The massacre of children in Newtown,CT is as much a failure of the Children's Mental Health System in this country as a lack of sensible gun control laws. There are two related problems with the System: 1) what is there is inadequate to the problem and many disturbed youth go undetected and uncared for and 2) the system even as inadequate as it is is underfunded. We need to take a comprehensive look at these failures and provide an adequate support system to help these children and then fund this new system at a level that can get the job done, regardless of the perception of a need presently for tighter health care budgets. Make this one a priority and this problem will gradually diminish.
Why is this important?
Children's Mental Health is the base cause of the Newtown tragedy. Access to certain types of weapons is a means, an enabler and tightening that will help. But to really do something lasting and have a greater impact on the problem, addressing inadequacies in the Children's Mental Health System is essential.
