Resources for Pediatricians

Policies Authored by the Council on Foster Care Adoption and Kinship Care

View all policies authored by the Council on Foster Care, Adoption and Kinship Care.

Primary Care Tools

The following tools and resources aim to provide health care professionals with the necessary background, health assessment forms, forms to facilitate communication and collaboration between professionals, and other materials to help care for children and teens in foster care.

Fostering Health: Health Care for Children and Adolescents in Foster Care 2nd Edition

Developed by an AAP multidisciplinary panel of experts, Fostering Health has been designed for use by medical, mental health, and developmental health care professionals, as well as foster parents, social welfare agencies, members of the legal community, health insurance agencies, and policy makers.

Standards of health care for children and adolescents in foster care are detailed in 10 chapters. The members of the AAP Task Force on Foster Care hope that this manual will result in the integration of the health care plan with child welfare's permanency plan for each child or adolescent in foster care. For a copy please contact fostercare@aap.org until supplies last.

Table of Contents

Executive Summary
CHAPTER 1: Statement of Purpose
CHAPTER 2: Practice Parameters for Primary Health Care
CHAPTER 3: Practice Parameters for Developmental and Mental Health Care
CHAPTER 4: Practice Parameters for Child Abuse and Neglect
CHAPTER 5: Health Care Management
CHAPTER 6: Medical Consents for Children and Adolescents in Foster Care
CHAPTER 7: Confidentiality
CHAPTER 8: Qualifications of Health Care Professionals
CHAPTER 9: Quality Assessment and Improvement
CHAPTER 10: Health Care Financing for Children and Adolescents in Foster Care
To download a PDF of the entire publication, click here.

Tools for Responding to the Experiences of Children Adopted or in Foster Care

Created with support from the Dave Thomas Foundation for Adoption and Jockey Being Family, this series of resources is designed to help children who have experienced trauma and adversity, by helping their parents, caregivers, and other adults in their lives understand how that early trauma may have affected them. Each guide can be downloaded and shared to provide ideas for how to help children, and links to additional information and resources. 

Frequently Asked Questions About Foster Care

The following frequently asked questions were developed by members, liaisons, and consultants of the AAP Task Force on Foster Care. These questions will be updated according to the latest information posted on the Web site. Check back for updates! Click on the arrows to the left to reveal the answers. FAQs for parents can be found on HealthyChildren.org.