Connecticut to Reduce Use of Out-of-state Providers for Children’s Mental Health Care
Connecticut's Department of Children and Families Services will end the practice of sending mentally ill children out of state for treatment, the Hartford Courant reports. In deciding to bring the children back, officials determined the state could not "adequately monitor" the children or the care they were receiving out of state. Currently, 457 Connecticut children with behavioral and mental health problems receive care out of state, some as far away as Florida, in an effort to relieve the "bottleneck problems" in the state's mental health system. Of these 457, about 110 are being treated at facilities that border Connecticut and "because of the proximity," will be allowed to continue in their programs. The move comes after the agency received "political support" for a $33 million plan to improve children's mental health services in the state (Hamilton, Hartford Courant, 1/10).
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