On February 22, 2007, Judge Ponsor issued a Memorandum and Order in the Rosie D. case which effectively revanps how mentally ill children are to be cared for and treated in Massachusetts. The Boston Globe reports:
Thursday’s ruling entitles children to extensive services where they live. That means there will be specialists to help manage their care and crisis teams available during severe bouts of mental illness. And instead of having the care of a child overseen by a number of sometimes-conflicting specialists, each child will be assigned to a single case manager.
“You get one person who’s in charge of the show,” said Steven J. Schwartz, executive director of the Center for Public Representation, the nonprofit law firm that handled the case for the families. “All of these services are delivered in the community and either literally in the home or on the playground or at the school.”
The Globe has placed the entire Memorandum and Order that Judge Ponsor issued online so that you and I can review it without asking the Court to send a copy.
Judge Ponsor’s Memorandum and Order:
Both the State and the Complainants were asked to submit plans. Judge Ponsor choose the state’s plan for the reasons he outlined in his Memorandum and Order.
The Boston Globe also placed the complete plan as proposed by the State and adopted online, so you and I can download and review it:
In order to protect those children, and keep the state “honest” in providing those services, you and I need to “check back in” and read these documents, and then pay attention to how poor children are treated.
If the public ignores whether or not the community and in home services that were promised are actually provided, it is the most vulnerable children who will continue to suffer.
While I personally know that services delivered in the home can work, and when they “fit the case” do work, the funding and professionals must be sufficient, timely, and in place. The Community Mental Health System must be fully funded, and brought back to life and health or this plan will not work.
In addition, the case plans and services must:
1. Be relevant to the mental health needs of the child.
2. Be adequate to meet the needs of both the children and the families who are referred for such services.
3. Be culturally and linguistically appropriate.
4. Actually be available.
5. Be made available in a timely manner; undue delay in treating mental illness leads to tragedy and losses that cannot be repaired.
6. Accessible to public transportation, or shuttle vans provided for any services not delivered in the home.
My .02
