CFK Weekly—April 1, 2002

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

APRIL EVENTS
**Week of the Young Child Begins April 7
**Public Comment Sessions on Child Nutrition Program Reauthorization
**Upcoming CLASP Audio Conferences
**April 16 is Equal Pay Day
**A Day's Work, A Day's Pay

MAKING WELFARE WORK FOR WORKING FAMILIES
**Welfare Reform and the Work Support System
**Job Retention and Advancement in Welfare Reform
**Marriage, Poverty, and Public Policy
**Substance Use Among Welfare Recipients: Trends and Policy Responses
**Innovative Program Assists Low-Income Families with Homeownership

SPOTLIGHT ON MIDDLE SCHOOL
**Supporting Students in their Transition to Middle School
**Leave No Child Behind in the Middle Grades

YOUTH CONNECT
**Are We Safe 2001: Focus on Teens
**Conversations about Youth
**Last Chance to Join Everything After: A 9/11 Youth Circle
**In Their Own Words: Who am I?
**What's Learned: The Benefits of Service-Learning

ADULTS GET INVOLVED
**Lighting the Way: CASA Volunteer Child Advocates Speak Out
**The Ties That Bind
**Report Cards for Parents: The Numbers Parents Want
**Can Parent Groups Do Too Much?

HEALTH CHALLENGES
**The New Challenge of the Uninsured
**Family Social Environment Causes Serious Harm for Kids
**Mayo Clinic Examines Frequency of ADHD
**Health Groups Say Public Needs Emergency Preparedness Plans for Children

HEALTHY BABIES
**Breast is Smart
**Take Time to Talk

WELFARE REFORM'S IMPACT ON CHILDREN ? WHAT THE RESEARCH SAYS
 **Are Children Whose Parents Left Welfare Better Off?
 **Increasing Welfare Mothers' Education Affects Their Young Children's Schooling
**Welfare Information Network Brief on Welfare Reform and Outcomes for Children

FOCUS ON THE STATES
**Welfare Caseloads Rising in Most States
**State by State News

SUBSCRIBE/UNSUBSCRIBE

NEW ON CONNECT FOR KIDS

**Can a Court be Kid-Friendly?
From one of the nation's more troubled juvenile courts to a model that strives to put children's needs first, the Orleans Parish Juvenile Court in New Orleans, Louisiana has turned itself around. Judge Ernestine Gray has overseen the changes. She spoke with Connect for Kids' Julee Newberger.
http://www.connectforkids.org

**Images from Inside
Through photographs and words, five young people who have been through the juvenile justice system in California offer a kaleidoscope of thoughts on where they have been and where they are headed. This project by Brooklyn photographer Joseph Rodriguez also includes Rodriguez' own journey through the system as a young man in Brooklyn. This is the first web site included in the Human Rights Watch High School Pilot Program.
http://www.connectforkids.org

APRIL EVENTS

**Week of the Young Child Begins April 7
The Week of the Young Child recognizes that children's opportunities are adults'  responsibilities. It's a time to recommit ourselves to ensuring that each and every child experiences the type of early environment at home, at child care, at school, and in the  community that will promote their early learning.
http://www.naeyc.org/woyc/default.asp

**Public Comment Sessions on Child Nutrition Program Reauthorization
The U.S Dept. of Agriculture has announced outreach sessions across the country in anticipation of Child Nutrition Program Reauthorization in 2003. If you would like to attend a session or submit written testimony, please contact Pamela Phillips (703-305-2298; pam.phillips@fns.usda.gov).

**Upcoming CLASP Audio Conferences
The Center on Law and Social Policy is holding audio conferences in April on Food Stamps (April 5) and transitional jobs (April 12).
http://www.clasp.org/audioconference/2002_brochure.htm

**April 16 is Equal Pay Day
Women still earn an average of only $.73 for every $1 earned by men, according to the National Women's Law Center, which sponsors the yearly Equal Pay Day.
http://www.nwlc.org/display.cfm?section=employment

**A Day's Work, A Day's Pay
WHUT in New York will air a new documentary that follows the efforts to unionize and demand living-wage jobs by three participants in New York City's workfare program, which provides welfare benefits worth only a fraction of a paycheck. For more information, contact Shirley Liu (212-952-0121 ext. 222; Shirley@mintleafproductions.com).

