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.