Raising a Child with Special Needs (Family & Community‪)‬

Families are often taken by complete surprise when they learn that they have or will have a child with special healthcare needs. Such occurrences, for the most part, are neither preventable nor expected. Immediately, the family is faced with major changes in their lives, their finances, and the long-term expectations of their child. In general, there is a wide severity range of the many conditions that are included in the term, "a child with special need." According to the Maternal and Child Health Bureau's definition of children with special healthcare needs, approximately 14 percent of all children less than 20 years of age have a chronic physical, developmental, behavioral, or emotional condition that requires services that are above the amount required by children generally.