"Hundreds of beleaguered parents of children with serious emotional and mental health needs have found that Idaho has no place for their children to go for residential psychiatric care, so the only options are out of state.
Between 25 and 30 new applications for such care are filed each month in Idaho, said Ross Edmunds, administrator at the Idaho Department of Health and Welfare’s Division of Behavioral Health. And about 100 children are in residential facilities now, he said.
Demand for those services has surged in recent years, Edmunds said. That is likely due to Idaho’s population growth, as well as better recognition of mental illness and the treatment options available, he said.
Edmunds said it should be “a last resort” to place a child in a facility far away from home. But it is necessary in some cases."
