The provision of services for rural youth with serious emotional and behavioral problems: Virginia's Comprehensive Services Act

The problems of the delivery of mental health and social services to rural children and adolescents encapsulate many of the problems in the larger health care system. Consequently, many of the principles underlying the President's Health Security Plan are applicable to the reformation of this more specialized service system. The experience of the Commonwealth of Virginia in implementing the Comprehensive Services Act (CSA) highlights the scope of vision needed to transform an existing service delivery system into a coordinated system of care on a state-wide scale.