BANGOR – A Maine Children’s Alliance effort to improve mental health services for 42,000 Maine children received support from the Stephen and Tabitha King Foundation of Bangor.

“In order to receive treatment for behavioral disorders or mental illness, Maine children sometimes must leave their families or even be sent out of state,” said Elinor Goldberg, Maine Children’s Alliance’s executive director. “And some children and families never do obtain treatment. The grant will support our efforts to provide information and organize a coalition of consumers, providers, policy-makers and advocates who will recommend a system that is accountable, coordinated, efficient and effective.”

Child mental health services now are delivered by several different state agencies, which do not coordinate activities to make sure a child who is ineligible for a particular program is directed to another source of treatment. Further, basic information such as cost for care and treatment results are not shared among agencies, even though more than one may be involved with the same family.

The alliance will use the King Foundation grant to foster consensus and gather suggestions to create a mental health system that better supports children and their families. The alliance will develop legislative recommendations and proposals to improve delivery of child mental health services.

“Maine’s children deserve an effective mental health system,” said the King foundation’s administrator, Stephanie Leonard. “We expect this grant to move the state in the right direction for the sake of our children.”

Founded in 1994, the Maine Children’s Alliance works for improvements in public policy affecting all children in the state.