EXPANDING MENTAL AND BEHAVIORAL (MBH) SERVICES FOR NORTH CAROLINA’S FOSTER CARE YOUTH

Children and youth in foster care (CYFC) face significantly higher rates of adverse childhood experiences, which place them at a heightened risk for mental and behavioral health (MBH) challenges. These challenges are compounded by inappropriate and unstable foster care placements, such as social services offices, emergency rooms, or congregate care settings (e.g., psychiatric residential treatment facilities (PRTFs)). North Carolina lacks appropriate community-based services for CYFC with significant mental or behavioral health problems. This proposal expands the current Child Welfare Education Collaborative (CWEC), which is a career pathways program for Social Work students to intern in the child welfare system, with the commitment to continue this work post-graduation. This bill would expand the CWEC program to recruit students pursuing Psychology and Counseling degrees. The expanded CWEC program would also bring in licensed MBH professionals to provide direct care to CYFC, while training student interns.