With ‘Few Resources,’ Colorado Often Sends Mentally Ill Children Out of State for Treatment

"So few resources exist" in Colorado for children with serious mental illnesses that the state Department of Human Services has sent many out of state for care, the Denver Post reports. During the past year and a half, the state sent 45 children to Utah, Texas, Pennsylvania, California and Wyoming for treatment, Judy Rodriguez, the department's county and community support manager, said. Sending children out of state costs about $2,000 to $3,000 per child per week, while in-state treatment costs about half that amount, Jude Liguori, child protection administrator for the Denver Department of Human Services, said. Although Colorado has facilities that could treat the children, she said that waiting lists "sometimes necessitate sending them elsewhere." Rodriguez added that Colorado often sends children with multiple mental problems -- such as a child who "is a fire-setter, has a mental illness and is a sex offender" -- out of state "because Colorado has so few places qualified" to treat them. Critics have called the practice "too expensive" and warn that the hopes of reuniting the children with their families "fade" when Colorado sends children to out-of-state treatment facilities. However, Chuck Thompson, president of the Colorado Boys Ranch, a residential treatment facility for "at-risk" youth, said, the "sometimes it's best to remove children from their dysfunctional families and environments." Human services department staff "aren't sure how long" the state has lacked "adequate resources" for children with mental illnesses. In 1999, the department established a team to monitor the state's mental health facilities and "discovered facilities that shouldn't be operating and closed them," Rodriguez said. Six facilities also "went out of business." However, help in the "form of more beds and more money may be on the way," the Post reports. A new 15-bed facility recently opened in Colorado Springs, Rodriguez noted. In addition, the Department of Human Services is seeking a Medicaid rule change to allow blended mental health and child welfare funds, allowing for higher reimbursement that may encourage facilities to expand capacity (Kreck, Denver Post, 7/19).