Health Disparities Among Children with Health First Colorado Insurance Coverage
Feb 20, 2025
Children who are removed from their families and placed in foster care often experience a lack of stability, which can have a profound impact on their long-term outcomes. This instability can create significant barriers to achieving academic success and maintaining healthy lives. Addressing these challenges and offering targeted support is essential to improving the future outcomes of children in foster care. To gain a deeper understanding of the medical and behavioral health needs of foster care-involved youth who are also members of Health First Colorado, the Farley Health Policy Center (FHPC), in partnership with the Colorado Departments of Health Care Policy & Financing (HCPF) and Human Services (CDHS), conducted an analysis to explore disparities between these groups.
The analysis led to the publication of a 2020 data brief titled, "Behavioral and Physical Health Complexities of Children and Youth in Foster Care," which highlights the significant burden of behavioral health conditions among children in foster care. Youth behavioral health remains a key focus of the Colorado legislature, with several bills aimed at improving youth behavioral health introduced and passed in both current and previous sessions. To better inform these legislative efforts, the FHPC, HCPF, and CDHS partnered to translate the key findings from this brief into an infographic that would be accessible to policymaking audiences.
Read the full infographic, Colorado’s Children in Need: Health Care for Youth in Foster Care.