Click the link below to view CABF's Annual Report for the year ending June 30, 2009.

This is a sample packet that can be used by parents to seek support for CABF, including informational materials for family and friends.

CABF focuses its advocacy efforts on the following urgent needs:

A national coalition of parents, professionals and educators present tips and tools for educating state lawmakers about children’s mental health in America. Includes sample letters and fact sheets.

This article by Thomas Anders, former president of AACAP, seeks to articulate the importance of the various advocacy groups, professions, and consumer working together for the common purpose of educating the public regarding this illness and assisting nonprofessionals in dealing with the challenges of living with chronic mental illness.

CABF is committed to providing information that will empower parents to increase their effectiveness as parent advocates.  Learning how to be your child’s advocate doesn’t happen overnight, but it doesn’t have to be overwhelming.  In the process of reading this material, you will gain practical information that will increase your effectiveness – and your confidence – in advocating for a “free and appropriate public education” (FAPE) for your child.

ADVOCACY

One reason for the limited advocacy efforts on behalf of individuals with severe psychiatric disorders in the United States is the presence of countervailing forces--a small but vocal coalition of Scientologists, antipsychiatrists, and "consumer survivors." These disparate and often interdependent groups are united by their hatred of psychiatry in general and their opposition to any form of assisted treatment in particular. Many of their members are intellectual descendents of Thomas Szasz, who taught that mental illnesses do not really exist, and Ronald Laing, who claimed that psychosis is a growth experience. These groups often attempt to intimidate individuals and organizations that provide advocacy for individuals with manic-depressive illness, schizophrenia and other severe psychiatric disorders.