Children and teens in foster care are children with special health care needs. As such, they should receive their primary health care in the context of a medical home to ensure their health care is:
- Accessible
- Comprehensive
- Continuous (eg, health care services and health care provider are consistent)
- Coordinated
- Focused on child or teen
- Family friendly
- Culturally sensitive
- Effectively communicated
At the clinical practice level, health care professionals should be aware of the impacts of childhood trauma and foster care on children, teens, and families. They should also be familiar with the mandates and regulations that govern child welfare, and willing to work collaboratively with child welfare on behalf of children and teens in foster care.
At the state level, health care professionals can work within their states to plan for coordinated systems of health care for children and teens in foster care. This would include coordinating care with the various systems involved in the child's or teen's life in an effort to respond to, manage, and improve the health and well-being of children and teens in foster care. Recent federal legislation (
Fostering Connections to Success and Improving Adoptions Act of 2008) requires states to coordinate health care services for teens in foster care.
State Models of Health Care Coordination
Five American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) Chapters (MD, MA, NE, NJ, and PA) are participating in the TFOFC-sponsored State Systems of Health Care for Children and Youth in Foster Care project. Chapter members are working within their states to plan for coordinated systems of health care for children and teens in foster care in which child welfare, judicial, pediatric, mental and dental health professionals, and foster parents work collaboratively to respond to, manage, and improve the health and well-being of children and teens in foster care. Recent federal legislation (
Fostering Connections to Success and Improving Adoptions Act of 2008) requires states to coordinate health care services for teens in foster care.
