CFK Weekly—Apr. 9, 2001

We encourage distribution of this information! If reprinting in whole or part, please attribute it to Connect for Kids (www.connectforkids.org).

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NEW ON CONNECT FOR KIDS
**Corporal Punishment in Schools
**Teens Report on Attitudes Towards Spanking
**Discipline Resources
**Community Update: Safe Schools

KEEPING THEM SAFE
**Child Maltreatment 1999
**Children Cared for by Relatives: Who Are They and How Are They Faring?
**A Turning Point on Drugs
**U.S. Policy on Illegal Drugs: What We Don't Know Keeps Hurting Us
**The Boston Miracle Saving Lives
**Choosing and Using Child Victimization Questionnaires

WELFARE REFORM -- REALITY CHECK
**What Happens to Welfare-to-Workers in Economic Downturn?
**After Welfare: Does Work Make You a Better Mother?
**Working to Scrape By: A Mom's Transition from Welfare
**Faces of Change: Real People Affected by Welfare Reform

NONMARITAL BIRTHS -- MYTHS AND REALITIES
**Births Outside of Marriage: Perceptions Don't Match the Reality
**Family Planning to Family Caps
**National Campaign to Reduce Teen Pregnancy Targets Hispanic Teens

PUBLIC OPINION
**Nation's Highest Priority? Kids!
**Youth Attitudes on Family, Work and Community Service

SCHOOLS, TESTS, STUDENTS AND PARENTS
**Raising Achievement and Reducing Gaps: Lessons from the States
**New National Assessment for Educational Progress Reading Results
**In Need of Repairs?
**Promising Practices in Parent Involvement

KIDS AND POLITICS -- ALL EYES ON THE FEDERAL BUDGET
**The Federal Budget Resolution
**CDF Says Federal Budget Should Leave No Child Behind
**The Child Welfare League of America Objects to Child Protection Budget Cuts
**National Women's Law Center Urges Better Child Care Funding
**National Parent Teacher Association Urges Adequate Education Funding
**HandsNet Alert to Restore Social Services Block Grant Funding
**Children's Hospitals Advocate for a Stronger Health Safety Net for Children
**Low-Income Housing Advocates Oppose Cutbacks
**National Association for the Education of Young Children Posts Updates on Budget Resolutions

EARLY LEARNING
**State Developments in Child Care, Early Education and School-Age Care 2000
**Child Trends Assesses Best Strategies for Improving School Readiness
**The Role of Faith-Based Organizations in Child Care
**Research Finds Poverty More Dangerous than Cocaine
**Lawmakers See Head Start Up Close

FOCUS ON THE STATES
**National Priorities Project Fact Sheets
**State-by-State News

SUBSCRIBE/UNSUBSCRIBE

NEW ON CONNECT FOR KIDS

**Corporal Punishment in Schools
by Julee Newberger
The once-common practice of corporal punishment has been in steep decline in U.S. schools, but 23 states still allow teachers to use it. Some administrators even want to reinstate the practice. Julee Newberger reports.
http://www.connectforkids.org

**Teens Report on Attitudes Towards Spanking
by Molly Phillips, 15 and Jay Dickinson, 15, Children's Express
Thanks to research and awareness, many parents have moved away from spanking as a form of discipline. But opinions are still mixed about the practice, according to reporters from Children's Express.
http://www.connectforkids.org

**Discipline Resources
We discipline to teach kids that bad behavior has consequences. But developmentally inappropriate discipline has its own consequences. Learn about effective discipline -- guiding and teaching kids to help them learn to control their own impulses -- and what child development experts recommend in our Discipline topic pages.
http://www.connectforkids.org

**Community Update: Safe Schools
Schools are still the safest place for kids, especially as rates of violence in school decline. Get tips and facts in the latest edition of Department of Education's Community Update. Visit page 3 for a look at how the "Boston Miracle" is saving kids' lives. http://www.connectforkids.org

KEEPING THEM SAFE

**Child Maltreatment 1999
Both the numbers and the rate of children maltreated by abuse or neglect continued to decline, according to 1999 figures released April 2, 2001 by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The department estimates that child protective service agencies received approximately 2,974,000 referrals of possible maltreatment in 1999. Of the 60.4 percent of these reports that were investigated, states found an estimated 826,000 children were victims of abuse or neglect, a smaller substantiation rate than that of 1998. The number of child fatalities caused by maltreatment remained unchanged at about 1,100. The press release is online. http://www.hhs.gov/news/press/2001pres/20010402.html

