5 Worries Parents Should Drop, And 5 They Shouldn't

Shoomp shoomp shoomp. Hear that?

That’s the sound of helicopter parents hovering over their children, worrying every second of the day that terrorists could strike Johnny's school or a stranger will snatch Jane from the bus stop.

Scary stuff. But it turns out most parents are worrying about all the wrong things.

Based on surveys that Barnes collected, the top five worries that parents are, in order:

1. Kidnapping
2. School snipers
3. Terrorists
4. Dangerous strangers
5. Drugs

But how do children really get hurt or killed?

1. Car accidents
2. Homicide (usually committed by a person who knows the child, not a stranger)
3. Abuse
4. Suicide
5. Drowning

Read More:
http://www.npr.org/blogs/health/2010/08/30/129531631/5-worries-parents-should-drop-and-5-they-should?sc=fb&cc=fp

Healthy Hearts vs. Unhealthy Abuse

We've all heard it many times. Healthy hearts start with healthy habits.

Although we don't always follow the good advice we hear on an almost daily basis, most of us are very familiar with what we and our families should be doing: don't smoke; eat a healthy diet based on vegetables, fruits and grains; exercise daily; and don't drink excessive amounts of alcohol.

The study, published in the journal Child Abuse and Neglect, analyzed data from 13,000 respondents in the 2005 Canadian Community Health Survey. Of those respondents, 7.4 percent indicated that they had been physically abused as a child and 4.4 percent reported they had been diagnosed with heart disease.

After accounting for most of the known risk factors for heart disease, the study found that adults who experienced physical abuse as children had a 45 percent higher chance of developing heart disease than their peers.

Read more: http://www.newsobserver.com/2010/08/30/650772/healthy-hearts-vs-unhealthy-abuse.html#ixzz0y6lJTwSX

Study links poverty to depression among mothers

More than half of babies in poverty are being raised by mothers who show symptoms of mild to severe depression, potentially creating problems in parenting and in child development, according to a new study.

In what was described as the first detailed portrait of its kind, researchers reported that one in nine infants in poverty had a mother with severe depression and that such mothers typically breastfed their children for shorter periods than other mothers who were poor.

To read the entire article:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/08/26/AR2010082600027.html

To view the study:
http://www.urban.org/publications/412199.html

Plan to Attend Strong Roots Last a Lifetime Parenting Education Professional Development Day

A one-day conference for all professionals who work with families, whether they call themselves "parenting educators" or not, at locations around New York State.

I found this to be a wonderful learning opportunity; I will take home some pertinent info and creative ideas and will also look forward to receiving future information.

What I found most valuable was the mix of concrete ideas and theory; the mix of lecture, discussion, exercises; great modeling of facilitation skills.

Grounded in current research, Strong Roots Last a Lifetime focuses on attributes of successful parenting educators and characteristics of effective parenting education programs. It includes: an introductory plenary session, discussion groups for educators and for supervisors, and workshops on Strength-Based Communication, Parenting Styles, Group Facilitation, and Child Development. All presenters are experienced parenting educators, familiar with program design and evaluation as well as authorities on the topics of their workshops.

Upcoming dates and locations for Strong Roots include:
o Buffalo, September 10
o Rochester, September 21
o Centereach, October 13
o Suffern, October 21
o Latham, November 1
o Kerhonkson, November 8
o Chappaqua, to-be-announced

Find details and registration information at http://preventchildabuseny.org/nyspep/professional.shtml.

Child abuse declines nationally in spite of economic deterioration

Child abuse declined nationally in 2008 compared to 2007, according to a new report by the Crimes against Children Research Center at the University of New Hampshire. Sexual abuse declined 6 percent, physical abuse 3 percent and neglect 2 percent.

The report also found that child maltreatment fatalities stayed stable from 2007 to 2008. These trends are noteworthy, according to the report's authors, because 2008 marked the first full year of the current recession, and economic downturns are generally thought to be associated with increased family stress and child maltreatment.

To read the entire article visit:
http://www.physorg.com/news201844238.html

National Data Archive on Child Abuse and Neglect (NDACAN) at Cornell University

Cornell University is pleased to announce the availability of the data for the study entitled:

Adoption and Foster Care Analysis and Reporting System (AFCARS) 2008
Investigators:Children's Bureau, Department of Health and Human Services
NDACAN Datasets:#149 (Foster Care Data), #148 (Adoption Data)

Please visit the National Data Archive on Child Abuse and Neglect Web site for more information and ordering instructions:
http://www.ndacan.cornell.edu/Ndacan/Datasets/Abstract/DatasetAbstract_AFCARS_General.html

There is no charge to obtain these data.

Overwhelmed & Desperate Parents: Where to Turn

Shaquan Duley is accused of suffocating her two toddler boys on August 15. The sheriff of Orangeburg County, South Carolina says Duley is showing remorse and the 29-year-old mother is poor, jobless, and was overwhelmed after her mother had just yelled at her for not taking care of the children.
While Duley's charges are inexcusable, her situation highlights a problem that advocates say is only getting worse in this down economy: parents, who don't abuse their kids or drugs, are on the brink, desperate, and unaware there are options for them.
Don Lemon talked to Cyd Wessel, Senior Director of Healthy Families America, part of Prevent Child Abuse America, about what help overwhelmed parents can receive. Call (800)CHILDREN for programs in your area.

