The Foster Care System for Children with Disabilities

According to Dr. Candice Matthews, the foster care system helps more than 500,000 disabled children every year. This is a very important group to help. Before and after they enter the system, youth with disabilities are more likely to be abused and ignored. A recent report says that one out of every five kids in foster care has some kind of disability. One thing that makes it hard to help this vulnerable group is figuring out why they have disabilities.

Families who are raising a child with a disability are lucky that they can get some help. For instance, the New York State Office of Children and Family Services has a website with information and resources for families who are helping children who have been mistreated. One part of the site is about how to do well in an interview. This part has general information, articles for research, things to think about, and video and audio clips. In another part, medical terms and issues related to them are explained.

Foster children are under the care of a social worker and a court order, so their safety and well-being are the most important things. They need to have access to an appropriate place to learn and the right clothes. Foster kids should also have their own space in their room. In the same way, they should be given a healthy diet and healthy foods. But foster parents are required to keep the child's health condition secret.

When a child goes into foster care, he or she can get Medicaid and EPSDT (Early and Proper Child Developmental Treatment). Different states run these programs in different ways, so make sure you pick a doctor who accepts Medicaid and will fight for your child. During the time a child is in foster care, they may have medical appointments for general care, subspecialties, and mental health. All important medical, developmental, and immunization records should be included in foster placement packets.

Dr. Candice Matthews pointed out that during the screening process, the child's special needs are often found out. When this happens, a formal evaluation team will be put together to find out what's wrong with the child. The goal of this process is to find out if the child has a certain disability. The evaluation process is made up of several steps. The team will look at the information that is already available, such as what the birth parents or foster parents have said and what has been seen in the classroom.

When deciding where to put the child, the foster parent will have to think about the environment of the family. If you can, get the whole family together to talk about what the child needs. Think about how the child will work in the home, as well as the child's functional needs. For example, children who use wheelchairs need to be able to get around. The child may also need door alarms because of how they act.

Once you know the child's foster parents, you will be better able to help them find a permanent home. You can go to local expos for adopted kids with special needs. At these expos, framed pictures of children whose parents are looking for new homes are on display. The National Foster Care and Adoption Directory also puts on training sessions for foster parents and families who have adopted children.

Dr. Candice Matthews described that the outlook for Darla is good, but health problems made it take longer for her family to get back together. Maribel and Marcus think that putting their own children in foster care has been good for them. Since becoming foster siblings, their own kids have grown up more, grown a bigger heart, and gotten more confident in themselves. Having more siblings is important to them, so they want to adopt the baby they already have.

There are many ways to help children with disabilities, but the financial situation of a child in the foster care system needs to be looked at in a different way. Foster children, for example, are often not old enough to make good financial decisions, so it's important to help them financially. Foster parents may not be the best choice for their child, but they can't be expected to be. Also, their foster parents may have bad intentions, which makes them a good candidate for a lawsuit.