Gov. Timothy M. Kaine plans to privatize mental services provided by the Staunton-based Commonwealth Center for Children and Adolescents. This is

Private hospitals will not take the children who are admitted to CCCA. Prior to admitting patients, admission personnel at CCCA regularly ask the CSBs what private hospitals they have contacted (and been turned down by). Private hospitals are, by definition, in business for profit. If an admission does not produce money (insurance or private pay) for the private facility, the patient is transferred to CCCA which is mandated to take patients, without regard to their ability to pay, who are in need of psychiatric care. CCCA is an acute hospital with 48 beds. Each year the census has increased. Last year there were over 650 admissions who were not able to be admitted to an alternate, private facility or who were transferred from a private facility either due to lack of ability to pay or the facility's lack of ability to treat. Who will care for these children who are in an acute stage of their mental illness? Does anyone (except those of us who work with them and their guardians) care? By contacting CCCA for an admission, the CSBs have voiced their opinions that such children cannot be treated satisfactorily in the community. If the closure of CCCA is an effort to save the State of Virginia money, has anyone compared the cost of continuing to run an already operating facility with providing currently non-existent facilities in numerous communities that will be able to provide that same care. Does the State need to upgrade and re-think children's psychiatric care. A resounding YES. Can it be done in six months or even in one year? NO. This is not a problem with a quick fix. Children in our state deserve a well thought out plan which will meet their varing needs for mental health services. Let us all remember that children with unmet mental health needs will turn out to be adults with more entrenched and harder to treat mental health needs. These problems seldom resolve themselves with the passing of time.