Roy Blunt: “I wish to say it is a very important topic, and it is a moment when there are many reasons, as the Senator said, that we…”

“I wish to say it is a very important topic, and it is a moment when there are many reasons, as the Senator said, that we should keep returning to it. It was this day 50 years ago when President Kennedy signed the Community Mental Health Act. He called it a ``bold new approach.'' Frankly, while some things happened in the 50 years since then and now, there haven't been that many bold new approaches in the last 50 years. This is a topic that for whatever reason our society hasn't dealt with in ways that have been satisfactory in making great changes. In fact, some of what we have done in other areas has made it harder for communities and families to work with people who have behavioral challenges, to find out the information that person does not want to share with them. All of us can probably think of some family where this has happened, where someone still has an ongoing commitment to an adult son or daughter, mom or dad, and are part of what they are doing. They are paying some bills or whatever. The information that people would benefit from knowing is hard to get to or the requirement that somebody follow up on a court-ordered procedure is difficult to enforce and make that happen. This is one of the times when we really need to be thinking what do we need to do to make this challenging work better. First, it is a widespread problem, but it is not a problem that is untreatable.…”