title: Sex education and family planning services for adolescents in foster care.
abstract: Representatives of public child-welfare agencies in 48 states were surveyed to determine their states' policies for meeting the sexual development and family planning needs of teenagers served by the agencies. Only nine states have a formal written policy dealing with this area of child welfare, and just two of the states have a comprehensive policy. A handful of states have deliberately avoided addressing the issue. Officials in other states believe that a formal policy would be counterproductive, arguing that a low-key approach is the best way to deal with the needs of the teenagers they serve. Finally, some state child-welfare officials admit that they have not given the issue much thought. Twenty-nine states offer foster parents special training in adolescent sexuality, and 19 offer such training to caseworkers; however, only five states mandate such training for foster parents and only four do so for caseworkers. Southern states are the most likely to have written policies, while western states are the least likely; western states also are the least likely to offer or mandate special training for caseworkers in contact with teenagers. The officials surveyed also identified a number of institutional barriers that prevent their agencies from developing and implementing policies to deal with the sexual development needs of children in state care.
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D002669:Child Welfare; D005193:Family Planning Services; D005581:Foster Home Care; D006291:Health Policy; D006801:Humans; D010290:Parents; D012736:Sex Education; D014481:United States