Case Study of a Community Mental Health Collaborative: Impact on Identification of Youths with Emotional or Behavioral Disorders

Abstract

The participants in Santa Barbara County's Multiagency Integrated System of Care (MISC) have serious emotional or behavioral disorders that require collaboration among family members, health and safety-net agencies, education, and community-based organizations. This investigation compares the characteristics of students referred to school-administered special education services due to emotional or behavioral disorders (E/BD) prior to initial opening into the system of care and those identified as having E/BD after the initial opening into MISC. At the time this study was conducted, serious emotional disturbance (SED) was the term use in California; however, to reflect current terminology the term E/BD is used throughout this article. The purpose of this study was to (a) investigate the influences of cross-agency coordinated service delivery on the frequency of special education eligibility both locally and statewide (California); (b) examine the psychosocial histories, presenting problems, and diagnostic information of E/BD-identified students in the MISC program; and (c) examine issues related to concerns that the implementation of collaborative systems of care will increase E/BD identification rates. During the implementation of a cross-agency, colocated service delivery system, the number of county youths who were eligible for public mental health services in Santa Barbara County increased from 956 to 1,826. At the same time, the number of youths residing in the county who were eligible for special education E/BD services increased from 101 to 204. Whether these youths with E/BD, who were identified by the schools after the system of care was in place, represent a distinct group is explored. Issues related to the interpretation of findings and for improving understanding of identification patterns for students with E/BD are offered.