Reactivity and responsiveness in children's service systems

Few studies have examined the extent to which public children's service sys tems respond to the mental health problems of children in state custody. Th is is an important issue because previous research suggests that little att ention is given to children's mental health service needs when judicial and service decisions are made about children who enter state custody. The cur rent study addresses the issue by examining the extent to which one state's children's service system is responsive versus reactive to the mental heal th problems of the children in its care. A responsive system is one in whic h services are provided to meet each child's unique mental health needs. A reactive system is one in which service providers take actions to avoid pro viding needed mental health services. Our results describe a service system that is more reactive than responsive to children's mental health problems .