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News from the field of Child and Youth Care

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JULY 2015

31 JULY

Preventing and treating concussions in youth sports

Before summer ends, school sports begin. Whether it is football, baseball, soccer or cheerleading, children who are involved in sports are at risk of getting a concussion. Half of childhood concussions are sports-related.

A concussion is a type of traumatic brain injury caused by a bump, jolt or blow to the head. It can change the way the brain normally works. While some people recovery quickly, others can have symptoms that last for days, weeks or even longer.

Protective equipment can help prevent concussions in young athletes. Helmets, padding, shin guards and eye and mouth guards should fit properly, be well maintained, and be worn correctly every time the child plays.

If your child plays a team sport, find out whether the league, school or district has a concussion policy, which would include when an athlete can safely return to play after a concussion. Tell your child they shouldn't continue to play after an injury. Be aware they may face pressure from teammates and coaches, who may wrongly believe it shows strength and courage to play injured.

If your child does suffer a concussion, they should be removed from play and seen by a medical professional familiar with concussions. They should not return until the doctor determines they are symptom-free. If a teen returns to play and experiences another concussion before the brain has recovered from the first one, it can slow recovery, or increase the risk for long-term problems such as brain damage.

Signs and symptoms of a concussion include:

• Brief loss of consciousness ("blacking out")
• headache
• sleepiness or difficulty falling asleep
• feeling confused and dazed
• trouble concentrating, thinking, or making decisions
• dizziness
• slurred speech or saying things that don't make sense
• nausea and vomiting
• feeling anxious or irritable for no apparent reason
• difficulty with coordination or balance (such as being able to catch a ball)
• trouble remembering things, such as what happened right before or after the injury
• blurred vision

These symptoms may not appear right away – they can develop over 24 to 72 hours. A doctor diagnosing a concussion will ask about how and when the injury occurred, and which symptoms the child is experiencing. The doctor may also ask questions to assess your child's memory, consciousness and concentration, such as who they are, where they are and what day it is. The doctor also is likely to test balance, coordination, and reflexes. Sometimes a CT scan of the brain or an MRI is ordered to rule out bleeding or other serious injury to the brain.

When recovering from a concussion, your child should get plenty of sleep at night, and rest during the day. Have them avoid activities that are physically demanding, such as sports, or that require a lot of concentration, such as spending a lot of time on video games or on the computer.

While most children recover quickly from concussions, it's possible they may experience symptoms such as headaches, memory loss or having trouble concentrating for several weeks or even months. If symptoms persist, tell your child's doctor.

http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/preventing-and-treating-concussions-in-youth-sports-300119991.html

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29 JULY

The Affordable Care Act (ACA is here to stay, but that doesn't mean the fight for health care reform is over

One of the biggest cases the Supreme Court decided this term upheld a key provision of the Affordable Care Act (ACA). The King v Burwell ruling averted the possibility that Obamacare would be torpedoed by restrictions on insurance subsidies in states that had not established their own health insurance exchange.

When the opinion was released, ACA supporters outside the court chanted with jubilation that "The ACA is here to stay."

They are probably right, but there is still a lot of work to be done to maintain recent gains and make further progress. The fight for health care reform is not over with the ruling in King v Burwell – nor should it be.

We have avoided a crisis, but issues about meaningful insurance coverage, access to health care and costs were problems before the ruling and are still problems today.

The fight over the ACA is not over

King v Burwell isn't the first existential threat that the ACA has survived. Since the ACA was enacted in 2010, I have conducted nearly 200 interviews with policymakers about the politics of health reform. This has given me a view of the ACA's implementation from the trenches.

In late 2012, after President Obama had just won reelection and the Supreme Court had upheld the individual mandate, a critical part of the ACA requiring individuals to have insurance, I wrote that "We can finally say with some certainty that the ACA is here to stay."

But this time I am more cautious about predicting an end to the fighting over the ACA.

The Republican-controlled Congress will never successfully repeal the ACA as long as President Obama wields the veto pen. But what if a Republican occupies the White House in 2017?

Right now, it seems implausible that enough lawmakers would be willing to remove insurance from millions of Americans and reinstate health insurance policies that made it very difficult for people with preexisting conditions to obtain coverage.

But Republicans will continue to push for a full repeal over the next two years, including many of the two dozen candidates for the party's presidential nomination. Most had press releases or tweets calling for repeal almost immediately after the Supreme Court decision was announced.

One contender, Senator Ted Cruz of Texas, responded that:

Every GOP candidate for the Republican nomination should know that this decision makes the 2016 election a referendum on the full repeal of Obamacare.

Keep working on Medicaid expansion

Right now, policymakers, scholars and advocates should continue focusing on expanding Medicaid. The program provides health care to people with low incomes.