**Children Cared for by Relatives: Who Are They and How Are They Faring?
Among the 1.8 million children being cared for full time by relatives, the majority (1.3 million) live with kin under private arrangements and without involvement of the child welfare system, according to this Urban Institute analysis of data from the 1997 National Survey of America's Families.
http://newfederalism.urban.org/html/series_b/b28/b28.html

**A Turning Point on Drugs
?In prevention, the prime targets are children and all substances,? argues Joseph A. Califano, head of Columbia University's National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse. An emerging consensus among conservatives and liberals on the need to reduce demand, not just supply, of addictive substances -- from nicotine to alcohol to illicit drugs -- might realign policies to be more effective in battling substance abuse and addiction.
http://www.casacolumbia.org/newsletter1457/newsletter_show.htm?doc_id=54094

**U.S. Policy on Illegal Drugs: What We Don't Know Keeps Hurting Us
Millions of children in America are affected by drug abuse -- as victims of maltreatment and crime or as users themselves -- despite the $12 billion dollars a year spent on drug control and enforcement. This National Research Council report charges that we have no better knowledge of what works and what doesn't than when these efforts were initiated 20 years ago. (Scroll down to ?U.S. Drug-Enforcement Evaluation Needed.?)
http://www.nationalacademies.org/topnews/#0402

**The Boston Miracle Saving Lives
Boston's reduction in youth violence since 1991 is known as the ?Boston Miracle,? according to Mike Hennessey, Assistant Chief of Boston School Police. In the February/March 2001 issue of the U.S. Dept. of Education's Community Update, Hennessey explains how community collaborations, home visiting, programs for youth after school and effective police work against gangs have paid off.
http://www.ed.gov/G2K/community/01-02.pdf

**Choosing and Using Child Victimization Questionnaires
In the wake of increased public attention to the victimization of children and adolescents, the need for solid information has never been greater. Standardized questionnaires are important tools to accurately measure child victimization. This Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Bulletin provides information to assist youth service professionals in determining which questionnaire will best meet their needs.
http://ojjdp.ncjrs.org/pubs/violvict.html#186027

WELFARE REFORM -- REALITY CHECK

**What Happens to Welfare-to-Workers in Economic Downturn?
The Washington Post reported that rough times could lie ahead for many low-wage workers because of changes in the welfare law. The article quotes a Congressional Research Service report that says welfare reform was implemented during a period of extraordinary economic growth that led to a decline in caseload and overall spending, and "has yet to be tested by a recession."
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A7644-2001Mar28.html

**After Welfare: Does Work Make You a Better Mother?
Despite her employment success, former welfare-mother Elizabeth worries every day that her overloaded work hours are robbing her kids of the protection and attention they need, especially given the paucity of resources in her community, such as well-equipped classrooms, supervised after-school activities and safety on the streets. The article by Pulitzer-Prize winner Katherine Boo is available in the April 9, 2001 New Yorker. Read a ?Q and A? with Boo online.
http://www.newyorker.com/ON-LINE_ONLY/ARCHIVES/?010409on_onlineonly01

**Working to Scrape by: A Mom's Transition from Welfare
Reporter Dorothy Korber of the Sacramento Bee explores what success looks like for a single mom in Sacramento, where earnings supplemented with child care assistance, food stamps and a welfare check barely help Jamie Malme keep her toehold on financial self-sufficiency.
http://www.sacbee.com/news/news/local01_20010401.html

**Faces of Change: Real People Affected by Welfare Reform
The Alliance for Children and Families will be publishing its Faces of Change Report featuring more than 200 personal narratives from real people affected by welfare reform in late April. For a hard copy, e-mail Erika Tomlinson <etomlinson@alliance1.org>.

