Parents of Problem Kids Face Hard Choice

Dec. 5 -- Jan Durfee faced a terrible choice. Her 9-year-old son Zac desperately needed treatment for emotional problems that were producing terrible tantrums that could four or five hours, but there was no way she could afford to pay for it.

Durfee had gone to her local mental health agencies near her home in Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio, and received the maximum amount of services available: counseling, therapy, and lots of medication. But, she says, it simply was not enough.

A psychiatrist told her that Zac, who had bipolar disorder and several other mental illnesses, should be sent away to a residential treatment center, which could cost $50,000-$100,000 a year. Unable to afford that, and with Zac's insurance not covering the amount for mental illness, Durfee was offered a solution that she said made her sick: if she gave up custody of her child, the state would pay for the treatment.

There are more than four million children nationwide with "significant" mental illness, but most state health systems do not offer the same money and programs for children's mental problems that they do for physical illnesses.

In most states, there is more treatment money available to children in state custody than those living with their own families. For families who cannot afford private mental health care without help from the state, the only option is to surrender custody of their child to the state — a legally binding move in which all decisions — where the child will live, what he or she will eat — are made by the state, with no say from the parents.

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