Mental Health

Latest California Healthline Stories

Tribal Groups Assert Sovereignty as Feds Crack Down on Gender-Affirming Care

Native American groups declare that tribal sovereignty trumps state and federal efforts to restrict or ban gender-affirming care for two-spirit and LGBTQ+ tribal citizens. Tribes are analyzing the risk of opposing Trump’s policies, advocates say.

Immigrant Kids Detained in ‘Unsafe and Unsanitary’ Sites as Trump Seeks To End Protections

President Donald Trump’s Justice Department seeks to terminate the Flores Settlement Agreement, which since 1997 has required U.S. immigration officials to hold migrant children in facilities that are safe and sanitary, among other protections. Even with the consent decree in place, court records show unsafe conditions for immigrant kids.

As California’s Behavioral Health Workforce Buckles, Help Is Years Away

California has put a greater focus on behavioral health workers, but a huge spike in demand, an aging workforce, and employee burnout continue to hamper mental health and substance use treatment. The state is tapping Medicaid funds to train, recruit, and retain workers, but it will be a long time before the impacts are evident.

KFF Health News' 'What the Health?': The Senate Saves PEPFAR Funding — For Now

The Senate narrowly approved the Trump administration’s request to claw back about $9 billion for foreign aid and public broadcasting but refused to cut funding for the international AIDS/HIV program PEPFAR. Meanwhile, a federal appeals court ruled that West Virginia can ban the abortion pill mifepristone, which could allow states to block other FDA-approved drugs. Joanne Kenen of the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and Politico Magazine, Shefali Luthra of The 19th, and Sandhya Raman of CQ Roll Call join KFF Health News’ Julie Rovner to discuss these stories and more.

The Foster Care System Has a Suicide Problem. Federal Cuts Threaten To Slow Fixes.

Children and young adults in the U.S. foster care system suffer from mental health disorders and die by suicide at far higher rates than the general population, yet the system doesn’t uniformly screen and treat children who are at risk.