EBD Blog

Children’s Mental Health of Ontario (CA) issued a statement supporting efforts to reduce child poverty. Because the mental health of children and youths has often been found to be associated with poverty, this is an important part of comprehensive mental health policy.

One in five children in Ontario struggles with their mental health. Although often invisible, mental health disorders are pervasive, affecting nearly half a million children and youth in Ontario. Last year, 40% of children served by children’s mental health agencies in Ontario came from families whose annual income is less than $30,000.

Reducing child poverty coupled with early intervention can provide a hopeful and healthy future for kids struggling with their mental health. Undiagnosed and untreated, children may suffer needlessly from conditions like depression, anxiety, and eating disorders.

Children’s Mental Health Ontario—a non-profit organization focused on creating a sustainable system of mental health services for children, youths, and their families— is composed of 81 community-based children’s mental health centers. These constituent centers serve ~150,000 children and their families annually. Link to Kids Mental Health.

Links about poverty and children’s mental health:

• Science Daily (2006): Long-term Poverty Affects Mental Health Of Children, about Lisa Strohschein’s study at the University of Alberta.
• The mental health section of the US National Center for Children in Poverty.
• Abstract for the study entitled “Poverty, Family Process, and the Mental Health of Immigrant Children in Canada” by Morton Beiser and colleagues in American Journal of Public Health (2002).
• Vicki Quay’s 2003 story for National Public Radio on Jane Costello’s study of the effects of moving families out of poverty on children’s mental health.