Child advocates are working to ensure that welfare reform's re-authorization will support low-wage families and their children. Visit ?Welfare? in Topics A-Z.
http://www.connectforkids.org/homepage1543/index.htm

NONMARITAL BIRTHS -- MYTHS AND REALITIES

**Births Outside of Marriage: Perceptions Don't Match the Reality
If you assume that the typical unmarried mother is a teenager, a member of a racial or ethnic minority group, a first-time mother and a ?single? parent, you are wrong, according to this Child Trends report. Women ages 20 and older account for more than two-thirds of all children born to unmarried mothers, and racial and ethnic disparities in nonmarital childbearing are declining. Recent declines in the percentage of births to married couples are almost entirely due to an increase in births to cohabiting parents.
http://www.childtrends.org/marriagepatterns.asp

**Family Planning to Family Caps
Why did teen childbearing rates decline considerably in the 1990s -- was it the decade's robust economy, new methods of contraception, abstinence or sex education, or the result of deliberate state welfare policies to discourage or prevent teen childbearing? This November 2000 issue brief from the Urban Institute survey of states finds no definitive conclusions on how different policies are having an impact.
http://newfederalism.urban.org/html/anf_a43.html

**National Campaign to Reduce Teen Pregnancy Targets Hispanic Teens
Three out of five Hispanic girls get pregnant at least once by age 20, the highest teen birth rate among the major racial/ethnic groups in the United States. The National Campaign to Reduce Teen Pregnancy is launching an outreach effort for Hispanic parents to help them understand the risks and discuss sex and pregnancy with their sons and daughters.
http://www.teenpregnancy.org/hispanic

Find more on Teen Sex and Pregnancy in Connect for Kids Topics A-Z.
http://www.connectforkids.org/homepage1543/index.htm

PUBLIC OPINION

**Nation's Highest Priority? Kids!
The public ranks preparing young people for the future as its highest priority, according to a Gallup survey completed for America's Promise. The report shows that the public is aware of the work of local faith-based organizations, but has little appreciation for the resources provided through government programs. Of those surveyed 69 percent believed faith-based organizations do the best job of helping youth in the community while only 25 percent believed the federal government does the best job of helping local youth. http://www.americaspromise.org/PressRoom/NewsReleases.cfm

America's Promise is also looking for nominations for its Youth Partnership Team. Deadline: May 1, 2001.
http://www.americaspromise.org/aboutus/Leadership.cfm

**Youth Attitudes on Family, Work and Community Service
High school seniors' attitudes toward marriage have remained positive and steady since 1985, according to this Urban Institute analysis of the Monitoring the Future survey data. The majority of youth cite work success as extremely important to them, and more and more agree that being a father and raising a child is one of the most fulfilling experiences a man can have.
http://newfederalism.urban.org/html/anf_a47.html

Check out the Connect for Kids Public Opinion section for more polls and resources for message development.
http://www.connectforkids.org/info-url1559/info-url.htm

SCHOOLS, TESTS, STUDENTS AND PARENTS

**Raising Achievement and Reducing Gaps: Lessons from the States
A new analysis of student reading and math scores on the National Assessment of Educational Progress shows that states are generally making more progress in mathematics achievement than in reading, good readers are getting better at the same time weak readers are losing ground and states have not generally reduced the achievement gap between top and bottom quartiles or between white and minority students.
http://www.negp.gov/page11.htm

**New National Assessment of Educational Progress Reading Results
Average scores among fourth graders taking the National Assessment for Educational Progress tests in reading in the year 2000 have shown no improvement over the past eight years, but the average hides a growing gap between the highest performing students, whose scores improved, and the lowest performing students, whose scores declined.
http://www.nces.ed.gov/Pressrelease/rel2001/4_6_01.asp

**In Need of Repairs?
Your kids are taking more tests than ever, so it's only fitting for you to test your knowledge too. A large majority of the public supports federal help for school renovations, but how many know the answers to this 10-question quiz on repairing America's schools?
http://www.natprior.org/education/index.html

**Promising Practices in Parent Involvement
Many parents face a digital divide right in their own home, as they try to guide their children's navigation of the Internet. Schools, libraries, parent programs and community technology centers are offering parents ways to become better computer consumers. This Children's Partnership report profiles twelve promising programs that engage parents in technology training in California, Indiana, Illinois, Pennsylvania, Maryland, New York, Virginia and Texas.
http://www.childrenspartnership.org/prnt/prnt.html

Connect for Kids' Kids and Learning feature offers information on improving schools.
http://www.connectforkids.org/content1556/content.htm

KIDS AND POLITICS -- ALL EYES ON THE FEDERAL BUDGET

**The Federal Budget Resolution
President Bush submits his detailed budget plan to Congress on April 9, 2001, the day Congressmen return to their districts for the Easter recess.

