Human Services for Children With Mental Health Issues

Mental illness doesn’t only affect the patient but it also affects the patient’s family.  This is especially true whenever the patient is a child.  Oftentimes this will offer a whole myriad of difficulties that the family must deal with.  Fortunately, there are social service agencies who are ready and willing to help.

• State agencies and programs exist in every state to help people deal with children’s mental illness.  Such programs exist to provide guidance.  Call your state's department of human or social services to find out what resources are available in your state.


• Non-profit agencies exist in many states as well.  They are there to help children who have a mental illness.  Most of them will provide family counseling, psychological services and respite care.  Even if an agency says that it is for adults, most of the time it will also provide services for children as well.


• Federal agencies also exist to provide people with information about childhood mental illness.  One such agency is the National Institute of Mental Health.  It offers guidance about how to spot signs of a mental illness.  There is also the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (a.k.a. the CDC).  They offer guidance in regard to autism, including fact sheets and statistical reports.  Since federal agencies have such a broad scope, they will not be able to offer you a specific recommendation whenever it comes to a specific course of action.  Instead, they serve as a large information portal, providing you with a lot of information so that you can make an informed decision whenever you are looking for local resources.