To view the video visit:
http://newsroom.blogs.cnn.com/2010/08/23/17718/

How did the loss of all legislative discretionary funding impact your agency? New York Nonprofit Press needs your comments!

New York Nonprofit Press is attempting to cover the impact to nonprofit human services of the loss of all legislative discretionary funding for the current fiscal year. Would you like to share what the loss of member item grants might mean for your organization and the clients you serve?

You can simply email Fred Scaglione, NYNP Editor at editor@nynp.biz with any information you would like to share or call him at 888-933-6967.

He is happy to take comments either on the record or for background purposes. If you are emailing me, please let me know if you prefer to comment on background and not for the record.

It is his hope to use this information in an article in the September issue of NYNP as well as in upcoming daily E-Newsletter articles. While he hopes to include as much detail as possible, he may not be able to use all the comments received.

University at Albany School of Social Welfare ACE Think Tank and Action Team Meeting

Open to Faculty, Staff, Students and Community Members
Wednesday, September 22, 2010
1:30p.m – 4:30p.m
Milne 200, UAlbany Downtown Campus, Western Ave, Albany, NY

“The Biology of Loss: The Consequences and Healing of Childhood Adversity”
Gabor Maté M.D. www.drgabormate.com

A physician, author, seminar leader and public speaker from British Columbia, Dr. Gabor Maté was recently interviewed by Amy Goodman on Democracy NOW! Discussing “When the Body Says No: Understanding the Stress-Disease Connection.” Dr. Maté’s four books are all Canadian bestsellers, published internationally in over a dozen languages on five continents. The most recently published, In the Realm of Hungry Ghosts: Close Encounters with Addiction has been a #1 national bestseller and has been awarded the Hubert Evans prize for literary non-fiction. In addition to exploring the biopsychosocial mechanisms by which adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) can lead to health problems, Dr. Gabor Maté strongly emphasizes healing in a way that combines science, compassion, and mindfulness. This exciting workshop will be interactive, combining factual materials with discussion and emotional processing. Please pre-register with Dr. Heather Larkin at hlarkin@uamail.albany.edu to ensure your space at this event.

The Biology of Loss: The Consequences and Healing of Childhood Adversity

A physician, author, seminar leader and public speaker from British Columbia, Dr. Gabor Maté was recently interviewed by Amy Goodman on Democracy NOW! Discussing “When the Body Says No: Understanding the Stress-Disease Connection.”

Dr. Maté’s four books are all Canadian bestsellers, published internationally in over a dozen languages on five continents. The most recently published, In the Realm of Hungry Ghosts: Close Encounters with Addiction has been a #1 national bestseller and has been awarded the Hubert Evans prize for literary non-fiction.

In addition to exploring the biopsychosocial mechanisms by which adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) can lead to health problems, Dr. Gabor Maté strongly emphasizes healing in a way that combines science, compassion, and mindfulness.

This exciting workshop will be interactive, combining factual materials with discussion and emotional processing.

Please pre-register with Dr. Heather Larkin at hlarkin@uamail.albany.edu to ensure your space at this event.

Research examines the price of prison for children

It comes as no surprise that many children suffer when a parent is behind bars. But as rates of incarceration grew over the past 30 years, researchers were slow to focus on the collateral damage to children.

The best estimate says that at any one time, 1.7 million (about 2.3 percent) of all American children have a parent in prison, says Julie Poehlmann, a professor in the School of Human Ecology and investigator at the Waisman Center at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. "By age 14, more than half of black children with a low-education parent, will have an imprisoned parent," she says.About 10 years ago, the problem finally began to spark interest from social scientists, Poehlmann says.

"School personnel and child welfare personnel are now seeing more and more children who have a current or past incarcerated parent. There is a greater awareness of the volume, and greater need to understand what's going on. What are the risks, what are the outcomes, and how can we better help these children?" Poehlmann says.

To read more visit:

http://www.news.wisc.edu/18286

Drugging kids for parents' relief is abuse

The research, published in the Journal of Pediatrics, found an average 160 annual cases in which pharmaceutical drugs were maliciously used on children."We believe the malicious use of pharmaceuticals may be an under-recognized form and/or component of child maltreatment," wrote the author, Dr. Shan Yin, a pediatrician.

Using information from the National Poison Data System, Yin found that children were most commonly receiving analgesics, stimulants/street drugs, sedatives, hypnotics, antipsychotics and cough or cold medications.

He found 1,439 cases from 2000 to 2008. Of those, 14 percent resulted in injuries, and 18 children died. More than half of the cases involved at least one sedating drug; 17 of the 18 deaths included sedatives. Yin said the poison data most likely underestimates the actual number of cases.

The circumstances around the 18 deaths were not clear, Yin said. He did not have access to case notes and legal findings. Four of them were ruled as homicides, three resulted in legal action against the mother, two were noted as highly suspicious and one included cocaine.

To view more visit:
http://www.cnn.com/2010/HEALTH/07/22/drugged.children.parenting/index.html

13% Of All Children Are Born Poor

According to a study from the Urban Institute "Childhood Poverty Persistence..." by Ratcliffe and McKernan, 49% of American babies born into poor families will be poor for at least half their childhoods. Among children who are not poor at birth, only 4% will be "persistently" poor as children. Those poor at birth are more likely to be poor between ages 25 and 30, drop out of high school, have a teen nonmarital birth, and have patchy employment records than those not poor at birth.

To view the entire article visit:

http://www.urban.org/publications/901356.html