Mental health care for teenagers is falling apart before our very eyes

With the introduction of the Youth Act in 2015, the Dutch Ministry of Health has taken a step back from child and adolescent mental health care (CAMHC). This act placed CAMHC under the responsibility of the municipalities, as part of a programme of integrated youth care. Care at municipal level offers unique possibilities for the timely identification of problems and disturbances in adolescence. However, the prevalence of severe mental disorder in adolescents (2%), is too low for specialised CAMHC to be offered in each of the 390 Dutch municipalities. CAMHC needs to be organised at a supraregional level. Since the introduction of the Youth Act there has been a disturbing lack of coherence and a time-and money-devouring new bureaucracy at this level that threatens the survival of CAMHC. The Ministry of Health should step forward to safeguard the efforts of the Association of Netherlands Municipalities and CAMHC professional organisations to maintain and foster supraregional services.