Texas Uninsured Children

In Harm's Way: True Stories of Uninsured Texas Today, CDF-Texas released the second edition of the report, In Harm's Way: True Stories of Uninsured Texas Children which profiles the stories of uninsured children in 16 families across the state, while also documenting the economic impact of high numbers of uninsured children on local property taxpayers, emergency rooms and businesses.

The stories and images are very moving and show the struggles facing working parents in diverse Texas communities. The report also identifies major problems with the state's eligibility system that processes children's health insurance applications as well as a general lack of affordable coverage options for families who are above the state's income eligibility limit.

Click here to see Children's Defense Fund report

Denton County Federation of Families Website Changes

First we have an apology to make, with all that has been happening at DCFF, we have not been able to keep up with the website as diligently as in the past. We hope to get somewhat better at this by using our network efficiently. Our primary mission is to provide support and advocacy for children with mental health needs and their families. In the past, we have kept you informed about what was happening with Texas policy and legislation but we currently just don’t have the human resources to stay on top of those situations effectively so we will link you to organizations that are doing policy and legislative advocacy. If you are saying to yourself that this is not the same thing as having actual family voice, you are right, it is not. But Texas does not choose to fund a family run organization to give them our voice and we have found ourselves stretched too thin to be effective.

RDM Redesign Update, DCFF chair resigned from MHPAC

Our Board Chair, Claudette Fette, has resigned from the Texas Mental Health Planning and Advisory Committee. DSHS is currently doing a review of Resiliency and Disease Management (RDM) which is what the public mental health services slate of services are called. She had recruited others to assist in bringing family and professional voices to this effort in the spirit of actual reform but they were not permitted into the process. She did not feel that she could provide adequate oversight to the effort with the time that she had available and stepped down rather than allow us to give assent by our presence to something that we really were not going to have much voice in. She has appreciated the opportunity to see how things work but is currently devoting her energy to her dissertation research.

Texas Legislature

Thanks to Monica Tyson with Advocacy Inc. for attempting to be all things to all people and bring family voice to the policy wonks and legislators. Bless you Monica!

Click for Advocacy Inc website

New National Online Resource Provides Practical Advice and Hope for People Dealing with Emotional Health Issues Related to Financial Stress

Provides essential information on how economic conditions can affect physical and mental health and where people can turn for help

A first-of-its-kind, online guide now provides crucial information and resource referrals for people dealing with emotional or other health problems associated with economic hard times. The “Getting Through Tough Economic Times” guide http://www.samhsa.gov/economy/ provides practical advice on identifying health concerns, developing coping skills and finding help.

April is Occupational Therapy Month.

This year’s theme is autism. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports one in every 150 children born have or develop autism spectrum disorder (ASD). It is the fastest-growing developmental disability, with an annual growth rate of approximately 10 to 17 percent. Occupational therapy practitioners help to identify the early signs or indicators of ASD, support children and their families to participate in daily routines, and promote function when facing barriers or difficulties typically associated with this disorder. In schools, occupational therapy practitioners help students with autism achieve greater success in academic performance and social participation. For more information about Occupational Therapy Month, visit http://www.promoteot.org/AI_OTMonth.html.

Other links and Info!

Information on the IDEA community of practice website, sharedwork.org
The SharedWork.org website is a project of the IDEA Partnership and the Center for School Mental Health Analysis and Action (CSMHA) that is intended to enable the exchange of information and the ability to pursue a shared agenda.

It provides a space for the National Community on School-Based Mental Health to work together and build their community. Through the website, there will be a listserv mechanism that will offer opportunities for public communication, community announcements, summaries of practice group work, and requests for comments.

The website will assist Practice Groups with achieving their goals including: defining critical issues, creating a repository of key online documents, constructing quarterly probes through the listserv with a loop back to the website and the practice group, using the probes to define new shared work, defining and developing a conference strand for the CSMHA’s 11th Annual Conference on School Based Mental Health, and creating at least one tool for the field that is collaboratively developed. Communities of Practice are created when partner organizations collaborate with States, districts, local sites and individuals. These Communities of Practice are focused on advancing policy and practice.

The members learn from one another and take action together in coordinated ways. There are several communities on the shared work site... when you get on the site, click on the National Community of Practice on Collaborative School Behavioral Health and log in.