Indiana & Illinois - What a Mess - More on Teen Screen

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Indiana and Illinois - What a Mess!Thu, 26 Oct 2006 13:41:47 -0400http://www.kpcnews.com/articles/2006/10/26/news/herald_-_republican/news04 > -10-26.txt > > Herald Republican > Children's mental health plan survives the heat > BY CINDY BEVINGTON > Thursday, October 26, 2006 > > INDIANAPOLIS - A controversial state plan that legislates comprehensive > mental health services for Indiana's children survived opponents' heated > pleas to can the idea and was conditionally approved Wednesday by the > Indiana Commission on Mental Health. > > The Children's Social, Emotional & Behavioral Health Plan was part of > Senate Enrolled Act 529, a 2005 law that reorganized the way the state > delivers and administers all facets of children's services. > > However, the plan has only recently made the news because it wasn't > written until after the law passed. After working on it a year, a task > force headed by the Department of Education presented a draft of it June > 1. The DOE amended the draft in August, and the Mental Health Commission > has spent four meetings reviewing it since. > > The commission's first meeting was filled with opponents to the plan, most > of whom said they feared that it will take away parents' rights in making > health care decisions for their children. > > The past two meetings were fairly quiet; Wednesday's meeting brought out > 30 onlookers at the Statehouse, with newspaper and TV coverage, and > impassioned speeches from both opponents and supporters of the plan. > > Two high-profile figures who addressed the commission were Monica Boyer, a > Warsaw daycare provider who also is president of the Indiana Childcare > Association, and Joseph Vanable, president of the National Alliance for > the Mentally Ill, Indiana. > > Boyer spoke against the plan; Vanable spoke for it. > > "Since this bill was brought to my attention last year, I have been > carefully researching mental health screening for children in Indiana, as > well as across the United States, paying particular attention to children > ages 0 to 5," Boyer said. "My concern about government involvement in > mental health screening of our children is taking the power of a parent's > right to make choices and supervise their child's social and emotional > well-being and giving this power to state agencies with little regard to > the family." > > Vanable, on the other hand, said the nation and Indiana have a real > problem of undetected mental illness, and that this plan can help children > with serious mental illness get help. > > "This is a very, very important issue, and I hope you will vote positively > on it," Vanable said. > > An Indianpolis psychiatrist with a doctorate in education and a concerned > grandfather also spoke against the plan. A parent of three children with > diagnosed mental illnesses spoke in favor of it. > > During commission discussion, it became apparent that the commission was > divided on how the plan should be worded, finalized and adopted, with > commission chairwoman state Rep. Cindy Noe, R-Indianapolis, clearly in > favor of allowing the Legislature a second look at the plan before it > becomes final. > > She first proposed taking out of the legislation the word "shall" and > replacing it with "may" in the section that mandates mental health testing > for all Indiana children. The rest of the commission killed that idea, > however. Commission members also rallied against Noe's proposal for a > legislative amendment that would have added a year to the plan's final > adoption. > > At one point, it appeared as if the meeting had ended in chaos, with > commission members suddenly getting up out of their chairs, walking around > the meeting table and huddling together in groups of three or four, > talking in low tones about the plan's wording. > > At least two media people left, thinking the meeting was over when, as > suddenly as it started, the spontaneous "caucus" ended and all but two > commission members - who apparently had gone home - returned to their > seats. > > Back in session, Noe said that some commission members were proposing to > accept the mental health plan as presented, with certain caveats. Those > conditions included stating that the commission accepted the concepts of > the plan; that it did not recommend universal mental health screening for > all Indiana children (even though the law mandates it with the word > "shall"); and that, as the DOE developed the plan's rules, the commission > would be available as an advisory group to the DOE. > > That proposal passed 11-1, with only Noe voting against it, and the > meeting closed. > > +++ > http://www.illinoisreview.typepad.com > > Illinois Review > Indiana Commission on Mental Health rejects mandatory screening > October 26, 2006 > by Rhonda Robinson > > Mental health screening plan that would screen Indiana children from birth > to 22 years of age was passed last year in a bill the legislators did not > bother to read. Now they are looking hard at the potential monster they > have just created. > > Sound familiar? > > Illinois legislators also passed a bill that they had no idea what they > were doing. However, the mental health, and pharmaceutical industry knew > exactly what they were doing; creating jobs and opening new markets - > children under the wing of the state, and the roof of the schools. > > Unlike Illinois however, a state legislative study commission has decided > yesterday to oppose screening for all Indiana schoolchildren and supported > a plan that would not require schools to screen them. > > Meanwhile, here in the Land of Lincoln, the Illinois Children's Mental > Health Partnership, an entity that answers only to the governor, has just > submitted their Strategic Plan for Building a Comprehensive Children's > Mental Health System in Illinois annual report. > > While marginalizing parents as "key partners" in their mission, the > Partnership states it has six main goals. > > Goal I: Develop and strengthen prevention, early intervention, and > treatment policies, programs, and services for children. > Goal II: Increase public education and awareness of the mental health > needs of children. > Goal III: Maximize current investments and invest sufficient fiscal > resources over time. > Goal IV: Build a qualified and adequately trained workforce with a > sufficient number of professionals to serve children and their families > throughout Illinois. > Goal V: Create a quality-driven children's mental health system with > shared accountability among key state agencies and programs. > Goal VI: Invest in research. > > In reality, we are in the process of building a new and vast bureaucracy > to "help" the children of Illinois who have been subjected to the damaging > results of the current failing and often dangerous educational system, and > the abuse of the child welfare system. But hey, its job security. > > The timing of the Illinois and Indiana plans are interesting; both have > fallen just before an election. > > Could it be they were counting on embarrassed lawmakers too ashamed to > tell their constituents they just passed a law that trampled parental > rights, and turned the minds of their children over to state examination > not to make a fuss? It worked once. > +++ > > Petition: http://www.petitiononline.com/TScreen/petition.html

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