title: Foster care children with disabilities.
abstract: Each year the number of children who enter the foster care system grows because the number of children who are vulnerable to abuse, neglect and/or poverty grows. Children with disabilities are a particularly vulnerable subset of this already vulnerable population. What are the implications of conceptual and methodological issues in theories of disability for estimates of children with disabilities in foster care? To what extent do children in the foster care system have disabilities? What are implications of existing health care coverage strategies (Medicaid, managed care, etc.) for the health and well-being of foster care children with disabilities? Conceptual and operational definitions of disability are reviewed. Descriptive statistics based on a secondary analysis of 1998 administrative AFCARS data are used to summarize the extent of disabilities. In addition, existing empirical studies and public policies on national and state health care insurance strategies are analyzed.
authors.affiliation: School of Social Work, Howard University, USA.
authors.forename: Jacqueline Marie
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Smith
mesh_terms: D000203:Activities of Daily Living / Q000145:classification; D000293:Adolescent; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D004185:Disability Evaluation; D019988:Children with Disabilities / Q000145:classification / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D005581:Foster Home Care / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D015995:Prevalence; D014481:United States / Q000453:epidemiology