CFK Weekly: April 3, 2000

We encourage distribution of this information! If reprinting in whole or part, please attribute it to Connect for Kids (www.connectforkids.org).

NEW ON CONNECT FOR KIDS
**Keeping People Connected: Libraries in the Digital Age
**Donate to Connect for Kids
**The Gift of GAB (Grandparents and Books)
**Libraries Support Kids and Families
**Between the Lions

CONNECT TODAY
**Child Care for Ill and Immuno-Compromised Children

SPOTLIGHT ON GUNS
**Pediatricians Strengthen Call for Removing Guns from Homes
**Child Welfare League Reports on Children and Guns
**Guns Exempt from Product Safety Oversight
**Tips for Parents

STATE OF AMERICA'S CHILDREN 2000

EDUCATION NEWS
**Public Sold on Public Education, But Worried
**Digest of Education Statistics 1999 Released

HELPING FAMILIES AFTER WELFARE REFORM
**Child Support Assurance in a New Century
**Why Do Kids in Families Receiving Welfare Miss More School?
**Promoting Resilience
**Improving Outreach for Medicaid and Food Stamps

HOUSING OUT OF REACH FOR MANY
**Families Squeezed Out of Housing Market
**Section 8 Key to Success in More than Housing
**Public Housing Residents Reflect Improvements

REPORTS IN BRIEF
**Internet Use Reported Mostly "Safe and Smart"
**Double Standard in Teen Sexual Behavior
**Asthma on the Rise
**Wages for Welfare Mothers
**Fathers and Child Neglect
**Reduced Benefits Linked to Increased Child Neglect
**Early Head Start Evaluation Released

FOCUS ON THE STATES

THINGS TO DO! PLACES TO GO!

NEW ON CONNECT FOR KIDS  (http://www.connectforkids.org)

April 8 is Connect for Kids Day at the Library! This week, we focus on libraries and the many ways they help build better communities for kids and families. For more information, visit our home page or the ALA Connect for Kids Day page. http://www.ala.org/kidsday/

**Keeping People Connected: Libraries in the Digital Age
by Caitlin Johnson
More than just a place for learning and reflection, today's public libraries provide critical support to kids and families through technology and information -- and sometimes, just by bringing people together.
http://www.connectforkids.org

**Gift of GAB (Grandparents and Books)
by Julee Newberger
Librarian Maureen Wade brings elders and children together after school through the Grandparents and Books program.
http://www.connectforkids.org

**Libraries Support Kids and Families
From locating community resources to getting help with your taxes to providing safe, structured activities for kids after school, today's libraries are about books and much, much more! Connect for Kids highlights the broad array of family services you can find in your community library.
http://www.connectforkids.org

**Between the Lions
At a time when forty percent of the nation's fourth graders fail to reach even a basic level of reading proficiency, this PBS children's series is using music, stories, animation, live-action and puppetry to help kids see the rewards of reading and writing and the value of the library.
http://www.connectforkids.org

CONNECT TODAY

**Child Care for Ill or Immuno-Compromised Children
Are there child care supports in your community or state for children who are seriously ill? Mother Jennifer Sell writes, "Many parents lose their jobs to stay at home to care for their ill child ... or bring [them] to a hospital clinic." She is looking for advice and information about child care that brings children together and allows parents to work and take time out from the stress of the disease and the fear that something will happen to their child. Can you help?
http://www.connectforkids.org/thread_msg1583/thread_msg_show.htm?message_id=16726

SPOTLIGHT ON GUNS

**Pediatricians Strengthen Call for Removing Guns from Homes
The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) has issued a stronger call for banning handguns and assault weapons in its revised policy statement, released April 3, 2000. Firearm Injuries Affecting the Pediatric Population reaffirms AAP's position and calls for guns to be subject to safety and design regulations, like other consumer products, and for an information clearinghouse to gather data on firearm-related injuries to guide policy in the future.
http://www.aap.org

**Child Welfare League Reports on Children and Guns
"Finding sanctuary from guns in this country can be hard," says Peter Slavin in "Children and Guns," the lead article in the Child Welfare League of America's magazine, Children's Voices. The March 2000 issue includes an article by Richard Rhodes on brutality, and tips for combating bullying. E-mail cwla@pmds.com for a copy. Cost: $10.

**Guns Exempt from Product Safety Oversight
The Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) can protect kids from unsafe cribs or hazardous toys -- but the one consumer product that the CPSC is not allowed to regulate is the gun. Furthermore, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms has only limited power over the design of firearms to protect children from accidental or unexpected firing. The Joyce Foundation and the Consumer Federation of America want to eliminate special treatment for guns to better protect consumers from accidental, and intentional, firearm injuries and deaths.
http://www.joycefdn.org/publications/pubsfs.html

**Tips for Parents
Do you talk to your kids about guns? And do you know what's in your neighbor's house? Here are some tips from "Common Sense About Kids and Guns." http://www.kidsandguns.org

Get informed on for state and federal debates on gun control by doing a keyword search of Connect for Kids for the word "guns" or reading the special "Kids and Guns" edition of the Weekly. http://www.connectforkids.org

STATE OF AMERICA'S CHILDREN 2000

The Children's Defense Fund's annual Yearbook gives a clear profile of what is happening with children in each state, but overall child poverty rates persist. Cost: $15.95 plus $3 S&H. Call 202-662-3652 for ordering information.

