Children's Bureau Express

Health Care Practice Standards for Children in Foster Care

In 1997, the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) convened the Task Force on Health Care for Children in Foster Care to address the unique and complex health care needs of this population. The practice standards developed by this committee were published in Fostering Health: Health Care for Children and Adolescents in Foster Care, which has just been released in a second edition. These standards of care are designed to be used by health care professionals, foster parents, child welfare agencies, the courts and legal community, and policymakers.

Fostering Health provides practice parameters for primary health care, developmental and mental health care, and child abuse and neglect. These practice parameters identify events, timeframes, professionals involved, and necessary procedures. Other chapters of the book cover health care management, medical consents, confidentiality, qualifications of health care professionals, assessment and improvement, and health care financing.

Fostering Health is published by AAP (District II, New York State) and is available for purchase from its website at www.aap.org/bst/showdetl.cfm?&DID=15&Product_ID=3971.

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