scholarly journals An Analysis of the Early and Periodic Screening, Diagnostic, and Treatment Benefit: Implications for the Healthcare of Children in Foster Care

2020 ◽  
Vol 27 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jae-Marie Ferdinand
Keyword(s):  
Foster Care ◽  
Health Outcomes ◽  
Healthcare Resource ◽  
Successful Implementation ◽  
Vulnerable Children ◽  
Treatment Benefit ◽  
Children In Foster Care ◽  
Healthcare Needs ◽  
Trauma Informed ◽  
Benefit Mandates

The Early and Periodic Screening, Diagnostic, and Treatment (EPSDT) benefit mandates full coverage of healthcare for children enrolled in Medicaid. The EPSDT benefit provides the access, framework, resources, and financing for healthcare for children with complex healthcare needs. When fully implemented, the EPSDT benefit leads to improved health outcomes. This paper examines the EPSDT benefit as an essential healthcare resource for vulnerable children, notably children in foster care. The majority of children in foster care receive Medicaid healthcare coverage and have complex healthcare needs. According to the most recent research, many children in foster care are not receiving this mandated benefit. Improved implementation of the EPSDT benefit is key to improving health outcomes. This policy analysis reviews the EPSDT benefit, evidence for its effectiveness, issues challenging full implementation for children in foster care, examples of successful implementation, and provides recommendations for improved implementation. Specific recommendations include coordination of healthcare and child welfare services (e.g. with health services coordinators), increased accountability for implementers, and adequate numbers of qualified, trauma-informed providers.

Pediatrics and the Unwanted Child in History: Foundling Homes, Disease, and the Origins of Foster Care in New York City, 1860 to 1920

PEDIATRICS ◽  
1984 ◽  
Vol 73 (5) ◽  
pp. 699-711
Author(s):  
Peter C. English
Keyword(s):  
Health Care ◽  
New York ◽  
Foster Care ◽  
Medical Attention ◽  
Vulnerable Children ◽  
Foster Care System ◽  
Service Workers ◽  
Professional Groups ◽  
Children In Foster Care ◽  
Emotional Handicaps

In recent years, America's present means of providing for unwanted children, the foster care system, has come under severe criticism from many child-serving professional groups. The Committee on Adoption and Dependent Children of the American Academy of Pediatrics notes that children in foster care are not likely to receive routine health care, such as immunizations and screening for hypertension, dental caries, or vision or hearing problems.1 Yet these vulnerable children frequently have significant health problems, and they may require more medical attention than the average child. In Massachusetts, 33% of the children in foster care have emotional handicaps, 13% suffer from serious physical illnesses, 19% are mentally retarded, and 15% have multiple handicaps.2 Children in foster care often lack a single health provider and they have few health advocates. Despite criticism from pediatricians about the sorry state of health care provided to these children, pediatricians frequently find themselves in the uneasy position of recommending foster care placement to social service workers in intransigent cases of child abuse and neglect. Child psychiatrists, such as Anna Freud and Albert Solnit, have joined pediatricians in criticizing foster care. They point out that a child cannot develop emotionally in a rotating system of foster homes. With each move, the foster child becomes less open, attachments less intense. As a result, children emerge from foster care with significant emotional handicaps.3 Social workers, those professionals who work most closely with unwanted children, have added to the chorus of concern over foster care. They point to the difficulty of early identification of the family in trouble and then successful intervention.

Support for Non-Relative Female Foster Parents in South Africa: Quality of Care and Placement Outcomes

2021 ◽  
Vol 33 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Samuel Emovon ◽  
Priscilla Gutura ◽  
Ngenisiwe Ntombela
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Quality Of Care ◽  
Foster Care ◽  
Foster Parents ◽  
Nuclear Family ◽  
Extended Family ◽  
Vulnerable Children ◽  
Children In Foster Care ◽  
The Government

Caring for and protecting vulnerable children in foster care continues to be an important realisation of the rights of children in South Africa. The weakening of the extended family and the increasing number of orphaned and vulnerable children give rise to the relevance of non-relative fostering. This article discusses the different sources of support used by female non-relative foster parents when caring for the children. The findings come from a broader doctoral study that explored the experiences of non-relative foster parents. The data were collected using semi-structured interviews and a focus group discussion. The findings indicate that the participants received the same support as relative foster parents, including financial support from the government in foster care grants, support from faith-based organisations, and support from nuclear family members. Most participants were self-supported through personal incomes and savings, which differed from relative foster parents who relied solely on the foster care grant. The participants received limited or no support from social workers or agencies. This article concludes that the type of support available to non-relative foster parents is the same as that for relative foster parents, and it influences the quality of care and placement outcome. With adequate support, the burden of caring is lessened therefore improving the quality of care. Therefore, it is necessary to provide holistic support to non-relative foster parents to secure their willingness to continue caring, thus improving the quality, recruitment, and retention of foster parenting.

A Systematic Review of Mental Health Disorders of Children in Foster Care

2020 ◽  
pp. 152483802094119
Author(s):  
Amy D. Engler ◽  
Kwabena O. Sarpong ◽  
Bethanie S. Van Horne ◽  
Christopher S. Greeley ◽  
Rachael J. Keefe
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Foster Care ◽  
Health Outcomes ◽  
Foster Children ◽  
The United States ◽  
Mental Health Disorders ◽  
Mental Health Outcomes ◽  
Cochrane Library ◽  
Children In Foster Care ◽  
Health Disorders

Objectives: This article summarizes the rate of mental health disorders of foster children, the specific types of disorders faced by this population, and how factors such as type of abuse or placement variables can affect mental health outcomes. Method: A search in PsycInfo Ovid, EMBASE Elsevier, and Cochrane Library Wiley resulted in 5,042 manuscripts that were independently reviewed by two authors, yielding 25 articles. Inclusion criteria: Published in or after 2000, written in English, and having a population sample of foster children (ages 0–18) in Western countries including the United States, Norway, Australia, and Canada. Results: Foster children have higher rates of mental health disorders than those of the general population. The most common diagnoses include oppositional defiant disorder/conduct disorder, major depressive disorder, post-traumatic stress disorder, and reactive attachment disorder. Variables such as type of maltreatment and type of placement predicted mental health outcomes. Conclusions and implications of key findings: Children in foster care experience more mental health disorders, as a response to either the circumstances that led to being removed from their homes or the experience of being placed in foster care. These results demonstrate the necessity for providers to consider mental health issues when caring for children in foster care and to perform appropriate screenings and assessments. With adequate trauma-informed training, providers can quickly become comfortable and competent in identifying mental health needs of children in foster care who have experienced trauma.

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