Project ABC

What is a System of Care?

A system of care is a way of doing business that promotes improved policy and service delivery to support the many young children in Los Angeles with social, emotional and behavioral needs. These children may receive services through schools, pediatricians and other health providers, child welfare, child care, disability service providers, the faith community, and other agencies. The goal of a system of care is to incorporate a broad array of services and supports into a coordinated network, building meaningful partnerships with community service providers, as well as with families and young children.

Why a System of Care?

• Research has shown that the major barrier to school readiness for children is often not the lack of appropriate cognitive skills, but rather the absence of needed social and emotional skills.
• Research has also shown that 12 to 15% of all children and youth have emotional and behavioral needs that would benefit from services and supports. Untreated, these needs may lead to an interrelated set of problems including poor school performance, delinquency, early pregnancy, substance abuse, and violence.

Experience and research show that these children can succeed when provided with coordinated family-centered, individualized and culturally competent services and supports. These approaches are especially successful and cost efficient when provided before the challenges become severe.

In the first Surgeon General’s report on children’s mental health, David Satcher (1999) summarized current best practices in research and concluded that the multiple problems associated with emotional and behavioral disturbances in children and adolescents are best addressed with a “systems” approach in which multiple service sectors work in an organized, collaborative way.