The House Committee on the Budget says the budget blueprint works for low-income working families. The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities analysis says it does not.
http://www.house.gov/budget/032901pr.htm
http://www.cbpp.org/3-28-01bud2.htm

Here's a round-up of child advocacy organizations and their assessments of what is expected to help or hurt kids in the budget resolution's spending priorities.

**CDF Says Federal Budget Should Leave No Child Behind
The Children's Defense Fund is tracking budget negotiations carefully, especially in the areas of social services for low-income families. These include child care, Head Start, the Early Learning Opportunities Act and other important education programs, and funding for TANF programs for welfare-to-work families. For up to date alerts, e-mail CDFFieldteam@childrensdefense.org

**The Child Welfare League of America Objects to Child Protection Budget Cuts
http://www.cwla.org/newsevents/news010323bc.htm

**National Women's Law Center Urges Better Child Care Funding
http://www.nwlc.org/details.cfm?id=656&section=newsroom

**National Parent Teacher Association Urges Adequate Education Funding
http://capwiz.com/npta2/issues/alert/?alertid=23142

**HandsNet Alert to Restore Social Services Block Grant Funding
http://www.handsnet.org/alerts1242/alerts_show.htm?doc_id=49956

**Children's Hospitals Advocate for a Stronger Health Safety Net for Children
http://www.nach.org/nach/federal/federal_agenda.html

**Low-Income Housing Advocates Oppose Cutbacks
http://www.nahro.org/action/010303.html

**National Association for the Education of Young Children Posts Updates on Budget Resolutions
 http://www.naeyc.org/childrens_champions/federal.htm

EARLY LEARNING

**State Developments in Child Care, Early Education and School-Age Care 2000
Several states made particularly important progress in supporting quality child care options in 2000, including California, Kentucky, Illinois, Massachusetts, New York, North Carolina, Tennessee and the District of Columbia, according to this Children's Defense Fund (CDF) report.

States should have an $817 million increase in discretionary funds and $200 million increase in mandatory funds for new services to children and families under the Child Care and Development Block Grant from the FY 2001 federal budget. Projected state budget deficits in a number of states, however, have lawmakers already eyeing cutbacks in funding for child care and other human services.

To order a print copy of the report, call CDF's Publications Division (202-662-3652).
http://www.childrensdefense.org/head-resources.htm

**Child Trends Assesses Best Strategies for Improving School Readiness
Giving parents books for their children may be one of our ?best bets? for improving school readiness, while maintaining child care settings that only meet children's minimal developmental needs is not. Child Trends use an easy-to-use chart to summarize an extensive body of evaluation research on factors for fostering early school readiness. http://www.childtrends.org/schoolreadiness.asp

**The Role of Faith-Based Organizations in Child Care
Churches and synagogues may be the largest providers of center-based child care in the United States, providing these services for over 100 years, according to panelist Mary Bogle at this Brookings Institution panel on the history and characteristics of congregation-based child care.
http://www.brookings.edu/comm/transcripts/20010314a.htm

**Research Finds Poverty More Dangerous than Cocaine
Boston University researchers found no consistent, negative association between prenatal cocaine exposure and physical growth, developmental test scores, or receptive or expressive language. The researchers suggest that poverty plays a much more destructive role in these children's lives.
http://www.bu.edu/news/releases/2001/3-27-prenatal.htm

**Lawmakers See Head Start Up Close
The National Education Goals Panel reported on an easy way to educate lawmakers about the real people who benefit from their decisions. In March, the National Head Start Association set up an Arlington, Virginia Head Start in the Rayburn House Office Building, where members of Congress and their staff dropped by to view a day-in-the-life of a Head Start preschool program for disadvantaged children.
http://www.educationweek.org/ew/ewstory.cfm?slug=27fedfil.h20&keywords=Rayburn

FOCUS ON THE STATES

**National Priorities Project Fact Sheets
A family of three is above the official poverty line if its income is over $11,000, yet a living wage -- what it takes to pay for housing, food and other family necessities -- could be three times that amount. Find out state-specific information on hunger, housing costs, living wage estimates and how much help low-income families can receive in Temporary Assistance to Needy Families from the National Priorities Project's state fact sheets.
http://www.natprior.org/sos2001/sos2001.html