Connect for Kids' Key Reports and Data section provides comprehensive information on multiple topics concerning kids and families. http://www.connectforkids.org

EDUCATION NEWS

**Public Sold on Public Education, But Worried
The Center for National Policy report, "Passing the Test: The National Interest in Good Schools for All," finds that American voters clearly value the public schools' role in offering a quality, free education to all, helping to unite the nation and spur the economy. But the public is concerned about discipline, values, drugs, and school violence.
http://www.cnponline.org

**Digest of Education Statistics 1999 Released
The National Center on Education Statistics digest offers more than 400 tables of information spanning pre-kindergarten through graduate school.
http://nces.ed.gov/pubsearch/pubsinfo.asp?pubid=2000031

HELPING FAMILIES AFTER WELFARE REFORM

**Child Support Assurance for a New Century
Less than a third of all single mothers receive child support, a proportion that has increased only slightly over the last twenty years. This idea brief by Century Foundation describes how the government should be a guarantor for child support to reduce poverty among single parents.
http://www.tcf.org/ideas2000/Issues/Social_Economic/Child_Support.pdf

**Why Do Kids in Families Receiving Welfare Miss More School?
Many states are attempting to reduce school absenteeism by cutting families' welfare checks when their children miss too much school. According to an analysis of school absenteeism by Abt Associates, kids from welfare families do miss more school, but usually it is because they are in poorer health than their peers -- not because of parental indifference.
http://www.abtassoc.com/newsroom/press-releases/pr-welfare-school.html

**Promoting Resilience
This issue brief by the National Center for Children in Poverty argues that to make welfare reform succeed, policy makers will need to focus on a subset of the most "hard-to-serve" families affected by welfare changes -- those who experience domestic violence, alcohol, drugs, and other substance abuse and serious mental health issues, and who are parents of young children.
http://cpmcnet.columbia.edu/dept/nccp/cwr8text.htm

**Improving Outreach for Medicaid and Food Stamps
This Mathematica research review concludes that declines in Medicaid and Food Stamp participation may reflect differing causes, however, improving enrollments in both might rest on some similar strategies -- concentrating on outreach programs, simplifying applications, reviewing closed cases and improving worker knowledge of eligibility rules. http://38.150.5.70/accesslitreview.pdf

Learn how poverty and welfare affect children in Connect for Kids' Topics A-Z. http://www.connectforkids.org

HOUSING OUT OF REACH FOR MANY

**Families Squeezed Out of Housing Market
A new Housing and Urban Development report on "worst case" housing needs shows the down side for low-income families of this "up" economy. HUD Secretary Andrew Cuomo is urging more funding for housing vouchers, known as "Section 8."
http://huduser.org/publications/affhsg/worstcase00.html

**Section 8 Key to Success in More than Housing
Section 8 vouchers help families do more than find affordable housing -- they also improve parents' employment opportunities and the educational, health and safety outcomes for their children, according to Robert Greenstein of the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities (CBPP).  Read their latest report.
http://www.cbpp.org/3-22-00hous.htm

**Public Housing Residents Reflect Improvements
Of the 1.3 million families living in public housing, 87 percent report they are satisfied or very satisfied with their services and living conditions for their families, up from 75 percent in last year's survey.
http://www.hud.gov/pressrel/pr00-60.html

REPORTS IN BRIEF

**Internet Use Reported Mostly "Safe and Smart"
A survey of parents and kids on home and school computer use by the National School Boards Foundation indicates that the Internet is emerging as a powerful tool for learning and for connecting kids, families and schools at all income levels.
http://www.nsbf.org/safe-smart/index.html

**Double Standard in Teen Sexual Behavior
According to "Gender Differences in the Timing of First Intercourse," teenage sex in any of 14 countries occurs mostly outside of marriage for young men and within marriage for young women.
http://www.agi-usa.org/pubs/journals/2602100.html

**Asthma on the Rise
"Prevalence, Impact, and Trends in Childhood Disability Due to Asthma" reports that asthma, the leading cause of school absence, is increasing at a much faster rate than disability due to other causes.
http://archpedi.ama-assn.org/issues/v154n3/abs/poa90233.html

**Wages for Welfare Mothers
Welfare mothers who enter the workforce may experience slow growth in earnings -- more due to limited work hours than to limitations of their earning capacity, according to University of Michigan researchers.
http://www.newswise.com/articles/2000/3/WAGES2.UMI.html

**Fathers and Child Neglect
A study on high-risk families demonstrates fathers who felt more effective as parents were less likely to have neglected their children.
http://archpedi.ama-assn.org/issues/v154n2/full/poa9069.html

**Reduced Benefits Linked to Increased Child Neglect
According to "Work, Welfare, and Child Maltreatment," decreases in a state's welfare benefit levels are associated with large increases in child neglect, and with small decreases in physical abuse.
http://nberws.nber.org/papers/W7343

**Early Head Start Evaluation Released
The first major report on the Early Head Start national evaluation tells the story of the 17 programs that helped launch the first nationwide program for low-income infants and toddlers.
http://www.mathematica-mpr.com/leadexec.pdf
(Thanks to the Onyx Group -- http://www.onyx-group.com -- for this tip).

