Health Services for Foster Youth

Why is there no place where our mentally ill youth can go for residential treatment which would enable many of them to return to society and enjoy healthy, productive lives? Why are we not outraged that children as young as 10, who should be in mental health treatment facilities, are being locked up in Juvenile Hall for months, and sometimes years, because there is no place else for them to go?

Because Los Angeles lacks proper mental health facilities, a child in the dependency system who acts out due to problems arising from a mental health disorder often ends up being charged with assault or “terrorist threats” and sent to Juvenile Hall, where they are treated like criminals rather than victims.

These are children who have been abandoned by their own families and abused by the systems created to protect them. They grow up in foster care, rootless, penniless and enveloped in severe depression. This sense of hopelessness and despair leads them down the path of destruction to severe mental illness, homelessness or, worse yet, suicide.

There is a lot that can be done to help these children. If Gov. Gray Davis signs SR 147, these challenged youth emancipating from foster care will have access to mental health services and be provided with health care until the age of 21.

United Friends of the Children is working with the county Mental Health Department to create a program for emancipated foster youth living in UFC’s transitional housing. UFC’s Bridges to Independence program is committed to preparing these youth to live independently by providing emotional support, career counseling, job training and jobs. These young people were robbed of their childhood, but we can give them the tools to ensure a hopeful future. We owe them no less.

NANCY DALY RIORDAN

Los Angeles