Child Health Care Crisis Relief Act
Introduced in Senate
On May 7, 2009, Senator Jeff Bingaman (D-NM) and Senator Susan
Collins (R-ME) reintroduced S.999, known as the Child Health Care Crisis
Relief Act. The bill has been referred to the Senate committee on Health,
Education, Labor and Pensions. CHADD signed the following letter of support in favor of S.999.
Updated May 23, 2009
Introduced in House of Representatives
On April 2, 2009, the
Child Health Care Crisis Relief
Act (HR 1932) sponsored by Representatives Patrick
Kennedy (D-RI), and Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-FL) was
introduced in the House of Representatives. The bill provides loan
repayment assistance, scholarships, clinical training grants, and
education grants for children’s mental health professionals. In
many areas of the United States, there is a severe shortage of mental
health professionals. Individuals with mental health disorders,
including AD/HD, have frequently reported difficulties in having regular
access to a mental health professional to assess, diagnose, or treat
AD/HD. Access to mental health professionals is critical to ensure that
individuals are able to access information and find a treatment program
that meets their unique needs.
The new bill contains one significant change from the version
introduced in the 110th Congress. HR 1932 includes a preference for awarding Clinical
Training Grants to programs that offer curricula that are taught in collaboration with
consumers and family members (or consumer and family organizations)
and curricula that include
coursework on the life experience of mental health consumers and family
members and the importance of the family-professional
partnership. This was a CHADD-NAMI initiative that
recognizes structured family-taught programs such as
CHADD's Parent to Parent (P2P).
Posted April 20, 2009
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