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CASTAWAY CHILDREN: Maine's Most Vulnerable Kids

Staff photo by John Ewing

Susan Walker tries to coax her son, Allan, to talk to her during a walk on the grounds of Bradley Hospital, a psychiatric hospital in Providence, R.I. Walker and her husband make weekly trips to see their son from their home in Bath.

Maine is known as a great place to raise children. But families that have children with mental illness often experience a different Maine — a place lacking enough support and care for families with sick children. Maine parents, as a result, take desperate measures to get treatment their children need. Young patients are shipped out of state, as far away as Florida, for round-the-clock care. In extreme cases, Maine parents legally abandon their children to the state in order to move up on a priority list for help. Staff writer Barbara Walsh explores the plight of Maine children with mental illness in a three-part series and updated coverage.

DAY 1:
Maine spends too much on costly hospital care for children with mental illnesses and not enough on efforts to keep kids stable in their homes and communities. (Sunday, August 18, 2002) DAY 2:
Finding care for Maine children with mental illness who break the law is difficult. Some are in juvenile detention facilities for months before their cases are heard. (Monday, August 19, 2002) DAY 3:
Maine is working steadily to reduce the number of children sent out of state for psychiatric treament in hospitals and residential programs, but there are challenges ahead. (Tuesday, August 20, 2002)

Also: Behind the series | Where to turn for help | Glossary of terms | Key statistics | Neglect and abuse cases | Recent complaints

UPDATED COVERAGE
The series has evoked strong reactions and the newspaper is committed to keep covering the problem:

THE THREE-DAY SERIES
Portland Press Herald/Maine Sunday Telegram staff writer Barbara Walsh's original three-day series:

SUNDAY, AUGUST 18, 2002:
Maine spends too much on costly hospital care for children with mental illnesses and not enough on efforts to keep kids stable in their homes and communities.

Crying for help, seldom heard
Doctors consider inadequate mental health treatment the top concern facing Maine children. Although the state has increased funding to aid these children, critics say the money is poorly spent.

Child psychiatrists: Few and far between
There are only 25 child and adolescent psychiatrists available on an outpatient basis to evaluate and treat the 42,000 Maine children with emotional and behavioral problems.

'Why did we have to go through such a nightmare?'
Parents in Freeport wade through Maine's fragmented mental health system to find psychiatric care for their 6-year-old son.

Family torn by mental illness is placed on waiting lists
Tammy Jackson and two of her three daughters try to cope with bipolar disorder, an illness the Lewiston woman calls 'a monster.'

'We know there is nothing in Maine for her'
After years of frustration with state bureaucracy, a couple finally finds proper care for their daughter at a psychiatric hospital - in Rhode Island

MONDAY, AUGUST 19, 2002
Finding care for Maine children with mental illness who break the law is difficult. Some are in juvenile detention facilities for months before their cases are heard.

Locked up, waiting for help
On any given day, 40 to 60 of Maine's emotionally troubled youths are behind bars until officials can locate treatment beds.

Few options for suicidal teen
Over the past two years, Joey Tracy has been locked up for a total of 11 months, waiting for psychiatric help.

'I'm afraid for him and anybody around him'
A mother desperately tries to find a psychiatric hospital for a mentally ill teen-age son prone to violent outbursts.

TUESDAY, AUGUST 20, 2002
Maine is working steadily to reduce the number of children sent out of state for psychiatric treament in hospitals and residential programs, but there are challenges ahead.

Out-of-state care takes its toll
Because Maine has few psychiatric beds, children are sent to other states for care - at a painful cost to the kids, their families and taxpayers.

Distance grows between them
Parents in Bath struggle to stay connected with their teen-age son at a Rhode Island psychiatric hospital.

'Good intentions on paper' are not enough
Experts say Maine is making progress treating mentally ill children, but they add the state must emphasize community care and consistent treatment to keep troubled kids from escalating into crisis.

'No one was overseeing his care'
A Cornish woman seethes about the horrid conditions her foster son endured when he was sent by Maine authorities to Charter Brookside in New Hampshire.