Barriers to Building Effective Systems of Care

Barriers to Building Effective Systems of Care

Having multiple services and providers can become complicated. Awareness of barriers prior to engaging in the systems can help CASAs be proactive when creating new relationships with providers, programs and services.

Common Barriers to coordinating an effective support system:

• Lack of awareness of the needs and mental health issues of young children exposed to trauma and abuse/neglect

• Lag time between identifying children’s needs and getting them intervention servicesLack of access to services and programs

• Shortage of culturally competent professionals and programs

• Insufficient communication between the professionals and programs providing services

• Movement of children between placements, especially birth to 5 years old

• Accessing transportation to services

• Being waitlisted for various services

Why do children need mental health services? This question is one of the first barriers that people experience. There is limited knowledge of an infant’s or young child’s need for mental health support. The knowledge gained by participating in this series is exactly what needs to be shared when met with this barrier. A young child’s vital need to form healthy attachments and ability to regulate are their forms of mental health and must be given priority. Infants and toddlers are highly impacted by experiencing trauma and that when left unaddressed can result in lasting changes to their brain.

Why do children need services immediately? As previously mentioned, early intervention is the most powerful reparative and preventative tool we have.

How do we find the right fit of services to meet the individual needs of each family? While a child may be receiving the right type of service and additional barrier can be the appropriateness of the service/delivery. There are is a shortage of culturally competent therapists who are able to provide services in a way that engages the entire family and helps them feel collaborative.

How does communication and collaboration among providers support the overall effectiveness of services? One of the main challenges is the importance of a team of providers working together in collaboration. We know that a child’s different developmental areas do not exist in isolation, each area of development effects the other. Because of this fact, it is vital that each professional working with a child is using a developmental lens to evaluate how each developmental area is affecting the other. Even more important is being able to communicate this to the other providers so that we are treating the “whole child” and not just isolated parts.

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