Help-seeking steps and service use for children in foster care

Abstract

This study describes help-seeking steps and service-use patterns for school-age children in foster care. It also examines how these access indices are moderated by sociodemographic, enabling, and child disorder factors. Two home interviews and a telephone teacher interview were conducted using a sample of 302 randomly selected children (age 6-12 years) in foster care. The majority of children (80%) were given a psychiatric diagnosis, and 43% of the foster parents perceived a need for mental health services for the child. In the past year, about one-half of the children had received mental health (51%) and special education services (52%). Age and ethnicity, foster parent education, placement history, level of monthly benefits, number of caseworker visits, and disorder characteristics were related to help-seeking steps and mental health service use. Strategies to improve access to mental health services for children in foster care should include interventions at the caregiver and system levels.

A Crisis of Credibility: Professionals’ Concerns about the Psychiatric Care Provided to Clients of the Child Welfare System

“…This is due to (1) the high rates of mental health service use among child welfare system consumers dos Reis, Zito, Safer, & Soeken, 2001;Harman, Childs, & Kelleher, 2000;McMillen et al, 2004;Zima, Bussing, Yang, & Belin, 2000) and (2) the immediate and drastic increase in service use once a child comes into contact with the child welfare system (Leslie et al, 2005). Although, as a group, children involved in the child welfare system receive a lot of mental health services, we know little about the nature and quality of these services.…”

Demographic, Clinical, and Geographic Predictors of Placement Disruption among Foster Care Youth Receiving Wraparound Services

“…Historically, children served in the foster care system experience less favorable mental health outcomes than those in the general population (Anctil et al 2007;Burns et al 2004;Garland et al 2001;Zima et al 2000) and are up to eight times more likely to have a diagnosis of mental illness (Burns et al 2004;Landsverk and Garland 1999). These figures are not surprising considering the traumatic experiences that lead youth to enter the child welfare system, such as severe abuse, neglect, and instability.…”

Pathways to Mental Health Services for Children and Youth in the Child Welfare System: A Focus on Social Workers’ Referral

“…This is partly due to these two groups of children more likely being referred for services, and therefore, more likely to utilize services as evidenced from the present study. A further explanation can be attributed to male children and older children displaying more externalizing behaviors and more likely to be deemed in need of mental health services (Timmer et al 2004;Shore et al 2002;Zima et al 2000). The concern is that female and younger children also experience psychological and/or behavioral problems and should be referred to mental health services.…”