Few problems facing children of all ages have been discussed as often as that of substandard education. More specifically, the American education system has been under attack from a number of sources.
However, the situation has yet to improve, possibly because the programs that work are not highlighted, instead only those that have failed are.
Let’s make it our business to point out to our politicians that investing in children is nothing more than investing in our community. And it is the right thing to do. Take action, make a phone call to a legislator in support of a child friendly issue, forward this piece to your friends, and make it a piece of your conversation today.
DetailsAs a result of ASFA, when the federal government gave money to states for the purpose of increasing adoptions, large numbers of kids did get good homes. Thirteen years later, hoards of those kids are re-entering the system because they came to parents with severe mental and emotional scars as a result of infant and child trauma, neglect, and abuse.
States refuse to help in any way with the astronomical mental health fees, such as $150,000 per year for residential care. Health insurance, Medicaid, and adopt subsidies pay nothing towards this care, not $1. Adoptive families are being forced to relinquish them back to the states to access astronomically expensive mental health care.
DetailsCASA is most often the only voice a child has once in our overburdened court system. The program is perfect for discovering people that want to help children. Do you support the CASA program in your community?
CASA volunteers are making a huge difference in the lives of abused children. Tell your friends.
DetailsGetting more people involved in gathering and disseminating information about the issues of child abuse and what can and should be done to protect and serve vulnerable children has to be a good thing.
DetailsThe original plaintiffs were nine children who are alleged to have suffered in DHS placements. The case has since become a class-action lawsuit with thousands of children in DHS custody as plaintiff
How many states have caseloads that are just too high to provide a realistic safety net for the children they support? How many states need more training and education for the agency employees, foster parents, and adoptive parents?
I would add that without educating judges, court workers, and criminal justice people, this nation is still on the path to maintaining excessive prison populations and disastrous school performance among the population of abused and neglected children.
DetailsLori Sturdevant points out in her July 4th Star Tribune column how our state has done very well by investing in children and how Art Rolnick’s extensive studies as director of research at the Federal Reserve Board have made those investments measurable.
Just like investing in the stock market or tax increment financing, putting money into early childhood programs brings solid financial and social returns back into a community.
Details“The social worker staff simply cannot keep up with everything we are asking them to do,” she said, adding that she planned to make the case to county supervisors that hundreds of additional social workers were needed. “All of the things that equate with quality do take time.”
In the end, Ploehn never submitted a budget request for additional social workers, citing the county’s tight finances.
DetailsA British Medical Journal Journal article (below) points out the confusion in doctors duties regarding child protection. In Britain the welfare of the child is place highly only when a decision is governed by the Children Act statute, which has created an atmosphere of increased complaints against paediatricians. Doctors may be avoiding work related to abuse because of this.
As a guardian ad Litem in the U.S., I often found the medical professionals unresponsive to the violence and dysfunction responsible for the condition of the child before them.
In the U.S. there is an organization trying to change that; The Academy on Violence and Abuse, www.avahealth.org is working diligently to better educate the medical profession about the signs of abuse and how to respond effectively.
DetailsSwedes take preschool seriously. Though education is not compulsory
until seven, more than 80% of two-year-olds are enrolled in preschool,
and many begin earlier. Among European countries only Denmark has
higher enrolment rates at that age.
