In January 2001, Surgeon General David Satcher reported that the nation is facing a public health crisis in mental health for children and adolescents. According to Satcher, “In the United States, one in ten children suffer from mental illness severe enough to cause some level of impairment. Yet, in any given year, it is estimated that fewer than one in five of these children receives needed treatment. The long term consequences of untreated childhood disorders are costly in both human and fiscal terms.”

For the last six years the Wisconsin Council on Children and Families’ Better Badger Baby Bus has been touring the state presenting scientific facts that support quality parenting and care giving for infants and children. Brain research has verified what our grandmothers knew all along - to be both physically and mentally healthy kids need loving and nurturing home and caregiver environments.

Unfortunately, even some children with ideal environments do not escape mental illness. During 2000, in Wisconsin alone 6,810 children were hospitalized as a result of a serious mental illness.

This year, rather than publishing our annual data book covering a broad array of issues affecting children, we have chosen to focus on several areas of child well being in Wisconsin. Children’s Mental Health, From Parenting to Policy Making is the third in this series. The first, Affordable Housing, a Crisis for Wisconsin Families was released in May. Standardized Testing, One Size Fits All? was published earlier this fall. At the end of this year, we plan to release a report based on our statewide survey on guns.

In our first essay, Dr. Raquel Reyes, a psychologist with the Child Psychiatry Center at Children’s Hospital introduces the concept of infant mental health. The healthy development of babies is directly tied to their mothers’ response to them. Therefore, any discussion of infant mental health looks at the kind of environment and relationships that babies have with their parents and caregivers. Dr. Reyes discusses the importance of attachment as a positive basis for brain maturation, and social/emotional development well into adolescence and the negative effects that maternal depression and child abuse and neglect have on infants’ mental health. ...

Download Children's Mental Health: From Parenting to Policymaking

PDF format, 3.2MB, 51Pages.

TABLE OF CONTENTS:

Acknowledgements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
Infant Mental Health:From Parenting To Policymaking
By Raquel L. Reyes, Ph. D. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
Culturally Competent Care for Children in the Mental Health System
By Pahoua Yang. . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . 15
Educating Children with Mental Health Needs in the Public School System:
Personal Reflections of an Educator
By Lynette L. Fassbender, Ph.D. . . . .  . . . . . . . . . . .23
May I Have Your Attention Please: ADD and ADHD
By Nan Brien. . . . . . . .  . . . . . . . . . . 29
Defining Parity
By Shel Gross . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
Selected Data By County . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44
Data Definitions and Sources. . . . . . . . .  . . . . . . . 48

Visit The Wisconsin Council on Children and Families Website

The Wisconsin Council on Children and Families serves as Wisconsin’s leading voice of, and premiere advocate for, children throughout the state.

Emphasizing the core values of fairness, caring, and community, the Council conducts a variety of advocacy activities, including organizing expert research, educating the public, supporting key issues and legislation, and coordinating grassroots activity in communities all across Wisconsin.

In addition to publishing the WisKids Count Data Book – which seeks to enrich local, state, and national discussions
concerning ways to secure better futures for all children – the Council accomplishes its advocacy through several publications; educational conferences throughout the state; and key projects like the Better Badger Baby Bus Tour, W-2 Watch, the Wisconsin Budget Project, and Advocacy Camp among others.

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