On Wednesday, state officials will be in Milwaukee to unveil a new 'medical home' program for children in
foster care.
The program means, no matter where kids are placed, they’ll keep the same doctor and other health care providers. The program also promises more mental health services for children who’ve experienced trauma.
...“(Foster children) are complicated, they are challenging. If life were easy, they probably wouldn’t be in a foster care placement. So the focus of this program is really about improving the outcomes for these kids, making sure that within two days of enrollment they have a full assessment. That they’re being treated by people who understand what we call ‘trauma-informed care.’ That’s the difference between saying, ‘What’s wrong with you?’ as opposed to, ‘What happened to you?’ and understanding then how to deal with the trauma that many of these kids have been through,” Rhoades says.
There are roughly 6,000 children in foster care in Wisconsin - 50 percent are in the southeast. That’s why the new medical home program, in its first phase, will serve Milwaukee, Kenosha, Racine, Ozaukee, Washington and Waukesha counties.
http://wuwm.com/post/new-program-aims-streamline-health-care-foster-kids-treat-trauma
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