Raising a child is both rewarding and challenging. Parents and guardians do their best to provide their child with a safe and loving environment where the child can learn and grow.

Childhood is characterized by periods of transition and reorganization. It is critical to assess and address the mental health of children and adolescents in the context of familial, social, and cultural expectations about age-appropriate thoughts, emotions, and behavior.

Mental disorders and mental health problems appear in families of all social classes and of all backgrounds. No one is immune. Yet there are children who are at greatest risk by virtue of a broad array of factors. These include physical problems; intellectual disabilities (retardation); low birth weight; family history of mental and addictive disorders; multigenerational poverty; and caregiver separation or abuse and neglect. In the U.S. today, one in ten children suffer from a mental disorder severe enough to cause some level of impairment.

Sources: NIMH and Wisconsin United for Mental Health