Before the ACA was implemented, eligibility for this program had been historically limited to certain categories of people. How poor you had to be to qualify depended on whether you were a child, a pregnant woman or a parent. Childless adults generally could not qualify.

The ACA tried to change this by expanding Medicaid eligibility to everyone whose income is less than 138% of the federal poverty level. States technically were given the choice of whether or not to participate, but would lose all their Medicaid money if they refused. But in 2012, the Supreme Court decided that this was unconstitutionally coercive. That meant states could maintain their existing Medicaid program even if they refused to participate in the expansion.

To date, about 20 states still have not cooperated with this part of the law, preventing millions from receiving coverage and causing hospitals to swallow large costs from uncompensated care. This includes most of the South and states with large uninsured populations such as Florida and Texas.

An estimated 4.3 million more people would be insured if the remaining states expanded Medicaid.

With King v Burwell in the rear-view mirror, it looks like some states are considering expanding Medicaid. Utah is negotiating with the Obama administration about expansion. Alaska Governor Bill Walker is set to announce plans to expand Medicaid on July 15. Other states are developing plans for expansion.

Refusing to expand Medicaid is a missed opportunity for states and their hospitals. The federal government is initially paying 100% of the expansion costs (which will drop to 90% in 2020). This is substantially more than the average 57% it pays for the pre-ACA version of the program.

More people having coverage results in hospitals giving care to fewer people who will never be able to pay. In the places Medicaid has been expanded, uncompensated care costs in 2014 are estimated to be US$7.4 billion (21%) lower than they otherwise would have been.

The ongoing fight for health reform

On July 1, less than a week after the recent Supreme Court decision, President Obama was in Tennessee to talk about what is next for health care reform in the United States. The president said:

I'm hoping that what we can do is now focus on how we can make it even better. Because it's not as if we've solved all the problems in our health care system.

When the ACA passed in 2010, many progressives were severely disappointed. They felt that it did not do enough. The law introduces some delivery and payment reforms, but did little to directly tackle rising health care costs. Instead, the major focus was on expanding insurance coverage.

Future health reform efforts need to more fully address the fact that access to health insurance does not equal access to care. Not all doctors accept Medicaid, and large parts of the country have severe shortages of medical providers.

And for people who earn too much to qualify for Medicaid, high deductible plans might seem like an attractive option because their monthly premiums are low. However, high costs for care can make it harder for people to actually use their insurance.

We need to maintain the progress that has been made, with the uninsured rate dropping from 18% in mid-2013 to 11.4% in mid-2015. But it is also time to more fully confront that increasing access to care is not the only, or even the best, way to improve population health. When a major ACA program has faced financial challenges, the answer has been to take money from the part of the ACA that was intended to devote resources to preventative care.

Policymakers, scholars, and advocates need to focus more on public health, urban planning and initiatives that improve the conditions that people live, work and grow in (often called the social determinants of health). The ongoing fights over reform are an opportunity to move beyond thinking about health in terms of access to insurance and more toward finding ways to improve health overall.

by David K Jones
The Conversation

http://medicalxpress.com/news/2015-07-opinion-aca-doesnt-health-reform.html

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27 JULY

Local organizations to host concert to help recruit parents
for teens in foster care

The Florida Department of Children and Families (DCF) is partnering with Big Bend Community-Based Care, Children’s Home Society, NexGen Band and Lynn Haven United Methodist Church to host a foster parent recruitment event for teens in care . The event is free and open to the public.

Florida’s NexGen Band is a group of teenagers who are either foster, adopted or biological children of foster families from various locations within Florida. NexGen has played at the Florida State Capitol, the National Faith Symposium, the DCF Child Protection Summit, the National and Florida foster parent association conferences and more. The musical group was formed from a larger network of teens in foster care and their families through the Florida Foster and Adopted Parent Association.

In the Northwest Region, there are 2,056 children in foster care. Approximately 385 of those children range in ages 13-17, and many are in need of loving foster parents and families. Foster parents provide children in care with a sense of security and stability. Many foster parents also play a significant role in helping biological families heal and reunite with their children. When that is not possible, they help children transition to a new home and a new family.

For more information Fostering in Florida, please visit: www.MYFLFamilies.com/FosteringSuccess . To learn more about the NexGen Band, visit: http://centervideo.forest.usf.edu/NexGen/start.html

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24 JULY

DHL and SOS Children’s Villages benefit over 3,500 youths from half a decade of partnership in Africa

Youths from 11 countries reached out to through sponsorship and employee engagement activities. ? To date, over 2,000 employees have volunteered in various activities to participate in the partnership. ? Inaugural regional conference organized to discuss challenges and future plans.

