Starting small: Developing child-centric mental health policies

Abstract Child and adolescent mental health services are developing but continue to lag behind adult services. In this chapter, we discuss the current state of international child-relevant policies and their importance for supporting the coordination of and collaboration between services, their importance for the promotion of health and prevention of illness, and their importance for the organization of systems outside the healthcare sector. We also present considerations related to the financing of services and how early interventions can financially impact other systems outside of mental health sectors. We illustrate how human resource planning may need to be tailored to local circumstances. We discuss the importance of future technologies related to information integration and the need for research. Finally, we provide key illustrations of how Singapore has addressed these topics to advance policies within the sectors related to child and adolescent mental health. By considering the relevance of each topic within their local context, readers may be able to better understand the gaps that need to be addressed to help advance the development of local policies to support service development.