Caring for Children in Foster Care: Navigating Support Systems

Caring for Children in Foster Care: Navigating Support Systems is organized by OptumHealth Education (OHE).

Activity opens: 05/13/2019
Activity expires: 06/27/2022

Target Audience:
This activity is designed to meet the educational needs of case managers, counsellors, nurses, nurse practitioners, pharmacists, pharmacy technicians, PAs, physicians, psychologists, social workers, therapists and other HCPs who care for children within the foster care system.

Description:
The goal of the foster care system is to promote the well-being of children and adolescents by providing for their health, safety, stability and permanency. Nearly 75 percent of children are placed in foster or kinship care because of abuse and/or neglect by parents due to substance abuse, addiction, extreme poverty, mental illness, homelessness or transience, domestic violence and criminal activity. These children present with behavioural problems well above their peers. For children who have suffered severe abuse and neglect, foster care is an opportunity for them to heal and benefit from the resources provided to them. Yet there are many barriers to providing high-quality comprehensive health care services to children and adolescents whose lives are already characterized by transience and uncertainty.
 
Children in foster care often have an unavailable or incomplete health and medication history. It can also be difficult determining who has the authority to consent for health care and with whom health care information should be shared. After participating in this activity, health care professionals (HCPs) will have a better understanding of how to navigate the child welfare system and advocate for coordinated care; be able to identify the reasons children come into care and how their past experiences may present as physical or behavioural issues, and see how managed care organizations (MCOs) are able to facilitate better care coordination for this population.

Learning Objectives:
At the end of this educational activity, participants should be able to:
• Identify reasons children are placed into foster care and describe how these circumstances may present as physical or behavioural problems.
• Describe the impact of trauma on children in the foster care system.
• Explain how managed care organizations (MCOs) become involved with children entering foster care and how they interact with and support providers, foster parents and caseworkers.
• Explain the importance of Early and Periodic Screening, Diagnostic and Treatment (EPTSD) visits; and why coordinating with a primary care physician is critical to the success of a child in foster care.