Deutsche Post DHL Group (DPDHL Group) (http://www.dpdhl.com), the world’s leading logistics company, together with non-governmental organization SOS Children’s Villages, have celebrated half a decade of a successful partnership that has helped to improve the employment prospects of disadvantaged young people from SOS Children’s villages across 11 countries in Africa. The partnership between DPDHL Group and SOS Children’s Villages began in 2010 in South Africa and Madagascar and has since expanded to nine other African countries – Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Morocco, Mauritius, Nigeria, Swaziland, Tanzania and Uganda.

“Education and employability are highly important topics for Deutsche Post DHL Group and, through our GoTeach program, play a central role in our Corporate Responsibility strategy,” said Christof Ehrhart, Executive Vice President, Corporate Communications and Responsibility, Deutsche Post DHL Group. “We are keen to support the direct development of future logistics talent, but we also firmly believe that education and employability make an important contribution to stability and prosperity in the world. Through five years of partnership with SOS Children’s Villages, we have already seen first-hand the benefits and positive impact that engagement between business and charities that create opportunities for young people can have.”

“Empowering youth and improving their employment prospects is the objective of the international partnership between SOS Children’s Villages and Deutsche Post DHL Group. The success of our partnership is rooted in the commitment of our employees who volunteer their time to mentor youths aged 15-25 and to help them get ready for their foray into the job market,” said Christoph Selig, Head of GoTeach Program, Deutsche Post DHL Group.

“Employees mentor youths from both SOS Children’s Villages and SOS Family Strengthening Programs, and organize a variety of tailored career development activities that deliver tangible results for the mentees,” he added. “It really has been a joy to see the partnership and correspondingly, our outreach to young people, grow. To date, our employees have engaged with over 3,500 youths in Africa.”

Over the past five years, DPDHL Group has organized a variety of activities in the 11 countries, including job shadowing exercises, mentorship programs between DHL employees and SOS children, skills transfer, internships, sports activities and environmental initiatives.

To discuss challenges and future plans, an inaugural conference will take place over four days in Kenya, with teams from both organizations coming together to jointly develop new ideas on how to further strengthen the partnership in Africa and the Middle East.

Speaking from the inaugural regional Africa DHL-SOS Children’s Villages GoTeach Conference in Karen, Nairobi, where more than 50 participants from both organizations are meeting from July 14 to 17, Tom Were, National Director, SOS Children’s Villages Kenya, said, “While SOS provides a loving home for the children that we care for, DHL enables their independence through their employee volunteer program. The program empowers our youth through exposure to the working world and educating them on the career options available. As a result, our youth become self-reliant, responsible, and contributing members of society. We are looking forward to deepening this partnership and extending our outreach to more youth in Africa over the next few years.”

As part of the DPDHL Group GoTeach program, the Group works with two global partners, Teach For All and SOS Children’s Villages, to improve educational opportunity and employability for young people.

Through its partnership with SOS Children’s Villages, which was established in 2010, DPDHL Group today works with Villages in 26 countries in Africa, Asia, Latin America and Europe.1 Along with financial support for educational programs and youth facilities, the activities focus on career guidance, teaching basic professional skills and providing young people with their first exposure to the working environment. DPDHL Group collaborates closely with local SOS Children’s Villages to develop support measures tailored directly to the needs of the community.

In 2014, DPDHL Group volunteers organized more than 160 different activities reaching more than 1,600 young people from socially disadvantaged backgrounds, offering over 100 internships and finally permanently employing 25 young talents.

Corporate Responsibility is an integral part of DPDHL Group’s corporate strategy with “Living Responsibility” as its motto. It focuses on environmental protection (GoGreen), disaster management (GoHelp) and education (GoTeach) and supports employee volunteerism through Global Volunteer Day, and the Living Responsibility Fund.

1. Brazil, Costa Rica, Colombia, Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Ethiopia, Ghana, Haiti, Indonesia, Jordan, Kenya, Lithuania, Madagascar, Morocco, Mauritius, Mexico, Nigeria, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, South Africa, Swaziland, Tanzania, Thailand, Uganda and Vietnam.

http://africanbrains.net/2015/07/22/dhl-and-sos-childrens-villages-benefit-over-3500-youths-from-half-a-decade-of-partnership-in-africa/

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22 JULY

Mental illness afflicts many juveniles in jail

Hospitalization for mental health problems is far more common among kids behind bars than among children and teens in the general population, a new study finds.

Juvenile inmates also have longer hospital stays, which suggests they have more serious underlying mental health problems, according to the Stanford University School of Medicine researchers.

"We know young people in the juvenile justice system have a disproportionate burden of mental illness, but I was really surprised by the magnitude of the problem, because hospitalizations typically occur for very severe illness," lead author Dr. Arash Anoshiravani, a clinical assistant professor of adolescent medicine, said in a university news release.

