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December 20, 2007In Pursuit of Assistance, Children With Disabilities Face Complex, Fragmented Service System |
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From Ascribe Newsfeed: In their new book "Meeting the Needs of Children with Disabilities," researchers Laudan Y. Aron and Pamela J. Loprest detail the challenges facing children with disabilities and their parents when these families try to navigate the multiple, complex public service systems intended to meet their multifaceted needs. The authors underscore that while not a homogeneous group, children with disabilities are more likely than other children to live in poverty, live with only one parent, have parents who are in poor health or unemployed. Aron and Loprest cite statistics showing that over the last 14 years, the risk for disability has remained fairly constant for children at or above the poverty level, but has risen dramatically for poorer children (from 7.8 percent in 1983 to 11.1 percent in 1996). Thus, many children with disabilities and their families struggle with problems more complex than the disability alone. For example, special education services are often less effective if a child lacks needed medical services or is hungry. Aron and Loprest write, "Programs and government systems tend to think narrowly about the specific area of need they focus on, while these children's and families' needs are broad." Systems vary in terms of application processes, eligibility standards, and breadth of services, and there are numerous barriers to access. The researchers note very little coordination of services among the top three federal programs for children with disabilities: Medicaid, special education, and Supplemental Security Income. AScribe Newswire distributes news from nonprofit and public sector organizations.
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