Study of the Memorandum of Agreement for Coordinating Mental Health Services to Children

Report No. 95-10

Summary

State law requires the Department of Education and the Department of Health to develop a memorandum of agreement for sharing responsibilities for mental health services for children.  Our 1993 report, A Study of the Memorandum of Agreement for Coordinating Mental Health Services to Children, Report No. 93-1, found that the departments had no collaborative process to keep the agreement up to date.  Also, the departments had not defined their respective responsibilities to children with mental health needs.  In our 1995 follow-up Report No. 95-10, we found that the departments have begun the process of improving collaboration, working on the memorandum of agreement, and clarifying their responsibilities.  However, the new memorandum of agreement exists only in draft form.