Cross-System Collaboration to Support Children and Youth With Behavioral Health Needs and Their Families - SAMHSA - Part of the Refocus and Renew Series

Children and youth with behavioral health needs and their families often are involved with multiple child- and family-serving systems, including child welfare and juvenile justice systems. These youth, many of whom are enrolled in or eligible for Medicaid, may experience or be at risk for out-of-home care. These settings might include restrictive environments, particularly when one or more systems designed to support children and families are unable to provide, coordinate, or maintain accessible services at the necessary intensity to address their behavioral health and service needs across the family unit.

This paper introduces behavioral health, Medicaid, and public health agency leaders, administrators, managers, and policymakers to selected public child- and family-serving systems. It also describes the population of youth with unmet behavioral health needs; reviews the child welfare, juvenile justice, intellectual and/or developmental disability (I/DD), education, and housing/homelessness prevention systems in brief; and identifies opportunities to build and maintain systems and support collaboration to prevent multisystem involvement and keep children and families in their homes and communities.

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