Job Woes Exacting a Toll on Family Life

THE WOODLANDS, Tex. — Paul Bachmuth’s 9-year-old daughter, Rebecca, began pulling out strands of her hair over the summer. His older child, Hannah, 12, has become noticeably angrier, more prone to throwing tantrums.

Initially, Mr. Bachmuth, 45, did not think his children were terribly affected when he lost his job nearly a year ago. But now he cannot ignore the mounting evidence.

“I’m starting to think it’s all my fault,” Mr. Bachmuth said.

As the months have worn on, his job search travails have consumed the family, even though the Bachmuths were outwardly holding up on unemployment benefits, their savings and the income from the part-time job held by Mr. Bachmuth’s wife, Amanda. But beneath the surface, they have been a family on the brink. They have watched their children struggle with behavioral issues and a stress-induced disorder. He finally got a job offer last week, but not before the couple began seeing a therapist to save their marriage.

Read more from the New York Times: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/12/us/12families.html?_r=2

Fathers Incorporated Training in Albany

Fathers Incorporated conducts a series of workshops designed to increase the capacity of not-for-profit service providers engaged in family services. The workshops focus in the area of Responsible Fatherhood and the increasing demand for training and awareness in this area of support and services.

Each training session is divided into three; 3-hour modules. The complete training takes one and one-half day.

For more information, visit: http://www.fathersincorporated.com/FI_TrainingRegistration.htm

Brookdale Foundation Offers RAPP Grants

Brookdale Foundation announced the Relatives as Parents Program (RAPP) Local, Regional and State Seed Grant Initiatives for the year 2010. RAPP is designed to encourage and promote the creation or expansion of services for grandparents and other relatives who have taken on the responsibility of surrogate parenting when the biological parents are unable to do so.

The deadline for the submission of local and regional proposals is Thursday, December 3, 2009. Selected applicants will be invited and required, as a guest of the Foundation, to attend their National Orientation and Training Conference to be held April 30 - May 1 in St. Louis, MO.

For more information, visit: http://www.brookdalefoundation.org/RAPP/rapp.html

November is National Prematurity Awareness Month

More than a half million babies in the United States—that's 1 in every 8—are born premature each year. Some babies are so small they could fit in the palm of your hand. If you're pregnant, learn about the risk factors for premature birth.

What is premature birth? It is a birth that is at least three weeks before a baby's due date. It is also known as preterm birth (or less than 37 weeks — full term is about 40 weeks).

Prematurity is the leading cause of death among newborn babies. Being born premature is also a serious health risk for a baby. Some babies will require special care and spend weeks or months hospitalized in a neonatal intensive care unit (NICU).

Read more online at: http://www.cdc.gov/Features/PrematureBirth/

Will Parent Training Reduce Abuse, Enhance Development, and Save Money? Let's Find Out!

Three decades of research has shown that parent training can improve developmental outcomes for children. Recent research suggests that parent training can also reduce child abuse and neglect, especially when the training is embedded in a broader community campaign. Parent training and community campaigns warrant further rigorous experimental evaluation to determine cost-effectiveness. This policy brief presents a strategy for testing community-developed parent training initiatives. Such a test will generate knowledge of the feasibility of different approaches to reducing child maltreatment and promoting child development.

Read the full issue brief from The Future of Children here: http://foundationcenter.org/gainknowledge/pubhub/pubhub_item.jhtml?id=fdc92400012

Over 1.7 Million Young New Yorkers Unable To Join Military

Education Secretary Duncan, former NATO Supreme Commander General Wesley Clark, retired admirals and generals say early learning key to reverse security threat

WASHINGTON, D.C. (November 5, 2009) -- According to a new report, 75 percent of young people ages 17 to 24 are unable to enlist in the military because they fail to graduate high school, have a criminal record, or are physically unfit. In New York, that would mean over 1.7 million young adults cannot join. However, that may actually be a low estimate because, compared to the national average, New York has more young people who are overweight, (33% vs. 32%), and more young people without on-time high school degrees, (31% vs. 26%).

