A new report sheds light on which children need the least mental health care, and those who need the most.

By Naomi Schaefer Riley

Last fall, a 15-year-old foster child in Kansas took his own life. According to a local news report, the boy’s foster family “immediately called for help when they discovered the teenager, but paramedics couldn’t save him.”

The Kansas City Beacon reported that the agency that was overseeing the placement, KVC Kansas, did not meet the state’s guidelines for providing mental health treatment for the children under its supervision who needed it. According to the Beacon, the agency came closer than many others that operate in Kansas, but the mental health needs of foster youth are so substantial that many states struggle with the problem — sometimes with tragic results.

A new study from the Institute for Family Studies sheds some light on what is happening. According to the report, “Families Matter to Kids’ Mental Health” by Nicholas Zill, there are about 8 million children in the U.S. who need psychiatric attention each year, 82% of whom received it, but children in foster care need a lot more.

The need for treatment, Zill notes, varies significantly across family structure.

“Children who lived with both their married birth parents were least likely to need or receive counseling” — only about 14% needed it and 12% were getting it. Kids living with single mothers needed more mental health help. But it was children and adolescents who lived apart from both parents who fared the worst. Of those living with relatives besides grandparents or living in foster care, 37% were getting care and another 7% needed it.

What is happening in the lives of these kids? The benefits of living with two biological parents have been documented many times. But what is it specifically that leads to mental health problems when that situation is not available? When parents split up, the stress and anxiety that kids feel will inevitably increase. But as Zill points out, “most are able to adjust and do reasonably well.” But for other kids, Zill suggests there may be “longer-term maladjustment.”

https://www.deseret.com/opinion/2024/03/17/foster-care-mental-health-crisis-treatment/