New Jersey Department of Children and Families Announces $6 Million to Strengthen Out-of-Home Youth Mental Health Care Providers Amid Prolonged Mental Health Crisis

TRENTON – The New Jersey Department of Children and Families (DCF) today announced a $6 million allocation to support providers delivering behavioral and mental health services to children and youth in out-of-home treatment settings. The one-time investment is designed to stabilize provider capacity, reduce wait times for residential and therapeutic placements, and support workforce retention and training.

“For the past few years, New Jersey’s public children’s behavioral health system has been struggling to keep up with the demand for services from families impacted by the ongoing mental health crisis,” said Christine Norbut Beyer, DCF’s Commissioner. “This infusion of funding is crucial to sustain the infrastructure so that our providers can continue to offer quality care and treatment to children, teens, and their families.”

Since the pandemic, data show that mental health illnesses among teens have increased markedly with one in five adolescents having a current diagnosed mental or behavioral health condition. In addition, Emergency Department visits for mental health treatment among children, adolescents, and young adults nearly doubled in the last decade — a sign that outpatient and community-based capacity is not always meeting the growing need.

The $6 million is being distributed from a fund set aside by Senate President Nick Scutari, specifically to support youth mental health initiatives, programs, and services. DCF will be allocating $5,000 per contracted bed to 28 providers with 144 programs and 1167 contracted beds.

“Providers are doing heroic work under an unsustainable strain,” said Scutari. “This targeted investment is about keeping trusted treatment beds open, supporting the clinicians who deliver care around the clock, and shortening the time a child spends waiting for the help they need. New Jersey is a national model for the innovative and expansive way we invest in and safeguard our behavioral health systems. Earmarking funds to maintain and strengthen this work remains a priority.”

“Over the last two years, the system has lost about 50 out-of-home treatment beds for youth, resulting from a variety of factors including a workforce shortage, lower payment rates than what covers care and higher costs of running a non-profit provider agency,” Norbut Beyer added. “We can’t support youth-in-need, and their families, if we don’t have a robust and resilient provider network in place.”

Letters to qualifying providers went out last week and funds will be disseminated by Friday, November 28.