Impact on Families Caring for Children with Disabilities in Ohio: Results from a Mixed Method Study

Families caring for children with disabilities face significant challenges. Little is known about the financial, employment and emotional impacts on families caring for children with disabilities in Ohio. This study used data from the 2008 Ohio Family Health Survey and Ohio responses from the 2007 National Survey of Children's Health, the 2005/06 National Survey of Children with Special Health Care Needs, and Ohio-specific self-reported family income from the 2008 American Community Survey to examine impacts associated with caring for a child with disabilities. Focus groups of representative families were used to support and expound on quantitative results. Compared to families caring for children who do not have a disability, those caring for children with disabilities are more likely to be single parents, receive food stamps, earn less income (controlling for age and level of education), have low emotional support, and spend more time coordinating health care for their child. The study identified the need for effective policy to help: (1) promote greater workplace flexibility for working parents who also care for a child with disability; (2) adopt a stop-loss approach to very high health care expenditures; (3) foster community and within family support systems for those caring for a child with disability; and (4) develop stress coping strategies for families caring for children with disabilities that engages nuclear and extended families. Special attention was given to Medicaid claims trends and possible policy changes to Medicaid program services for these families.