Pediatricians say the mental health crisis among kids has become a national emergency [npr.org]

By Deepa Shivram, National Public Radio, October 20, 2021

Acoalition of the nation's leading experts in pediatric healthhas issued an urgent warningdeclaring the mental health crisis among children so dire that it has become a national emergency.

The declaration was penned by the American Academy of Pediatrics, the Children's Hospital Association and the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, which together represent more than 77,000 physicians and 200 children's hospitals.

In a letter released Tuesday, the groups say that rates of childhood mental health concerns were already steadily rising over the past decade. But the coronavirus pandemic, as well as the issue of racial inequality, they write, has exacerbated the challenges.

[Please click here to read more.]