Specialized assessments for children in foster care

Area of Science:

• Child Health
• Pediatrics
• Psychology

Background:

• Children entering foster care often have complex health and developmental needs.
• Existing community-based services may not adequately identify or address these unique challenges.
• Early identification and intervention are crucial for improving outcomes for children in out-of-home care.

Purpose of the Study:

• To compare health problem identification and service utilization between children in foster care receiving a multidisciplinary intervention versus customary care.
• To evaluate the effectiveness of a comprehensive program in detecting developmental and mental health issues in young children entering foster care.

Main Methods:

• A quasi-experimental design enrolled 120 young children entering foster care into either a multidisciplinary intervention (n=62) or customary care (n=58).
• Assessments included foster parent interviews, medical exams, and developmental, psychological, speech/language, and motor evaluations at baseline, 6, and 12 months.
• Data were collected using standardized assessments and provider identification of problems.

Main Results:

• Foster mothers identified similar medical and educational problems in both groups.
• Providers were significantly more likely to identify developmental (56.5% vs 8.6%) and mental health problems (37.1% vs 13.8%) in the intervention group.
• Children in the intervention group received more referrals (71.0% vs 43.1%) and follow-up care at 6 and 12 months.

Conclusions:

• Community providers effectively identify medical and educational needs but often miss developmental and mental health issues in children entering foster care.
• A specialized multidisciplinary program enhances the identification of critical developmental and mental health needs.
• Findings support the establishment of specialized services to address the comprehensive needs of children entering out-of-home care.