TRACKING TO THRIVE: IMPROVING IDENTIFICATION OF CHILDREN IN ALTERNATIVE CARE THROUGH IMPLEMENTATION OF AN INTAKE CAREGIVER SCREENING IN PEDIATRIC PRIMARY CARE

Fragmented communication processes, limited provider knowledge and inadequate documentation and status tracking contribute to the disparate health care youth in alternative care (YAC) receive. “Alternative Care” (AC) includes various living circumstances following a child’s removal from the home including traditional foster care (FC), residential care and relative or non-relative kinship care (Missouri Department of Social Services, n.d.). This arrangement, also referred to as “substitute care” includes children ages birth to 21 years (Font & Gershoff, 2020). While most available knowledge focuses on foster care youth (FCY), research suggests that children in kinship and non-relative care situations similarly face mental health challenges, strained relationship dynamics and caregiver attachment difficulty as compared to biological upbringing (Hassall et al., 2023). Additionally, kinship carers most often do not receive the same level of support services that foster carers do, and additionally face compounded challenges including health difficulties, given that most are grandparents, and poverty (Hassall et al., 2023). Therefore, background information on FCY can often be applied to these populations, given their shared experiences of instability, trauma, and disrupted caregiving.