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Digest of

CRISIS IN CHILD MENTAL HEALTH:

CHALLENGE FOR THE 1970'S

Final Report

of the

The Joint Commission on

Mental Health of

Children, Inc.

Fall, 1969

This document was published by the Joint Commission on Mental Health of Children, 1700 Eighteenth
Street, N.W., Washington, D.C. 20009. Additional copies or information about any of the Commission's
estivities may be obtained by writing to the Commission at the above address.

NOTE TO THE READER

This Digest is a condensation of CRISIS IN CHILD MENTAL HEALTH:
CHALLENGE FOR THE 1970's. CRISIS IN CHILD MENTAL HEALTH is
based on a report made to Congress, the State Governors, the National Institute
of Mental Health, and the Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare in June,
1969,* and is soon to be published by Harper and Row. The Digest is provided as a
convenience to interested individuals and agencies who desire a quick impression
of the final findings and recommendations of the Joint Commission on Mental
Health of Children, Inc. The Digest is by no means an appropriate substitute
for the extensive analyses and recommendations found in CRISIS IN CHILD
MENTAL HEALTH. For documentation of statements made in this Digest, the
interested reader is referred to the final report, which will be available from the
publisher or book dealers early in 1970. Further information on the publication
of the final report may be obtained from Harper and Row, Order Department,
49 East 33rd Street, New York, New York, 10016.

• REPORT OF THE JOINT COMMISSION ON MENTAL HEALTH OF CHILDREN,
INC. Copyright © 1969 by the Joint Commission on Mental Health of Children, Inc.
Printed in the United States of America. All rights reserved. No part of this book
may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission
except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

Preface

For the last fifty years, there has been a growing concern over the number of mentally ill and emotionally disturbed children in the United States and an increasing dissatisfaction with the unavailability of mental health services. When the previous Joint Commission on Mental Illness and Health, for unavoidable reasons, was unable to cover this important area, both professional and concerned citizen groups pressed for a study of the mental health needs of children. Members of Congress also responded to the need and, in 1965, Senator Abraham Ribicoff introduced an amendment to the Social Security Amendments of 1965 (P.L. 89-97) which provided the funds and framework for the Commission's work. Thirteen national professional associations joined the incorporators of the Commission to form a Board of Directors. The Board, with a grant from the National Institute of Mental Health, developed a staff and enlisted more than 500 of the country's leading authorities on early childhood, adolescence, and the young adult to work on Task Forces, substantive Committees, and the collection of specialized information. The collaboration and participation of both affiliate member organizations and specialists at every Governmental agency level provided the Commission with additional and invaluable contributions.

As a result of its three-year endeavor, the Commission produced a number of reports and papers, many of which will be published in 1970. These studies provided much of the documentation for the recommendations which appear in CRISIS IN CHILD MENTAL HEALTH. Throughout the Commission's work, it became increasingly apparent that health, mental health, and environmental influences are interwoven, particularly in the earliest years of life. Thus, CRISIS IN CHILD MENTAL HEALTH is more than a critique of clinical needs and problems related to mentally ill and emotionally disturbed children. It is also a portrayal of crises in our society which precipitate many kinds of childhood malfunctioning and give rise to the need for many kinds of intervention. Because it is a social as well as a clinical document, the Commission's report gives equal priority to recommendations of both a preventive and remedial nature. It is clear that if we are to dedicate ourselves to meeting the needs of our children and youth, the required services and programs in child-rearing, which is our largest "industry," should be one of the largest in optimal manpower utilization and therefore costs.

It is the Commission's opinion that this is as it should be. It will be far more costly in the long run in terms of mental illness, human malfunctioning, and therefore underproductivity, if we do not appropriately support this “industry.” We have dedicated our report to the children and youth of our country in the hope that it will create an awareness of their needs and a prompt call to action.

The Commission's Board of Directors is deeply indebted to Mrs. Barbara J. Sowder for her editing of this Digest.

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We proclaim that we are a Nation devoted to its young. We believe that we have made great strides toward recognizing the needs of children and youth. We have enacted child labor laws, established a public education system, created treatment services for our disturbed and handicapped, and devised imaginative programs such as Head Start for our disadvantaged young. Yet, we find ourselves dismayed by the violence, frustration, and discontent among our youth and by the sheer number of emotionally, mentally, physically and socially handicapped youngsters in our midst. It is shocking to know that thousands of children are still excluded from our schools, that millions in need go untreated, and that many still suffer from hunger and malnutrition. We recognize in these ills some of the sources and symptoms of poverty and racism in which all of us, as a Nation, take part. Poverty, in this the richest of world powers, is still our heritage. Racism, in a country dedicated to its peoples' inalienable rights, speaks as clearly of "man's inhumanity to man" as did slavery.

In spite of our best intentions, our programs are insufficient; they are piecemeal, fragmented and do not serve all those in need. Unwittingly, we have failed to commit our vast resources to promote the healthy development of our young. We have yet to devise a strategy which will maximize the development of our human resources. Congress gave national recognition to this need in issuing a mandate to establish the Joint Commission on Mental Health of Children. In fulfillment of its task, the Commission declares:

-This Nation, the richest of all world powers, has no unified national commitment to its children and youth. The claim that we are a childcentered society, that we look to our young as tomorrow's leaders, is a myth. Our words are made meaningless by our actions-by our lack of national, community, and personal investment in maintaining the healthy development of our young, by the minuscule amount of economic resources spent in developing our young, by our tendency to rely on a proliferation of simple, one-factor, short-term and inexpensive remedies and services. As a tragic consequence, we have in our midst millions of ill-fed, ill-housed, ill-educated and discontented youngsters and almost ten million under age 25 who are in need of help from mental health workers. Some means must be devised to delegate clear responsibility and authority to insure the well-being of our young.

-This Nation, which looks to the family to nurture its young, gives no real help with child-rearing until a child is badly disturbed or disruptive to the community. The discontent, apathy, and violence today are a warning that society has not assumed its responsibility to insure an environment which will provide optimum care for its children. The family cannot be allowed to withstand alone the enormous pressures of an increasingly technological world. Within the community some mechanism must be created which will assume the responsibility for insuring the necessary supports for the child and family.

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