CFK Weekly— April 5, 2004
Connect for Kids.org: Better Policies for Kids
The TABLE OF CONTENTS is now hyper-linked to take you quickly to areas of interest inside the newsletter. Please send any comments or suggestions to jan@connectforkids.org.
NEW ON CONNECTFORKIDS.ORG
**Teens Speak out on Gay Marriage
**Making the Best of Tax Time -- for Families
**What are the Costs to Kids?
KIDS & POLITICS
**Senate Approves Increased TANF Funding for Child Care Assistance, then Stalls
**House and Senate Fail to Agree to Budget Before Recess
**Good News on Child Nutrition Programs
**IDEA - Closing the Special Education Funding Gap
**Voices for America's Children 2004 Federal Agenda
TEENS LEFT OUT OF OPPORTUNITIES TO WORK
**Teens High Unemployment Rate Unchanged
**The Looming Summer Jobs Crisis
THINGS TO DO! PLACES TO GO!
**Draw to Celebrate the American Academy of Pediatrics
**"My Teacher is the Best" Essay Contest
**Great American Bake Sale Summer Meal Grants
KEEPING KIDS HEALTHY AND SAFE
**This is Your Brain on ... TV?
**Connect for Kids' Review of the Research
**Children Not Getting Enough Sleep
** Mixing Inhalants, Prescription Drugs a Deadly Combination
**Is Scooby Doo Sending the Wrong Message?
** Child Maltreatment 2002
CONNECT FOR YOUTH
**Improving Mental Health Services for Youth in Public Care
**Recruiting and Selecting Staff for Youth Programs
**Caught in Financial Aid Information Divide: Latino Students
**PacifiCare Latino Health Scholars Program
**Partnerships for After-School Success Tool Kits
FOCUS ON THE STATES
** State Responses to 2004 Budget Crises: A Look at Ten States
**State-by-State News
Arizona
California
Colorado
Hawaii
Illinois
Iowa
Maryland
Mississippi
New Jersey
New Hampshire
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PRIVACY POLICY
We encourage distribution of this information! If reprinting in whole or part, please attribute it to Connect for Kids (www.connectforkids.org).
NEW ON CONNECTFORKIDS.ORG
**Teens Speak out on Gay Marriage
Teens who have been raised by openly gay parents have a unique perspective on the contentious issue of single-sex marriage. Connect for Kids' Robert Capriccioso spoke with three such teens about their views.
http://www.connectforkids.org/
**Making the Best of Tax Time -- for Families
With April 15th fast approaching, families are wrestling with their tax forms and hoping for refunds. A key tool for easing the tax burden on low-income working families is the Earned Income Tax Credit. Fortunately, there's lots of help available online to assist taxpayers in taking advantage of the EITC.
http://www.connectforkids.org/
**What are the Costs to Kids?
According to Census 2000, more than 250,000 children are being raised by same-sex couples -- a figure many researchers agree undercounts the true number. Where are they living, and what does the lack of the legal protections and benefits of marriage mean for these families? Researchers Gary J. Gates and Jason Ost of the Urban Institute have some surprising answers.
http://www.connectforkids.org/
KIDS & POLITICS
**Senate Approves Increased TANF Funding for Child Care Assistance, then Stalls
Child advocates cheered a Senate vote to add an additional $6 billion in child care assistance to the $1 billion proposed in the Senate Finance Committee's Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) welfare reauthorization bill. The cheering was cut short, however, when the Senate bill -- and amendment sponsored by Senators Snowe (R-ME) and Dodd (D-CT) that added the $6 billion -- stalemated in debate. Congress has extended the current TANF law until June 30.
http://www.voicesforamericaschildren.org/Content/NavigationMenu/Childrens_Policy/Federal_Update1/Federal_Update.htm
**House and Senate Fail to Agree to Budget Before Recess
The National PTA reports that the fiscal year 2005 Budget Resolution has been stalled because House and Senate Republicans cannot agree on pay-as-you-go rules that would exempt tax cuts that expire this year. (For more detail on these rules, see last week's archived Weekly http://www.connectforkids.org/newsletter-url1571/newsletter-url_list.htm) It's expected that negotiations will continue through next week's congressional recess, and conferees hope to have the final conference report ready for floor consideration the week of April 19.
