The Harris County Alliance for Families and Children was awarded a six-year grant totaling $9,500,000 by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) in 2005. The funds are used to address the mental health needs of children and their families by creating a systems of care. Harris County Protective Services serves as the fiduciary agent for the grant.
Our team is composed of diverse staff, agency partners, community partners, board members, family members and volunteers that bring a wide-range of experience and expertise.
Our program name, Systems of Hope, represents our confidence and commitment to restoring hope to the families we serve. We believe that with some assistance and determination, families will increase their capacity and become more self-sufficient.
Through our program we must and will:
-
Serve children and youth with severe emotional disturbance.
-
Offer services using a Wrap Around format.
-
Infuse the principles of family driven and youth guided in all aspects of our program.
-
Focus on the strengths of the family when designing their plan of care.
-
Learn and respect cultural & linguistic competence when planning programs, providing services, marketing, recruitment, and in all our program seeks to achieve.
-
Provide services in a coordinated and collaboration format.
-
-
Target services that are least restrictive, community-based, and easily accessible by our clients.
The Facts
In Harris County, in 2005, an estimated:
-
186,000 children have a mental illness requiring treatment, and 60% of them require intensive treatment intervention;
-
19,700 needed services from the public mental health system, and 76% did not receive it;
-
More than 1,970 children needed at least one hospitalization for mental illness and 25% were reinstitutionalized within six months; and
-
10,000 of the 16,000 children in the juvenile probation department were diagnosed with mental illness.
Source: A Report of the Mental Health Needs Council, Inc. 2006
How Do I refer to Systems of Hope?