Unaccompanied minors from Central America made headlines in 2014 after crossing the USA-Mexico border in unprecedented numbers. Presently, many live in North Texas with parents or guardians. Samuel, a young man age 16, arrived alone trying to avoid the gangs or "maras" in Honduras.
For years, it hasn't been a mystery that unaccompanied children or the so called "children of the border" have crossed the limits of their own countries, gone through Mexico and stepped in the country that represents an escape from their reality and problems: The United States of America.
Proponents of baby courts argue that the traditional system is in crisis. They say the law is in some ways too quick to intervene with parents accused of neglect and abuse. Yet at the same time, they say, the legal system gives families too little attention when it comes to needed services.
Nevada is serving a greater number of mentally ill children in recent years. “This is an epidemic,” said Dr. Jay Fisher. Decades ago, he said, physicians looked to vaccines to preventing epidemics. “This is going to be much more difficult to solve. It’s a 12-headed beast.”
The Mental Health Transition Team works with parents and psychiatric hospitals to develop re-entry plans, which could include designating a staff member the child feels comfortable checking in with every day and strategies so students don’t fall behind in school.
Walk into the courtroom of Wyandotte County District Judge Kathleen M. Lynch and you may be surprised to find lawyers who aren’t asked to stand up and a judge who prefers street dress to a judge’s robes.
As part of its Fragments of Care series on mental illness, Redding's Record Searchlight asked various North State leaders and officials what they think needs to be done to improve mental health services in the area.
At the Restoration Center in San Antonio, officers are trained to de-escalate people so they can get the help they need and stay out of trouble. The center provides detox, sobering and mental health crisis intervention, and minor medical emergency services to about 25,000 people a year.
If anyone knows how mental illness can land someone in the criminal justice system, it’s Dianna Branch, the mother of a severely mentally ill adult son. She says his illness — and the drug use he believes eases his symptoms — has caused him to start fights, total seven cars and vandalize property.
If you're pitching a story that’s going to take you off deck for dailies, it helps to have two things: a great character and a clear wrongdoer. When I decided to look into a shortage of residential addiction treatment facilities in California’s Imperial County, I thought I had those ironed out.
