Re "Mental ward may be closed," Aug. 2
The stigma of a state hospital should not be attached to children who, like all children, derive and develop their identity from their environment. But shuttling these children to a privatized version of a mental health facility is not the cure; it may be just the opposite.
Private for-profit mental healthcare organizations that are often selected because they submit the lowest bid to the state are not held to the same standards of patient care found at state hospitals, nor are they scrutinized by outside agencies as often as state mental health agencies.
These combined facts are a recipe for neglect and exploitation of children. I pray that the state chooses a decent alternative for these children and doesn't just warehouse them into a cheap, jerry-built mental healthcare system.
