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Thursday, February 13, 2003
State fails again on children's services
Copyright © 2003 Blethen Maine Newspapers Inc. | ||||||||||
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Also on this page: CASTAWAY CHILDREN: Maine's Most Vulnerable Kids | |||||||||
Maine's system of tracking children who need psychiatric services is so inadequate that a federal court ordered the state Wednesday to hire an outside mental health expert to remedy the problem. The order, filed in U.S. District Court in Portland, shows the state has failed to comply with aspects of an agreement it reached last May to settle a class-action lawsuit. The settlement directed Maine's Department of Behavioral and Developmental Services to provide timely in-home treatment to hundreds of mentally ill and disabled children, some of whom need supervision every waking hour. Without treatment, many of these children deteriorate and need hospitalization because they cannot remain stable in their homes. Maine is legally obligated to help the kids because they receive Medicaid and are entitled to receive services within six months of when they ask for help. But the state failed to keep its agreement to treat the children, said William Kayatta, one of the lawyers who filed the class-action lawsuit known as the Risinger case. The state's mental health agency must now have an out-of-state expert evaluate its system and offer solutions for better serving some of the state's most troubled and needy children. "It's clear that (the Department of Behavioral and Developmental Services) is not competent to do this on their own," said Kayatta, who works for the Portland firm of Pierce Atwood. "The agency was given ample time to figure out how many kids need help and yet, as appalling as it sounds, they have no idea." Kayatta said the state promised to develop a new computer system to better count the children needing help. But while that system was being set up, the old tracking system was shut down, he said. The best the state could offer, Kayatta said, was an estimate that close to 800 children were either waiting for in-home help or were waiting to be evaluated for services. Deputy Attorney General Paul Stern, who has represented the mental health agency and the Department of Human Services, which was also named in the suit, did not dispute Kayatta's claims. "The issues here appear to be very complex, and it's fair to say when the new administration was apprised of this situation the governor's office took it very seriously," Stern said. "We're moving forward to provide these children with the services that they're entitled to." The state's failure to follow the terms of the class-action settlement marks another setback for an agency that has faced criticism for not treating Maine's most vulnerable children. On Tuesday, Lynn Duby, commissioner of behavioral and developmental services, announced her resignation. Duby, who has served as commissioner since 1999, said she plans to take a job in the private sector. Duby and Lisa Burgess, who heads children's services for the agency, did not return phone calls seeking comment Wednesday. Tonya Labbe, a parent advocate who fights for services for families with mentally ill or disabled children, was not surprised the state was back in court on the Risinger case. "The reason the state can't get an accurate count of kids waiting for services is because we do not have a children's system," said Labbe, who is also a member of the Children's Mental Health Oversight Committee. "We don't have one true system where we can connect all the children and keep track of who is getting services and who needs them," she said. Gov. John Baldacci has promised to streamline the four state agencies that provide services to mentally ill and disabled children. His decision followed publication of the Portland Press Herald/Maine Sunday Telegram series "Castaway Children: Maine's Most Vulnerable Children." The series reported that services for kids were fragmented across four state agencies, which sometimes fought over who would pay for a child's psychiatric treatment. The new court order in the Risinger case will bring Maine closer to making the child mental-health system stronger, Kayatta said. The order says that by Tuesday, the state must hire an expert to come in and evaluate what's happening to these children, and make sure they're getting services within 180 days. If the mental health agency does not follow the expert's advice, it can be brought back to court, Kayatta said. The agency also will have to make monthly reports on how well it is tracking children who need in-home services and how long those children have been waiting for help, Kayatta said. Stern said the state is committed to improving the children's mental health system. He said it is unclear how long the expert will be hired for and how much it will cost. "The administration has made this a priority and money will be available for this effort," Stern said. "There are a number of dedicated state workers who have pushed to get these services delivered. And they will continue to work with this expert to make sure children get the help they need as soon as possible." Help can't come soon enough for Priscilla Martel of Portland. Her son, Joshua, has been locked up in Spring Harbor's psychiatric ward since Dec. 23. She has tried unsuccessfully to get in-home help for her son, who has bipolar and attention deficit disorders. The 15-year-old boy is also developmentally disabled and functions as if he is 7 or 8. Because there is little available for her son in Maine, Martel says her caseworker is pushing to send Joshua to a psychiatric residential facility in Pennsylvania. "It blows my mind," said Martel. "They're going to spend thousands to send my son out of state, but they can't come up with the money or services to help him here." Martel has informed her caseworker that she wants to keep her son close to home, but says she was told there are no other options. "I've been threatened by several people that if I don't let Joshua go out of state they'll call DHS and take custody of my son," she said. "What kind of choice is that for a mother?" Martel's caseworker, who works for Community Counseling, did not return a call seeking comment. "My boy keeps asking me to come home," Martel said. "Why is that so hard?" Staff Writer Barbara Walsh can be contacted at 791-6382 or at:
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