Suicide screening for children and adolescents

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This article at msnbc.com focuses on providing suicide screening in schools. Not just suicide awareness, but actual screening. Rather than requiring a student to ask for help, these programs seek out kids who are at risk of committing suicide.

Illinois provides this service for kids who aren’t covered by third party insurance and are in danger of not receiving services. The Children’s Mental Health Act of 2003 requires the Department of Public Aid (DPA) to ensure that all eligible children and adolescents receive a screening and assessment prior to any admission to a hospital for inpatient psychiatric care. DPA works with two other Illinois State departments that have been funding screening and assessment services for children and adolescents since 1992—the Department of Human Services (DHS) and Department of Children and Family Services (DCFS). Together they form a single-point of entry for children and adolescents in need of mental health services. What an aid for parents who then don’t have to search for help for their kids.

This program is SASS (Screening Assessment and Support Services). Through a statewide phone line, SASS providers are notified of mental health emergencies for eligible youngsters. The SASS provider then goes to where the crisis is and provides a crisis screening.

According to SASS’s website, eligible children include: "(1) all children and adolescents under the age of 21 for whom DCFS is legally responsible; (2) children and adolescents under the age of 18 for whom DHS has been requested to pay for their hospitalization; and (3) children and adolescents under the age of 21 enrolled in DPA’s Medical Programs including KidCare."

The SASS screeners then have two options. They can recommend either hospitalization or community services.

Despite Illinois' many problems, one thing the state does is take good care of the mental health of one of its most vulnerable populations, its children.

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