“The system raised me, and the system failed me,” said Raymond Aguilar at a recent press conference, announcing the publication of a new report highlighting the public health outcomes of trying youth as adults. Mr. Aguilar, a youth advocate, was prosecuted as an adult during his mid-teen years; he spent 26 years in prison. [...]
On September, 22, 2016, the California Departments of Social Services and Health Care Services jointly released the Medi-Cal Manual for Intensive Care Coordination (ICC), Intensive Home Based Servicers (IHBS) & Therapeutic Foster Care (TFC) for Medi-Cal Beneficiaries, Second Edition. Most notably, the manual clarifies that these intensive mental health services are available for ALL Medi-Cal [...]
On Sunday, Governor Jerry Brown signed AB 1299 (Ridley-Thomas), “Medi-Cal Specialty Mental Health Services for Foster Youth,” into law. This represents a significant turning point in the delivery of mental health services to foster youth in California: “out-of-county” will no longer mean “out-of-luck.” The passage of AB 1299 also demonstrates what’s possible when advocates, providers, [...]
Sacramento County is poised to make a substantial investment in intensive community-based mental health services for Medi-Cal eligible youth. Last week, Sacramento County Executive Navdeep Gill released the County’s 2016-2017 Recommended Budget. The proposed budget adds more than $1.1 million in county funds for the expansion of Katie A. mental health services, an array of individualized [...]
