Funded in Fragments: How California's Patchwork Mental Health Financing Leaves Young Children Without the Care They Need

Brief • Nov 6, 2026

By Nicole Hsu

Senior Policy Research Associate

Alexandra Parma

Director of Policy Research & Development

By Nicole Hsu

Senior Policy Research Associate

Alexandra Parma

Director of Policy Research & Development

Brief

Supporting early childhood mental health requires interventions that engage both the adult and the child together.

Medi-Cal covers some of these services, including individual therapy and, more recently, dyadic care and family therapy for a child and caregiver together. But these benefits cannot support the full range of early childhood mental health care across the promotion, prevention, and treatment continuum, nor the variety of settings where the care is delivered. This leaves many services dependent on a patchwork of time-limited and program-specific funding.

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Funded in Fragments: How California's Patchwork Mental Health Financing Leaves Young Children Without the Care They Need

Supporting early childhood mental health requires interventions that engage both the adult and the child together.

Medi-Cal Contracting Journey: Considerations and Learnings from the First 5 Network

Making CalAIM Work for Community Providers: Lessons and Strategies from California's First 5 Network

The Role of California’s Community Health Worker, Promotora, and Community Health Representative Workforce in the Central Valley - A Survey of CHW/P/Rs Serving the Prenatal to Age Three Population

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