The researchers analyzed nearly 2 million hospitalizations of children and teens in California over the age of 15. They found that mental health disorders accounted for 63 percent of hospitalizations among juvenile inmates, compared to 19 percent for those not in jail.

The study was published in the Journal of Adolescent Health.

Mental health hospitalizations were more common among detained girls than boys. "If you just looked at girls, 74 percent of their hospitalizations were for mental illnesses. That's pretty sobering," Anoshiravani said.

Average hospital stays for mental health problems were longer for juvenile inmates than for youngsters not in jail – six days versus five days. The most common mental health diagnoses in both groups were depression, substance abuse and conduct disorders.

Many juvenile inmates' mental health problems are the result of stressful and traumatic childhood experiences, such as being abused or witnessing violence, Anoshiravani said.

"They're regular kids who have had really, really horrible childhoods," he noted. "We are arresting kids who have mental health problems probably related to their experiences as children," Anoshiravani said. "Is that the way we should be dealing with this, or should we be getting them into treatment earlier, before they start getting caught up in the justice system?"

Robert Preidt
HealthDay
21 July 2015

http://health.usnews.com/health-news/articles/2015/07/21/mental-illness-afflicts-many-juveniles-in-jail

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20 JULY

UK

Use of high-security ‘closed visits’ in youth custody on the rise

The number of times young people in custody are being made to undergo high-security “closed visits” behind glass are on the rise, government statistics have shown.

Figures released in parliament show that during 2013, closed visits were enforced a total of 69 times in young offenders institutions (YOIs), but for 2014 this had risen to 87 times, an increase of 26 per cent.

The figures also show that for the first six months of 2015, there were 66 closed visits, which represents an increase of 69 per cent on the same period in 2014 when there were 39.

Closed visits are usually enforced when there is a suspicion that there is a risk that items such as drugs or weapons might be smuggled.

Speaking in parliament, youth justice minister Andrew Selous said that reasonable physical contact between a prisoner and visitor is usually permitted, but there are circumstances when closed visits are imposed as a “precautionary or preventive measure”. He said that this can be to secure good order and discipline, or for the prevention of crime.

“Each case must be considered on an individual basis and, where closed visits are imposed, subject to regular review,” he said.

News of the increase in closed visits comes amid ongoing concerns around levels of violence in YOIs. Last month, prisons inspectors raised concerns about an increase in violent incidents at Wetherby YOI in West Yorkshire.

Inspectors said there were were instances of violent incidents between boys, which included the use of weapons and group attacks.

In January, it emerged that the Youth Justice Board is considering placing police officers in Feltham YOI in an effort to tackle high levels of gang iolence.

Neil Puffett
17 July 2015

http://www.cypnow.co.uk/cyp/news/1152688/use-of-high-security-closed-visits-in-youth-custody-on-the-rise#sthash.9k66Tskr.dpuf

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17 JULY

Bipartisan response to growing child and youth homelessness introduced

Advocates today applauded the introduction of bipartisan legislation to eliminate bureaucratic obstacles that deny federal assistance to nearly one million homeless children and youth.

The U.S. Department of Education estimates that nearly 1.3 million children and youth in America are homeless. Children and youth face the same problems as other homeless Americans, including hunger, health problems, and increased risk of exploitation and violence. But because the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) uses a different definition of “homeless” than other federal agencies, the bulk of the nation’s homeless children and youth cannot get basic HUD-funded assistance. HUD’s definition and associated paperwork requirements practically exclude many homeless families from a safe place to stay, employment assistance, help finding housing, counseling, and help accessing health care and child care.

The Homeless Children and Youth Act, sponsored in the United States Senate by Senators Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) and Rob Portman (R-Ohio), and in the U.S. House of Representatives by Congressman Steve Stivers (R-Ohio-15) and Congressman Dave Loebsack (D-Iowa-2nd), would eliminate the definitional obstacle and funding restrictions that effectively deny most homeless children and youth basic assistance. The bill would not require local governments and nonprofits receiving HUD funds to prioritize children and youth over adults, but it would empower local leaders to serve all homeless people and end current policies that deny most homeless children and youth the same assistance available to homeless adults.

Organizations endorsing the legislation included the First Focus Campaign for Children, the National Network for Youth, the National Association for the Education of Homeless Children and Youth, the National Law Center on Homelessness & Poverty, the National Center for Housing and Child Welfare, and Covenant House. Responding to the bill’s introduction, these organizations released the following statement by First Focus Campaign for Children president, Bruce Lesley:

“HUD denies help to nearly a million homeless children and youth who live every day with hunger, trauma, exploitation and violence. This bill offers a bipartisan plan to level the playing field, so Washington bureaucrats can no longer deny homeless people help just because they’re young.”

