TAKE ACTION: Protect Children’s Behavioral Health Services from Cuts

COVID-19 has had a profound impact on the mental and emotional wellbeing of children. Between March and July, 4,200 children in New York State suffered the loss of a parent or guardian to COVID-19. An additional 325,000 children have fallen into or near poverty due to this pandemic. As a result of COVID-19, children and teens are grappling with unprecedented economic deprivation, housing insecurity, loneliness, disrupted and disjointed schooling, and a grave loss of life in their families and local communities. There has been a spike in anxiety and depression among young people both nationally and in New York, and child psychiatrists in our state report that there is an increase in the number of young people presenting at the hospital in significant psychiatric distress.

You can hear directly from impacted families in this video from Families Together in NYS.