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**Children, Youth & Families
Foster
Care Guides to Programs that Encourage Placement of Children with
Permanent Families
Two new reports by the
Children's Defense Fund, one done jointly with Cornerstone Consulting Group of Houston discuss subsidized guardianship programs which can
help provide safe, permanent families for children who have been in foster care
with relatives or other caregivers. The
reports compare programs nationwide and discuss strategies to make them
successful.
http://www.childrensdefense.org/pressreleases/041013.asp
Possible Recoupment of SCHIP Costs Through
the Child Support Program
According to the Center for Law and Social Policy
the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' (HHS) Office of Inspector
General (OIG) recently conducted studies in several states on the potential for
recouping State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) costs from
non-custodial parents through the child support program. This memo summarizes
the OIG recommendations and state actions so far for Connecticut, Indiana,
Michigan, New Jersey,
New York, North
Carolina, Texas, and Virginia.
PDF: http://www.clasp.org/DMS/Documents/1098301453.28/CS_SCHIP.pdf
**Civic Engagement
Naturalized Citizens To Play Decisive Role in Election
The Center for Community
Change has worked with 53 grassroots organizations in 24 states to register
over 135,000 first-time voters and mobilize over 250,000 voters in low-income,
minority and immigrant communities as part of a non-partisan voter drive.
http://www.communitychange.org/press/releases/?page=102004
**Community Development
Rethinking
Local Affordable Housing Strategies
An analysis from the
Brookings Institution focuses on the housing challenges facing Washington State in this presentation at the Housing Washington 2004
conference. The speech reviews Washington's particular challenges and then outlines a
"winning affordable-housing playbook" applicable anywhere.
http://www.brookings.org/METRO/speeches/20040921_affordablehousing.htm
**Disabilities
Medicare's Waiting Period:
Severe Hardships for Disabled Americans
A new report by The
Commonwealth Fund points out that unlike older Americans, adults under age 65
who have severe or permanent disabilities must wait two years before their
Medicare coverage takes effect. The reprot vividly
shows the requirement's impact on disabled adults, many of whom cannot find
affordable health coverage during the wait, skip medications, or go without
desperately needed care.
http://www.cmwf.org/publications/publications_show.htm?doc_id=243219
**Education
TestTalk Issue 3 - Adequate Yearly Progress
An issue of TestTalk from the Center on Education Policy discusses the
reasons why schools and districts may be designated as not making AYP. Each year, states release lists of schools
and school districts that have not made "adequate yearly progress"
(AYP) during the past year in raising student achievement. Schools and
districts appear on these lists because they have fallen short of the annual
test score targets and other performance benchmarks set by states to comply
with the federal No Child Left Behind Act.
http://www.ctredpol.org/pubs/TestTalk/CEPTestTalk3.html
Physically Fit Children
appear to do Better in Classroom
University of Illinois
researchers have been exploring whether physically fit kids better suited to
compete not only on the ball field, but in the classroom in a series of studies
during the past two years, and preliminary results indicate a correlation. There is a strong relationship between
academic achievement and fitness scores.
Those who scored well in academics also did well in physical fitness.
http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2004-10/uoia-pfc101904.php
**Health
Approximately Half
of Americans in Medicare Are at Risk of Losing Coverage When the New Law Is
Implemented:
An analysis from Families USA
of the new Medicare law and proposed regulations for the law shows that the new
program will be more than a disappointment--half of America's Medicare
beneficiaries are at risk of being worse off then they are today.
http://www.familiesusa.org/site/DocServer?docID=5281
Environmental risks
greater for Latinos
A report by the Natural
Resources Defense Council finds that Latinos are at greater risk from
environmental threats than the general population. The increased risk is due to a combination of
where Latinos live, where they work and how they get, or don't get,
information.
http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/1020latinoenviro20.html
**Hunger & Nutrition
Food Stamp Participation
Increases in July 2004 To Nearly 24.4 Million Persons
According to an analysis from
the Food Research and Action Center participation in the Food Stamp Program in July 2004
(the latest data available) increased by 231,602 persons from the previous
month, to 24,395,106 persons. Some of this increase was due to continuing high
rates of joblessness, states improving access, and the effects of the food
stamp reauthorization implementation.
The July 2004 level of Food Stamp Program participation represented a
rise of nearly 2.4 million persons compared to the July 2003 level and more
than 7 million persons since July 2000 (when program participation nationally
reached its lowest point in the last decade).
http://www.frac.org/html/news/fsp/07.04_FSP.html
**Violence Prevention
Panel finds that Scare
Tactics for Violence Prevention are Harmful
According to an independent
state-of-the-science panel convened by the National Institutes of Health
programs that rely on "scare tactics" to prevent children and
adolescents from engaging in violent behavior are not only ineffective, but may
actually make the problem worse. The
panel, charged with assessing the available evidence on preventing violence and
other health-risking behaviors in adolescents, announced its assessment of the
current research.
http://www.nih.gov/news/pr/oct2004/od-15.htm
When Violence Hits Home:
How Economics and Neighborhood Play a Role
According to a National
Institute of justice brief, for women, having financial problems in their
intimate relationships and living in an economically distressed neighborhood
combine to create greater risk of injury and violence. This paper discusses who
is most at risk and details the role that economic policies and employment
practices might play in reducing the risk of intimate violence.
http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/nij/pubs-sum/205004.htm
Safety in the Safety Net:
TANF Reauthorization Provisions Relevant to Domestic Violence
The Center for Law and Social Policy
reminds us that October is Domestic Violence Awareness Month. A number of
studies confirm the high level of domestic violence among the low-income women
served by the TANF program. According to the research, about 20 percent of women
receiving cash assistance are current victims of domestic violence, while about
50 to 60 percent have experienced domestic violence during their adulthood.
This paper summarizes key provisions in the TANF reauthorization bills of
particular importance to domestic violence survivors and their advocates.
PDF: http://www.clasp.org/DMS/Documents/1098467782.17/DV_TANF.pdf
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