U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan, former NATO Supreme Commander General Wesley Clark, and some of America’s top retired admirals, generals and other military leaders called today for immediate action to address this threat to America’s national security.

General Clark, Major General James A. Kelley (USA, Ret.), Major General James W. Comstock (USA, Ret.), Brigadier General John W. Douglass (USAF, Ret.), Rear Admiral James Barnett (USN, Ret.), former Under Secretary of the Army Joe Reeder and Secretary Duncan called for greater investment in high-quality early learning programs to ensure more young people graduate from high school, obey the law and have the option of military service if they choose that path.

Read the full release here: http://www.missionreadiness.org/press110509.html

And download the report here: http://www.missionreadiness.org/

The Fragile Families and Child Well-being Study

The Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study is following a cohort of nearly 5,000 children born in large U.S. cities between 1998 and 2000 (roughly three-quarters of whom were born to unmarried parents). We refer to unmarried parents and their children as “fragile families” to underscore that they are families and that they are at greater risk of breaking up and living in poverty than more traditional
families.

The core FF Study was designed to primarily address four questions of great interest to researchers and policy makers: (1) What are the conditions and capabilities of unmarried parents, especially fathers?; (2) What is the nature of the relationships between unmarried parents?; (3) How do children born into these families fare?; and (4) How do policies and environmental conditions affect families and children?

Read more about this study online at: http://www.fragilefamilies.princeton.edu/about.asp

Fathers Gain Respect From Experts (and Mothers)

It used to irk Melissa Calapini when her 3-year-old daughter, Haley, hung around her father while he fixed his cars. Ms. Calapini thought there were more enriching things the little girl could be doing with her time.

But since the couple attended a parenting course — to save their relationship, which had become overwhelmed by arguments about rearing their children — Ms. Calapini has had a change of heart. Now she encourages the father-daughter car talk.

“Daddy’s bonding time with his girls is working on cars,” said Ms. Calapini, of Olivehurst, Calif. “He has his own way of communicating with them, and that’s O.K.”

Read more of this New York Times article online at: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/03/health/03dads.html?_r=1

Funding Prevention in California: Lessons from Past Efforts to Raise Revenues

This report explores past efforts to levy taxes and fees to identify and analyze lessons for future proposals to create funding streams for prevention in California. The report focuses primarily on past public health initiatives that attempted to tax or impose fees on consumer goods or businesses, including tobacco, soft drinks, snack foods, alcohol, and lead-based product manufacturers.

Download the report here: http://www.preventioninstitute.org/documents/FundingPreventioninCalifornia.pdf

The 2009 Foundation for Child Development Child and Youth Well-Being Index (CWI) Report

The FCD Child Well-Being Index (CWI) is an annual comprehensive measure of how children are faring in the United States. It is based on a composite of 28 Key Indicators of well-being that are grouped into seven Quality-of-Life/Well-Being Domains. This year's CWI is an updated measure of trends over the 32-year period from 1975 to 2007, with projections for 2008. Progress in American children's quality of life has fluctuated since 2002, and began to decline in 2008. Overall well-being peaked in 2002, at 102.07. This was followed by a decline below the 2002 level in 2003 and 2004. The CWI then rose by small amounts in the 2005 to 2007 years, reaching an estimated 103.17 in 2007, before declining in 2008. Also included in this document is a Special Focus Report, "Anticipating the Impacts of a 2008-2010 Recession." This is the first-ever report on the impact of the current recession on the overall health, well-being and quality of life of America's children. It finds that the downturn will virtually undo all progress made in children's economic well-being since 1975. The significant decrease in this domain will also drag down the other domains of the CWI. The impact will be especially severe for low-income children of color.

