This study compared health care utilization of children with special health care needs in 2005/06 and 2009/10. Methods Using data from the National Survey of Children with Special Health Care Needs, this study compared the health care utilization of children with special health care needs in 2005/06 (n = 40,723) and 2009/10 (n = 40,242). Descriptive statistics characterize the sample during the 2005/06 and 2009/10 surveys. Logistic regression models examined the unmet needs for specific health care and support services, delayed care, coordinated care, and medical home. Results Compared to 2005/06, in 2009/10 children with special health care needs had greater unmet dental and therapy needs and less care coordination of health services as well as access to medical home services. Conclusions These findings indicate that additional measures are needed to improve the health care access of children with special health care needs.

In recent years, legal scholars and practitioners as well as policymakers have focused unprecedented attention on the rights of parents with disabilities, particularly intellectual disabilities, and their children. At the same time, social scientists have developed a breadth of literature on the needs and experiences of these families. Nonetheless, a clear divide remains between the fields, resulting in ongoing discrimination and the unnecessary separation of many families headed by a parent with an intellectual disability. Hence, the overarching goal of this article is to explore how legal scholarship, advocacy, and policymaking can be better informed by social science. This Article begins with a brief historical perspective on how the rights of parents with intellectual disabilities have evolved over time. Analyzing the language in state dependency statutes and judicial decisions, this Article demonstrates the implicit and explicit bias that exists and the need for informed policies and adjudication. Next, the Article examines how the law can learn from social science by highlighting findings from current social science research concerning these families. Finally, the Article offers concluding thoughts about how decision-making in dependency cases as well as public policy can and should benefit from social science research.