Health Service Access Across Racial/ethnic Groups of Children in the Child Welfare System

This study examined health service access among children of different racial/ethnic groups, finding that, among other results, counseling accessing was lower among non-Latino/a Black children than for non-Latino/a white children.  In addition, both private insurance and lack of insurance were negatively associated with counseling access.  The authors note that both privately insured and uninsured children had less access to needed mental health counseling than did those with public insurance, emphasizing the importance of Medicaid and SCHIP in children's mental health. 

Wells, R., M. M. Hillemeier, et al. (2009). Health service access across racial/ethnic groups of children in the child welfare system. Child Abuse Negl, 33(5), 282-92. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19481260 

Authors: Rebecca Wells, Marianne M. Hillemeier, Yu Bai, Rhonda Belue.