WASHINGTON (WUSA) -- The office of D.C. Councilmember David Catania announced that the South Capitol Street Memorial Amendment Act of 2012 moved through the DC Council's Committee of the Whole on Tuesday. The five men accused in the South Capitol Street shooting of 2010 went on trial on Tuesday.
READ: South Capitol Street Memorial Bill (PDF)
The legislation, which focuses on behavioral health services for youth and truancy, is the result of Councilmember Catania, shooting victim Brishell Jones' mother Nardyne Jefferies, Mayor Vincent Gray and Chairman Kwame Brown. After the 2010 shooting, Catania and Jefferies began working on reform to help prevent such tragedies from happening again. Research and four public meetings with input from residents and advocates followed before the Act formed into its current state.
According to a release from Catania's office: "The Act calls for the extension of behavioral health services to all public and public charter schools students, enhances truancy regulations to ensure needed services are delivered to youth, and increases behavioral health screening at District agencies that deal with youth."
There could be a first reading vote at council's legislative meeting on March 6.
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Bill Breakdown As Provided By Councilmember Catania's Office:
"TITLE 1: YOUTH BEHAVIORAL HEALTH EPIDEMIOLOGY
A comprehensive study of the District's youth behavioral health landscape to inform our response
Issue:
• 2010 Rand Corporation report found District's behavioral health data too fragmented and incomplete to get accurate, comprehensive understanding of unmet youth needs.
• Lack of data thwarts measuring the effectiveness of current programs and services
• Budget and programmatic strategies are NOT data-driven and have no shared baseline
The Act's Provisions:
• Comprehensive youth behavioral health epidemiology report every 5 years to include;
a. Type and prevalence of behavioral health conditions including demographic and geographic data to guide program formulation
b. The utilization of behavioral health services and the location of services accessed; and
c. Barriers preventing access to services and efforts to remove them
Why It Will Work:
• Success of HIV/AIDS Epidemiological Report shows effectiveness and superiority of data-driven approach to program formulation and adaptation.
• Report will provide a longitudinal study of changes in behavioral health needs and the effectiveness of District programs over time.
TITLE II: EARLY-CHILDHOOD AND SCHOOL-BASED SERVICES
Creating a comprehensive plan that is data-driven and extends services to youth in need
Issue:
• The District lacks a comprehensive and coordinated approach to youth behavioral health
• Existing response is piecemeal: e.g. School-based mental health program in only 1/3 of schools
• The existing data show that 9.5% of District children aged 2 to 17 have a mental or emotional health problem serious enough to require treatment.
• 12.3% of District parents reported that getting needed behavioral health care for their child was a "big problem
The Act's Provisions:
• Creation and implementation of a plan to expand school-based mental health services to all schools by 2016-2017 school year with ramp up period in preceding school years
• Establishment of a plan to enhance behavioral health services at all public and public charter schools including programs that:
a. Include interventions for families of student with unmet behavioral health needs;
b. Reduce aggressive and impulsive behaviors; and
c. Promote social and emotional competency.
• Provide recommendations for the expansion of behavioral health programs and services at child development facilities.
Why It Will Work:
• A coordinated comprehensive plan and greater accountability will ensure real improvement in access to care.
• Comprehensive plan formulation allows subject matter experts to weigh in and keep up with new innovations and best practices while instituting concrete deadlines for implementation.
• A comprehensive plan will ensure the interagency cooperation necessary for a successful school-based program
• According to the World Health Organization, "school-based programs that promote mental health are effective."
• Advances in School Mental Health Promotion Journal also agreed that "there is increasing recognition that children and adolescents with mental health needs generally do not receive services to address these needs in traditional outpatient or private settings... [and] schools are already the de facto deliverers of mental health services for children."
TITLE III: TRUANCY
Intervening and connecting with services to address root causes of chronic truancy
Issue:
• The National Center for School Engagement: Unmet behavioral health needs are a main cause underlying truancy.
• There is currently no requirement for student support teams to specifically evaluate and address root causes of unexcused absences, including unmet behavioral health needs
The Act's Provisions:
• Enhances the District's unexcused absenteeism protocols by focusing the first intervention, which occurs after 5 unexcused absences, on the underlying causes of truancy and providing appropriate services.
• Increases reporting requirements on the schools attempts at intervention
• Empowers the Mayor to create needed enforcement mechanisms to increase the accountability of administrators and teachers involved in preventing truancy
• Aligns the number of absences required before referral to Court Social Services with national norms.
• Enhances school accountability by mandating attendance counselors at each LEA
Why It Will Work:
• Mandating root cause analysis for unexcused absences will increase identification of youth with unmet behavioral health needs.
• Behavioral health interventions and connections to care improve outcomes for youth
• Reduction to 15 unexcused absences moves the District in line with national norms
• Increased attendance improves odds of graduation and reduces likelihood of delinquency
a. Research shows that students who miss 15 days or more of school in 9th grade have only a 41% chance of graduating.
b. Around half of juvenile crime occurs on schooldays between 8 a.m. and 4 p.m.
TITLE IV: DEPARTMENT OF MENTAL HEALTH SERVICES
Deploying existing District expertise to empower teachers, inform and guide parents and youth
Issue:
• The District lacks a system to adequately train educators to identify unmet behavioral health needs and how to refer them to care.
• The District does not have a comprehensive approach to informing parents and youth of available behavioral health resources.
• Within the District's behavioral health care system, there is no entity to help consumers navigate the complex and multi-agency system.
The Act's Provisions:
• Establishes a behavioral health training program within the Department of Mental Health for teachers, principals, and licensed staff at child development center to identify youth with behavioral health needs and refer them to appropriate services.
• Creates behavioral health resource guides for parents and youth.
• Establishes a Behavioral Health Care Ombudsman within DMH that has the necessary cross-agency power and authority to advocate for consumers and assist them in navigating the behavioral health care system.
Why It Will Work:
• Research shows that properly trained teachers are uniquely capable of identifying unmet behavioral health needs in their students.
• The Department of Mental Health has the necessary expertise to design and implement a training program that equips teachers with the needed skills.
• Behavioral Health Care Ombudsman serves as a single point of contact through which parents and youth can understand and navigate the various programs and services available to them.
TITLE V: THE CHILD WELFARE AND JUVENILE JUSTICE SYSTEMS
Evaluating and connecting the District's most vulnerable and at-risk youth to needed care.
Informing and educating parents of their rights and responsibilities.
Issue:
• Currently there is no universal behavioral health screening requirement for DYRS wards.
• CFSA screens children currently, but under a court order. There is no permanent requirement in law.
• According to the National Center for Children in Poverty, as many as 80% of children that interact with child protective service agencies behavioral disorders or unmet mental health needs that require intervention.
• The District lacks a mechanism to fully inform parents of youth that come into contact with DYRS or CFSA of how the juvenile justice and child welfare systems function as well as their associated rights and responsibilities.
The Act's Provisions:
• Requires all youth in CFSA and DYRS receive behavioral health screenings, and, if needed, more comprehensive assessments by behavioral health professionals.
• Requires the creation of resource guides for parents who come into contact with the child welfare agency or the juvenile justice system.
Why It Will Work:
• A standardized approach will ensure universal behavioral health screening for young people in the youth system.
• Youth in contact with these agencies are screened and connected with immediate interventions to address unmet behavioral health needs.
• Properly identified behavioral health needs and referral to care will improve outcomes for those in the youth system.
• Families of youth in contact with these agencies can effectively navigate these systems by creating an in-depth and easily understood resource guide."