[TAC]

If a child is in care, and the name of the hospital is available along with the child's name and birth parents have sporadic meetings with their children, shouldn't the foster care agency be able to get the medical records of a child? I was told by the supervisor of my cw who sat in on a meeting when I asked, that the baby's doctor should know that not all babies come into care with such info, as some are crack babies. But I would think if the agency has access to the parents, even if not regularly, they should be able to sign off on allowing such info. I really like my cw and the agency we are working with, but am aggravated by this response and unwillingness to find what could be beneficial to the child's care. As it is she has an evaluation for increased tone in her lower extrmemities.

Any suggestions on how to handle this would be appreciative.

Pat

[niandca]

My daughter came to us as a micropreemie with 3 months of hospital care..& no actual records. Now the doctors I took her to & all the therapists who treated her over the next 2 years could request & exchange info between each other, but not give me anything.

Records could not be obtained by cw until after voluntary TPR was approved by court. As the adoptive resource, cw then sent them to me. She was almost 3 years old before I saw the medical records.

As Fm, it would be a violation of privacy for agency to even let you see those records. Bparents could get them & give them to you themselves if they are so inclined.
At least, that's the way it was presented to me...& that was before HIPPA..hope it helps.

[mallory4]

TAC,

As you know, I am also in PA. R's county worker gave me all of his existing medical records within a couple of weeks of placement, long before Mom voluntarily signed TPR.

When I had a specific question that I couldn't answer from looking at the records, because of the doctor's sloppy handwriting and the fact that I had copies of copies, I called the worker and she called the doctor and the doctor answered the question and the worker called me back.

So, to me it seems reasonable that the county could obtain the records if they wanted to.

Furthermore, your baby's diagnosis of increased tone is the same one ours got, and at 4 months his pediatrician referred him to early intervention and he started receiving OT about 8 weeks later. He is 2 years old now, and still receiving OT but greatly improved--I think only a professional OT or a gymnastics coach would know there was anything different about him physically at this point.

According to his OT, high tone is common with preemies and with drug exposure. Our boy was not a preemie and his mom had almost no prenatal care, so we have done the math on that.

Let me know if I can help.

[TAC]

Thanks ladies. Contacted my cw along with the nurse at my agency and the request for records was produced and signed by bio parents. It will be mailed to the doctor versus our home, which is fine with us, as the concern is for her care and less our curiousity.

It is the truth that you really have to fight for these children. I felt lousy emailing both people, but if it means getting what is needed done, so be it.

Pat