Racial Disparity in Foster
Care Admissions
According to national data,
roughly 37 percent of the children in foster care are African American despite
the fact that African American children make up only 15 percent of the children
living in the United States. The ratio of the two percentages
reflects the fact that African American children are overrepresented in the
nation’s foster care system. To better understand this overrepresentation,
this study from Chapin Hall addresses the issue of entry rate disparities
at the county level.
http://webclipper.handsnet.org/2007/09/racial-disparit.php
Teaching Adolescents
About Condoms
Teaching adolescents to
use condoms when abstinence fails is a reasonable strategy for preventing
HIV, according to a new research study in PLoS Medicine.
This finding might appear common sense, but the best way to teach HIV prevention
to young people has in fact has been controversial. The "abstinence-only"
approach, favored in recent years by US government-sponsored programs, reflects
the notion that teaching adolescents anything about safer sex (including condom
use) might encourage risky activity. However, recent studies have found that
abstinence-only programs have failed to reduce HIV risk.
http://webclipper.handsnet.org/2007/09/teaching-adoles.php
Bad News for Hispanic
Teens: Parents' Marital Disruption Hurts Them Least
According to research from
Ohio State University, compared to teens from other racial
and ethnic groups, Hispanic adolescents don't experience nearly the level
of problems during the process of their parents' divorce or separation. For
many Hispanic adolescents, their life situation is already poor before their
family dissolves - there may not be much further for them to drop. The reason
is the flip-side of what happens to Hispanic youth: European and Asian Americans
start out with the most advantages in terms of well-being and resources, so
they have the furthest to fall, Sun said.
http://webclipper.handsnet.org/2007/09/bad-news-for-hi.php
**Civic Engagement/Philanthropy
Racism's Cognitive Toll:
Subtle Discrimination is More Taxing on the Brain
While certain expressions
of racism are absent from our world today, you do not have to look very hard
to know that more subtle forms of racism persist, in schools and workplaces
and elsewhere. Some psychologists reason from this that subtle racism might
actually be more, not less, damaging than the plain antipathy of yesterday,
sapping more mental energy. Princeton psychologists decided to explore this
idea in the laboratory.
http://webclipper.handsnet.org/2007/09/racisms-cogniti.php
**Community Development
$14 Million to Revitalize
New Orleans' Intellectual Infrastructure in Wake
of Hurricane Katrina
The Carnegie Corporation
of New York, announced that the foundation has committed $14 million to help
New Orleans build and retain the intellectual capital necessary to participate
and succeed in the global knowledge economy. The Corporation's investment
in the city's intellectual infrastructure-its institutions of higher education
and K-12 teacher pool-is intended to underscore the importance of education
to the city's economic revitalization.
http://webclipper.handsnet.org/2007/09/carnegie-corpor.php
**Economic Security
Rewarding the Work of
Individuals
In this article in "The
Future of Children" journal, MDRC President Gordon Berlin answers the question: If you could
do one thing to reduce poverty in America, what would it be? He explores the
potential advantages of expanding the federal Earned Income Tax Credit to
all low-wage adults who work full time - whether they have children or not
and whether they marry or not.
http://webclipper.handsnet.org/2007/09/rewarding-the-w.php
Congress Expands Access
to Postsecondary Education and Training for Low-income Adults
On September
7, 2007, Congress
enacted H.R. 2669, the College Cost Reduction and Access Act, which will raise
the maximum Pell Grant to $5,400 over five years and halve interest rates
on subsidized student loans. The act is part of the budget reconciliation
process, which secured billions of dollars for increasing Pell Grants and
for reducing student loan interest rates by cutting nearly $21 billion from
subsidies to student lenders. While many of the act's benefits are directed
toward traditional students, the Center for Law and Social Policy applauds members
of the Senate's Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee and the House's
Education and Labor Committee for recognizing the importance of also expanding
access for nontraditional students.
http://webclipper.handsnet.org/2007/09/congress-expand.php
**Education
Secondhand Smoke Increases
Teen Test Failure
Teens exposed to secondhand
smoke at home are at increased risk of test failure in school, suggests a
new study in the Journal of Adolescent Health. Taking other known risk factors
into account --- for example, socioeconomic status, gender, prenatal exposure
to smoking and active smoking during adolescence--- researchers found that
exposure to secondhand smoke at home decreased the odds of passing standardized
achievement tests by 30 percent in 16- and 18-year-olds. Surprisingly, the
study found that when examining the effects of prenatal tobacco exposure and
secondhand smoke together, prenatal exposure did not influence test performance.
http://webclipper.handsnet.org/2007/09/secondhand-smok.php
Kansas and Missouri Students and Parents Get the Importance
of Math, Science and Technology Education Generally, But Not for Themselves
A new research report from
the opinion research and citizen engagement organization Public Agenda concludes
that Kansas and Missouri parents and students didn't get the
memo. "Important, But Not for Me: Parents and Students in Kansas and
Missouri Talk About Math, Science and Technology Education" details parents'
and students' current thinking about MST education and their satisfaction
with the existing curriculum which most experts see as vastly below world-class
standards. According to the study, just 25 percent of Kansas/Missouri parents
think their children should be studying more math and science; 70 percent
think things "are fine as they are now."
http://webclipper.handsnet.org/2007/09/its-important-b.php
Goals in Action Program
Reports Promising Results in Helping Academically At-Risk Students
What can colleges and universities
do to help their low-performing students set and attain higher academic goals
while transitioning successfully to campus life? A program at University of California San Diego, known
as Goals in Action (GIA) addresses social, behavioral, and psychological functioning
both inside and outside the classroom while closely examining the role these
factors play in student underachievement, and ways to alleviate such problems.
