Social-Emotional Screening of School-Aged Children in Illinois
Psychotherapy Action Network’s Children’s Committee (PsiAN) has tasked itself with responding to a new Illinois state law requiring social-emotional screening of school-age children. Although the law was passed, its implementation was not specified, and a governmental Rules Committee is working on that. PsiAN members Erika Schmidt and Karen Foley wrote the following letter to the mental health representative on the Rules committee expressing our concerns—among them the lack of resources for treatment statewide, lack of an effective referral process to the resources that do exist, possible stigmatization, and possible over-medication. PsiAN will continue to work toward establishing alliances and recommendations to address these problems.