During Mental Health Awareness Month, Governor Ferguson releases report showing children stuck in hospitals without a medical need are getting help faster

Rapid Care Team cuts timeline in half for helping children with the most complex behavioral and mental health needs

OLYMPIA - For years, hundreds of children experiencing severe behavioral or mental health crises languished in hospitals without a medical reason to be there. They originally went to emergency rooms because they were a danger to themselves or others. Once they were stable enough to leave, their parents or caregivers still could not safely care for them at home due to a lack of adequate resources. When those parents tried to seek help, they had to navigate a complex, siloed web of agencies with little to no guidance or support.

As a result, vulnerable children were stuck in emergency rooms or moved from facility to facility for weeks, or even months, without access to the help they needed.

Now, according to a report released by Governor Bob Ferguson today, during Mental Health Awareness Month, children in crisis are leaving hospitals and accessing the services they need faster thanks to the Washington State Multiagency Rapid Care Team. Children with some of the most complex needs are now finding safety and stability in half the time.

The Governor-led Rapid Care Team brings together agencies and community partners to support children in crisis and their families. This single point of contact helps children in crisis and their families access timely, coordinated care and services needed to move children out of hospitals and crisis situations and toward safety and stability.

The report highlights how the Rapid Care Team is streamlining the process for families seeking help. This includes breaking down silos and providing critical funding for immediate needs to remove barriers to care.

Before the Rapid Care Team launched, a child with developmental disabilities who experienced a mental health crisis could end up stuck in the hospital for 400 days without the necessary care because there was nowhere safe for them to go. Now, a child in that situation is finding safety and stability in less than 200 days. Moreover, the median case resolution time has decreased from 78 days to 30 days.

In short, under Governor Ferguson's leadership, the Rapid Care Team has prevented hundreds of children and their families from falling through the cracks of a complex system.

"We are making significant progress to serve this particularly vulnerable population of Washingtonians, but our work is not done," Ferguson said. "My team is cutting through red tape and improving access to critical services for children in crisis and their families."

The Rapid Care Team has received 200 referrals for children in crisis since its launch and averaged approximately nine referrals per month last year. Before the Rapid Care Team launched, those children and their families would have been stuck in hospitals with little to no guidance or support.

Several families shared their personal experience in the report released today.

"Our family was in constant crisis," one parent said. "We were in the emergency department every other week. We couldn't keep our son safe at our home. We didn't have in-home supports to help our son."

The parent added that the Rapid Care Team provided a "lifeline," including timely access to the support they needed to stabilize their family. "Without their intervention, we would have had to send our son to another state to receive treatment."

The single point of contact in the Governor's Office helps break down barriers by doing "case conferences," meeting with multiple agencies, service providers and community partners to assess each child's needs and make a plan for how to help. Parents are then connected with other parents who have been in similar situations before, guiding them through the process in a way that is relatable. In short, support is now individualized for each child and parents are accessing relevant services quicker and easier.

For example, in May 2025, the Rapid Care Team worked with an 11-year-old adopted child who was cycling between their home and the emergency room. He was experiencing severe behavioral challenges related to autism. After exhausting their options, his parents determined they lacked the support needed to keep him safely at home or in school. In response, the Rapid Care Team convened the appropriate partners to create a coordinated plan for the child. It included providing flexible funding for immediate behavioral health support and safety equipment at home and school while long-term services were arranged. The Rapid Care Team also connected this family with another parent who had lived through a similar situation before, for additional support.

In short, the Governor-led Rapid Care Team quickly brought together all the resources needed to make it possible for this high-needs child to safely stay at home and in school. Without this support, the family likely would have had to send their son far out of state for treatment.

Background on the Rapid Care Team

The Rapid Care Team launched in January 2024, after the Legislature passed House Bill 1580 in 2023. The law was in response to the staggering number of young people stuck in hospitals long after it was medically necessary because there were no safe discharge options. Others, particularly children in the child welfare system, were frequently moving from one temporary housing setting to another without adequate support. These situations highlighted the need for a more centralized, coordinated response between state agencies.

In October 2024, the Rapid Care Team started connecting parents through a peer support network, so families with similar experiences could help parents who are new to the process navigate the various state agencies that help children in crisis.

"It was great to have that team of people behind you," one family said of the peer support network. "We didn't feel like it was all on our shoulders. They would listen to us, and they refused to accept any solution that didn't benefit [our child] and our family."

Flexible funding, peer support network offer more help for parents

In 2025, Governor Ferguson signed House Bill 1272, extending the work of the Governor-led, multi-agency Rapid Care Team through June 20, 2027. The legislation provides $1 million in flexible funding that supports timely responses for children in crisis and their families to address immediate needs. These needs include transportation, respite, and other supports to reduce disruptions in care.

Flexible funding is money set aside to support family needs that may not be immediately available through other government programs. For example, families supporting children in crisis have relied on flexible funding for utility bills, emergency rent assistance, food and even car repairs to help them stay connected and receive the care they need.

This funding, the parent peer support, and a single point of contact in the Governor's Office have all made the Rapid Care Team's response more effective, according to the report released today.

The report also outlines strategic goals to further improve the Rapid Care Team's work moving forward. Those include:

• Further centering the experiences of children, youth and their families when making policies, decisions and programs;
• Closing service gaps and bringing support closer to home, building services and supports in families' home communities to improve care while also helping them stay connected;
• Making it easier to find support, coordinate services and navigate behavioral health systems to avoid waiting until a family is in crisis to offer help;
• Continuing to identify ways to improve the Rapid Care Team's coordination across agencies and partners.