Students who take part in the program not only have the chance to learn concrete
skills, and to talk with other people who are in the same situation, but they
also learn how to build relationships and to capitalize on the strengths that
make them unique as individuals.
http://webclipper.handsnet.org/2007/09/ucsd-goals-in-a.php
**Health
Parents' Participation
in Medical Decisions Linked to Self-Efficacy
The majority of parents
feel they play a significant role in making medical decisions for their child,
according to researchers at the University of Michigan C.S. Mott Children's Hospital. In a new study
86 percent of parents report that they participate in decisions made about
their hospitalized child's medical care. Researchers also found that parents
who feel confident communicating with physicians -- as well as those parents
whose child has been previously hospitalized -- are more likely to participate
in medical decisions.
http://webclipper.handsnet.org/2007/09/parents-partici.php
Senate Passes 'Mental
Health Parity'
Mental Health America commends the United States Senate
for passing critical legislation today to end mental health insurance discrimination,
and its sponsors, Senators Pete Domenici (R-N.M.), Michael B. Enzi (R-WY)
and Edward Kennedy (D-MA) for their leadership. The bill will ensure that
Americans with employer-sponsored health insurance and their families receive
mental health care coverage at the same level as coverage for general health
problems. Volumes of research demonstrate the interconnectivity of mental
and general health.
http://webclipper.handsnet.org/2007/09/senate-passes-m.php
Medicare Prescription
Drug Benefit Progress Report: Findings from a 2006 National Survey of Seniors
In the first in-depth look
at seniors' experiences with Medicare's prescription drug benefit, a new survey
finds that the majority of seniors who lacked drug coverage in 2005---before
the establishment of the benefit---obtained it in 2006. Even with Part D
coverage, however, many seniors reported relatively high out-of-pocket spending
in 2006. The survey, which included self-reported responses from more than
16,000 non-institutionalized seniors, was conducted in the fall of 2006 by
Tufts-New England Medical Center with support from the Kaiser Family Foundation
and The Commonwealth Fund.
http://webclipper.handsnet.org/2007/09/medicare-prescr-3.php
********SCHIP Coverage********
Report Details a Decade
of the State Children's Health Insurance Program
New findings from a study
conducted by Mathematica Policy Research, Inc., highlight states' progress
in conducting outreach, averting substitution, improving access, and reducing
the number of uninsured low-income children. A new issue brief summarizes
Mathematica's comprehensive seven-year evaluation of SCHIP
for the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. SCHIP was enacted in
1997 when the number and rate of uninsured children were growing rapidly,
especially among those just above the poverty threshold---too poor to purchase
private coverage but not poor enough to qualify for Medicaid.
http://webclipper.handsnet.org/2007/09/report-details.php
Congressional Action
is Needed to Prevent the Administration From Eviscerating Efforts to Enroll
Uninsured Low-Income Children in Health Coverage Through the Schools
According to the Center
on Budget and Policy Priorities, while deep disagreements have emerged
between Congress and the Bush Administration in the debate over reauthorizing
the State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP), all sides appear to
agree that states should do all they can to enroll low-income children who
are currently eligible for Medicaid and SCHIP. For some time, policymakers
and administrators at all levels of government have recognized that the bulk
of the eligible-but-uninsured low-income children attend school --- and consequently,
that one of the best ways to reach and enroll them in health care coverage
is through the schools they attend.
http://webclipper.handsnet.org/2007/09/congressional-a.php
Collateral Damage: Children
Can Lose Coverage When Their Parents Lose Health Insurance
Although the Oregon’s policy changes were designed only to affect adults, a study
from the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities
finds that many children lost their health insurance coverage and suffered
gaps in insurance coverage even though they were still eligible for benefits.
Since the Food Stamp Program has a net income limit of 100 percent of the
poverty line and Oregon Health Plan’s (OHP's) income
limit for children was 185 percent of the poverty line, virtually all children
in the food stamp sample were eligible for OHP (which includes both Medicaid
and SCHIP for children). Low-income children were 44 percent more likely
to be uninsured at the time of the interview if an adult in the household
had lost OHP coverage recently than if no adult had done so.
http://webclipper.handsnet.org/2007/09/collateral-dama.php
**Substance Abuse
Initiative Works to Improve
Substance Abuse Interventions for Young Offenders
The Robert Wood Johnson
Foundation Reclaiming Futures initiative was designed to enhance the coordination
and effectiveness of substance abuse services for youth in the juvenile justice
system. Managed by Portland State University in Oregon, Reclaiming Futures worked with 10
communities across the United States to develop and then implement the
Reclaiming Futures Model, a performance-based guide to improving the integration
of juvenile justice and substance abuse services. Researchers from the Urban
Institute and Chapin Hall collaborated in evaluating the impact of the initiative.
http://webclipper.handsnet.org/2007/09/initiative-work.php
Family History of Alcoholism
Affects Response to Drug Used to Treat Heavy Drinking
A recent research study
of alcohol dependence supported by the National Institute of Alcoholism and
Alcohol Abuse suggested that naltrexone (one of
four oral medications approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for
the treatment of alcoholism) produced a modest but significant benefit. A
new study in an issue of Biological Psychiatry suggests that alcohol dependent
individuals with a family history of alcohol dependence may be more likely
than alcohol dependent individuals without a family history of alcohol dependence
to reduce their drinking in the laboratory when prescribed naltrexone.
http://webclipper.handsnet.org/2007/09/family-history.php
