May is Mental Health Awareness Month

The month of May is Mental Health Awareness Month. It’s a time to raise awareness of those living with mental or behavioral health issues and to help reduce the stigma so many experience. While these conditions occur at any age, children and youth are especially vulnerable.

Children who have been removed and placed in out- of-home care suffer from mental health issues at a higher rate than children who have not been removed. Youth in foster care experience PTSD at an alarming rate and because their trauma is often untreated, they engage in behavior that is symptomatic of the trauma they have experienced. That is the primary reason why one third of foster youth crossover into the juvenile justice system.

Children’s Mental Health Stats: 20% of children experience a mental health condition in a given year. 50% of all mental illnesses begin by age 14 During the COVID-19 pandemic there was a 24% increase in mental health care for children ages 5 to 11 Half of adults with children in their household say they are concerned about the mental state of their children Black children under age 13 are twice as likely to die by suicide as their white peers and the rate of death by suicide among Black youth has increased faster than any other racial or ethnic group.