James Milan entered foster care at age 4. “My childhood wasn’t the greatest,” he says wryly. “I was trying to figure out why my mother didn’t want me, why my father wasn’t there.” In and out of foster care homes and group homes, he found the Claremont Neighborhood Center in the Bronx, N.Y., — and now works as a senior counselor there with kids ages 5 through 13. [For more go to http://jjie.org/170747-2/170747/]
Citing research and data on the negative impacts of solitary confinement on the human mind and spirit, President Obama has banned the use of solitary confinement in federal prisons for juveniles. The hope is that for now, this policy will serve as a model for state correctional systems to adopt as well. Sen. Cory Booker, D-New Jersey, is also working to prohibit widespread juvenile solitary confinement. Booker teamed with Sen. Rand Paul, R-Kentucky, to introduce the Record Expungement...
HIV has exacted a terrible toll on many children in sub-Saharan Africa. Of more than 17.8 million children who have lost one or both parents to HIV globally, 15 million live in Africa. Another three million are infected with HIV. And each year very large numbers are made vulnerable when parents or family members become sick and are unable to work. The global health community has made significant progress over the past 15 years to understand how to keep HIV-positive children alive and prevent...
A&Q is a special series that inverts the classic Q&A , taking some of the most frequently posed solutions to pressing matters of policy and exploring their complexity. One of the underlying themes of the tumultuous presidential election is that middle-class Americans feel like they’re stuck in a rut. Indeed, U.S. workers’ share of national income has been shrinking since the late 1990s (meaning that more of it than ever is going to the top 1 percent), and average annual income growth...
A&Q is a special series that inverts the classic Q&A , taking some of the most frequently posed solutions to pressing matters of policy and exploring their complexity. There’s nearly bipartisan consensus these days that something has gone wrong in the relationship between police and the public in the United States. Shootings of unarmed people, videos of excessive force, and massive protests from coast to coast attest to the problem. But recognizing the problem is different from...
In Wisconsin, ACEs awareness has entered the governor’s mansion. One day this fall, Governor Scott Walker stopped by to chat with a group that works with First Lady Tonette Walker on Fostering Futures, her initiative to boost child and family well-being through trauma-informed culture, policies and practices. Elizabeth Hudson, Director of the state’s Office of Children’s Mental Health (OCMH), listened as the governor told of a visit to the Veterans’ Administration (VA). When he asked how the...
Hello all, I wanted to raise your awareness of these two great funding opportunities. I believe there a a few groups here that might be perfect ... Communities Addressing Childhood Trauma (ACT) Estimated Funding Level: $3,000,000 per budget period Expected Number of Awards : 7-9 Range of Awards : $325,000 to $400,000 per budget period Anticipated Start Date : 07/01/2016 Period of Performance : Not to exceed five years Budget Period Length: 12 months Application Deadline: April 18, 2016 by 5...
They’re labeled thugs, treated like throwaways and classified by some as “superpredators”: teenage boys and girls who seek sanctuary in gangs, commit violent crimes and end up in the criminal justice system. Not only are they physically locked up, but these children are caged in emotional turmoil. Childhood friends, teachers, school counselors, social workers, lawyers and judges are all baffled as to why these kids would choose a lifestyle where they risk getting shot and killed. Analyzing...
People who have been diagnosed with a chronic, serious mental illness often do not fully understand the importance of health care maintenance. Health care maintenance in the mental health field means finding a psychiatrist and a therapist who are qualified to meet the individual’s needs. Many times, other mental health (social workers, caseworkers, etc.) and medical health workers (general practitioners, specialists, etc.) need to be involved as well. Over time, people who accept the need...
Pediatricians are being told to ask patients about more than just how they’re feeling. They’re being told to ask them if they're financially healthy. The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) released a set of recommendations today that urge pediatricians to screen their patients for poverty. The goal is to reduce the health problems that many times come along with poverty, including obesity, asthma, poor language development, injuries, depression, and psychiatric disorders. Dr. Ben...
"Having access to tertiary care mental health services, for example, is not a predictor of good outcomes," says Dr Perry. "It's about connection to community, culture, family."
A&Q is a special series that inverts the classic Q&A, taking some of the most frequently posed solutions to pressing matters of policy and exploring their complexity. Any American with even a glancing familiarity with the news can rattle off the progression, a litany of place names transformed from cities and towns into metonyms for gun violence: San Bernardino, Colorado Springs, Umpqua, Charleston, Fort Hood, Navy Yard, Sandy Hook, Aurora …. That doesn’t even take into account the...
CCPR: Dr. Moreno, please tell us a little about your background. Dr. Moreno: I am a pediatrician and adolescent medicine specialist. My primary areas of research are social media and problematic internet use. CCPR: What exactly is Internet addiction and where did the idea of it come about? Dr. Moreno: A lot of the early literature used the term “Internet addiction” as something that was synonymous with other addictive behaviors. In some research they would take a scale, for example, for...
A new study shows that depression and anxiety may be associated with a reduced chance of pregnancy and live birth following in vitro fertilization (IVF). While the findings are complex regarding the role of antidepressants in this connection, the researchers say that the results ultimately point to depression and anxiety as the main underlying factors. Within the last few decades, antidepressant treatments, particularly selective serotonin re-uptake inhibitors (SSRIs), have increased both in...
When Nicole Roundtree lost her cleaning job at the Milwaukee County Secure Juvenile Detention Center in June, she and her 2-year-old son Elijah ended up living in her car. For more than five months, the pregnant 29-year-old mother searched for shelter and work without success. Finally in early December, she found Nia Imani Family Inc. , Milwaukee’s only long-term transitional living facility for homeless women and children, through an online search. “When we moved in, my son and I were...