Children and youth with serious behavioral health needs often touch multiple systems, including juvenile justice, child welfare, and special education programs. In recent years, Oregon state agencies and lawmakers have proposed strategies for improving coordination and services for children and youth who are involved with multiple systems, including juvenile justice and behavioral health.
This analysis explores juvenile justice contact, child welfare contact, disruptive educational experiences, and behavioral health treatment among youth enrolled in Medicaid or CHIP who had behavioral health diagnoses. We describe the sociodemographic characteristics of youth with behavioral health diagnoses who had juvenile justice contact and examine other system contacts these youth experienced prior to juvenile justice contact.
Highlighted Key Findings
Nearly 1 in 5 youth with a behavioral health diagnosis had contact with the juvenile justice system.
Approximately 25,340 youth enrolled in Medicaid or CHIP between 2012 and 2022 had a behavioral health diagnosis. The prevalence of juvenile justice contact was almost 3 times higher among these youth compared to those without behavioral health diagnoses; 19% of those with behavioral health diagnoses experienced juvenile justice contact, compared with only 7% of those without those diagnoses.
Almost all youth with a behavioral health diagnosis who experienced juvenile justice contact received outpatient behavioral health treatment prior to justice contact.
About a quarter of these youth had from 1 to 7 behavioral health visits, and half had at least 18 visits. Very few (less than 1%) youth with an identified behavioral health diagnosis had no treatment visits at all. A large proportion (nearly 40%) received treatment for up to 3 years after their initial diagnosis.
Featured Data Visualization
Percent of youth who experienced select program contacts
KEY TAKEAWAYS
- The same behavioral challenges contributing to justice contact for some youth are often also linked to disciplinary actions at school. A higher proportion of youth with a behavioral health diagnosis prior to justice contact had disruptive educational experiences, including school discipline and absenteeism.
- These youth also had more contacts with the child welfare system and special education supports.
- Together, these findings point to potential opportunities for earlier intervention to address unmet need and avoid future justice system contact.
Related OCID Resources
Behavioral Health Conditions Among Youth with Medicaid
Read OCID’s analysis exploring the prevalence of diagnosed behavioral health conditions among Oregon children and youth enrolled in Medicaid or CHIP including demographic characteristics, system contacts, and educational experiences among children with and without diagnosed behavioral health conditions.
Class of 2020: Foundational Analyses
This set of foundational analyses examines available state data on the lifespan of students from birth to graduation age in 2020, including equity components and connections across multiple publicly funded programs.