FY27 Budget Testimony: Department of Behavioral Health
Senior Policy Attorney Leah Castelaz and Behavioral Health Policy Analyst Chris Gamble testified before the Committee on Health at the FY27 budget hearing for the Department of Behavioral Health (DBH).
Leah’s testimony calls attention to proposed cuts to the School Based Behavioral Health program, as well as clear indications that DBH is moving forward with its plan to move the program entirely in-house and phase out partnerships with Community-Based Organizations.
Chris’s testimony focuses on cuts across DBH and their impact on District children and families including the elimination of Child and Adolescent Mobile Psychiatric Service (ChAMPS) and decreased funding across the continuum of care. Without access to the right type of care at the right time, children will continue to receive inadequate services and cycle in and out of crises with increased potential of having contact with the child welfare and juvenile justice systems. Maintaining the trend of under-resourcing the provider network will also serve to weaken it as providers struggle financially and ultimately have to stop providing the services so essential to children’s behavioral health.
Learn about Our Behavioral Health Work
Although tens of thousands of DC children have behavioral health needs, only a fraction of them actually receive timely supports and services. At Children’s Law Center, we know that many of the children we work with – including children in the foster care system or receiving special education services – only need our help because their needs have gone unaddressed.