- Category: Categorically Excluded, Crisis Response
- Tag(s): Violence or Threat Toward Family or Caregiver, Violence or Threat Toward Others, Youth / Adolescent
Our loved one is a child living with severe mental illness. Because she is under 13, there are no long-term facilities that will accept her, even though she needs that level of care. Time and time again we have been turned away simply because of her age.
In our home, she has harmed her siblings multiple times. In the hospital, she was even allowed to assault another child. When we sought help from law enforcement, we were told that because both children involved were under the age of 10, no crime had technically occurred. We begged the police to call CPS or DCFS, hoping they would step in with resources, but they refused.
We reached out to local agencies for help, including one specifically designed to support children in crisis. We told our story over the phone, in writing, and even in person — only to be dismissed and told that nothing could be done “until something happened.” Because of this inaction, an innocent boy is now traumatized for life after being assaulted. Only after this tragedy did the agency finally agree to even interview our loved one.
This is sickening and unacceptable. Families should not be denied help until after irreversible harm occurs. Our loved one needed intervention long before this. Our family needed support. Other children needed to be protected. Instead, every system we turned to — law enforcement, child protective services, local agencies — failed us.
This was preventable. Without reform, children like mine will keep slipping through the cracks, families will continue to be destroyed, and innocent lives will be permanently scarred.
*Each story is shared by someone impacted by untreated SMI, lightly edited for clarity, never for meaning.
THE ASK
The author’s message for legislators:
I am asking you to create and fund real options for children under 13 who need long-term psychiatric and behavioral care. Right now, families like mine are turned away simply because of age, even when a child is in crisis and siblings or peers are being harmed.
We need laws and funding that:
Require facilities to provide treatment options for children under 13.
Ensure police, CPS/DCFS, and child advocacy agencies cannot refuse to act when children are harmed or at risk.
Provide families with immediate access to crisis stabilization, ongoing support, and evidence-based treatment — before another child is traumatized.
Please help families like mine by reforming a system that abandons children until it is too late.
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