Pediatric Nursing Homes

Abstract

Pediatric nursing homes were established in Massachusetts in 1971, in response to the crisis created by the deinstitutionalization of children with multiple severe handicaps for whom care in the community was unrealistic. Although these residential beds provided short-term relief for the system, failure both to plan for the improved long-term survival of the children and to develop alternative community services for those whose functional and medical status changed has left fundamental problems unresolved.