Foster Care Evaluation Servives

A Vulnerable Population

Children in foster care are more likely to be in poor health as compared to other children in the United States, and experience higher rates of emotional and behavioral problems, chronic physical disabilities, birth defects, developmental delay, and school problems. Yet, in Massachusetts and many other states, these children are not receiving the recommended medical screenings and evaluations which could address their extensive needs.

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View Foster Care Selected Bibliography

A Potential Solution

The FaCES program was established in November of 2003 to test a model for providing health screening and evaluation services for children entering the Worcester DSS foster care system. The program design was based on the recommendations that emerge from a HRSA funded study of foster care services by Georgetown University.

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View the FaCES program components
View the complete Georgetown report
View FaCES program alignment with Georgetown study recommendations

Collaborative Partnserhip

Development of the FaCES program was a collaborative effort between:

• The University of Massachusetts Medical School (UMMS) Office of Community Programs for program development and management
• The UMASS Memorial Health Care Department of Pediatrics for medical leadership and clinical services
• UMMS's Center for Adoption Research and Policy for program evaluation
• The Central Region of the Massachusetts Department of Social Services for local sponsorship

In order to centralize all DSS sponsored programs within one department of Commonwealth Medicine, management of the FaCES program was transferred to the
Center for Adoption Research in July 2006.