The policy context for child and adolescent mental health services: implications for systems reform and basic science development.

Significant state and national policy initiatives are focusing on strategies for financing and structuring the delivery of evidence-based services for children. These initiatives reflect, in part, an increased awareness of and respect for scientific standards about effective treatments and services. At the same time, major studies of system reform and organizational behavior are calling into question the effectiveness of current practices and identifying the complexities of taking science-based services to scale. Four major policy initiatives are described and the implications of scientific developments within the basic neurosciences for improving policy, practice, and service in children's mental health is discussed.