Expanding access to mental health care was a top concern for state lawmakers and nonprofits that support children and families who responded to an Alaska Children’s Legislators survey.
A bipartisan group of lawmakers focused on policies to improve early childhood outcomes met Friday afternoon. The group was formed last winter.
Democratic Sen. Loki Tobin, who led the Anchorage meeting, said there was overwhelming voice from Alaskans during the last legislative session about the need for support for mental and behavioral health services.
“We know that Alaska is number one in all kinds of bad things, and one of those bad things is suicide, death by suicide, and we know that Alaska Native youth are disproportionately affected by that,” she said, “So I think there’s a real opportunity for us to step in and find ways to stop that and hopefully provide services and support to families.”
The recommendations come from a survey conducted in collaboration with Alaska Children’s Trust, which asked respondents for policy and funding recommendations.
Sen. Elvi Gray Jackson, who introduced a bill last session to make mental health education a core part of the Alaska public school curriculum, said she will renew her efforts in the next legislative session. The Senate approved SB 24, but it stalled in the House Finance Committee and was not voted on by the full House before the end of the session.
“I look forward to reintroducing this bill during the next legislative session, which begins on Jan. 21,” she said.
Increasing access to mental health care outside of school hours was the top policy recommendation, followed by a suggestion to expand pre-kindergarten opportunities to child care and Head Start providers. Other recommendations included providing paid family leave and insurance benefits to all state employees and creating an online resource listing benefits available to parents with young children.
Respondents suggested lawmakers fund these and other efforts by increasing funding for state child care grant programs and child advocacy centers, creating a wage benefit for early childhood educators and increasing funding for parent-teacher programs.
The Alaska Children’s Caucus was revived this year with bipartisan co-chairs from both chambers of Congress, including Tobin, Sen. Kathy Giessel (R-Anchorage), Rep. Mike Cronk (R-Tok) and Rep. Maxine Deibert (D-Fairbanks). The next caucus meeting has not yet been scheduled.
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