The First Focus Campaign for Children is a 501(c)(4) nonprofit organization affiliated with First Focus, a bipartisan children’s advocacy organization. The Campaign for Children advocates directly for legislative change in Congress to ensure children and families are the priority in federal policy and budget decisions. For more information, visit www.campaignforchildren.org

The National Network for Youth (NN4Y) is the nation’s leading network of homeless and runaway youth programs. The Network champions the needs of runaway, homeless, and other disconnected youth through strengthening the capacity of community-based services, facilitating resource sharing, and educating the public and policy makers. NN4Y’s members serve homeless youth across the country, working collaboratively to prevent youth homelessness and the inherent risks of living on the streets, including exploitation, human trafficking, criminal justice involvement, or death. For more information, visit www.nn4youth.org

The National Association for the Education of Homeless Children and Youth is a national membership association dedicated to supporting the educational success of children and youth experiencing homelessness. NAEHCY connects educators, service providers, advocates, families and youth to ensure school attendance and overall success for children and youth whose lives have been disrupted by homelessness. NAEHCY accomplishes its mission through advocacy, partnerships, and education. For more information, visit www.naehcy.org

The National Center for Housing and Child Welfare (NCHCW) links housing resources and knowledge to child welfare agencies in order to improve family functioning, prevent family homelessness, and reduce the need for out-of-home placement. NCHCW also brings housing resources to child welfare agencies in order to ensure that older youth in foster care have a connection to permanent family as well as a solid plan for stable housing and services to help them be successful as adults.

Covenant House was founded in 1972 with the simple, profound mission to help homeless kids escape the streets. Today we are the largest privately funded charity in the Americas providing loving care and vital services to homeless, abandoned, abused, trafficked, and exploited youth.

Ed Walz

http://campaignforchildren.org/news/press-release/bipartisan-response-to-growing-child-and-youth-homelessness-introduced/

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15 JULY

Teenager dies while held in Cookham Wood Young Offender Institution

An investigation has been launched into the death at the weekend of a young person in custody at Cookham Wood Young Offender Institution (YOI).

The boy, whose age has not been disclosed, was found “unresponsive” by staff in his cell at the YOI in Rochester, Kent, on Saturday morning.

A prison service spokesperson, said: “Staff attempted resuscitation and paramedics attended but he was pronounced dead at approximately 8am.“ His next of kin have been informed.

"Every death in custody is a tragedy and we always seek to improve our procedures for caring for prisoners, including young offenders, where possible.”

The Prisons and Probation Ombudsman will now carry out an independent investigation and a serious case review will also be commissioned by the local safeguarding children board as the boy was under 18.

A Youth Justice Board spokesperson, added: “The cause of death will be formally determined by inquest but, at the present time, we have no indication that the young person took their own life or that the circumstances were suspicious.“The relevant agencies are already undertaking enquiries into the circumstances and cause of death, and we want to ensure that any findings are acted on as they arise.”

Cookham Wood YOI holds young people aged from 15 to 18 and is run by the National Offender Management Service. Carolyne Willow, author of Children Behind Bars and director of Article 39, said: “What a sad and shameful reflection on our society this is, that yet another child has died alone in a prison cell.” In January 2012, 15-year-old Alex Kelly took his own life while being held at Cookham Wood YOI.

Adam Offord

http://www.cypnow.co.uk/cyp/news/1152448/teenager-dies-while-held-in-cookham-wood-yoi#sthash.nZJSuAD7.dpuf

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13 JULY

Washington No.1 for jailing noncriminal youth, spurred by law named for Tacoma runaway

More than two decades after the beaten body of a Tacoma runaway was found along the Spokane River, a photo of her hangs prominently on the wall in a King County juvenile courtroom.

It’s the same photo Rebecca Hedman’s parents took to Olympia 20 years ago to push lawmakers to pass the Becca Bill, which gave parents more authority to seek help for their runaway children.

Yet today, critics say the law passed in the 13-year-old’s memory does more harm than good. It is the main reason Washington leads the nation in the number of times judges send children to jail for noncriminal offenses, such as skipping school or running away.

Becca’s mother and father, Darlene and Dennis Hedman, now say the law isn’t working as they intended: as a way to connect troubled children with resources and professional help.

Some say that’s partly because the Legislature hasn’t provided enough funding for detention alternatives.

The Becca Bill lets judges in Washington place kids in juvenile detention for repeatedly skipping school, breaking curfew or running away from home – actions known as status offenses, which wouldn’t be illegal for anyone 18 or older.

In 2011, the most recent year for which federal data is available, judges in Washington ordered status offenders to spend time in juvenile detention 2,705 times, more than twice as often as any other state.

