Background

Recent nationally recognized cases of children being lost within the foster care system, children being abused in foster homes, and children dying at home due to abuse when not moved to foster care have led to many questions being asked and reforms considered to improve the foster care systems at the state level.

Concerns regarding access to health care for children in foster care, particularly mental health services, have led to the need to examine the current status of foster children in more detail.

This policy brief draws information from a study of foster children in Iowa conducted in the summer of 2001 by the University of Iowa Public Policy Center for the Iowa Department of Human Services. A telephone survey was conducted with 340 foster parents in Iowa regarding the access to care and health status of the foster children in their household. All of these children had been in foster care for at least 6 months prior to participating in this study.