NEWS RELEASE
February 3, 1998

Engler Announces Children's Mental Health Grant

Detroit and Wayne County Residents to Benefit

Governor John Engler today announced that the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, Center for Mental Health Services has awarded the Michigan Department of Community Health (MDCH) $855,257 in children's mental health grants for Fiscal Year 1998. The five-year grant is expected to total approximately $6 million by 2003.

"This grant is excellent news for children and families," said Governor Engler. "This money, which will help fund the Southwest Community Partnership, will allow us to develop an integrated, comprehensive system of care for children with serious emotional disturbance and their families in the community of Southwest Detroit."

A "system of care" is a wide range of mental health and related services and supports organized to work together to provide care. This approach is designed to help a child or adolescent with serious emotional disturbances get the services they need in or near their home and community. Local public and private organizations work in teams to plan and implement a tailored set of services for each child's physical, emotional, social, educational and family needs.

"Human service agencies at the state and local level, private health care providers, private agencies and families will all be collaborating to make this effort successful," said MDCH Director James K. Haveman, Jr.

The Partnership will build upon the extensive collaborative work undertaken in Michigan and Wayne County over the past several years. The system of care to be developed, will be family-driven, culturally-competent, and will offer a full continuum of individualized, case-coordinated services across multiple service systems in the largest and most ethnically diverse county in Michigan. The grants will also enable local communities to integrate child-and-family-serving agencies, including health, mental health, substance abuse treatment, child welfare, education and juvenile justice.

John Van Camp, President/CEO of Southwest Detroit Community Mental Health Services, the agency which will be implementing this program, expresses his excitement about being a part of bringing this project into Southwest Detroit. "This gives us the opportunity to really begin to meet the needs of this troubled population with a very comprehensive and holistic approach that allows the community to have input on how services will be provided."

During the next five years, the Southwest Community Partnership will:

(1) develop a complete system of care for children with serious emotional disturbance and their families;

(2) provide individualized wraparound services to over 400 children and their families;

(3) demonstrate the use of a blended funding and support, managed care model;

(4) link the model with the state behavioral health managed care plan;

(5) strengthen individual families, and child-parent advocacy organizations in Southwest Detroit; and

(6) implement an automated plan of care and financial management software.

"We see the implementation of this project in Detroit-Wayne County as a real opportunity to address real problems of children and their families and to strengthen the public/private relationships in the health, safety and growth in our community," said Jarold Ann Adams, Executive Director of Detroit-Wayne County Community Mental Health Agency.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE CONTACT: John Truscott
February 3, 1998 (517) 335-6397