Opinion: Maryland needs to take better care of our children

I am extremely saddened, although unfortunately not surprised, to read the recent article highlighting the failure to meet the needs of children across Maryland. As a child psychiatrist and as president and CEO of Sheppard Pratt — Maryland’s largest nonprofit provider of behavioral health services, including those provided to children and adolescents — I have too often seen the negative clinical consequences of policy choices that have led to the underfunding of our behavioral health system and a lack of needed programs and services to help our youth.