Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Underrepresented Youth With School Attendance Problems: Integration With Systems of Care, Advocacy, and Future Directions

School attendance problems (SAPs) include full-day and partial absences (eg, missing classes, tardiness) as well as difficulties going to or remaining in school. SAPs also include nonparticipation in distance/hybrid learning formats or lack of access to necessary technology or equipment. SAPs are particularly prevalent among students of color, students in poverty, students with disabilities, English language learners, and migrant populations. SAPs are often part of a complicated clinical picture of mental health (eg, emotional, neurodevelopmental, conduct disorders) and somatic (eg, abdominal, cardiovascular, respiratory problems) challenges. These challenges are exacerbated by disparities in socioeconomic status, childhood adversities, family structure, and neighborhood-level factors that have an impact on mental health outcomes.1 SAPs have serious negative consequences in childhood (eg, lower academic achievement, greater risk of dropout) and in adulthood (eg, lower lifetime earning potential, greater occupational and mental health problems). Unfortunately, underrepresented youth with SAPs often have less access to proper care, especially psychiatric care.