The Senate proposal includes more education funding -- but the PTA says neither House nor Senate budget resolutions provide the resources necessary for No Child Left Behind and the Individuals with Disabilities Act. The PTA is also concerned that education and other important programs may, as a result of revenue lost to tax cuts, remain inadequately funded during the next five years.
http://www.pta.org/ptawashington/news/dcnews/index.asp#1
**Good News on Child Nutrition Programs
Last week, the House approved the Child Nutrition Improvement and Integrity Act, which advocates say improves children's food programs -- including further reducing bureaucratic procedures for summer food programs and extending snacks and meals to children in homeless and domestic violence shelters . The Senate is expected to introduce a counterpart after Congress finalizes its fiscal year 2005 budget resolution.
http://www.frac.org/html/federal_food_programs/cnreauthor/032403reauth.htm
**IDEA - Closing the Special Education Funding Gap
The Senate could begin debate on reauthorizing the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) as early as this week, says the National Education Association (NEA). The NEA supports the bipartisan Hagel-Harkin amendment that would guarantee federal funding increases to 40 percent of IDEA costs. If approved, this would be the first time the fed would fully meet its commitment and help states reverse program cuts or tax increases required to make up for the federal shortfall.
http://www.nea.org/lac/idea/ideaposition2.html
**Voices for America's Children 2004 Federal Agenda
From public health insurance and gun safety standards to making sure families, not government, benefit from child support payments, the Voices for America's Children 2004 federal agenda covers a lot of territory in its one-page outline -- including attention to the federal deficit that promises an increased debt burden on our children.
http://www.voicesforamericaschildren.org/Template.cfm?Section=Childrens_Policy
TEENS LEFT OUT OF OPPORTUNITIES TO WORK
**Teens High Unemployment Rate Unchanged
The economy added 308,000 new jobs in March -- but the unemployment rate (5.7 percent) and the number of unemployed persons (8.4 million), were essentially unchanged, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Unemployment rates for teenagers (16.5 percent) showed little or no change over the month.
http://www.bls.gov/news.release/empsit.nr0.htm
**The Looming Summer Jobs Crisis
The summer 2003 job prospects for the nation's teens are the worst in nearly 40 years, according to the Center for Labor Market Studies. Unless the federal budget allocates more money to bolster year-round jobs programs in the states, young people, especially boys, will bear the brunt of the current labor market downturn.
http://www.nupr.neu.edu/5-03/summerjobs.html
THINGS TO DO! PLACES TO GO!
**Draw to Celebrate t he American Academy of Pediatrics
For its upcoming 75 th anniversary celebration, the American Academy of Pediatrics invites boys and girls in grades 1-5 to participate in a national art contest. The Grand Prize winner and his or her parents/guardians will be invited to attend the 2004 AAP National Conference & Exhibition in San Francisco, October 9-10, for the launch of the year-long 75th anniversary celebration.
http://www.aap.org/new/artcontest/75artcontest.htm
**"My Teacher is the Best" Essay Contest
Do you know a public school student or teacher who deserves to win a new laptop computer? GiveKidsGoodSchools.com is running a second annual "My Teacher is the Best" Essay Contest, open to public school students in grades 6, 7 and 8. Winners receive a new laptop computer for themselves and one for their teacher.
http://www.givekidsgoodschools.com/goodteachers/essay.html
**Great American Bake Sale Summer Meal Grants
Share Our Strength will be accepting grant applications for this year's Great American Bake Sale campaign beginning April 4th. Applicants must be registered nonprofits or schools and either current sponsors of the USDA's summer feeding, after-school meal service programs for children, or advocacy organizations providing technical assistance to these programs. Priority deadline is May 31
http://www.greatamericanbakesale.org
KEEPING KIDS HEALTHY AND SAFE
**This is Your Brain on ... TV?
A new article in Pediatrics, " Early Television Exposure and Subsequent Attentional Problems in Children," examines the first-ever study linking early television watching with later attention and concentration problems. Researchers from the University of Washington found that, for children age 3 and younger, every hour of television they watched led to a 10-percent increase in the likelihood of attention problems at age 7. Even before their first birthday, kids watch more than 2 hours of television a day.
http://pediatrics.aappublications.org/cgi/content/abstract/113/4/708
**Connect for Kids' Review of the Research
In our Media and TV topic page, Connect for Kids profiles recent research on television viewing and its impact on young children's development and literacy skills.
