About the Unit

The role of the Child Behavioral Health Unit is to apply the tools, resources, and vision of the Division of Child and Family Well-Being (DCFW) to address the behavioral health needs of children and families in North Carolina.  The vision of DCFW is that Children are healthy and thrive in safe, stable, and nurturing families, schools, and communities.  The Child Behavioral Health Team uses a System of Care framework to make this vision real for families in North Carolina (NC). 

The System of Care (SOC) Framework puts the family at the center of their child’s care and helps to inform the service system on what needs to improve. The System of Care framework understands that families are involved with and supported by other child-serving agencies including schools, juvenile justice, social services, primary care, and community organizations and these organizations can be included in families’ plans for their children’s care.    

The Child Behavioral Health Unit works with family organizations, child-serving agencies, and the Standard & Tailored Plans to understand and address gaps in services through pilot projects, policy changes, and workforce development initiatives.  The following System of Care principles guides the Child Behavioral Health Unit’s efforts to increase access to high-quality, integrated behavioral health services for children and families. We work to ensure our child behavioral health services are:  

  • Based on the best research available so children can be successful in their homes, schools, and communities 

  • Driven by the family and young person’s priorities 

  • Trauma-informed and built on resiliency 

  • Appropriate for different ages   

  • Responsive to the culture and language of the family and young person 

  • Holistic and supportive when young people have multiple concerns at the same time- i.e. mental health, substance use, developmental challenges, and/or physical health challenges. 

The Child Behavioral Health Unit aims to make decisions and use resources based on available data with an intention to promote equity so groups who have not traditionally had access to high-quality services will have access to the most effective services. For example, the Unit has partnered with El Futuro and The LGBTQ Center of Durham in pilot efforts to assist behavioral health providers in improved outreach, engagement, and responsive treatment for marginalized and underserved populations.  

Lastly, NCDHHS has been at the national forefront in building ongoing implementation capacity and program support to ensure the effective implementation of evidence-based initiatives.  The Child Behavioral Health Unit is moving beyond the use of implementation science to develop frameworks within complex systems to support an array of programs, policies, and practices designed to foster healthy mental, emotional, and behavioral development in North Carolina’s children, youth, young adults, and their families.