Child
Support Provisions in the Deficit Reduction Act
These slides from the Center
for Law and Social Policy provide an overview of the child support provisions
in the Deficit Reduction Act of 2005 presented to the California Child Support
Directors Association. The slides summarize a number of changes to the child
support program, including reductions in federal funding, a new service fee
charged to families, assignment and distribution changes, medical support
provisions, and review and adjustment procedures.
http://webclipper.handsnet.org/2007/10/child-support-p.php
Childhood TV Viewing
a Risk for Behavior Problems
Daily television viewing
for two or more hours in early childhood can lead to behavioral problems and
poor social skills, according to a study of children 2.5 to 5.5 years of age
conducted by researchers at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.
More importantly, heavy television viewing that decreased over time was not
associated with behavior or social problems. The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends that children
under age 2 watch no television while children age 2 and older are limited
to no more than two hours of daily viewing.
http://webclipper.handsnet.org/2007/10/childhood-tv-vi.php
Early Family Intervention
Alters Preschoolers' Biological Response to Stress
Now a new study from the
NYU School of Medicine shows that a non-medical early family intervention
that improves caregiving also results in important
changes in children's biological response to stress. Delinquent adolescents
and highly aggressive children have been shown to have abnormal stress responses,
especially in social situations. They appear to be less tuned in to social
cues and they are not as sensitive to positive reinforcement as normally developing
children, explains the lead author of the study.
http://webclipper.handsnet.org/2007/10/early-family-in.php
More than 125 State Leaders
Endorse Campaign to Make Delaware's Kids the Healthiest in the Nation
The campaign, launched by
Nemours Health and Prevention Services (NHPS), will encourage and celebrate
the efforts of schools, communities, health professionals, parents, and other
leaders to improve the motivation, opportunity and ability for children to
eat right and be more physically active. In Delaware, childhood obesity affects all communities
-- with approximately 36% of children and youth having an unhealthy weight
-- and those rates continue to rise.
http://webclipper.handsnet.org/2007/10/more-than-125-s.php
**Community Development
Housing Vouchers Could
Be At Risk In 2008
This fall, Congress will
seek to finalize its appropriations bills for fiscal year 2008, including
the Transportation-HUD bill, which funds "Section 8" Housing Choice
Vouchers and other affordable housing programs. Section 8 vouchers are the
nation's leading source of housing assistance for low-income elderly, people
with disabilities, and families with children, helping approximately 2 million
households to secure modest, affordable rental housing in the private market.
Congress will have two key issues to resolve in the Section 8 voucher portion
of the HUD appropriations bill: how much money to provide to renew existing
vouchers and how to distribute those funds among the 2,400 state and local
housing agencies that administer the program.
http://webclipper.handsnet.org/2007/10/housing-voucher.php
**Economic Security
Work, Work Supports,
and Safety Nets
In a rich, advanced economy
like the United States, poverty should be viewed as an aberration.
This Agenda for Shared Prosperity briefing paper describe a set of social
welfare policies that ensures that work is a pathway out of poverty and that
revitalizes the nation's safety net and social insurance systems that keep
people from falling into privation when the market fails them.
http://webclipper.handsnet.org/2007/10/work-work-suppo.php
Policies to Promote Adult
Education and Postsecondary Alignment
The Policy Brief prepared
by the Center for Law and Social Policy
examines obstacles to moving toward the goal of "helping adults with
lower skills and/or limited English proficiency earn postsecondary credentials
that open doors to family-supporting jobs."
The brief focuses major attention to lack of alignment between federal and
state adult education efforts, job training services, and postsecondary education
policies. It also draws attention to the financial, personal, and family challenges
that prevent adults from seeking and completing programs. Numerous policy
and action recommendations are given.
http://webclipper.handsnet.org/2007/10/policies-to-pro.php
Improving Work Supports
Analysts estimate that anywhere
from a quarter to a third of U.S. workers hold low-wage jobs that provide
few prospects for advancement and wage growth. Low wages, few employer-provided
benefits, minimal savings, and increased debt have left large numbers of American
workers and their families economically vulnerable. In fact, many such families
are merely one crisis--a serious illness, job loss, or divorce--away from
financial devastation. The Agenda for Shared Prosperity briefing paper Improving
Work Supports, explains why such programs are needed and how the United States needs to reform them.
http://webclipper.handsnet.org/2007/10/improving-work.php
HIV-Positive Employees
Face Job Loss and Workplace Discrimination
HIV-positive employees face
unemployment and workplace discrimination, indicates a study published ahead
of print in Occupational and Environmental Medicine. But women and those who
are less well educated are the most vulnerable, the research shows. Holding
down a job helps maintain living standards among those with long term conditions,
and protects mental and physical health, say the authors
http://webclipper.handsnet.org/2007/10/hivpositive-emp.php
**Education
Vouchers and Public School
Performance
School choice and vouchers
have become an increasingly important part of that educational reform policy
debate. The debate is rooted in ideological differences between market proponents,
who attach greater importance to individual choice, and supporters of a publicly
run educational system, who place greater importance on equity, commonality,
and public accountability. In a new book, Vouchers and Public School Performance,
authors ask whether there is evidence that increased competition among schools
introduced by a large-scale voucher plan in an urban school district, Milwaukee,
resulted in improved student performance in public elementary schools.
