I want to take this opportunity to provide you with information about the placement of children with Special Health Care Needs (SHCN) in your home. In general, children with SHCN require substantial in-home health care, which can be provided by a licensed (resource) foster parent who might not be a doctor, but is trained to provide such care. This type of care consists of certain nursing services prescribed for a child, which require the caretaker (you) to have a substantial amount of scientific knowledge or technical skill. California State regulations have special capacity rules for any foster family home that has at least one child with SHCN. For example, families with at least one SHCN child cannot have more than two children of any kind in their home at one time (unless certain exceptions are met).

There are two types of children who fall into the category of Special Health Care Needs: Technology-Dependent and Medically Fragile. While each child's medical issues can be extremely complicated, her is a simple way to define these categories:

Technology-Dependent Children need a medical device to compensate for the loss of a vital body function. They also need ongoing medical or nursing care to maintain their health. This ongoing care is usually required for substantial parts of each day and may be provided by a trained and skilled parent or other lay caretaker.

Medically Fragile Children have a condition that can rapidly deteriorate and result in permanent injury or death. These children require frequent nursing care and must be closely monitored for signs and symptoms of illness, reactions to treatment, general behavior, or general physical condition. Typically, infants or young children who are prone to sudden relapses that call for re-hospitalization or the intervention of a health care professional are also considered medically fragile.

I hope this helps you understand the "rules" of having special health care children in your care. If you have questions or are interested in caring for children with Special Health Care Needs, contact your Homefinding Worker.