MAKING WELFARE WORK FOR WORKING FAMILIES

**Welfare Reform and the Work Support System
Isabel Sawhill and Ron Haskins find that programs like the minimum wage, the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC), the child tax credit, child care subsidies, Food Stamps and health insurance have significantly expanded and helped welfare-to-work families ?make work pay.? The researchers expect that ?maintenance and even expansion of these programs will be a major part of this year's welfare reauthorization debate in Congress.?
http://www.brookings.edu/wrb

**Job Retention and Advancement in Welfare Reform
Flexibility in the current system has allowed state and local officials to design and test programs to address the retention and advancement needs of current or former Temporary Assistance to Needy Families (TANF) recipients. In the absence of sufficient research to recommend sweeping policy changes, this policy brief from the Brookings Institution argues that the federal government should continue to provide funds and flexibility to states so that better methods for increasing job retention and advancement can be created.
http://www.brookings.edu/dybdocroot/es/wrb/publications/pb/pb18.htm

**Marriage, Poverty and Public Policy
A single mother is much more likely to live in poverty than a married mother. So shouldn't policy makers concentrate on getting single moms married? This analysis from the Council on Contemporary Families says not so fast. Poverty among college-educated single women is close to 1 percent, and better-educated, better-skilled moms are more likely to marry men who offer more to a marriage. The report recommends that policy makers should eliminate the unintended financial penalties for marriage in the EITC and other benefit programs, but beyond that, single moms and their children might be better off getting a degree than getting a husband first. E-mail Stephanie Coontz for this report (coontz@msn.com).
 
**Substance Use Among Welfare Recipients: Trends and Policy Responses
The Supreme Court recently upheld the ?one strike, you're out? eviction policy for welfare families in public housing. This Joint Center for Poverty Research analysis finds that illicit drug use and dependence are more common among women receiving welfare than among women who do not, but public concerns have overstated the prevalence or severity of illicit drug use within the welfare population.
http://www.jcpr.org/wpfiles/pollack_danziger_jayakody_seefeldt_SRI2001.pdf

**Innovative Program Assists Low-Income Families with Homeownership
The Self-Help Ventures Fund in North Carolina uses an innovative secondary market program and a partnership with the Latino Community Credit Union to help families with few assets buy and stay in their homes.
http://www.huduser.org/periodicals/fieldworks/0202/fworks3.html

SPOTLIGHT ON MIDDLE SCHOOL

**Supporting Students in their Transition to Middle School
Making the move to middle school is not easy for many young adolescents, as they struggle with different expectations, routines, and teachers and worry about getting to class on time and dealing with lockers and older students. Both elementary and middle schools can mitigate many of these concerns with a well-designed, long-term transition plan.
http://www.nmsa.org/news/transition.html

**Leave No Child Behind in the Middle Grades
The typical African-American, Latino or low-income 12th grader reads at the same level as the typical white and non-poor 8th grader. Middle school students may get a better education now, argues this report from the Edna McConnell Clark Foundation, because the new education law finally made young adolescents a central focus of federal attention. Here's an analysis and concrete steps you can take now to use the Elementary and Secondary Education Act's opportunities to raise achievement for young adolescent at risk of academic stagnation in the middle grades.
http://www.emcf.org/programs/student/student_pub.htm

YOUTH CONNECT

**Are We Safe 2001: Focus on Teens
While over half of the teens surveyed in this National Crime Prevention Council survey say they know someone who could cause people harm, five out of six report they have a candid relationship with a caring adult and seventy percent feel they are making a positive difference in their community, generally by helping others.
http://www.ncpc.org/rwesafe/2001/rwesafe.htm

**Conversations about Youth
Youth in Alaska want help with bus fares so teens can attend youth programs. Virginia youth recommend better training for adult youth workers, a statewide survey of youth programs and a special holiday so families can spend time together. Find out what youth and public leaders are saying in your state in the 4-H Centennial conversations.
http://www.4hcentennial.org/conversations/search/search.asp

**Last Chance to Join Everything After: A 9/11 Youth Circle
Teens nationwide have been participating in a short-term online project for today's teens to define the important issues they want to talk about, sponsored by New York City youth under the leadership of Global Kids, Inc. Registration for the last round of discussions closes soon.
http://www.EA911.org

**In Their Own Words: Who am I?
?A strong community cannot be built on anger and rage,? writes a Native American teen in New Mexico. ?It must be built on respect and love.? Poetry, essays, and interview excerpts by racial and language minority youth tell us of the wall that teens with limited English face and the ways in which differences in race and in heritage pose everyday challenges for adolescents.
http://www.whatkidscando.org/intheirownwords/whoamiintro.html

