PEDIATRIC PERCEPTIONS: DELIVERY OF HEALTH SERVICES FOR HANDICAPPED CHILDREN AND YOUNG ADULTS IN EUROPE

Abstract

In all European countries visited there is evidence of considerable progress in the development of imaginative and flexible programs for the care of handicapped children and youth. This is true of efforts directed toward prevention and early case finding, and in the provision of both ambulatory and residential care. Admission to an institution for the child or young adult does not necessarily end in lifelong incarceration. In most instances it is assumed that, with proper and aggressive management, progress will be achieved and that, as the child needs change, appropriate modifications in his overall plan of treatment can and will be made. Our observations reveal that general medical care programs do not, in themselves, ensure that children and youth will receive needed medical care. This is likely to happen only when a special organizational unit at the national level is charged with the responsibility of evaluating and delivering care to this uniquely vulnerable-and readily identifiable-segment of the population. As traditional professional and institutional methods become obsolescent, improved health services for children and youth will require an even higher degree of organization at national, state and local levels. It would seem important for us in the United States to capitalize fully on experience gained in other countries whose health problems are not fundamentally different than our own.