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Managing the care journey: Meeting the health care needs of children in out-of-home care

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 February 2016

Brenda Clare
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Abstract

This paper looks at the issues impacting on the physical and mental health of children placed in out-of-home care and at the capacity of the care system to recognise and respond to those needs. It draws on the findings of a recent exploratory research project in Perth, commissioned by the General Practitioners’ Evaluation Programme (GPEP), in which the author participated as a researcher. The paper focuses in particular on the paucity of information about the child’s journey through the care system, reflecting on the aggregate ‘snap-shot’ focus on cohorts and ‘children as through-puts’, rather than on individualised, longitudinal profiles of placed children. A typology of care journeys is presented as a potential framework for locating and mapping children’s experiences.

Type
Research Article
Information
Children Australia , Volume 26 , Issue 1 , 2001 , pp. 27 - 33
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2001

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