The Princeton-Brookings Future of Children organization has just published a new journal titled, "Children with Disabilities." As with all of the Future of Children journals, they collect papers written by leaders in the field on the topical subject matter. Quoting its Executive summary, there are huge implications for families:

"Childhood disability poses major costs for families as well as for children. The medical costs of disability to families, which can depend heavily on the type of health insurance available to them, are dwarfed by the indirect costs in terms of lost work time (especially for mothers) and the indirect costs to the children themselves in terms of lost productivity. Moreover, these personal costs translate into costs to society as a whole in terms of lower tax revenues and higher outlays for social programs. Families are important advocates for children, often serving as the only effective coordinators of care. But some families are less able than others to take on this role."