Annual Report to Congress on the Evaluation of the Comprehensive Community Mental Health Services Program for Children and Their Families

Child and Family Demographics

Children Differed on Gender, Age, Race-Ethnicity, and Families Varied on Household Composition and Income

Almost two thirds were boys. Gender differences showed that 62 percent of the children were boys and 38 percent were girls (see Table ES-2).
Average age was in early adolescence. Among the children, 8 percent were age 0–5 years, 32 percent were age 6–11 years, 40 percent were age 12–15 years, and 22 percent were age 16 years and older (see Table ES-2).
A diverse racial-ethnic population was served. Among the children, 54 percent were Caucasian, 17 percent were African American, 24 percent were Hispanic, 2 percent were Native Hawai‘ian, 2 percent were Native American, 1 percent were Asian or Pacific Islander, and 1 percent were other. The representation of Hispanic and African American families was higher than expected when contrasted to the general population of the United States. This is partially due to the geographic distribution of CMHS-funded system-of-care sites and partially due to providing system-of-care services within the public sector (see Table ES-2).
High rates of single-parent families were served. Among the children, 54 percent lived in single-parent homes; 25 percent lived in two-parent homes; 7 percent lived with a guardian; 10 percent were wards of the State; 4 percent were other. Twenty-eight percent of all children in the United States reside in single-parent families (DHHS, 1996). Higher than expected rates of children residing in single-parent families were reported for children entering systems of care (see Table ES-2).
The majority of families were poor. Sixty-one percent of the children’s families reported incomes below $15,000, which represents the poverty threshold for a family of four according to DHHS’s Poverty Guidelines for 1996. Such level of poverty is well above reported rates for the general population, which indicates that approximately 20 percent of all children under age 18 live in poverty (see Table ES-2).
Mother-maintained households had the highest poverty rates. Children living in mother-maintained households were more likely to live in poverty. Of the responding families, 73 percent of the children in mother-maintained households lived in poverty, 47 percent of the children in father-maintained households lived in poverty, and 42 percent of the children in two-parent households lived in poverty (see Table ES-3). For all female-led, single-parent households in the United States, 32.6 percent were reported to live in poverty (DHHS, 1996).
High rates of multiple living arrangements were reported. At intake, 37 percent were reported to have lived in two to eight living arrangements during the previous year (see Figure ES-9).

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