http://www.connectforkids.org/resources3139/resources_show.htm?attrib_id=276&doc_id=199398&parent=82351
**Children Not Getting Enough Sleep
Not getting enough shut-eye? You're not alone. American parents and children are sleeping less than experts recommend, according to a new National Sleep Foundation survey. Children doing better on the sleep front are more likely to include reading -- and not TV or videos -- as part of their bedtime routine. Children who get the fewest hours of sleep or go to bed after 10 pm are the most likely to drink caffeinated beverages during the day. Most parents/ caregivers of infants and young children -- and half of those raising school-aged kids -- report being awakened at night at least once a week by their child.
http://www.sleepfoundation.org/2004poll.cfm
In its parents' guide, the National Sleep Foundation suggests that when children have an occasional nightmare, usually a normal part of development, it may be helpful to talk about the dream and make sure your child is getting sufficient sleep.
http://www.sleepfoundation.org/features/children_sleep_problems.cfm
** Mixing Inhalants, Prescription Drugs a Deadly Combination
Sniffing or huffing of correctional fluid or other inhalants can cause sudden death, and the risk appears to be higher for children taking Ritalin, warns the Ohio Early Warning Network.
http://www.inhalants.org/important_news.htm
**Is Scooby Doo Sending the Wrong Message?
Warner Brothers' new movie, "Scooby Doo 2, Monsters Unleashed," reportedly has a scene with Shaggy huffing nitrous oxide from a whipped cream can for fun -- a dangerous image for children that ignores the deathly potential, warns the National Inhalant Prevention Coalition. For more information, E-mail Harvey Weiss at .
http://www.inhalants.org
** Child Maltreatment 2002
How are American children faring? The latest numbers about maltreatment are grave. Child protective service agencies received about 2,600,000 reports of possible maltreatment in 2002 -- 896,000 cases were substantiated, according to the latest national data released by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. About 1,400 children died of abuse or neglect. Although there have been slight improvements since 1990 -- t he rate of victimization per 1,000 children is down from 13.4 in 1990 to 12.3 in 2002 -- the numbers are still too high, say advocates.
http://www.acf.hhs.gov/programs/cb/publications/cm02/index.htm
CONNECT FOR YOUTH
**Improving Mental Health Services for Youth in Public Care
A little screening can do a lot. A 10-minute screening tool designed to pick up serious mental health problems -- such as psychosis or suicide ideation -- can identify youth who need more thorough assessments, and is helping to improve mental health services in the juvenile justice system, reports the Youth Law Center. Advocates are now calling for a physical health screen, especially for girls in the juvenile justice system.
http://www.jlc.org/newsletter/health_screen.htm
**Recruiting and Selecting Staff for Youth Programs
Attracting dedicated, skilled and creative people to lead organizations and run high-quality programs requires a combination of good recruitment strategies, interviewing and selecting -- as outlined in this Professional Development newsletter from the National Collaboration for Youth.
http://www.nydic.org/nydic/documents/Prof_Series%232_3-19.pdf
**Caught in Financial Aid Information Divide: Latino Students
According to a new Sallie Mae Fund survey, Latinos lack awareness of college financial aid options, which has a direct impact on their college attendance. More than two thirds of Latino parents did not receive any financial aid while their child was in K-12 and more than half (56 percent) of the young adults who were not attending college indicated that they had not received any financial aid information in K-12.
http://www.thesalliemaefund.org/
**PacifiCare Latino Health Scholars Program
Scholarships for bilingual, bicultural students pursuing careers in the healthcare industry are available in eight states.
http://www.healthinschools.org/grants/ops131.asp
**Partnerships for After-School Success Tool Kits
The National Collaboration for Youth offers toolkits designed for community-based organizations and local and state education agencies. The kits can help boost partnerships between schools and local organizations -- they outline research supporting the effectiveness of such collaboration, strategies for creating and sustaining partnerships, and "Responsibility" and "Risk Management" checklists.
http://www.nydic.org/nydic/toolkits/index.htm
FOCUS ON THE STATES
** State Responses to 2004 Budget Crises: A Look at Ten States
The Urban Institute examines how ten states -- Alabama, California, Colorado, Florida, Massachusetts, Michigan, New Jersey, New York, Texas, and Washington -- structure their budgets and respond to their ongoing budget crises. Spending cuts are much more severe in FY2004 than the previous year, especially in higher education, the state workforce, and health care. Instead of increasing personal or corporate income taxes or sales taxes, most of these states instead draw on reserves, rainy day funds, trust funds, and used other short-term solutions to enhance revenue.
http://www.urban.org/urlprint.cfm?ID=8761
Arizona
"The Truth about Taxes and Spending: The Arizona Budget Guide" says Arizona's tax cuts and program cuts during the good years have left us with an anemic budget and inadequate revenue stream to help families during current economic tough times. Significant increases are needed just to keep up with rising caseloads and need; moving ahead will take even more funding.
http://www.azchildren.org/caa/_mainpages/Publications/_2005_Budget_Guide_.pdf
California
At 6:00 pm on April 8, San Francisco's Coleman Advocates will host a special training to prepare for the April 15th Rally for Children and get hands-on skills for meeting with supervisors and talking to the media. Light dinner and child care provided. To RSVP, call Joe at 239-0161 x12.
