Eric Tegetthoff, Oregon News Service
SALEM, Ore. (KTVZ) — Oregon is aiming to make social and emotional health care for young children more accessible with new metrics.
The Oregon Health Authority has adopted child-level social-emotional health indicators to improve and incentivize care for children enrolled in the state’s Medicaid program from birth to age 5. Oregon is the first state in the nation to adopt such measures.
Andy Walsh, senior health policy adviser at the Oregon Children's Research Institute, said social-emotional health is the foundation of everyone's mental health.
“It develops the ability to form relationships and experience, express and explore emotions,” Walsh said. “These are all components of social-emotional health, which are fundamental to good mental and physical health in childhood and adulthood.”
Walsh noted that the nation's youth are experiencing a mental health crisis and Oregon is lagging behind: In a recent ranking by Mental Health America, Oregon ranked third from the bottom for youth access to care.
Kara Crain was on the Parent Advisory Group for the Oregon Pediatric Improvement Partnership, which developed the index. She has experience working with children who need social-emotional health treatment. She shared her experience living in the small town of Lordsburg, where waiting lists for services can be years long.
“If you've never been through it, you can't imagine what it's like,” Crane argues, “and talking to people who are currently going through it is a really good way to make sure you're not missing something that you don't know to look for because you're not essentially in that battle.”
Walsh stressed that the new metrics will be especially impactful as the state bans suspensions and expulsions from early childhood care and education programs starting in July 2026. He added that the goal of the metrics is to engage earlier with children who are at risk of developing social-emotional challenges common in child care centers and preschools.
“These metrics are meant to reach kids sooner, in a preventative way,” Walsh explained, “so we can start connecting kids with services that we know will strengthen their skills, and in theory, hopefully prevent these issues down the road.”
