The Youth Empowerment Services (YES) Waiver provides home and community-based mental health services to children who are struggling with their mental health. Parents are often stuck making a gut-wrenching decision to leave their children, who are experiencing a crisis, at the hospital for days or even weeks at a time. Instead of having dinner at home with their family and sleeping in their own bed, kids are stuck in hospitals. Recent data show that youth who participated in YES Waiver services saw a 48% decrease in crisis service use, demonstrating the program’s impact in stabilizing children in their communities.
The House version of the state budget includes an additional $13 million for YES Waiver funding over the biennium in Article XI.
Nineteen Texas organizations are calling on the Legislature to provider the $13 million for YES Waiver in the final version of the state budget.
