Here you will find state and national tools, analyses and research related specifically to the Health provisions of the new Fostering Connections law. If you know of any resources that do not appear in our library, please send us an email at with the suggested resource, author and website URL for consideration.
Research & Reports
- DC Fostering Connections Act Implementation Report
Provides an overview of the state's child welfare population, budget, native tribes, and the progress (as of 2009) the state has made in implementing the Fostering Connections to Success and Increasing Adoptions Act.
National Resources
Research & Reports
- Health Screening and Assessment for Children and Youth Entering Foster Care: State Requirements and Opportunities
This issue brief reports on a 50-state survey conducted by the Center for Health Care Strategies (CHCS) to understand the extent to which child welfare agencies require physical, behavioral, and oral health screenings and follow-up assessments upon a child's entry into foster care.
- Cortisol Production Patterns in Young Children Living With Birth Parents vs Children Placed in Foster Care Following Involvement of Child Protective Services
This study examined differences in waking to bedtime cortisol production between children who remained with birth parents vs children placed in foster care following involvement of Child Protective Services (CPS).
- State Practices for Assessing Health Needs, Facilitating Service Delivery, and Monitoring Children's Care
A report by the GAO on Foster Youth Health
- Addressing the Health Care Needs of Foster Care Children
This brief highlights a number of critical health concerns and policies impacting children in the foster care system.
- Children in Foster Care: Challenges in meeting their health care needs through Medicaid
An overview of the challenges of meeting the health care needs of foster youth through Medicaid.
- Medicaid and Financing of Health Care for Children in Foster Care: Findings from a National Survey
An overview of findings on Medicaid and Financing of Health care for Children In Foster Care
- Protecting Children in Foster Care: Why Proposed Medicaid Cuts Harm Our Nation's Most Vulnerable Youth
A report on medicaid cuts and the effects on youth in foster care
- Children Discharged from Foster Care: Strategies to Prevent the Loss of Health Coverage at a Critical Transition
Kaiser Family Foundation report on health of foster care children at transition time
- Teen Pregnancy Prevention Among Youth in Foster Care
This brief makes recommendations for how federal, state, and local governments can use provisions in the Fostering Connections Act to help young people in and transitioning out of foster care to get the education and health services they need to avoid teen pregnancy.
- Trauma Exposure in American Indian/Alaskan Native Children
- Screening foster care children doubles detection rate of potential developmental problems
The addition of a simple and systematic screening among children in foster care doubled the detection rate of developmental disabilities in a population that is at high risk for developmental problems. The University of Rochester Medical Center (URMC) study published in Pediatrics in January 2010 shows that universal screening is feasible in a busy pediatric practice.
- Securing Child Safety, Well-being, and Permanency Through Placement Stability in Foster Care
Provides an overview of how to achieve successful placement stability within foster care.
- "Green Book"- Child Welfare section
The U.S. House Ways and Means Committee "Green Book" section on child welfare includes information on federal programs dedicated to child welfare purposes, including program requirements, spending and characteristics of children served.
- Child Welfare Outcomes 2003-2006: Report to Congress
Child Welfare Outcomes 2003-2006: Report to Congress is a report created by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (the Department) to meet requirements of section 203(a) of the Adoption and Safe Families Act of 1997 (ASFA).1 ASFA amended section 479A of the Social Security Act to require an annual report on State performance. Child Welfare Outcomes 1998 was the first report created in the Child Welfare Outcomes series of reports.