This collection of papers presented at a 1996 conference on children's mental health focuses on program evaluation efforts within states and systems of care. Individual papers have the following titles and authors: (1) "An Overview of State Public Mental Health Programs for Children with a Serious Emotional Disturbance" (Pamela C. Roddy); (2) "A Developmental Analysis of Neighborhood Governance: An Aspect of the Annie E. Casey Mental Health Initiative for Urban Children's Evaluation" (Marvela Gutierrez-Mayka and others); (3) "Promoting Evaluation of Systems of Care: Stakeholder Needs and Technical Assistance Strategies" (Susan Flint and others); (4) "The Comprehensive Services Act: First Year Implementation Assessment" (J. Randy Koch and others); (5) "Access Vermont: A Statewide Evaluation of Non-categorical Service Delivery to Children and Families--Meeting Community Needs, Measuring Outcomes" (Jennifer Taub and others); (6) "Conceptualization and Initial Development of the Ohio Scales" (Benjamin M. Ogles and D. Kevin Gillespie); (7) "Impact of the Child and Adolescent Service System Program in California" (June Madsen Clause and others); (8) "Evaluation of the California Implementation of the Child and Adolescent Service System Program: A Review of Documents" (Karyn L. Dresser and others); (9) "Issues in Implementing a Randomly Assigned Study Design in a Community Setting: Lessons from the Vanderbilt/Stark County Evaluation Project" (Jon Thomas and others); and (10) "Evolutional Changes in a Local System of Care for Severely Emotionally Disturbed Children and Adolescents: The Pendulum Is Swinging (Stanley Mong and others). (Individual papers contain references.) (DB)