Broward Health

Medical Home for Foster Care Children

Safety net health systems are leaders in providing health care access to everyone in the community, but especially children in need. That’s why Broward Health—the safety net health system in Fort Lauderdale—took the lead in improving the health care provided to foster children. Broward Health created the Medical Home for Foster Care Children program at the William Dandy School Health Center in collaboration with the local school board, ChildNet and Children’s Medical Services. This medical home model serves over 500 children per year, providing in-depth medical assessments, followup care and wellness checks for children entering the foster care system. Nurse coordinators manage care and when necessary refer children for key services such as mental health care, dental services, heating checks, optical care, family planning and nutrition counseling. The program has proven to be highly valuable to 1,300 foster children and the foster parents who care for them—92% of foster parents expressed good or excellent satisfaction with overall care.