Crisis Point
How New York Wrecked Mental Health Care for Kids
State leaders promised to expand young people’s access to mental health services. Now, families are struggling to get care for youth in crisis.
The Balancing Act of Reporting on Vulnerable Kids While Protecting Their Privacy
Journalists are often expected to identify their sources, but reporting on children presents a number of dilemmas, particularly when issues of mental health are involved.
Public Schools Are NYC’s Main Youth Mental Health System. Where Kids Land Often Depends on What Their Parents Can Pay.
Most kids labeled as having an “emotional disability” and shunted into public special education schools are Black or Latino, and low income — while wealthier families more often access a taxpayer-funded free private education.
“We’re at a Crisis Point”: NY Attorney General Hearing Spotlights Child Mental Health Care Failures
After THE CITY and ProPublica exposed a dramatic drop in beds at state psychiatric hospitals, New York’s top law enforcer takes agonized testimony from patients and providers — and the parent who’d told us of her son’s monthslong wait for care.
New York Let Residences for Kids With Serious Mental Health Problems Vanish. Desperate Families Call the Cops Instead.
Many residential treatment facilities for children in New York are shutting down, leaving families frustrated and scrambling to find mental health services. Some kids age out of care as they wait.
New York Increases Funding of Mental Health Care for Kids, Including Cash Governor Says Will Reopen Hospital Beds
The additional millions are intended to help pay for a wide range of programs, including residential treatment. Gov. Kathy Hochul claims it addresses the bed shortage that has left young people in mental health crisis waiting months for admission.
New York State Failed to Provide Legally Required Mental Health Care to Kids, Lawsuit Claims
Plaintiffs allege the state’s Medicaid program has caused young people with serious mental health conditions to suffer unnecessarily, ending up in hospitals and residential treatment programs because they can’t access vital services.
Cuomo Set Out to “Transform” Mental Health Care for Kids. Now They Can’t Get Treatment.
New York cut nearly a third of state-run psychiatric hospital beds for children, pledging to reinvest the funds in outpatient measures. There’s no evidence it worked.