Kentucky, the No. 2 state for detaining juveniles for status offenses that year, did so only 1,048 times – and has since changed its law to discourage the practice. Some state lawmakers and youth advocacy groups say it’s time for Washington to change its law, too.

Already, several counties in Washington are pursuing alternatives to detaining teens who appear in court for noncriminal offenses such as truancy. Yet statewide, the number of times judges order youth to spend time in detention for disobeying court orders in those types of cases remains high.

Critics of Washington’s system say sending kids to up to seven days of detention for repeatedly skipping school or running away hasn’t been shown to change their behavior and can actually traumatize them instead. “We use it too frequently,” said state Sen. Jeannie Darneille, D-Tacoma. “It’s harmful, and it’s costly.”

Darneille and others worry especially about effects of detaining youth whose worst offense is playing hooky alongside teenagers who have committed crimes such as murder or assault.

“They are put in with other kids who are more delinquent than they are,” said George Yeannakis, special counsel for the Seattle-based youth advocacy group TeamChild. “There’s no difference (in how they are treated) – it’s the same judge, the same court, the same detention facility. A lot of kids will see themselves as part of that system.”

Yet supporters of the law say it has kept many kids from advancing to more serious crimes, and in some cases, may have saved them from ending up like Becca Hedman.

Sen. Jim Hargrove, D-Hoquiam and the original Senate sponsor of the Becca Bill, said that without the threat of detention, judges “would have no leverage” to make kids follow court orders to attend school or come home at night. “Becca was put together to keep kids from getting hurt – to keep kids from getting into the criminal justice system,” Hargrove said. “It was to protect the kids, not to punish them.”

‘We couldn't stop her.'

Dennis and Darlene Hedman felt helpless when their 13-year-old daughter called them from a payphone in September 1993, having just walked out of a drug treatment center in Spokane. Her message to them that day: Don’t try to find me this time.

It was the first the Hedmans heard there was a problem with Becca’s new drug treatment program. The center where they’d dropped her off hadn’t told them she’d left, they said. “She called us collect, and told us she was on the street, and don’t come looking for her,” Darlene Hedman recalled.

By then, Becca was 13, and known on the street as “Misty.” She was working as prostitute to fund her addiction to crack cocaine. State law at the time didn’t allow parents to admit their children to drug treatment without the child’s consent unless a child was 12 or younger. Nor did the law explicitly require individuals or youth shelters to notify parents if a runaway child came or left.

After Becca first ran away from her parents’ home in Tacoma at the age of 12, she ended up in the custody of law enforcement or the state Department of Social and Health Services at least seven times, Dennis Hedman said, “and we didn’t even get a phone call.”

“We couldn’t stop her from running away,” Darlene Hedman said in a recent interview. “That’s what got us into the Becca Bill – we had no parenting rights.”

A month after Becca called her parents from the Spokane payphone, she was dead.

A man who paid Becca $50 for sex demanded his money back afterward, and she refused, prosecutors said. The man then clubbed her six times in the head with a baseball bat, cracking her skull, and dumped her nude body near the Spokane River. When he confessed, John Medlock didn’t give prosecutors much of a reason for killing the 13-year-old girl, except to say the sex wasn’t very good.

In 1995, a jury found Medlock guilty of murdering Becca and sentenced him to 26 years in prison.

What the law does

Less than a month after Becca’s death, her parents gathered around their dining room table and wrote down on a legal pad all the things they thought could have helped save their daughter.

They joined other parents and took that list to Olympia, along with a photo of Becca from the year before she ran away. Together, they pushed lawmakers to grant parents more authority over their runaway kids.

Lawmakers responded by passing the Becca Bill in 1995. The new law did several things. For one, it established that anyone providing shelter to a runaway must notify police or the child’s parents.

It then clarified procedures by which parents could file a court petition to get their minor child to abide by certain rules, such as not running away or staying clean of alcohol and drugs. Kids, too, could file a petition to seek an out-of-home placement if they had problems at home.

Significantly, the Becca Bill also required school districts to file truancy petitions in juvenile court if a student has seven unexcused absences in a month or 10 in a year.

Judges can order the children who appear before them for truancy or at-risk youth petitions to follow rules such as attending school every day, submitting to drug and alcohol testing, or coming home every day by a certain time. If a child doesn’t comply with the court’s order, the judge can impose sanctions, including up to seven days in juvenile detention.

After the Becca Bill became law, judges quickly began using detention to push truant and runaway kids to comply with court orders.

In 1994, the year before the law was passed, judges in Washington placed minors in juvenile detention for noncriminal offenses 222 times, according to the state Office of Juvenile Justice. By 1997, that number had risen to 2,053 – an increase of 825 percent.

