NCJ Number
119543
Date Published
1989
Length
9 pages
Annotation
This statement reports on a General Accounting Office study of the home-care experiences of families with chronically ill children and a study in progress on home visiting as a means to improve child health and well-being.
Abstract
About 75 percent of the home-care families contacted reported having no difficulty in obtaining the medical and social services required for their children at home. Those families having difficulty accessing such services attributed this to high costs, lack of information about such services, and the absence of a centralized service contact. The report on home-care services recommends that the Secretary of Health and Human Services lead in developing the consolidation and publicizing of information sources on services available for chronically ill children in a given community and ensure that a focal point for services is provided. Regarding home visiting, preliminary studies in the United States and Europe indicate that it can be a cost-effective way to improve child health and decrease the risk of child abuse and neglect as well as developmental delay. Although Federal support of research and demonstration projects has helped develop innovative approaches in home visiting, short-term funding has hampered institutionalizing successful approaches.