Tulsa, OK: "Child maltreatment has risen by almost 30% since 1990 in Oklahoma"

Mar 28, 2018, Tulsa (OK) World: How bad is mental health in Tulsa? Study portrays 'alarming' statistics but offers hope http://www.tulsaworld.com/news/health/how-bad-is-mental-health-in-tulsa-study-portrays-alarming/article_82ef1ff1-8301-5512-a742-e0fcb66471d2.html Tulsa Public Schools staff come across a suicide note nearly once a day from elementary or middle-school students, and Tulsans with chronic severe mental illness die 27 years earlier on average than all Oklahomans. … The study places special emphasis on children and youth, which it found is a group in Oklahoma disproportionately affected by poor mental health. Given that half of all mental illnesses appear by age 14 and three-quarters by age 24, early and effective intervention can have profound lifelong benefits, according to the study. By age 19, 1 in 6 Oklahoma children experience at least four “adverse childhood experiences” such as: witnessing domestic violence, substance abuse or mental illness in the household; loss of a family member due to incarceration, separation or divorce; or being a victim of abuse and neglect. Child maltreatment has risen by almost 30 percent since 1990 in Oklahoma, coinciding with a 131 percent increase in juvenile violent crime arrests in that same period. Of children in the juvenile justice system, 70 percent have mental illness. “This dual burden on Tulsa’s children and youth and on people living with mental illness and addiction largely explains why mental health and well-being are so low in Tulsa,” the study states. “Schools and other child- and youth-serving programs are not adequately supported to deliver prevention and early intervention services.