Blog

Ivan Encelewski, executive director at Ninilchik Traditional Council, fishes for salmon with a gillnet on the Kenai River in Alaska. Provided photo. By Nancy Marie Spears, The Imprint, September 5, 2023 Research released today highlights an issue rarely discussed in the field of child welfare, but vital to the health and well-being of Indigenous children and families: their stewardship of the natural environment. The unique study focuses on many generations of the Alaska Native Ninilchik...

By Seth D. Kaplan, Illustration: Bryce Wymer, Stanford Social Innovation Review, Fall 2023 Americans have much less social trust than they used to, scholarship and polls suggest. The public has precious little faith in everything from the federal government to organized religion to the media to people of divergent political sympathies. “Our [country’s] stock of social capital—the very fabric of our connections with each other—has plummeted, impoverishing our lives and communities,” concludes...

By Jack Saul, Photo: from article, Psychotherapy Networker, September/October 2023 As you enter the dimly lit space, you sit down in one of 10 chairs arranged in a circle. Others file in and choose their seats, each person facing several others. You wait. Then, you begin to hear the voices of other men and women, invisible to you, speaking from all sides of the space. The voices rise above the ambient sounds and music in the background. First, you hear a young man. His voice is prerecorded,...

Shneaqua Purvis in front of Tompkins Houses, the public housing project in Brooklyn where her sister was shot to death in their family home in 2002. Joel Arbaje for The Trace By Laura Esposito, the Trace, September 7, 2023 Shneaqua Purvis grew up to the sound of gunfire. As kids in Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn, in the 1980s and ’90s, she and her sisters would all duck their heads and crawl under the kitchen table when the shooting started. Their first-floor apartment was next to an alley so...

By Gray Babbs, Em Balkan, Jae Downing Corman, and David J. Meyers, Photo: from article, HealthAffairs, September 11, 2023 In July 2023, the US House of Representatives made bold and decisive moves to erode gender-affirming health care coverage, marking the beginning of a new frontier in the battle for transgender rights. The House passed two bills and released a third bill that would impact gender-affirming care coverage for Medicare, Medicaid, TRICARE, the Indian Health Service (IHS), and...

By Laura Gallant, 9/14/23, https://positiveexperience.org/blog/ Having access to child care is fundamental to practicing positive childhood experiences (PCEs) and creating access to all Four Building Blocks of HOPE. Affordable child care creates less financial stress leading to less stress in the home. Children have a safe environment to play and learn in during the week, creating routine and stability. During the COVID-19 pandemic, the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) included funding for...

We often have conversations with our children about the first day of school, but we don’t always take the time to discuss the first school bus ride. Having to board the bus can induce feelings of fear and anxiety, whether it’s the first day of school ever or just the first day of a new school year. It’s big, it’s bright, it’s loud and it’s full of strangers. Preparation can help ease negative feelings children might experience. Here are a few tips to make the first school bus adventure less...

New proof that poverty is a policy choice The richest nation in the history of the world has chosen to impoverish millions of our children Robert Reich Sep 14, 2023 Poverty is a policy choice. Congress has chosen to have a significant percentage of our population impoverished, including — especially — our nation’s children. There is no law of nature or principle of economics or Constitutional provision that dictates such a high number of people in poverty within the richest nation in the...

Laurie S Ramiro 1 , Bernadette J Madrid , David W Brown Abstract Objective: This study aimed to examine the association among adverse childhood experiences, health-risk behaviors, and chronic disease conditions in adult life. Study population: One thousand and sixty-eight (1,068) males and females aged 35 years and older, and residing in selected urban communities in Metro Manila participated in the cross-sectional survey. Methods: A pretested local version of the Adverse Childhood...

In case it is of interest to you, please see the message below from the California Department of Social Services, Office of Child Abuse Prevention (CDSS/OCAP): Dear Child, Family, and Community Well-Being Partners, The Child Welfare Council (CWC), and the Prevention & Early Intervention (PEI) Committee Co-Chairs, have officially announced the formation of the Mandated Reporting to Community Supporting (MRCS) Task Force, and introduced the MRCS Task Force members —also listed at the end...

In case it is of interest to you, please see the message below from the California Department of Social Services, Office of Child Abuse Prevention (CDSS/OCAP): If you applied to the Mandated Reporting to Community Supporting Task Force but were not selected (see following announcement), there is still an opportunity to be a part of the shift towards community supporting efforts! The OCAP is thrilled to announce that the Online Mandated Reporter Training will be undergoing a redesign to align...

New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham speaks at the Arcosa Wind Towers, Aug. 9, 2023, in Belen, N.M. Grisham on Friday, Sept. 8, issued an emergency public health order that suspends the open and permitted concealed carry of firearms in Albuquerque for 30 days in the midst of a spate of gun violence. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon, File) By Morgan Lee, Associated Press, September 9, 2023 New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham on Friday issued an emergency order suspending the right to carry...