**State-by-State News
Check out news about kids in your state in the ?state-by-state? section of the Connect for Kids Web site. Here's a sample of this week's additions to our state pages.
http://www.connectforkids.org/homepage1576/index.htm

California
California's made progress in supporting quality child care with its $200 million sliding scale, refundable child care tax credit that reaches low-income families.
http://www.connectforkids.org/homepage1667/index.htm?state_id=381

Colorado
Colorado's State Children's Health Insurance Program will be available to more children who otherwise would not have coverage, now that the state has received its federal waiver.
http://www.connectforkids.org/homepage1667/index.htm?state_id=382

Connecticut
Eleven young people will be honored with Connecticut's 2001 Youth Spirit Awards.  For more information, contact Rose (rose@ctkidslink.org).
http://www.connectforkids.org/homepage1667/index.htm?state_id=383

District of Columbia
Washington, D.C. is investing over $20 million in two after-school initiatives.
http://www.connectforkids.org/homepage1667/index.htm?state_id=385

Illinois
According to a new Children's Defense Fund report, Illinois' Great Start program will provide $3 million to support semi-annual bonuses to licensed family child care providers as well as teachers, assistants and directors in licensed child care centers.
http://www.connectforkids.org/homepage1667/index.htm?state_id=390

Kentucky
Kentucky approved a $55 million annual investment -- representing 25 percent of the state's tobacco settlement money - to support the Governor's KIDS Now! Initiative.
http://www.connectforkids.org/homepage1667/index.htm?state_id=394

Massachusetts
A Children's Defense Fund report on child care notes Massachusetts' investment in a child care workforce.
http://www.connectforkids.org/homepage1667/index.htm?state_id=398

Michigan
Michigan's Children, Michigan's statewide child advocacy organization, has begun an
e-newsletter service to keep you up to date with what's happening for children in the Michigan budget, policies and programs. http://www.connectforkids.org/homepage1667/index.htm?state_id=399

New Mexico
New Mexico led the nation in reducing its overall prevalence of anemia.
http://www.connectforkids.org/homepage1667/index.htm?state_id=408

New York
New York's Quality Child Care and Protection Act includes $40 million to provide one-time only grants to child care providers meeting certain requirements for salary enhancements and professional advancement. http://www.connectforkids.org/homepage1667/index.htm?state_id=409

North Carolina
Be sure and get your supply of the 2001 brochures with the legislative agenda of the Covenant with North Carolina's Children.
http://www.connectforkids.org/homepage1667/index.htm?state_id=410

Ohio
Now you can find out how much federal money is distributed to Ohio thanks to What Government Does, a new project of the Center for National Policy.
http://www.connectforkids.org/homepage1667/index.htm?state_id=412

Oklahoma
The overall prevalence of anemia decreased substantially Oklahoma.
http://www.connectforkids.org/homepage1667/index.htm?state_id=413

Oregon
Children with special health care needs are doing as well at getting needed services as children in the general population, except those with asthma. http://www.connectforkids.org/homepage1667/index.htm?state_id=414

Tennessee
Tennessee's new licensing requirements will improve staff-child ratio for infants from 1:5 to 1:4 and the ratio for toddlers from 1:8 to 1:7.
http://www.connectforkids.org/homepage1667/index.htm?state_id=420

Utah
The overall prevalence of anemia decreased substantially in Utah. http://www.connectforkids.org/homepage1667/index.htm?state_id=422

Vermont
The overall prevalence of anemia decreased substantially in Vermont..
http://www.connectforkids.org/homepage1667/index.htm?state_id=423

Virginia
Salary increases for Virginia's teachers are in the middle of the fight over the impact of Governor Gilmore's commitment to his car tax cut. http://www.connectforkids.org/homepage1667/index.htm?state_id=424

Washington
The Seattle Post-Intelligencer reports a new drug is creating a new dangerous trend for children.
http://www.connectforkids.org/homepage1667/index.htm?state_id=425

Keep up the good work, everyone!

Jan Richter, Outreach Specialist and the Connect for Kids team
Jan@benton.org