Adolescent Behavioral Health Resources in Idaho's
Treasure Valley

If you are looking for residential care for your child, you will quickly encounter facilities that seem to be preying on desperate parents. I was astonished by the number of facilities that required large sums of cash up front ($20,000+) and would not accept insurance. In addition, the average facility stays they quoted ranged from nine months to a year. At their per month price, many of us could easily mortgage our homes and spend our retirement savings for a few months' stay.

 

Perhaps even more important than the cost of residential care, it was important to me to find an accredited facility. In addition to providing me with some assurance that she would be well cared for, my insurance plan would not provide coverage for a non-accredited facility.

 

Questions to Ask 

• How far away is it? Will you be able to visit? What are the facility's rules about visitors, about phone calls?

• Do they have a state license? If the program claims to be licensed, get the name of the state agency that issued the license and contact the agency to verify that the license is current. Often, the licensing will be through a state Department of Health and Human Services or its equivalent. If the program’s representative can’t provide the name of the licensing agency, consider it a red flag.

• Do they have educational facilities?  Do they have teachers onsite? Will your child have to complete all of her/his courses online? 

• Are they accredited? If you are looking for a facility for your son or daughter, look for one that is accredited by Joint Commission (JACHO), the Council on Accreditation (COA), and the Commission on Accreditation of Rehabilitation Facilities (CARF). You can search for facilites on the Joint Commision site.  

• What are credentials of the clinical director and staff?

• Do they provide background checks of the employees?

• How will they handle illnesses or emergencies?

• How do they discipline children in their care?

 

The checklist above comes from the following sites: Federal Trade Commission and Safe, Therapeutic and Appropriate Use of Residential Treatment. The National Alliance on Mental Illness provides this useful guide, and the University of Southern California offers this warning research.

 

While there are several residential care facilities in the state of Idaho, when I began looking for services for my daughter, I couldn't find any accredited facility for adolescents. I did not want to place our daughter in a facility with adults. I also wanted a facility that offered DBT therapy, since that is recognized as the most effective treatment for trauma. I couldn't find any in our state. 

 

We left the state in order to find the residential care we needed for our daughter.

 

It's important to realize that every facility that you contact will have a waiting list. It is likely that they will not place you on the waiting list until you have a formal diagnosis from a psychiatrist. Once they have the diagnosis and the proper paperwork completed, then you can begin the process of waiting.