March 28, 2008 by Joseph Kenny, Review Staff Writer. The teenage boy in St. Louis County had struggled with his mental health. Eventually he committed suicide. Recently, his mother told supporters of the Putting Kids First initiative in St. Louis County that she feels she and others may have known how to look for signs of the impending suicide if they had access to services they needed.
In the early 1990s, Missouri passed a law allowing counties to establish local community children’s service funds to provide mental health services to children from birth to age 19. Since then, several counties have established a tax for the fund, including Lincoln, St. Charles and Jefferson counties and the City of St. Louis. It is desperately needed in St. Louis County, according to Catholic social workers who seek to meet the needs of children.