**What's Learned: The Benefits of Service-Learning
The ?Learning in Deed? report by the National Commission on Service-Learning recommends that every student participate in quality service-learning every year. This What Kids Can Do article reflects on one girl's experience with a community project that tapped her skills and turned her school performance around. http://www.whatkidscando.org/whatslearned/serviceintro.html

ADULTS GET INVOLVED

**Lighting the Way: CASA Volunteer Child Advocates Speak Out
This collection of personal experiences of Court-Appointed Special Advocates (CASA) volunteers who serve across the nation is published by the Child Welfare League of America, with an introduction by Anna Quindlen. Cost: $9.95. The book can be purchased through Amazon.com. http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0878688366/connectforkids

**The Ties That Bind
The Children of Alcoholics Foundation has developed a new program to help relatives caring for children because of parental alcohol and drug abuse, the leading cause for kin caring for children. Request a free handbook from Kiki Samuels (ksamuels@phoenixhouse.org).
http://www.coaf.org/kinship/kinmain.htm

**Report Cards for Parents: The Numbers Parents Want
The new federal education law requires each school to send annual report cards to parents. While the focus of this National School Board Administration article is on reporting test scores, it also explores many more ways to know about a school: Do lots of students get A's or do lots of students get low grades? Are staff development and in-service training offered, and are teachers experienced? Attendance and tardiness numbers can also tell a lot about a school's morale and potential problems with dropout rates.
http://www.nsba.org/sbn/02-mar/030502-7.htm

**Can Parent Groups Do Too Much?
Increasingly, parent teacher organizations are funding critical items like computers, library books, and even instructor salaries and classroom aides. Some worry that fundraisers cover up the need for long-term funding. According to Paul Reville of Harvard's School of Education, if the nation's total charitable foundation dollars replaced public education funding, America's schools could survive for only two to three days before plunging into bankruptcy.
http://www.ptotoday.com/0302ptogroups.html

HEALTH CHALLENGES

**The New Challenge of the Uninsured
Eight in 10 of the 38 million or more Americans who are uninsured live in working families.? Medicaid helps fill in the gap for 21 million children and 8 million adults in low-income families, and CHIP covers 4 million more children. But maintaining the last decade's gains, especially for children in the face of rising health costs and deteriorating state budgets could require additional federal funds to the states, argues Diane Rowland, head of the Kaiser Commission on Medicaid and the Uninsured.
http://www.kff.org/content/2002/4042/

**Family Social Environment Causes Serious Harm for Kids
An analysis of research on high risk families characterized by high conflict, aggression, emotional distance and neglecting children's needs finds that children growing up in these families are more likely to suffer not only persistent emotional and mental difficulties, but also more physical diseases and lifelong health problems. Some diseases do not show up until decades later while others are evident early on. E-mail Stuart Wolpert for more information on this UCLA study (stuartw@college.ucla.edu; 310-206-0511).

**Mayo Clinic Examines Frequency of ADHD
In general, children and adults with attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) have trouble concentrating, sitting still and controlling impulsive behavior. They often struggle with low self-esteem, troubled personal relationships and poor performance in school or at work. This Mayo Clinic study concludes that ADHD affects 7.5 percent of school-age children by age 19, a lower estimate than many other studies because it is based on more stringent diagnostic criteria.
http://www.mayo.edu/comm/mcr/news_2026.html

**Health Groups Say Public Needs Emergency Preparedness Plans for Children
Children are not little adults, but the nation's emergency response plans currently include little specific information on the specialized medical care and equipment children need during a disaster, according to key children's health groups. Email Marjorie Tharp (mtharp@aap.org) for a briefing packet.

HEALTHY BABIES

**Breast is Smart
At age five full-term infants who were born small scored an average of 11 points higher on IQ tests if they were exclusively breastfed for their first six months compared to those who were exclusively breastfed for only 12 weeks.
http://www.nichd.nih.gov/new/releases/breast_fed.cfm

**Take Time to Talk
One in 650 newborns are born with hearing loss, but newborn hearing screenings can help identify any hearing programs in the first few months. The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP), Wal-Mart and Pampers Parenting Institute (PPI) have joined together to promote newborn hearing screenings -- ?Take Time to Talk? toolkits are available at Wal-Mart stores nationwide.
http://www.aap.org/bfc/

