Mental health activists eye usage of Yolanda's Law

Statehouse News Service

September 25, 2008 12:34 am

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BOSTON — After celebrating the signing of a bill geared towards ensuring more children receiving mental health screenings, mental health activists yesterday immediately turned to the implementation of the new law in the face of possible budget cuts.

"Now that the bill is law, the hard job has been handed over to the administration to implement this," said Marylou Sudders, president of the Massachusetts Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children.

"Hopefully, they'll fully fund it." While the implementation cost is estimated to be $8.5 million, Sudders said she was confident that it will occur and pointed to the dozens of lawmakers who showed up to the signing ceremony on the Grand Staircase. The legislators included Senate President Therese Murray, House Speaker Salvatore DiMasi, Reps. Ruth Balser, D-Newton and Paul Donato, D-Medford, and Sens. Harriette Chandler, D-Worcester, and Bruce Tarr, R-Gloucester, among others. "This is a long-term campaign," Sudders said. "And it's not over."

The bill was named after a 16-year-old Plymouth girl, Yolanda Torres, who took her own life after testifying in support of the bill before lawmakers. "What a tragic loss," said Murray. "We can't let that happen again."

DiMasi, a Boston Democrat, said the bill would help prevent suicides. Suicide is the third leading cause of death among people between 10 and 24 years old, and 100,000 young people in Massachusetts who need mental health services each year do not receive them, activists say. The bill creates an advisory council on children's behavioral health, a Children's Behavioral Health Center at the Department of Mental Health, and review teams for children who may need services from multiple state agencies. Under the new law, the Department of Early Education and Care is mandated to provide behavioral health consultation services in their programs to reach children with mental illness earlier, and a task force is created to address behavioral health issues in public schools and their capacity to address those issues.

¬— Statehouse news service