A Mad Mother

I started this site in frustration at the lack of progress Yakima County has made on implementing  the Federal Grant to transform the mental health service system for youth of The Yakama Nation and of Yakima County.

Since receiving the grant, it has been written about twice in the Yakima Herald.  In my opinion, the project at this point should be common knowledge in the general community and it is not.  Both times it was in the paper, there were comments made on Yakima Herald's website that should have inspired a story about this project.  I spoke to one of the editors of the Herald who hemmed and hawed unintelligibly when asked why there had been no follow up to the public interest stories about issues raised by the comments.

There is a lack of knowledge it seems about how to go about implementing the project on the part of the individuals who have been hired by the County.  This project is supposed to be driven by the families and youth who have experience with the multiple service systems that are to be transformed to better serve them.  I, for one, would like to know why they have not been asked to participate?  I would also like to know a lot of other things.  And when I get answers I will share them here with you.

My goal is to educate the public about what is really going on with Yakima Valley Systems Of Care, and what people who are interested can do to help.  But, more than that, I hope to develop this site as a resource to help these kids and their families.  I raised two sons in Yakima and one has needed intensive mental health services since he was in preschool.  It was my experience trying to get the help that was recommended for his condition that drove me to look for answers about how to get them.  One of the solutions I found was the Children's Mental Health Initiative.  So I told Steve Hill, Director of Human Services for Yakima County about the opportunity.

It is too late for my son to directly benefit from this effort.  Knowing what it is like to parent a child with kind of needs that this effort is primarily to serve, I am angry that more is not being done to reach them.  I am angry that more is not being done to educate the general public about this grant.  I am angry the children and their families the grant it is to directly serve, who need this support are not getting their needs met.