October 2021

By Paurvi Bhatt, STAT, October 19, 2021 A s a working daughter, I recently embarked on a new and uncertain phase of my career: taking paid leave for my seriously ill mother. Without children of my own, I never needed to consider paid leave. This new role in caregiving is making me square cultural norms and values engrained in me as a second-generation South Asian immigrant and as a female only child with my senior leadership role in corporate America. While I’ve juggled responsibilities for...

By Claire Cain Miller, The New York Times, October 25, 2021 Congress is now considering four weeks of paid family and medical leave, down from the 12 weeks that were initially proposed in the Democrats’ spending plan. If the plan becomes law, the United States will no longer be one of six countries in the world — and the only rich country — without any form of national paid leave. But it would still be an outlier. Of the 185 countries that offer paid leave for new mothers, only one, Eswatini...

BOISE, Idaho — There is a new high school in Boise for pregnant and parenting teenagers. Cardinal Academy Public Charter School is located on the Salvation Army's recently completed Booth Campus on Emerald Avenue. Cardinal Academy is a free public charter school that offers these students in 9th-12th grade, ages 14-21, the opportunity to get their education and get the support they need to parent while they receive their diploma. "Cardinal is such an amazing resource because they have...

Reimagining Resilience 1: Using a Trauma Lens November daytime option - Mondays, 11/8, 15, & 29 11am - 12:15pm https://www.eventbrite.com/e/194069215247 November evening option - Tuesdays, 11/9, 16, & 30 5pm - 6:15pm https://www.eventbrite.com/e/180398666267 You will leave this training series with a deeper knowledge of trauma’s impact on developing brains, a better analysis of your own behavior and triggers, and concrete next steps to improve your relationships with kids. The course...

This resource from the National Child Traumatic Stress Network describes how young children, school-age children, and adolescents react to traumatic events and offers suggestions on how parents and caregivers can help and support them. Please click here to access the resource.

By Jessica Grose, The New York Times, October 20, 2021 I have heard from many readers and friends that their kids are struggling to adjust to in-person schooling this year. For the little ones, there’s more separation anxiety, which means more tears at drop-off, and struggles to even get out the door. For older children and teens, I’m hearing that some previously motivated kids are less engaged. Perhaps they fell behind during remote learning and feel discouraged now that they’re back in the...

By 1,000 Days, October 2021 In this update to our 2019 report, The First 1,000 Days: The Case for Paid Leave in America , we present the latest research and data from the last two years on the opportunity to reduce racial and ethnic disparities in maternal and child health through the passage of a universal, comprehensive paid family and medical leave policy in the United States. [ Please click here to access the report .]

By Dasia Moore, The Boston Globe, October 13, 2021 When Felicia Love found out she was expecting her second child, she knew she needed a care provider who would make her feel safe. Love was in her early 30s, but the news transported her back to her teenage years, when she first became a mother. “It was a really scary experience for me. I felt really unsupported. I had so many questions that went unanswered,” she recalls. Love’s children are now 24 and 8, raised in her home state of Rhode...

By Judith Shulevitz , The New York Times, October 22, 2021 Eastern Village, a 55-unit apartment complex off a commercial strip in Silver Spring, Md., is a surprisingly lovely place, considering that it once housed the drab offices of a social workers’ association and then stood abandoned for nearly a decade, water dripping through the ceilings. When I visited this summer, ivy cascaded so exuberantly over the facade that I walked past the entrance. The landscaped courtyard, wrested out of a...

Healing the Heart Through the Creative Arts, Education & Advocacy Hope, Healing & Help for Trauma, Abuse & Mental Health “ Out of suffering have emerged the strongest souls; the most massive characters are seared with scars”. Kahlil Gibran The Surviving Spirit Newsletter October 2021 “Don't Quit” by John Whittier When things go wrong as they sometimes will, When the road you're trudging seems all uphill, When the funds are low and the debts are high And you want to smile, but you...

By Jenny Gold, California Healthline, October 21, 2021 For parents living in poverty, “diaper math” is a familiar and distressingly pressing daily calculation. Babies in the U.S. go through six to 10 disposable diapers a day, at an average cost of $70 to $80 a month. Name-brand diapers with high-end absorption sell for as much as a half a dollar each, and can result in upwards of $120 a month in expenses. One in every three American families cannot afford enough diapers to keep their infants...

The COVID-19 pandemic has been brutal on us all. Rising depression and anxiety plague our world more than any time in recent history, and it is not only adults who are affected. Children have been home from school living with adults who are out of work, out of money, and out of patience. This article will discuss the increase in childhood sexual abuse during the pandemic explaining the underlying causes and some possible solutions. Understanding the Problem The Centers for Disease Control...