B4 - Family Engagement Approaches & Experiences to Improve Access to Pediatric Mental Healthcare

The typed transcription of this session can be found HERE

Full Description: In 2008, the Nebraska Safe Haven Law was enacted intended to decriminalize infant abandonment. Parents that were unable to care for an infant could legally and anonymously drop off their child so that desperation would not threaten the infant’s life. Nebraska’s Safe Haven Law differed from other states however—there was no age limit. In reality, families from all over the nation started dropping off older kids—adolescents and teenagers. Pushed to their absolute limits with critical and acute mental and behavioral healthcare needs that remained unmet, caregivers saw no other way out than to give up their child. The Mental Healthcare Crisis was just beginning.
Working on different initiatives ever since, in 2018 the Nebraska Dept. of Health and Human Services received the opportunity to work toward increasing screening and equitable access to quality pediatric mental healthcare, especially in rural and underserved areas through the Pediatric Mental Healthcare Access grant. Through this, the Nebraska Partnership for Mental Healthcare Access in Pediatrics, or NEP-MAP was born.
NEP-MAP takes an active stance in not just advocating for increased screening and access, but creating action steps to change how things are done. We can gather the professionals that write the articles, the psychologists and psychiatrists with a string of letters behind their names, but those projects have come and gone. The uniqueness of NEP-MAP is demonstrated in the value placed on PARENT VOICE and EXPERIENCES. Valued above all others, Parent or Family Representatives make up a minimum of 10% of the advisory body and provide the opportunity to see access from a completely different view.
I propose a PANEL of speakers for this workshop presentation, facilitated by myself as the Partnership Lead for NEP-MAP, and including at minimum two parent representatives and one community advocate member to discuss the focus on family perspective and the value it brings to the project as a whole. In addition, Parent Reps will be able to share the unique stories that brought them to working on a national initiative, what keeps them fully engaged, the value gained for their own families, as well as with their shared perspective. In turn, a community advocate member will be able to share their perspective as a professional working toward the common goals, and what benefits they perceive in family involvement.
One of the major projects of NEP-MAP was a survey designed for parents and caregivers of CYSHCN to assess the current environment of accessing appropriate care in all parts of the state. A technical workgroup made up of Parent Reps and advocates developed the survey to be easily understood by other parents. Approximately 400 validated responses, with a minimum of 30 from every region, was collected! The most impactful results will provide guidance for this work for years to come. On this panel, development of the survey and a sneak peek of the incredible results will be shared.

Abbreviated Description: All states have a version of the Safe Haven Law; designed to safe infant lives by decriminalizing the abandonment of a child by a parent that is unable to care for him/her. Nebraska’s Safe Haven Law was different—there was no age limit. What happened is that dozens of adolescents and teenagers were dropped off at local hospitals, bringing to light the mental and behavioral healthcare crisis in pediatrics.
Now 10 years later, the Nebraska Partnership for Mental Healthcare Access in Pediatrics is utilizing Parent Experiences and perspective to change the landscape of equitable and appropriate access to pediatric mental healthcare in Nebraska. Learn how family representatives are engaged, retained, and valued above all in this work.