FY23 Budget Testimony: Department of Behavioral Health
Children’s Law Center Supervising Policy Attorney Tami Weerasingha-Cote testified before the DC Council’s Committee on Health to urge the Committee to ensure the Department of Behavioral Health’s budget includes the funding needed to improve access to behavioral health services for children and families, specifically: $300,000 in one-time local dollars for the School-Based Behavioral Health Program to fund a cost-study to right-size provider grants; $2.4 million in additional recurring local dollars for the School-Based Behavioral Health Program to stabilize provider grant funding at $80,000 per clinician; $70,000 in additional recurring local dollars for Healthy Futures to expand capacity to additional child development centers during the next fiscal year; and $10.3 million in additional recurring local dollars to increase funding for community-based behavioral health services by adjusting for inflation.