Greater numbers of young children with complicated, serious physical health, mental health, or developmental problems are entering foster care during the early years. Every effort should be made to make foster care a positive experience and a healing process for the child. Threats to a child’s development from abuse and neglect should be understood by all participants in the child welfare system.
What can you do to care for your child that has experienced some sort of trauma?
- Child Sexual Abuse: Questions & Answers About Sexual Abuse, an Interview with Judith Cohen, MD, The National Center for Child Traumatic Stress (NCTSN)
- Domestic Violence: Questions & Answers About Domestic Violence, an Interview with Betsy McAlister Groves, MSW, The National Center for Child Traumatic Stress (NCTSN)
- Child Physical Abuse: Questions and Answers about Child Physical Abuse, an Interview with David Kolko, PhD, The National Network for Child Traumatic Stress (NCTSN)
What is my pediatrician’s role?
Pediatricians have an important role in assessing the child’s needs, providing comprehensive services, and advocating on the child’s behalf. The developmental issues important for young children in foster care are reviewed, including:
- The implications and consequences of abuse, neglect, and placement in foster care on early brain development
- The importance and challenges of establishing a child’s attachment to caregivers
- The importance of considering a child’s changing sense of time in all aspects of the foster care experience
- The child’s response to stress. Additional topics addressed relate to parental roles and kinship care, parent-child contact, permanency decision-making, and the components of comprehensive assessment and treatment of a child’s development and mental health needs
For additional information see this article by the American Academy of Pediatrics’ Committee on Early Childhood, Adoption and Dependent Care: Developmental Issues for Young Children in Foster Care