In recent years, judges in Washington have used detention as a sanction slightly more often for runaways than for truants.

Of the 2,812 times Washington judges placed youth status offenders in detention in 2013, 47 percent were related to violations of court orders in at-risk youth or runaway cases, while 42 percent were for truancy cases, according to the state Office of Juvenile Justice.

The rest of the detentions mainly involved children violating court orders in dependency cases, in which the state seeks to place children in foster care or remove them from a parent’s home.

Downsides to detention

Many researchers and legal experts say that putting children in detention for noncriminal activity doesn’t usually improve their behavior and can actually make their problems worse.

According to a 2008 publication of the American Bar Association, detaining youth status offenders “increases the possibility of their engaging in antisocial behavior,” while also limiting their access to helpful interventions they might receive at home or out in the community.

Other researchers note that children who skip school or run away often have mental health problems or a history of abuse, problems difficult to deal with in a detention facility.

“They need care, treatment, and services – not confinement – to address the underlying causes of their troubling behavior, and to prevent deeper and more costly entanglement in the juvenile or criminal justice systems,” according to a 2009 article that appeared in the Seattle Journal for Social Justice, an academic journal published by Seattle University’s School of Law.

But Hargrove said if lawmakers took away judges’ ability to impose detention on children who don’t obey a court order, the Becca Bill would be ineffective at getting students the help they need and keeping them out of the criminal justice system.

"The whole point is just to give the judges some way to enforce their attempt to get those kids back on the right track,” Hargrove said. “The intent is not to use it a lot.”

Hargrove said the state’s declining adult and youth crime rates since 1995 can be attributed largely to the Becca Bill, which he said has helped keep truants and runaways from becoming adult criminals. David Edwards, a Grays Harbor County Superior Court judge, also said he believes his use of detention for truants and at-risk kids is part of why juvenile crime rates in his county have dropped.

A 2010 analysis from the nonpartisan Washington State Institute for Public Policy found the Becca Bill had no statistically significant effect on high school enrollment in Washington. Nor could the institute determine whether the Becca Bill caused the state’s reduction in crime and juvenile arrests.

Peter Collins, an assistant professor of criminal justice at Seattle University, said that Washington’s declining crime rate in the past 20 years has been in line with nationwide trends. “There’s kind of a false attribution of the effect of incarceration on these rates,” he said.

“When we get into whether or not these sanctions have a deterrent effect, it’s actually the opposite of what we’re seeing: Either they don’t have an effect or they have a harmful effect,” Collins said.

‘We don't have other alternatives’

Many juvenile justice officials agree that it’s bad practice to place kids who haven’t committed crimes alongside those who have been convicted of serious violent offenses.

“There is not one piece of research out there that suggests this is the right thing to do,” said TJ Bohl, the juvenile court administrator in Pierce County.

Yet detaining status offenders is still common practice in Washington, partly because many judges don’t feel they have adequate alternatives.

In a photo Hargrove likes to share, he and former Tacoma state Sen. Rosa Franklin stand in front of a flowchart, attempting in 1995 to explain the complexities of the Becca Bill to other Senate Democrats. In the image, Hargrove can be seen pointing to a large box at the beginning of the diagram that reads “CRC” – an abbreviation for “crisis residential center.”

The Becca Bill established secure crisis residential centers, or CRCs, as emergency shelters where police could bring runaway children after picking them up on the streets. The idea was to keep the children at a secure CRC for one to five days to assess what they needed – whether it be drug and alcohol counseling, mental health treatment or an out-of-home placement away from their parents.

Unlike detention facilities, secure CRCs generally don’t have locks on their doors and windows, but they are “staff-secure,” meaning that children are closely monitored and that building entrances are equipped with alarms that will notify staff if children walk out.

Many judges would like to be able to place children in secure CRCs instead of detention when they violate a court order in a truancy or at-risk youth case, said Stephen Warning, a Cowlitz County Superior Court judge. But most judges aren’t able to do that, he said, because that key element of Hargrove’s diagram – the CRC part – has become a missing link in most areas of the state.

“Certainly I agree putting these kids in detention is a concern,” Warning told a Senate committee in February. “But I noted when Sen. Hargrove’s flow chart for Becca got put up on the wall ... up in the upper left hand corner there’s a great big box that says CRC. Well, For 34 counties, that box is empty, and we don’t have that option available to us.”

Funding cuts, combined with a limited money for the centers to begin with, meant the number of secure crisis residential center beds last year dropped to 34 for the entire state, and those beds were available in only five of the state’s 39 counties: Chelan, King, Yakima, Clark and Clallam.

Prior to budget cuts in 2009, there were 60 secure CRC beds in nine locations throughout the state.