WELFARE REFORM'S IMPACT ON CHILDREN -- WHAT THE RESEARCH SAYS

**Are Children Whose Parents Left Welfare Better Off?
The answer is no, according to this Child Trends' review of the research. The research continues to show that poverty and the disadvantages associated with poverty are the key risk factors for children, whether their parents have left welfare, remain on welfare or have never entered the welfare system. http://www.childtrends.org/LeaversPR302.asp

**Measuring Improvements in Child Well-Being
Kristen Moore, president and senior scholar at Child Trends, talks about defining and measuring child well-being in an online question and answer session through April 10. http://www.futureofchildren.org/discussion2873/discussion_show.htm?doc_id=105773

**Increasing Welfare Mothers' Education Affects Their Young Children's Schooling
Research often points to correlations between maternal and child educational achievement, but does an increase in a mother's education cause an improvement in her young child's academic performance? Researchers for the Joint Center on Poverty Research say their findings on the causal effects of maternal education on children's academic improvements are large enough to be of considerable importance for policies that affect the work, welfare and training of low-income mothers.
http://www.jcpr.org/wp/WPprofile.cfm?ID=322

**Welfare Information Network Brief on Welfare Reform and Outcomes for Children
The Welfare Information Network reviews the assumptions, research studies, and conclusions regarding how welfare reform may be affecting outcomes for children and teens in its February 2002 brief.
http://www.welfareinfo.org/childwellbeing_trn.htm

FOCUS ON THE STATES

**Welfare Caseloads Rising in Most States
The recession and September 11 had a significant impact on welfare caseloads in late 2001. For the first time since TANF was implemented, the average annual change in states' caseloads was an increase. Further, 40 states reported higher welfare caseloads in December 2001 than in September 2001, according to the latest Center for Law and Social Policy survey of the District of Columbia and all states except California. http://www.clasp.org/pubs/TANF/Final_2001_Q4_Caseload_discussion.htm

**State-by-State News
Having reduced taxes during the economic boom of the late 1990's, many states are facing severe structural budget problems as the boom subsides. Strong reluctance to raise taxes again on the part of policy makers and the public are putting great pressure on lawmakers to cut state funding for programs and services that support working families, as evidenced by many of the individual reports included in this state-by-state section.

California
During April, KQED will devote three Public Radio Forum programs to examining juvenile justice in the Bay Area and Northern California and will air a television special.
http://www.kqed.org/community/projects/juvenilejustice/index.html

Colorado
After four years of dramatic decline, the number of Colorado families on welfare jumped up nearly 16 percent in the past year.
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/state/article/0,1299,DRMN_21_1043406,00.html

Connecticut
The Manpower Demonstration Research Corporation's evaluation of Connecticut's Jobs First program found that the program made progress towards its key goal of replacing welfare with work, boosting employment and earnings for participants. But once Jobs First families began reaching the time limit, their welfare benefits were reduced and their income gains disappeared. Jobs First generated some small improvements in the behavior of participants' young children but had mixed effects on adolescent children. http://www.mdrc.org/Reports2002/CT_JobsFirst/CT_ExecutiveSummary.htm

District of Columbia
April 4 is DC's 1000 Voices for Children's Child Advocacy Day. Get information now from ltaylor@dckids.org.

Florida
WUFT-FM in Gainesville, FL and Child Care Resources, Inc. tackled some the toughest issues facing the state's children, including access to health care, child abuse and early childhood education. An excerpt from their monthly afternoon call-in program, The Village, features discussion about long work hours and the increased pressure of two working parents on families.
http://www.soundpartners.org/directory1987/directory_show.htm?doc_id=25851

Idaho
A Kaiser Family Foundation analysis of Medicaid and the state budget finds that enrollment in the Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP) and Medicaid programs increased by more than 40 percent from August 1999 to August 2001. At a time of an expected $330 million budget surplus, the 2001 legislature, led by conservative lawmakers, passed a sweeping tax cut and passed legislation to cut back on eligibility, outreach and benefits in Medicaid and CHIP.
http://www.kff.org/content/2002/20020322/4034a.pdf

Illinois
The U.S. government's new federal bonus depreciation rule will cost Illinois $225 million in fiscal year 2003. In addition to that loss, elementary and secondary school districts will lose $78 million while cities, counties and other local taxing authorities will lose another $97 million. Voices for Illinois Children is urging action now to preserve these revenues.
http://www.voices4kids.org/alert031802.html

Indiana
Indiana's General Assembly has historically been reluctant to raise taxes for social welfare programs, so, short of another economic boom, the forecast is pessimistic that the state will be able to redress its serious structural budget problems, which are putting Indiana's Medicaid program under great pressure to reduce costs or minimize program eligibility and benefits, according to this Kaiser Commission on Medicaid and the Uninsured report.
http://www.kff.org/content/2002/20020322/4038.pdf

