CANS Training Reflection Part I

I recently took the CANS (Child and Adolescent Needs and Strengths) training as mandated by the new Children's Mental Health Law for clinicians serving children and teens on Mass Health in Massachusetts. The training was 5.5 hours long with lots of information thrown at you in a short period of time. The theme was"Stick to the Script" as the purpose of this training was to get clinicians prepared and ready to take the exam through the "virtual gateway" to get certified. As we learned the different components of the CANS that sizzled our brain cells, clinicians were not told what the purpose of the CANS instrument was for. Though we were given the "Massachusetts CANS Frequently Asked Questions" sheet before the start of the training, no one really had a chance to review it as clinicians focused their efforts on passing the exam, and then, moving on with their daily activities afterwards.

As stated on the website, (http://www.mass.gov/masshealth/childbehavioralhealth), the CANS is designed not only as a care planning tool but to determine if the child or teen meets the criteria for Serious Emotional Disturbance(SED). If the child meets the latter, they will be eligible to receive intensive services known as Family Stabilization Services(FST) in the home for a certain period of time. There is one other thing the training did not address in terms of children fitting the criteria for SED services,that is, parents or caretakers can decline this intervention. There has been no information on whether the Department of Children and Family Services will be called into the home due to the child's CANS score fitting the SED criteria.

I have my concerns about some parents using the CANS instrument to get SSI benefits for their children when they don't engage in FST services or come to the agency for counseling and medication management services. Will Mass Health hold these parents accountable for not accessing these services for their children's mental health needs? As it stands now, SSI fraud, known as the new welfare, is rampant as some mental health professionals and myself have witnessed some parents coming in for diagnostics for their children only to apply for this benefit quickly afterwards. In fact, there has been some cases, where families have applied for SSI, and the agencies have received this paperwork before they even come into the agency for a diagnostic.

I hope the CANS instrument will serve its purpose in getting children the appropriate mental health services they need. One indirect measure that will come using this assessment is how some parents will be identified for not being capable of parenting their children. So what will happen to these children? Will the population of foster kids increase? Will legislation be passed to prescreened these parents in hospitals like adoptive parents have to go through, to warrant appropriate action and services for them? Will Massachusetts be proactive like Indiana and Florida to promote adoption choices for parents to make adoption plans for their children? This remains to be seen.

Part II of this blog will discuss the virtual gateway portal that Mass Health will be using to monitor the CANS and what parents need to know about it

I am interested in your comments on anyone who took the CANS training.

Robbin Miller, LMHC
Facilitator of http://www.therapistsforchange.blogspot.com/