Special Medical Care

HFKs offers a unique approach to meeting the needs of infants, children, and adolescents with medical conditions for which foster care is a feasible alternative to hospitalization or convalescent home care. The agency has experience providing care to individuals with:

• Cerebral Palsy & Spina Bifida and other neuromuscular or mobility disorders.
• Kidney disease including renal failure and post transplant care.
• Hereditary conditions such as sickle cell anemia, cystinosis, congenital birth defects.
• Gastrointestinal problems including Short Gut Syndrome, chronic constipation.
• Fetal Alcohol Syndrome and conditions associated with prenatal substance exposure.
• Endocrine disorders including diabetes.
• Epilepsy
• Respiratory condition such as bronchopulmonary dysplasia, chronic lung disease, reactive airway disease, tracheotomies.
• Failure to thrive and other developmental delays.
• Cardiac problems.

In considering a medically needy child for admission to the program, HFKs consults with local and regional specialists about the outpatient medical care plan for the child to confirm that the individual needs could be met in the identified foster home.

HFKs will arrange and/or provide specific medical training to staff and foster parent who work directly with the client pertaining to the medical condition, treatment interventions utilized, medications prescribed, and other daily care issues. HFKs staff regularly attends doctor and specialist appointments with the client and foster family to ensure that all treatment recommendations are being followed or implemented. During regular office visits, agency staff and parents are able to provide physicians with tracking and progress documentation from the home, such as medication administration sheets, seizure logs, physical therapy & activity logs, input/output tracking, dietary and blood sugar tracking, episodes of apnea, etc. which helps with progress and problem identification. HFKs will also develop and implement individualized documentation or tracking strategies in response to a child's specific needs. HFKs staff coordinates referrals along with the primary care physician and treatment team for specialized inpatient procedures and ongoing outpatient care.