Medical Reports Cancel Title is required

Hi, I called today to see if I could get a medical report for my sponsored children like we have in the past and the staff member said that they no longer provide this to sponsors, unless the family signs off on this. Is there any more information about this? How are families contacted to see if they can sign off on it? Thanks!

Hi Shana - As you know many guidelines have changed with regard to the information we can request and share with sponsors due to the changing (or the initiation of) privacy laws in the countries where we work.

One of the changes for all countries is that we must now have the family's permission to share any health information. If we do not have a signed Health Authorization Form (HAF)on file we cannot share any health info we receive from the SOA.

Each child 12 and younger gets an annual medical check-up (teenagers are not required to have annual check-ups, but can see the dr. whenever needed), and the staff updates the computer system to list the date of exam, height, weight and any important health conditions (they don't list colds, flu, etc.).

If a medical condition is diagnosed the SOA will sent a report to CIKC and IF there is a HAF sent with it or one already on file we contact the sponsor - if there is not an HAF we cannot share the info.

Since we have the info on file in our KC office we limit memos asking for Health Report, since the large majority come back as saying the child is healthy.

If the medical check-up is more than 6 months old, the child is then be required to come in again and have another check-up, which is not always welcome by the families, because as we all know going to the doctor is probably one of the most time consuming things we can do.

The parents and children do not appreciate having to HAVE more than one medical check-up a year (when they are enrolled the family is told only 1 per year up to age 12), so if a memo for a HR is requested and the child had their annual check-up within the past 6 months the staff does not require the child to see the dr. again, they simply regurgitate the info from the last check-up.

To keep the children and families happy and the reduce our admin costs, unless the child has an obvious medical condition we are trying to eliminate memos for HR trusting the reporting system in place to work.

I can tell you that Maria, Andrea, Yiseth, Leonardo and Bleidys all has their annual check-ups within the past 3 months and are all healthy.

Nelson is due for his annual in April

Patricio and Ma. Luisa's annuals are due in May

Oops, I forgot to mention that the families are not asked to sign HAF until a medical condition is diagnosed and the info would be sent to CIKC.

Okay, thank you, Debbie. I appreciate you taking the time to explain everything and thank you for finding out how my children are doing. My mind is a little more at ease now. Do you have any information about Francisco? Thank you and God bless.

Shana: I got your msg too, and replied

Debbie - sorry to resurrect this old thread, but I wanted to check iI had understood the new system.

It sounds like IF a medical condition is diagnosed and IF the disclosure form has been signed then CI would proactively alert the sponsor about it.

That being the case, and not having been contacted, then I can assume that there are either no health problems with my kids, or that the family do not want me to know about it if there is.

Is that right? Or should I ask CI if there is anything on file that they can tell me?

Cheers

Ian

Yes, you are correct. If a medical condition is diagnosed either in the child or parent and a HAF is sent to CIKC we will send a letter to the sponsor to inform them of the condition.

If we receive the report without a HAF we will request one from the agency just to make sure it was not overlooked.

If it is a death of a child/parent, a case of abuse, or something regarding the parent (prostitute, alcoholic, on drugs, etc.) we must also have a HAF to share the info.

We generally receive a HAF for medical problems, but usually don't receive one if the parent has issues or in cases of abuse - parents are too embarrassed or private to share the info.

Thanks!