendations
to create a children's mental health system
in stages. The first step of that proposal is
currently before the Iowa Legislature.
  The proposal begins by addressing the
need for a crisis system for children's mental
health. Funding is proposed to support
two lead entities in two geographic areas of
the state to collaborate with groups in their
respective areas to design a children's men-
tal health crisis system for their areas. It is
anticipated that similar opportunities will be
offered to other parts of the state in future
years. Any design will require specific crisis
services to be available and the collection of
data for the future design of a comprehen-
sive children's mental health system as well


kgroup presented their final report to legislators at the
st February.

  as a review of the necessary funding for full
  implementation of the crisis system. Addi-
  tionally, gaps in our system that either cause
  youth to come back into crisis or prevent an
  appropriate handoff when youth are no
  longer in crisis must be identified.
    The Children's Mental Health and
  Wellbeing Workgroup's proposal is a
  well-planned and gradual implementation
  of a comprehensive children's mental
  health system for Iowa. By starting with a
  crisis system, the youth who have the most
  immediate needs will be helped, and the
  foundations for a comprehensive system will
  be identified to maximize the success on
  implementation of that system. The propos-
  al appears to have bipartisan support in the
  legislature and can be an important first
  step toward creating a children's mental
  health system in Iowa.


             Jerry Foxhoven is the Executive
             Director of Clinical Programs at
             the Drake University Law School,


    Business Valuations

    & Litigation Support






      E BCC

                ADVISERS
   1707 High Street I Des Moines, 1A 50309
   515.282.8019 1 www.bccadvisers.com


10 T!F ¢LAWfAV1R Apri2016


   Al Ryerson
CPA/ABV, CFF, ASA


Greg Weber
CPA/ABV, ASA


   Jim Nalley
CPA/ABV, CFF, CVA


Jennifer Julander
      ASA

What Is HeinOnline?

HeinOnline is a subscription-based resource containing thousands of academic and legal journals from inception; complete coverage of government documents such as U.S. Statutes at Large, U.S. Code, Federal Register, Code of Federal Regulations, U.S. Reports, and much more. Documents are image-based, fully searchable PDFs with the authority of print combined with the accessibility of a user-friendly and powerful database. For more information, request a quote or trial for your organization below.



Short-term subscription options include 24 hours, 48 hours, or 1 week to HeinOnline.

Already a HeinOnline Subscriber?

profiles profiles most