From the Kansas City Star:

The Kansas City region suffers from Missouri’s chronic failure to take care of people who are mentally ill. Funding for the area’s psychiatric hospital has dropped by about 20 percent since 2003. State officials have eliminated psychiatric services for children, reduced group home space, and sought to contract hospital services to private operators. More budget cuts are forecast for next year. An excerpt:

Those with mental illness aren’t an especially effective lobbying group. Many aren’t in any condition to even vote. Perhaps that’s why they are such a target for budget-cutters.

… But every dollar taken away adds to the grief of families and to the burdens of local police and social service groups. It’s past time for community leaders to insist that the state stop heaping problems upon people who already shoulder more than their share.

See also: In Missouri, mentally ill residents bounce between home, street and jail — Kansas City Star

This entry was posted on Tuesday, February 3rd, 2009 at 1:47 pm and is filed under hospitals, mental health. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.