http://webclipper.handsnet.org/2007/10/vouchers-and-pu.php
Department Awards $100
Million in Magnet School Grants
The U.S. Department of Education
announced the award of $100 million in Magnet School grants to 41 school districts
in 17 states. The awards will help school districts create more school choices
for parents, bring diverse groups of children together and help create innovative
educational programs. The funds awarded today will help school districts
establish new magnet schools or expand existing magnet programs that are part
of a school district's court-ordered or federally approved voluntary desegregation
plan.
http://webclipper.handsnet.org/2007/10/department-awar-2.php
Department of Education
Awards $2.45 Million for Improved Measures of Achievement for Post-Secondary
Students
The U.S Department of Education
announced an award of $2.45 million to The Association of American Colleges
and Universities in conjunction with the American Association of State Colleges
and Universities and the National Association of State Universities and Land
Grant Colleges, to provide reliable and valid measures for assessing student
learning at the post-secondary level. Last year, the Secretary's Commission
on the Future of Higher Education found that despite increased attention to
student learning results by colleges and universities, parents and students
still have no solid evidence of how much students learn in college or whether
they learn more at one college than another.
http://webclipper.handsnet.org/2007/10/us-department-o-4.php
Education Department
Names 287 U.S. Schools as 2007 No Child Left Behind-Blue
Ribbon Schools
The U.S Department of Education
named 287 schools in the United States as 2007 No Child Left Behind-Blue
Ribbon Schools. The No Child Left Behind-Blue Ribbon Schools award, one of
the most prestigious education awards in the country, distinguishes and honors
schools for helping students achieve at very high levels and for making significant
progress in closing the achievement gap. The No Child Left Behind-Blue Ribbon
Schools Program honors public and private elementary, middle and high schools
that are either academically superior or that demonstrate dramatic gains in
student achievement to high levels.
http://webclipper.handsnet.org/2007/10/secretary-spell-9.php
Not Finishing High School
May Lead to Memory Problems
The study showed that compared
with people with a low education level, those with a medium education level
had a 40-percent lower risk of developing dementia and those with a high education
level had an 80-percent lower risk. "It may be that highly educated
people have a greater cognitive reserve, which is the brain's ability to maintain
function in spite of damage, thus making it easier to postpone the negative
effects of dementia.
http://webclipper.handsnet.org/2007/10/not-finishing-h.php
**Health
New York City's Infant Mortality Rate Declined in
2006
New York City's infant mortality rate -- widely
regarded as a barometer of a population's general health fell slightly in
2006, according to the Health Department. In 2006, there were 740 infant
deaths (defined as deaths of infants less than a year old) out of 125,506
New York City births. The leading causes of infant
death both in New York City and nationally are birth defects,
premature birth, and low birth weight.
http://webclipper.handsnet.org/2007/10/new-york-citys.php
Can Racial Health Disparities
Be Effectively Reduced?
Studies show that minority
patients generally receive a lower quality of health care compared to white
patients. A supplement to the October 2007 issue of Medical Care Research
and Review, published by SAGE, thoroughly explores the effectiveness of health
care interventions to answer that question. The literature review provides
health care organizations, providers and payers with promising intervention
recommendations on how they can reduce racial and ethnic disparities in their
own organizations in the areas of: cardiovascular disease, diabetes, depression,
and breast cancer.
http://webclipper.handsnet.org/2007/10/can-racial-heal.php
Medical School Study Identifies the Best Weight-Loss
Plans for Heart Health
Over the past three decades,
the rising obesity epidemic has been accompanied by a proliferation of weight-loss
plans. However, as a new study by researchers from the University of Massachusetts Medical School (UMMS) reveals, these weight-loss
plans vary significantly in their ability to positively affect heart health.
In "A Dietary Quality Comparison of Popular Weight-Loss Plans,"
published in the October issue of the Journal of the American Dietetic Association,
several weight-loss plans significantly outperformed others in their ability
to reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease.
http://webclipper.handsnet.org/2007/10/umass-medical-s.php
HHS Announces More Than
90 Percent of Medicare Beneficiaries Will Have Access to a Lower Premium Drug
Plan in 2008
The Department of Health
and Human Services announced that more than 90 percent of Medicare beneficiaries
in a stand-alone Part D prescription drug plan will have access to at least
one plan in 2008 with premiums lower than they are paying this year. The open
enrollment period for 2008 begins Nov. 15th and ends Dec. 31st The actual
average premium paid by beneficiaries for standard Part D coverage in 2008
is expected to be nearly 40 percent lower than originally projected when the
benefit was established in 2003.
http://webclipper.handsnet.org/2007/10/hhs-announces-m.php
A Nation Divided Over
Health Care? Not so fast
Americans may be sharply
divided in their views on many aspects of health care in the United States, but they are in strong agreement
when it comes to one of the most important but overlooked elements --- a nationwide
trauma system. According to the survey, almost half of voters (46 percent)
believe their own states are prepared for an emergency situation, but half
(50 percent) do not believe the nation's trauma centers are prepared to handle
large-scale medical emergencies.
http://webclipper.handsnet.org/2007/10/a-nation-divide.php
