VIDEO | Del. Invests ARPA Funds Into Children’s Services

Delaware plans to spend $16-million to renovate a facility on the New Castle County Campus of the Department of Services for Children, Youth and their Families and to improve services. The funding comes from the American Rescue Plan Act.
The goal is to add more in-state crisis beds and to create a ‘state of the art, trauma-informed behavioral health diagnostic center.’
State officials cited studies which indicate that mental health – related visits for teenagers have increased 31% since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, and suspected suicide attempts have increased 39%.

“1 in 3 high school students are reporting that they feel persistently sad and hopeless,” DSCYF Secretary Josette Manning said. “This adolescent diagnosis center and expansion of crisis beds will allow us to provide better services to youth and adolescents while we keep them closer to their homes and closer to their communities, with targeted interventions to help stabilize them so that, ideally, they can return to their homes and their communities sooner. Thank you to the Governor, Lt. Governor, Federal Delegation, and the General Assembly for their support.”

“Our children are faced with challenges every single day that affect their mental and physical health. Since the pandemic, mental health related visits for teenagers has increased 31 percent and suspected suicide attempts has increased 39 percent,” Lieutenant Governor Bethany Hall-Long stated. “Ensuring we have a top-tier equitable system in place to support the behavioral health needs of our youth, especially when they are most vulnerable and in crisis, is one of the most critical investments we can make. These enhancements, made possible through the American Rescue Plan Act, will help us deliver quality care to make Delaware families stronger and healthier. I am grateful for the leadership of our Governor and congressional delegation.”