Pediatric Behavioral Health Medical-Legal Partnerships: A Novel Approach to Child and Adolescent Psychiatric Care

The state of pediatric mental health in the United States remains an ongoing challenge. Contributing to this challenge is the biopsychosocial nature of mental health - an interconnected system of biological, psychological, social, and legal factors. Consequently, addressing pediatric mental health requires interdisciplinary collaboration. Medical-legal partnerships (MLPs) integrate legal assistance into traditional health care. Though MLPs have gained momentum in general pediatric health care delivery, they are surprisingly underutilized in the pediatric mental health landscape. This current work highlights the Yale Child Study Center Medical-Legal Partnership Project (YCSC-MLPP), which is to our knowledge, the first MLP in a children's behavioral health setting in the country. The YCSC-MLPP emerged as an interdisciplinary collaboration between the Yale Schools of Medicine and Law as well as the Center for Children's Advocacy. Between November 2021 and October 2022, the YCSC-MLPP received 150 referrals regarding patients whose care was complicated by health-harming legal needs. Of these referrals, 70% were non-client consultations, 26% were direct consultation with families, and 4% were full legal representation. The most pertinent topics addressed included education, health, housing, individual rights, and immigration. The creation of the YCSC-MLPP sets an example for what a reimagined, interdisciplinary approach to pediatric mental health can look like.