FY20 Oversight Testimony: Department of Behavioral Health
Children’s Law Center Policy Attorney Tami Weerasingha-Cote shared testimony before the Committee on Health regarding the significant behavioral health needs of DC’s children and families. The ongoing pandemic and its economic fallout have only heightened behavioral needs, especially among the District’s hard hit Black and Latinx communities. Ensuring these communities have access to behavioral health services so that children and their families can cope with their disproportionately heavy burdens is vital to achieving racial justice. We urge the DC Council to acknowledge the behavioral health needs of our children and commit to meeting these needs as part of the city’s COVID-19 response by not only funding and supporting the school-based mental health expansion, DC MAP, HealthySteps, and Healthy Futures – but also investing in our behavioral healthcare system.
Read her full testimony here: