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Downloaded, this story is at least half an inch thick. I'll make you the same offer I've made in the past when internet stories are large and take a long time to download. Send me an email with your mailing address in it and tell me you want a copy of Enrique's Journey and I'll mail you a copy of mine (It took me about an hour to download it).

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Health Insurance for Children

• As many as 8.5 million children (11.7% of all children) still lack health insurance and the key to reducing this number is to increase participation in Medicaid and SCHIP -- 76% of insured children are eligible for these programs. 

   

• Undocumented low-income children account for 6% of the uninsured.

   

• U.S. citizen children who are not eligible for Medicaid and SCHIP in families with under 300% of the federal poverty level account for another 5% of the uninsured.

   

• Children Home Alone and Babysitter Age Guidelines - The National Child Care Information Center (NCCIC) at HHS provides a thorough answer to the question.

   

• At what age may a child be left home alone and for how long? – Dakota County, Minnesota Attorney’s Office.

   

• Children At Home Alone: A Parent’s Guide – Alabama Cooperative Extension System.

   

• Leaving Children Alone Safely – Marion County , Ohio Children Services.

   

• Home Alone Children – American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry.

   

As reported in New Scientist Magazine, Scientists at San Diego State University believe they have found a cause of adolescent angst. Nerve activity in the teenaged brain is so intense that they find it hard to process basic information. As children enter puberty, their ability to recognize other people’s emotions plummets and this ability does not return to normal until they are around 18 years old

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• Youngsters who lack at least one loving and consistent caregiver, such as a parent or an attentive child-care provider, may suffer from severe and long-lasting developmental problems.

   

• What passes for child care policy in the United States currently is a mixed bag of policies and practices that often are based on little or no evidence that they actually work.

   

• The study debunks many popular myths about the early childhood period. For example,  the neurological window of opportunity does not slam shut between three and five. Development begins before birth, continues throughout life, and is influenced by both genetics and surrounding environment.

   

• There are, for instance, no special programs that are guaranteed to accelerate early learning during infancy. Most children thrive when adults talk, read, and play with them.

   

I visited the Race Relations web page on About.com and found a variety of interesting resources on diversity, diversity initiatives, and diversity training. The links below will take you to lists of links on these subjects.  

• A National Consumers League survey of teens aged 14-18 says that 62 percent receive most of their money from part-time and neighborhood jobs.  

   

• The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) estimates that 231,000 U.S. workers under the age of 18 are injured on the job each year.

   

• In 2000, 73 employees under the age of 18 died from work-related injures; 29 of them were under the age of 16.

   

• Delivery and other driving

   

• Cash-based businesses and late-night work

   

• Cooking

   

• Construction and Work in Heights

   

• Traveling Youth Crews  

This is a lengthy report with chapters devoted to each type of job shown above. For a good overview read the Introduction.

 

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Children’s Grief

 

 

Here are three web sites, about and for children who are grieving.

 

The Compassionate Friends – A national nonprofit, self-help support organization for bereaved parents, grandparents and siblings following the death of a child of any age.

 

GrievingChild.Org –  This site is a subsidiary of the Dougy Center for Grieving Children. The Dougy Center is a non-profit organization offering support and training locally, nationally and internationally to individuals and organizations seeking to assist children in grief. GrievingChild is a website for teens, younger children and adults.

 

GriefNet/KidSAID – GriefNet is a place where anyone dealing with grief or major loss can come for help. KIDSAID is where kids can come to get help and to help each other. At KIDSAID, see Answers for Kids --   Dr. Cendra Lynn, the founder of GriefNet, responds here to children’s questions, sensitively and in a straightforward matter.

 

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The Barksdale Reading Institute

 

While listening to NPR this morning while I was getting ready for work I heard about the Barksdale Reading Institute at Ole Miss.  James Barksdale, former CEO of Netscape and a native of Mississippi, and his wife Sally donated $100 million to the University of Mississippi Foundation to create the Barksdale Reading Institute. The Institute is designed to dramatically improve the reading skills of Mississippi’s children through a systematic and direct implementation of a research-based reading reform model.

 

 

I can’t guarantee the following information is absolutely correct, but it is close to what I heard on the radio this morning. According to the NPR report, about 25% of Mississippians are illiterate. Something like 80 percent of the inmates in Mississippi prisons are illiterate. And. research shows that children who are not reading well by third grade will probably never read well. The Barksdale Institute intends to impact these conditions by utilizing the Mississippi Reading Reform Model (scroll to bottom of page) to teach reading to children in pre-kindergarten through third grade classes.  The Institute has identified four organizational goals.

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The Casey Journalism Center on Children and Families

The Casey Journalism Center website recently issued a report on news coverage of children in five topic areas: teen childbearing, child care, child health insurance, child abuse/neglect, and youth crime/violence. The conclusion of the report is that reportage on children consists primarily of quick hit stories of crime and violence reported with little context. Coverage in Context: How Thoroughly the news Media Report Five key Children’s Issues, examined thoroughness of coverage and other indicators. The report findings include the following:

• The topics of child care and teen childbearing included important contextual information in about 75% of stories. Coverage of child health insurance provided a broader perspective in 36% of stories.
• Stories on youth crime/violence, child health insurance and child abuse/neglect were breaking news stories in nine of ten stories as opposed to trend pieces. Fewer than one in five (20%) stories about youth crime/violence and child abuse/neglect address policy perspectives.

Stories were culled from 1,065 newspaper editions and 354 television newscasts.

The report is 11 pages and downloadable in pdf format. You can also download five tables and six appendices of information and statistics. The appendices are particularly good, extremely brief (one page) background information on each of the topics reviewed in the study and report.

The Casey Journalism Center provides resources and training for journalists who report on child and family issues, a database of sources who speak knowledgeably on issues related to children and families, and an annual awards contest for professional journalists.

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Casey Foundation Children at Risk State Trends 1990-2000 - Census 2000 Supplementary Survey

This publication looks at changes in 11 key measures of child well-being between the years 1990 and 2000. Click on your state and see what changed or improved in the decade and compare your state to national statistics. Also shows which states have improved more than average over the 1990s and which dimensions of children’s lives have changed most over the past decade.

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Addressing Youth Victimization

According to the author of this Action Plan Update Bulletin from OJJDP, Joy Osofsky, Ph.D., too many children continue to be victims of violent crime, child abuse and neglect, and exposure to violence. In turn, this victimization perpetuates a cycle of violence in which children later become the perpetrators of violence against others.

This 20-page bulletin reports on a variety of programs and services that have been implemented at State and local levels to address youth victimization and its effects. Read and/or print online. Or order online at http://puborder.ncjrs.org/  Order NCJ 186667.

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Crimes Against Children by Babysitters

Crimes Against Children by Babysitters, a new bulletin from OJJDP, brings attention to such issues as the screening and monitoring of baby sitters. It draws on the FBI’s National Incident-Based Reporting System to provide data on the frequency and nature of crimes against children committed by babysitters. Seven pages. Online and downloadable.

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Survey: 2001 State of Our Nation’s Youth

The Horatio Alger Association has published the results of its 2001 State of Our Nation’s Youth annual survey, asking high school students’ opinions about their schools, families, pressure and stress, and contemporary issues. For example, the students were asked to identify what they thought was the biggest cause of school violence. Interesting results. pdf file, downloadable, but you have to give the association some information about yourself to get to it.  

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Child Trends is an organization that studies children, youth, and families. Its internet site is full of facts, research, and information that may be useful to you. Child Trends just released a research brief on fathers interactions with their children. Good source of information, research studies, children and families. Check out their "Facts at a Glance" page.

ERIC/CASS Virtual Library - An online collection of full-text materials developed to provide access to research and materials on current topics of interest. "Intended as a resource for anyone concerned about education issues." The Bullying in Schools section, for instance, contains 26 documents downloadable at the site. Other topics of interest: Depression and Suicide, Youth Gangs, Juvenile Boot Camps, Substance Abuse. Visit the ERIC/CASS Virtual Library

Parenting With Dignity - The Drew Bledsoe Foundation (that's right, the quarterback for the Patriots) has established a parenting program to improve the lives of children by promoting and teaching effective parenting skills. The Foundation contacts parents through existing youth activities and agencies including Juvenile Court Services. At the web site you can subscribe to an email newsletter, order a copy of the parenting curriculum, and look at a number of other resources:  The Drew Bledsoe Foundation 

The High/Scope Perry Preschool Project - (NCJ 181725) This Bulletin revisits a time-tested early childhood education program and looks at the results to date from an ongoing study of the program. Explains how and why the Perry Preschool Project was successful, presents two positive cost-benefit analyses, and examines the implications for future policy decisions. In short, it tells you why resources and dollars should go to prevention programming at a very early time in a child's life.

Teen Health and Education at Risk From Sleep Deprivation - The National Sleep Foundation task force on teenagers and sleep recommends that schools adopt later starting times to fit the unique sleep patterns of teens. According to the Foundation most adolescents need at least 8 1/2 hours of sleep each night. The Foundation estimates that only about 15 percent of young people get that much and about 25 percent of teens are getting less than seven hours of sleep. 

Research shows that adolescents tend to fall asleep and awaken later than adults and often experience an increase in daytime sleepiness -- even when they get enough sleep. The Foundation recommends the creation of "sleep-smart schools," schools that adopt sleep education curricula and review school start times that more adequately respond to a teen's biological shift to a later sleep/wake cycle.  Want to know more?

Teen Central.Net - In its first year of operation on the Internet, the KidsPeace site for teens logged on over 6,000 teens. The site is self-directed, offering direction and resources for solving and averting crises. It also provides interviews with celebrities who have overcome personal problems and offers an interactive section where teens can share their own stories and validate concerns anonymously. TeenCentral uses internet techology to gather a teen's personal information and demographics and to build an individualized profile for each visitor. The process is completely anonymous through the use of non-traceable code names. 

All information and stories posted on the site have been cleared clinically by KidsPeace and its experts. Before going on-line, TeenCentral staff members complete an editor training program to ensure that each editor understands not only the technology of the site but is also prepared to reflect the clinical perspective of KidsPeace. TeenCentral offers kids the opportunity to receive feedback from peers throughout the world. All responses are screen for appropriateness, ensuring positive peer counseling. Check out TeenCentral here

Federal grants manual on funding for at risk kids

The Institute for Youth Development has produced a new guide to federal funding. The Federal Grants Manual for Youth Programs lists 135 federal programs offering grants focusing on children and risk. Funding is categorized by area of interest in five major risk behaviors facing youth: alcohol, dugs, sex, tobacco, and violence. Volume I deals exclusively with funding from the U.S. Department of health and Human Services. The just-released Volume II looks at all other cabinent-level departments and agencies. In addition to the resources, the manual includes a guide to grant proposal writing and a report on the outcomes achieved to date by each of the individual federal programs. IYD says it does more than simply list funding resources; it also helps the reader build a funding strategy. The Manuals are available separately, Volume I for $49 and Volume II for $79, or as a two volume set for $120. More information at the IYD web site. (I haven't seen it. I neither recommend or don't recommend it. I'm simply passing on the information.)