Download the report here: http://www.fcd-us.org/usr_doc/Final-2009CWIReport.pdf

Stories of Practice Change: What Flexible Funding Means to the Children and Families of Los Angeles County

This report documents the reforms that have been implemented in California as a result of a 5-year federal waiver from federal government spending restrictions. The waiver, a capped allocation of federal and State funds with a 2% increase each year, did not provide new money, but the two counties that chose to participate (Los Angeles and Alameda) have freedom in how they spend the money. By the end of January 2009, there were 16,429 children in out-of-home care, down from 18,304 when the waiver was formally inaugurated in July 2007. This report describes three DCFS practice strategies implemented and expanded in 2008 under flexible funding made possible by the waiver. It is based on a year's worth of research, observation, and interviews. The strategies included: expansion of Up-Front Assessments and corresponding intensive home-based services to prevent unnecessary placement in foster care; establishment of specialized Youth Permanency Units in three offices to focus on finding and engaging family members to provide permanent, life-long family connections to children and youth in long-term care; and expansion of family Team Decision-Making conferences (TDM). Under the waiver, DCFS hired 14 new TDM facilitators to focus on permanency planning conferences for youth in long-term foster care or group homes. The success of the strategies is explained and case examples are offered to illustrate the benefits of the reforms. Additional information is provided on evaluation efforts, the cost benefits of reform, and challenges ahead.

Download the report here: http://www.casey.org/Resources/Publications/pdf/WhatFlexibleFundingMeans.pdf

US Teen Birth Rate Higher in US than Any Other Developed Nation

The U.S. teen birth rate increased in 2007 for the second year in a row after a 14-year decline, according to preliminary data from the National Center for Health Statistics. The 2007 rate of 42.5 births per 1,000 females aged 15-19 was 1% higher than in 2006 (41.9) and 5% higher than in 2005 (40.5). Between 2006 and 2007, the teen birth rate increased by less than 1% among teens aged 15-17 and by 1% among teens aged 18-19. Despite the recent increase, the overall 2007 teen birth rate was 31% lower than the recent peak rate of 61.8 in 1991 and 11% lower than the 2000 rate of 47.7. Still, the U.S. teen birth rate remains higher than that of any other developed nation.

Read more from Child Trends here: http://www.childtrends.org/Files//Child_Trends-2009_08_31_FG_Edition.pdf

Children's public health insurance program improves health care outcomes for low-income children

In 1999, the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ), The David and Lucile Packard Foundation, and the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) formed a unique public/private partnership to create the Child Health Insurance Research Initiative (CHIRI™). CHIRI™ was an effort to supply policymakers with information to help them improve access to, and quality of, health care for low-income children. CHIRI™ funded nine studies of public child health insurance programs and health care delivery systems.

This Issue Brief highlights some of the CHIRI™ findings on the State Children’s Health Insurance Program (SCHIP), a Federal-State program implemented in 1997 and reauthorized in 2009 as the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP). CHIP provides insurance coverage to low-income children whose families earn too much to qualify for Medicaid but lack private insurance. While the CHIRI™ research primarily was conducted from 1999 to 2003, the findings remain instructive for policymakers and others interested in improving children’s insurance coverage. Highlights include:

•Most SCHIP enrollees lived in families with a full-time worker and incomes equal to or below 150 percent of the Federal Poverty Level (FPL).
•Minority children and children with special health care needs (CSHCN) made up a significant proportion of SCHIP enrollees.
•SCHIP improved health care access and quality for low-income children generally; these gains were by and large shared by minority children and CSHCN.
•The design of coverage in States with separately administered SCHIP programs limited certain services for CSHCN.
•SCHIP retention was increased by a simplified renewal process that automatically reenrolled children in SCHIP unless their families submitted reenrollment forms indicating a change affecting their eligibility.
•More than three-quarters of SCHIP enrollees retained public insurance coverage more than a year after enrollment. However, others became uninsured and few obtained private insurance coverage.
•More than 70 percent of children enrolled in Oregon’s premium assistance program lacked access to an employer-sponsored plan and thus purchased their coverage in the individual market.

Read the full brief here:
http://www.ahrq.gov/chiri/chiribrf10/chiribrf10.pdf