Colorado
Colorado's Basic Literacy Act requires schools to assess the reading ability of students in grade K-3 and develop an individual literacy plan (ILP) for those below grade level. The Rocky Mountain News reports that by the time they reached 7 th grade 86 percent of the initial class of ILP students, who got the help of smaller classes, an at-home reading plan and summer school, had tested out of the program by testing at grade level for reading.
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/education/article/0,1299,DRMN_957_2693556,00.html
Hawaii
There's a new online portal for the Department of Human Services' RealChoices ACCESS (Accountability for Consumer Choice Entry Support System) that allows clients to get information and apply for selected services, including food stamps and Medicaid. The system generates a completed government form in Adobe PDF that is downloaded directly to the user's browser. The form can be saved or printed for delivery to DHS.
http://home.businesswire.com/portal/site/google/index.jsp?ndmViewId=news_view&newsId=20040324005735&newsLang=en
The Hawaii Department of Human Services RealChoices ACCESS Web site is online.
http://www.realchoices.org.
Illinois
Chapin Hall and the Chicago Department of Human Services now provide data on the availability and need for early education and center-based care for low-income children in Chicago. Included are data on the city as a whole, and 44 communities, maps displaying key trends and indicators affecting child care demand, and a summary of recent surveys of Chicago families' child care needs and preferences.
http://cdhs-ccsd.chapinhall.org/
Iowa
With Iowa's open enrollment policy, many working parents enroll their children in larger community schools closer to their workplace, but child care experts say school-based child care centers in smaller communities closer to home can help rural towns combat dwindling school enrollments, boost the local economy, and attract new employees and consumers young families to town. (See, "Rural Day Cares Thriving.")
http://www.wcfcourier.com/articles/2004/03/29/news/regional/c57022994d18534a86256e660050eab0.txt
Maryland
Reformers of the juvenile justice system are hailing landmark legislation proposed in the state Senate that would close the state's violence-ridden detention centers, provide better education services for youth in public care, establish smaller centers to house young offenders and pilot intensive services for 500 youths after they return home. (Free registration required).
http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/admin/emailfriend?contentId=A40553-2004Mar31&sent=no&referrer=emailarticle
"Connecting Low-Income Families to Good Jobs: A Policy Roadmap for Maryland" points out how affluent Maryland is missing important opportunities to help low-wage workers who want to improve their skills. For example, Maryland only serves 4 percent of the 614,000 adults have less than a high school diploma and 86,000 foreign-born workers have limited English skills. Although college tuition in Maryland continues to increase, only about half of Maryland's financial assistance grants target needy students.
http://www.aecf.org/initiatives/jobsinitiative/workingpoor/maryland.pdf
Mississippi
Calling it the worst child welfare system we've ever seen, Children's Rights, Inc., has filed a federal civil rights lawsuit charging the Mississippi Division of Family and Children's Services with placing thousands of children in its care in danger and at risk of harm.
http://www.childrensrights.org/
New Jersey
New Jersey's waiting list for subsidized child care for the working poor is at near record levels, with no sign that things will improve soon. Funding for the child care assistance program has failed to keep pace with rising costs and no additional state or federal money is expected for the coming year, according to the Star Ledger article, "Cash Woes Pinching Child Care Program."
http://www.nj.com/news/ledger/index.ssf?/base/news-6/1080458152318980.xml
New Hampshire
Quality early learning is a sound investment, and this brochure from The Children's Alliance of New Hampshire identifies the key indicators to measure children's readiness -- and the readiness of state, communities and early learning systems.
http://www.childrennh.org/documents/EarlyEducationBrief2.pdf
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PRIVACY POLICY
In an effort to better serve the subscribers of our electronic newsletters,
the Connect for Kids Weekly and Connections, periodically we may employ tracking
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http://www.connectforkids.org/information1537/information_show.htm?doc_id=9207
Jan Richter, Policy and Outreach Specialist, and the Connect for Kids team
Jan@connectforkids.org
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