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& Notes > For Your Information
Putting
Kids First apart of the Partnership with Families
One in 5 children may
have a mental health issue,
but only a small fraction receive the supports and services they
need.
“There
are a lot of obstacles-lack of insurance parity, fragmented service
systems, poor cultural competence, and stigma – to getting
comprehensive mental health care,” said Bruce Sowatsky, Executive
Director of the Children and Family Services Authority of St. Charles
County. “We hope that the continuation of the Putting Kids
First educational effort will be able to bring some of these issues
to light and make a difference in St. Charles County.”
The Putting Kids First educational effort, a part
of the Partnership with Families, St. Charles County system of care,
was designed as a dialogue of citizens concerned about children
and youth issues in our community. Putting Kids First embodies the
ideals of the system of care model, being comprehensive and community-based.
A community-based, comprehensive “system
of care” helps children and adolescents with serious emotional
disturbances improve school performance and attendance, reduce contacts
with the law, and lower levels of severe behavioral symptoms. Through
its Comprehensive Community Mental Health Services for Children
and Their Families Program, the Center for Mental Health Services
has funded communities across the Nation that work to establish
culturally competent, family-driven systems of care. In St. Charles
County our system of care is called Partnership with Families.
Within Partnership with Families, children, youth
and their families’ work together with service providers to
develop, manage, deliver and evaluate mental health policies and
programs. Our community’s goal is to deliver services in ways
that are responsive to children and their families. Children and
their families, schools and communities benefit when mental health
services and other supports are integrated into a single service
system to meet the diverse, highly individual, changing needs of
children with serious emotional disturbances.
To learn more about the Partnership with Families
system of care and/or the Putting Kids First educational effort
please call 636-949-7556 or visit www.stcharlescountykids.org.
St. Charles County Vision
for Children
Putting Kids First
St. Charles County will be a community in which all adults share
responsibility for our children and teenagers; where youth can achieve
their full potential in a safe and supportive environment; where
personal responsibility and respect for others are taught and practiced;
where we have the tools and support necessary to nurture and guide
our children; and where the needs of young people are our highest
priority.
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