Let us look first at the prevalence rate for children and adolescents with serious emotional disturbances. Five studies funded by NIMH on the identification of mental health problems have consistently identified under-recognition as a major barrier to receiving proper care. Nearly half of these at-risk children are severely disabled by their mental health problems and need constant care and attention. Among these children are many whose families are low income and who need the federal assistance of the SSI program. Parents often face difficult decisions in even accessing the mental health care system because they fear they will be blamed for their child's illness.
Caregivers are often concerned about their child being labeled with a psychiatric disorder.
We have a long way to go in this country before there is equal public acceptance of mental and physical illness. The overall discussion of the SSI program has not always recognized the effect of a mental illness on a family especially on a family's emotional and physical resources. Just as children and adolescents may become physically ill they may also experience serious mental illnesses. Losing SSI benefits underminds family stability that is already threatened by the demands of the child's mental illness. Children and adolescents do have mental illnesses.