CREATE COMPREHENSIVE AND COLLABORATIVE SYSTEMS

The development of comprehensive and collaborative service systems for children with serious emotional disturbance and their families from c he advocacy of the 1960s to its current status is reviewed. These syst ems represent a coalition of the child serving agencies (education, me ntal health, child welfare, and juvenile justice), health care, the pr actitioners in these agencies, and the families that they serve. A der ailed description of an empirically supported model system operating i n Vermont is presented along with other stare models. Challenges in cr eating and maintaining comprehensive and collaborative systems along w ith recommended strategies for overcoming these challenges are describ ed.