Iowa
Iowa families that left welfare in spring 1999 were doing slightly better financially two years after leaving than they had been one year earlier, but some families were experiencing hardships such as hunger and housing instability at the two-year mark. Job instability was common and more than half still had income around the poverty line, according to a new report from Mathematica Policy Research, Inc. http://www.mathematica-mpr.com/PDFs/iowatwoyears.pdf

Massachusetts
A Massachusetts advocate reports on making an effective argument for teen pregnancy prevention and other family services in a difficult state budget climate.
http://www.clasp.org/pubs/claspupdate/2002/CLASPupdate.03.02.pdf

Minnesota
Minnesota lawmakers passed legislation allowing extensions beyond the five-year welfare-to-work cutoff for people fitting certain criteria, and counties are finding up to 75 percent of welfare-to-work families may be eligible for extensions past June 30.
http://www.twincities.com/mld/pioneerpress/news/local/2870293.htm

Michigan
?Michigan's Children's Agenda: 2002? outlines a comprehensive legislative agenda for children focused on prevention, developed by the Michigan Coalition for Children and Families.
http://www.michiganschildren.org/page.cfm/45

Missouri
Reduced revenue from reduced state taxes is creating significant budgetary problems for Missouri policymakers as they try to find increased funding Missouri
schools and Medicaid.
http://www.kff.org/content/2002/20020322/4037.pdf

New Hampshire
New Hampshire may become the first state to reverse policy that automatically tries and treats 17-year-old offenders as adults, depriving them of the counseling and other services of the juvenile justice system.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A22198-2002Mar26.html

North Carolina
The Kaiser Commission on Medicaid and the Uninsured reports that North Carolina played a high stakes game that bet on optimistic revenue forecasts, slim rainy day reserves and one-time lawsuit payouts to rebuild the state's finances. Nearly everything that could have gone wrong for the state over this period did, forcing major problems for the state Medicaid program and other services.
http://www.kff.org/content/2002/20020322/4035.pdf

The North Carolina Child Advocacy Institute has updated its online county database of child well-being indicators. If you need help using the data, call Annette Plummer or Joann Haggerty at 919-834-6623.
http://www.ncchild.org

Oregon
The 15 home-school consultants in Oregon's Hillsboro school district see it as their job to help Mexican immigrant families meet basic needs so their children are more likely to attend school.
http://www.you-click.net/GoNow/a15864a55321a89281975a8

The Oregon Center for Public Policy points to serious flaws in the Department of Human Services' survey of TANF recipients, including unscheduled home visits of clients in the Portland and Salem regions.
http://www.ocpp.org/2002/nr020319.htm

Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania Partnerships for Children's ?The State of the Child in Pennsylvania: A 2002 Guide to Child Well-Being? shows that many of the state's children missed out on the prosperity of the 1990s, with one in six children remaining in poverty despite sharply falling welfare caseloads.
http://www.papartnerships.org/stateofchild02.html

Texas
Popular tax cuts enacted in 1999 have contributed to a reduction in tax revenues as a percentage of total state personal income, adding to the growing difficulty Texas lawmakers face in trying to maintain state government programs. Efforts to maintain Medicaid benefits are further hampered by the state's heavy reliance on local dollars to fund the program, reports the Kaiser Commission on Medicaid and the Uninsured.
http://www.kff.org/content/2002/20020322/4036.pdf

The Texas Center for Public Policy Priorities has released a new child care report and launched a new Web site on Texas child care policy news and updates.
http://www.cppp.org/policy/childcare/index.html

Texas Gov. Rick Perry unveiled a five-point plan to strengthen educational opportunities for children -- additional early education preparation for preschool children, dropout prevention initiatives, increased emphasis on science and technology curricula, professional development and peer mentoring for educators, and greater use of technology in instruction and assessment.
http://www.ecs.org/html/newsMedia/e-Connection.asp#ws

Washington
While the state's legislative session began with proposals for big budget cuts to services for children, it ended with most children's services escaping harm, thanks to the efforts of children's advocates, reports the Children's Alliance. E-mail jon@childrensalliance.org for a narrative summary.

The Children's Alliance is launching an annual conference for advocates, service providers, parents and policy makers in October.
http://www.childrensalliance.org/news.htm

Have a great week, everyone!
Jan
Jan Richter and the Connect for Kids team
jan@benton.org