FOCUS ON THE STATES

Visit your Connect for Kids State Page for information about improving the lives of kids and families in your state, including the following items. http://www.connectforkids.org/homepage1576/index.htm

**Differences in Racial and Ethnic Health Gaps Across States
The generalization that most racial and ethnic groups -- including African-Americans and Hispanics -- have more health-risk behaviors and utilize preventive services less often is affirmed in the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's first state-by-state look at risks for the five major racial and ethnic groups.
http://www.cdc.gov/od/oc/media/pressrel/r2k0324a.htm

**HHS Awards Child Support Waivers
Demonstration projects in ten states will test new approaches for engaging young, unmarried fathers to support their children financially and emotionally. In Baltimore, Boston, Chester County (Penn.), Chicago, Denver, Indianapolis, Los Angeles, Milwaukee/Racine, Minneapolis and New York City, state-run child support enforcement programs and community-based organizations will team up to provide more comprehensive services including career planning, parenting workshops, substance abuse and anger management counseling, regular child support enforcement services and more.
http://www.hhs.gov/news/press/2000pres/20000329.html

**State by State Highlights
California -- California's shortage of affordable housing is shaping up to be a major issue during the 2000 state legislative session. E-mail the California Budget Project for details (cbp@cbp.org).

On March 23, 2000 Santa Clara County, California became the first county in the US to sue paint manufacturers and the Lead Industries Association.
http://www.connectforkids.org/homepage1667/index.htm?state_id=381

Connecticut -- Connecticut Voices for Children reports that the state House and Senate Democrats are proposing widely different budgets for state spending. Sign up for their newsletter by e-mailing Cheryl Barrett (cheryl@ctkidslink.org).
http://www.connectforkids.org/homepage1667/index.htm?state_id=383

District of Columbia -- "Violent Neighborhoods, Violent Kids" explores the similarities and differences in kids' patterns of delinquent behaviors --fighting, stealing, drug-dealing, drinking, etc -- in high-risk D.C.neighborhoods. http://www.connectforkids.org/homepage1667/index.htm?state_id=385

Illinois -- Robert R. McCormick Tribune Foundation's early childhood education initiative reports successes in helping more Chicago child care centers gain accreditation.
http://www.connectforkids.org/homepage1667/index.htm?state_id=390

Massachusetts -- The high costs of child care are forcing a majority of parents in Massachusetts to rely on unlicensed child care providers.
http://www.connectforkids.org/homepage1667/index.htm?state_id=398

Minnesota -- The 2000 Minnesota Kids Count Data Book has good news.
http://www.connectforkids.org/homepage1667/index.htm?state_id=400

Ohio -- CDF Ohio reports on Gov. Taft's new regulation changes to reduce barriers to health care for low-income families.  http://www.connectforkids.org/homepage1667/index.htm?state_id=412

Tennessee -- "Covering the Uninsured Through TennCare: Does It Make a Difference?" is available in print only. Call 609-275-2350.

Texas -- The State of Texas Children 2000 has just been released by the Center for Public Policy Priorities.
http://www.connectforkids.org/homepage1667/index.htm?state_id=421

Washington -- Read about new reports on a state initiative to improve child care quality and strengthen strategies for prosecuting juvenile offenders.
http://www.connectforkids.org/homepage1667/index.htm?state_id=425

THINGS TO DO! PLACES TO GO!

**Take a Stand
When your Congressional representatives return home for the spring Congressional recess, they want to hear from you about what matters to your family and your community. Keep up to date with federal legislative proposals that have a big impact on children and families -- everything from the Elementary and Secondary Education Act bill to hunger relief legislation -- through daily status reports by the Coalition on Human Needs. And then let your Congressperson know how you feel!
http://www.chn.org/status/

**April Calendar
April is Alcohol Awareness Month, April 5 is Kick Butts Day and April 28 is Children's Memorial Day. This week (April 3) "In the Mix," the PBS program, will air its special "Alcohol: What You Don't Know." Visit the Connect for Kids calendar for these and other events.
http://www.connectforkids.org/calendar1569/calendar_list.htm?month=4&year=2000

Celebrate Connect for Kids Day at your local library, everyone!

Jan Richter, Outreach Specialist and the Connect for Kids team
Jan@benton.org