To achieve equitable, integrated care for children, family-centered work must focus on systems

Abstract

Child health inequities are largely the result of entrenched, structural barriers created by racism, sexism, xenophobia, classism, and ableism that generally persist across the life course (Braveman & Gottlieb, 2014). The impact of such inequities may be magnified for those with complex needs who face considerable challenges in adulthood (Bethell et al., 2014), such as preterm infants, who experience threats to both short- and longterm health and development. Challenges in integrated care remain for all children, especially this population, despite extensive work across many decades to address such issues. The family-centered medical home has been the dominant pediatric care model in the United States for the last four decades (Stille et al., 2010). Despite emphasizing cultural humility and placing family at the care team core, the medical home model has not been able to deliver on securing equitable, integrated care for all (Bennett et al., 2012). (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved).