Frequently Asked Questions

A medically fragile child is any child who, because of an accident, illness, congenital disorder, abuse or neglect, has been left with a chronic, but medically stable, health condition and is dependent on life-sustaining medications, treatments, equipment, and assistance with activities of daily living.

These children have been diagnosed by a medical physician as medically fragile and may have healthcare conditions such as diabetes, mitochondrial degenerative disorders, oxygen dependency (tracheostomy / ventilator), cerebral palsy (CP) , traumatic brain injury (TBI), seizure disorders, stroke / paralysis, or may be a transplant recipient.

The children usually require special healthcare support and skilled nursing care, such as tube feedings, suctioning, oxygen administration, intravenous fluids and medications, coordination of multiple therapies, seizure precautions, multiple medication administration, and surgical dressing changes.

Advances in medical technology are saving the lives of children with chronic health conditions who would not have survived 5 or 10 years ago.  This technology has increased the level of care needed to sustain the lives of these children and families and communities are finding themselves unprepared and unable to provide the level of care required.

As a result, hundreds of these children are being forced to live in hospital rooms and senior adult nursing homes for months and years, and hundreds more are being placed in foster homes with a family, who once again, has not been properly trained to care for them.  When placed with foster parents who quickly discover they are not prepared to care for them, these children are moved multiple times from home to home, thus losing continuity of care and further deteriorating their already fragile conditions.  This instability creates emotional and behavioral problems, making it even more difficult to find permanent homes for them.

Feeling as though they have no family, no friends, no future and no hope, these children become depressed, their health conditions decline, institutional staff turnover increases, and tremendous resources are lost. Without adequate support and resource, it has also become increasingly difficult to keep these children with their biological families or to recruit foster and adoptive families.

Georgia's medically fragile children and their families are in dire need of resources that prevent prolonged institutional care, enable families to care for these children in their own homes, and empower communities to help keep these families together.

As the only 'Hospital-to-Home' program in Georgia, the Dream House Family for Keeps® Transition Care Program enables more families to care for medically fragile children at home by: (1) Providing a voice for Georgia's medically fragile children; (2) Setting the standard for home care of these children; (3) Improving quality of life by keeping more of these children out of institutional care and at home with their families; (4) Reducing the numbers of these children placed in foster care; (5) Benefiting the state, the tax payers and health care institutions with a more effective and efficient way to care for these children.

Family for Keeps® TRANSITION CARE Program Objectives:

1. To coordinate the health care resources necessary to facilitate the transition of a medically fragile child from hospital to home.
2. To prepare family members, care givers and the home environment for safe and effective care of a medically fragile child in the home environment.
3. To prepare community members to provide the support resources necessary for quality of life care for medically fragile children within their homes and in the community.

A 'Children's Transition Care Center' is a state licensed, community-based, home environment that provides 24 hour care for a medically fragile child until their family and home are prepared to care for them.

To find out about all of the workshops and classes that we offer, click here.  You may also call our office, 770-717-7410 or our toll-free number 866-515-8935.

To register a family or caregivers for the Family for Keeps® Basic Care Course, you may forward the website and/or contact information to them so they may register.
Or, if you need assistance, please send an email to info@FamilyforKeeps.org.  You may also call our office 770-717-7410 or our toll-free number 866-515-8935.

To order a copy of the "Family for Keeps® Resource Guide: Common Health Conditions and Home Care of the Child with Special Health Care Needs" "For the Non-Medical Professional" click here.

To learn more about any particular health condition, you may google the name of the condition or go to :  medlineplus.gov or mayoclinic.com.

If you would like to complete a scholarship application for a Family for Keeps® workshop or course, click here.

Currently the following Family for Keeps® courses are available:

• Family for Keeps® Basic Care Course
• Family for Keeps® Advanced Workshop Series
  • Diabetes
  • Gastro-Intestinal Conditions
  • Neurological Conditions (including Traumatic Brain Injury and Seizures)
  • Respiratory Conditions
  • Tracheostomy Care
  • Ventilator Care
  • Ostomy Care
  • Gastric Tube Feedings
• Family for Keeps® Professional Course
• Family for Keeps® Community of Support Course

Once you have completed and submitted the final comprehensive exam, you will have completed the course.

If your score was less than 90%, you may take the course again as long as it is within 90 days of the registration date.

You must successfully complete the course within 90 days.

After 90 days, you will need to re-register your username and pay an additional course fee of $25 to return to the course for completion.