| Sumario: | Children and youth frequently receive services for mental health issues from multiple service sectors but little is known about the rates of multi-sector involvement over time. Thus, the prevalence of multi-sector service use for children in contact with Ontario mental health agencies, and the influence of demographic, familial, and need variables on child multi-sector involvement, were examined. Secondary data analyses were performed on chart reviews of clients (N=355; 67% boys; ages 4 to 13) from six mental health agencies. Approximately two-thirds of clients had multi-sector involvement. In cross-sectional analyses, risk factors predicted increased likelihood of multi-sector involvement, whereas protective factors predicted decreased likelihood. In longitudinal analyses, increased risk/need at time 1 did not predict likelihood of multi-sector involvement at time 2. Ensuring a match between a client’s degree of need and services used may prevent misallocation of mental health resources
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