ANCOR Takeaways from NACBHDDD Briefing on Responding to Incarceration of Youths with I/DD

On May 15, ANCOR attended a Congressional briefing hosted by the Congressional Mental Health Caucus and by the National Association of County Behavioral Health and Developmental Disabilities Directors (NACBHDDD). The briefing, titled “The Decarceration of Transition Age Youth with Intellectual/Developmental Disabilities and Mental Disorders: Responding to an Emerging Problem”, discussed how in recent years increasing numbers of transition age youth with intellectual/developmental disabilities (I/DD) and mental illness have become incarcerated in our county and city jails. The briefing discussed how most of these youths have fallen off the radar of local health and human services programs, and almost all have failed to make the transition from youth to adult services, as well as how important preventative services can be. ANCOR staff plans to work with NACBHDDD to make improvements to the collection of data and well as service structure offered to people with I/DD that enter the jail system.