Citation

Diaz A, Edwards S, Neal WP, Elbirt P, Rappaport M, Kierstead R, Colon B. Mt. Sinai J. Med. 2004; 71(3): 166-169.

Affiliation

Division of Adolescent Medicine/Mount Sinai Adolescent Health Center, Department of Pediatrics, 320 East 94th Street, 2nd floor, New York, NY 10128, USA. angela.diaz@msnyuhealth.org

Copyright

(Copyright © 2004, Mount Sinai Journal of Medicine, New York, Publisher John Wiley and Sons)

DOI

unavailable

PMID

15164129

Abstract

Children in foster care have many health needs. This article presents the model of the Children's Aid Society (CAS) of New York City in addressing these needs. In addition to their regular foster care program, CAS developed the Medical Foster Care (MFC) in response to the growing number of boarder babies (children with medical conditions who are abandoned at hospitals), and the Therapeutic Foster Care (TFC) for foster children with emotional and behavioral mental health problems. The MFC serves 145 children considered medically fragile, as evidenced by congenital diseases such as heart disease, renal agenesis, cerebral palsy, seizure disorders and mental retardation. The TFC serves 50 children with severe levels of emotional and behavioral symptomatology. As is indicated by the extensive services offered through CAS's regular foster care program, as well as MFC and TFC, these children require specialized treatment. In addition, systems of information maintenance and exchange surrounding the health care of foster children need to be improved. Often agencies are ill-equipped to do adequate background checks on these young people and as a result deliver them to foster care situations where their health needs are not revealed and therefore not addressed. Health care providers also need to stay informed on the overall subject of foster care, as their voices will probably be crucial in ensuring that the extensive needs of these children are adequately represented to government, medical and other service providers.

Language: en