Overview

Recent research documents how and why social-emotional development may be as important as cognitive (intellectual) development. Children who are viewed by others as "sad, mad, or bad" are far less likely to experience school success and may be unable to use preschool intervention. Recent research also documents the important role Medicaid can play in supporting young children's healthy mental development. This report examines both why and how Medicaid can support children's healthy mental development, including a discussion of how states can use Medicaid to better support young children's social/emotional development even in the current economic climate.

Although few would argue the importance of healthy mental development, families with children who need help face a number of barriers to care. One major barrier is that effective interventions usually require more than one provider or system of care, creating the potential for children to fall between the cracks, especially when no one system or agency is clearly responsible for seeing that all needed care is delivered. All too often, families can find themselves navigating multiple, uncoordinated eligibility and delivery systems.

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