Children will be phased out of program March 30, once their 60-day, in-home plans expire, officials say
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Kim Cristo, right, looks on as her 2-year-old daughter, Ava, receives occupational therapy from Michelle Doonan, an applied behavioral analyst, in this 2010 file photo. Ava was diagnosed early on with autism and receives two hours of therapy at her home.TRENTON — About 3,000 New Jersey children with behavioral problems who have been getting therapy at home will lose that service after March 30, the state Department of Children and Families has decided. Mental health professionals vow to challenge the edict, which was issued last week.
Limiting the number of kids in the state’s "in-home intensive community" treatment program is projected to save the state about $2 million, although Jeffrey J. Guenzel, director of the department’s Division of Child Behavioral Health Services, said the decision was not made to save money.
Guenzel said in-home therapy works, and has vastly reduced the number of children who need long-term residential care. He said the cutback was made because private agencies that profit from the service are treating children who may not need it.
"The marked increase has been primarily to treat youth that have less complex needs and that do not require this invasive of an intervention. It is like treating a youth with a sprained ankle as if they have a multiple fracture," Guenzel said.
In the last fiscal year, the state spent $37 million on in-home therapy serving 12,000 children, state Children and Families spokeswoman Lauren Kidd said. The state pays agencies $113 an hour to send licensed social workers and therapists into a home. The most seriously mentally ill children will still get home-therapy as well as other services, he said.
The children will be phased out of the service on March 30 once their 60-day, in-home health plans expire, officials said.
More than 80 professionals who are involved in the state’s mental health system for kids decided after a two-hour meeting in Lawrenceville last week they will try to enlist families and legislators to convince the department to delay the move until its implications could be discussed in public.
"This is a community issue, a children and family issue and it’s important they hear about it,’’ said Tracy Hans, executive director of the Therapeutic Alliance Group in Hackensack.
David Garagozzo, who used to provide home therapy and is now lobbying on behalf of mental health providers, suspects the state is trying to save money. "We all know the negative impact this will have on children and families," he said.
Heidi Neuberg, a licensed counselor based in Morristown, said some of her clients are in remote sections of Sussex County and may have trouble getting to therapists’ offices. "Is there going to be funding for transportation to get them there?"
Parents are "concerned," Diana Autin of the Statewide Parent Advocacy Network, wrote in an e-mail. Though the treatment is costly, "it is less costly — financially and in terms of the negative impact on the youth and their family — than ignoring needs for such services, leading to increased hospitalization and emergencies," she said.
A Burlington County father described his family’s home therapist as a "godsend’’ for helping his sons cope after a death in the family and his divorce to their mother.
The boys’ father, who requested anonymity to protect the family’s privacy, attributed the program’s success partly to the service being offered at home.
"They could be hugging their golden retriever while talking to therapist. It’s like that therapist is part of your family ... The idea of this going away — I had a lump in my throat when I heard."
Jim Lape, vice president of Behavioral Health and Psychiatry at Trinitas Hospital, Elizabeth, which hold state contracts to provide mental health care, said he is a "very a big supporter" of home services, but added: "I suspect it’s been overused and that is what they are trying to correct."
Carolyn Beauchamp of the Mental Health Association in New Jersey called the decision "right on target."
"Only the most seriously disturbed kids were supposed to be served," she said. Beauchamp said she hopes limiting the service will "put more pressure’’ on the state "to get more outpatient services lined up.’’
The division dedicated $300,000 last week to develop more outpatient therapy services, Guenzel said.