Winona State University's Newspaper since 1919

The Winonan

Winona State University's Newspaper since 1919

The Winonan

Winona State University's Newspaper since 1919

The Winonan

Polls

What is your favorite building to study in?

View Results

Loading ... Loading ...

Professor discusses foster care medical decisions

Elizabeth Pulanco / Winonan

Besides birthday cakes and Halloween candy, proper medical treatment is one of the most important things a child can receive while growing up. But for children in the foster care system, the decision making process for this medical treatment is disorganized and complex.

On Wednesday, Feb. 24, child advocacy studies instructor Professor Strassburger gave a presentation on the “Medical Decision Making for Youth in Care” as a part of the CLASP series.

Before teaching at Winona State University, Strassburger attended Yale University and joined the Advocacy for Children and Youth Clinic. While working at the clinic, Strassburger represented youth in crisis and became the medical decision maker during different cases.

Story continues below advertisement

“I represented children as a guardian ad litem and also as a court-appointed educational and medical decision maker,” Strassburger said.

Strassburger discussed how the medical decisions a person may be making for a child range from the simple, like “who can take a child to the dentist?” to the more complex, like, “should a developmentally disabled, sexually active teen receive an IUD?”

The person in charge of making the medical decisions for foster children varies in each state.

Some states allow the birth parents the ability to make the medical decisions. Strassburger believes this is a good idea because most children return to their biological parents once they are taken out of the foster care system.

“Keeping the birth parents in the decision making process helps the parents be involved with the lives of the children and helps the children stay connected to their culture,” Strassburger said.

In certain cases, the birth parents are not allowed to make the medical decisions because of the laws of the state, or their inability to make medical decisions due to addiction or mental health concerns.

The caseworker assigned to a specific child may also make the medical decisions. While conducting all of hir research Strassburger’s surveys revealed how the caseworker is the most common decision maker.

States also have the ability to make the medical decisions, and are often represented by judges. However, it is difficult for states to get the permission to prescribe medication commonly used for people with mental illnesses. This can be an issue, because according to Strassburger, half of all kids in the foster system have mental illnesses.

Another group with the ability to make medical decisions includes foster parents, but some foster parents do not want the ability to make the medical decisions.

Fifteen percent of foster children do not live in foster homes, which means they also have the ability to make their own medical decisions.

Strassburger also discussed how race and sexual orientation, gender identity and expression impact the foster care system.

“Race is an issue in foster care because black and Native are in foster care at very disproportionate rates,” Strassburger said. “LGBT youth are in care at high rates because they are often kicked out of their homes.”

Strassburger mentioned how the latter can become an issue in medical decision-making, because some transgender children and teenagers will turn to the streets to find hormones.

“There should be state laws created to set the birth parents as the default decision maker, but create a timeline in case something goes wrong and another person has to step in,” Strassburger said.

Many of the students attending the discussion study child advocacy or social work.

Junior social work major Maggie Halberslaben, who mentioned her hopes of becoming a future foster parent, found the discussion to be very informative.

“I have experience working for a company that works with foster families and I’ve never really thought about the medical decisions and who makes them,” Halberslaben said. “The presentation introduced these issues to social work majors and CAST majors, which was important because we will be working with them someday.”

With this presentation, Strassburger wants to help create a dialogue about these issues so consistency can be found in the system.

“Nobody is really paying attention to the medical decision making right now, which may be why it’s such a mess,” Strassburger said. “I’m trying to draw attention to the issue so people can create a better system.”

More to Discover