July 7, 2004

Statement of Carol Carothers on Behalf of NAMI Before the Governmental Affairs Committee, United States Senate on Juvenile Detention Centers: Are They Warehousing Children with Mental Illnesses?

I have reviewed the report released today titled, The Incarceration of Mentally Ill Youth Waiting for Community Mental Health Services in the United States -- and can share with you first hand from my experience working in jails and prisons and contacts with youth living with mental illnesses and their families that the findings are accurate. The sad truth in Maine and nearly every other state in our country is that youth with mental illnesses are being held in juvenile detention for the sole purpose of awaiting mental health treatment and services. It is hard to imagine a worse place to house a child that requires healthcare treatment and services for their mental illness. Surely we would not dream of placing a child with another serious illness, like cancer for example, in a juvenile detention center to await a hospital bed or community based treatment. It is outrageous that we do this to children with mental illnesses, as young as 7 years old. This takes an enormous toll on the child and the family.