PAGE recently joined other child-focused organizations in a letter urging Gov. Nathan Deal to develop a State Plan for Children's Mental and Behavioral Health Services. The letter encourages the Governor to establish a committee similar to recent reform councils which addressed criminal justice reform and child welfare reform.

CLICK HERE to read the full letter.

2015 House Children's Mental Health Study Committee Report Summary

As the report of the 2015 House Children's Mental Health Study Committee found, 20 percent of children birth to age 18 have a diagnosable mental health problem and yet 75-­-80 percent of those children do not receive the services they need. The lifelong consequences of this lack of adequate treatment for both these individuals and the broader society represent a national and state tragedy of huge proportions. A growing body of research continues to sound the alarm bells about the lifelong effects of trauma, toxic stress and adverse childhood experiences. This research has shown that there is a significant relationship between untreated mental and behavioral health, children living in poverty, emotional, physical, or sexual abuse and household dysfunction to adult disease and adult health risk behaviors. Prolonged exposure to toxic stress created by these issues can disrupt the development of brain architecture and increase the risk for stress-­-related disease and cognitive impairment, with damaging effects on learning, behavior and health across the lifespan.