While an additional 32 crisis residential center beds are available at nonsecure facilities in Washington, only six counties have access to those.

In an ideal world, CRCs could also provide an alternative to a jail cell for runaways or at-risk-youth who are wanted under a warrant for failing to appear in court, said Bohl, the Pierce County juvenile court administrator.

Right now, a child who runs away and then misses a court hearing in an at-risk youth case may have a bench warrant issued for his or her arrest. In many counties, including large ones like Pierce, those children are taken directly to juvenile detention if they are picked up by police on a warrant and never redirected to a crisis residential center – primarily, because there isn’t one available.

Children picked up on warrants may remain in detention until they can appear in court the next business day for a contempt hearing. That could mean up to three days in detention if a child is brought in on a Friday night – and potentially more if a judge orders him or her back to detention as a sanction.

Bohl called that “a gap in our system.”

“One of the big challenges for Pierce County is we don’t have other alternatives,” said Bohl, who oversees the juvenile detention facility at Remann Hall in Tacoma. “The kid is either at home or in detention. There’s no stop-gap in between.”

Darlene Hedman said when she and her husband fought for the Becca Bill 20 years ago, jailing runaways was never what she wanted, but that’s what she sees happening today.

“There is no funding for kids, runaways, to get picked up and sent somewhere besides Remann Hall if they haven’t committed a crime,” she said. “We weren’t meaning to treat runaways as criminals, but that’s what it’s ended up being.”

Starcia's story

For Starcia Ague, being placed in detention after she ran away from her foster home didn’t inspire her to start following the rules.

At 14, Ague was placed with a family in Lacey after being taken from her parents, who were involved in drug trafficking. But she didn’t feel welcome in her new foster home, she said; she felt the family treated her as a paycheck rather than a person.

So she ran.

Twice, Ague was picked up on a warrant and placed in detention until she could appear before a judge, she said. At the time, her only crime was running away. Being placed in a jail cell made her feel as if she was a failure and a criminal, just like her parents, she said.

“Being behind the cell reinforced everything everyone had said: That I am going to be just like them,” said Ague, who is now 27.

“Back then, I didn’t understand why they were locking me up with a bunch of kids who were in there for criminal charges. It’s not like they separate them from the other youth,” she said.

Ague wasn’t scared straight by her brief stays in detention. Instead, a year later she ended up there on a more permanent basis after participating in a robbery gone wrong – an attempt to steal enough money to pay off a family debt, she said.

Looking back, Ague said she didn’t get the help she needed when she was detained as a runaway.

“There wasn’t like a counselor or someone to talk to. It wasn’t like there were services in there for the few days that you were in there,” she said. “It then becomes, ‘how do you transition back the community?’ And you have this label on you. I felt like I didn’t really have a chance, that people already felt I was a bad kid, a bad seed.”

Approaches vary by county

The lack of crisis residential center beds is indicative of a larger problem in the Becca system: That many judges feel they have too few resources available to help kids who appear before them in truancy or at-risk youth cases.

Dennis Hedman said he feels the Becca Bill has largely been gutted due to inadequate funding for youth and family support services – and not just for the CRCs, but also for drug treatment and mental health counseling.

“The Becca Bill is like a 20-year-old watchdog, lying on your porch with four teeth,” he said. “It still has a couple of teeth left, but it’s not what it used to be.”

Jacqueline Jeske, a King County Superior Court commissioner, said she thinks Hargrove and others who developed the Becca Bill “were ahead of their time” by looking to provide troubled youth with counseling, drug treatment and other support services that could help them avoid becoming criminal offenders.

However, “that promise has never really been fulfilled with adequate and stable funding for interventions,” said Jeske, who presides over at-risk youth and truancy cases in the King County Juvenile Court.

Today, Jeske keeps a photo of Becca Hedman in the two courtrooms where she hears runaway and truancy cases in Seattle and Kent. She said the photo reminds her and other court staff of the tragic outcomes they are looking to prevent.

“I’m using it to honor the work that we do on her behalf, so there won’t be any more youth like her,” Jeske said.

But judges have different takes on the best way to keep young people safe and how often detention should be used for that purpose – especially for youth status offenders who haven’t committed a crime.

In population-dense King County, for instance, judges sent juvenile status offenders to detention 200 times in 2013, according to numbers from the state Office of Juvenile Justice.

Meanwhile, judges in rural Grays Harbor County detained status offenders 559 times the same year, even though the county has a much smaller youth population. Only about 7,000 children between the ages of 10 and 17 live in Grays Harbor County, compared with about 180,000 in King County.

Local counties also trail Grays Harbor in terms of how often they jail youth for noncriminal offenses. Pierce County detained juvenile status offenders 105 times in 2013, while Thurston County detained status offenders 89 times that year.

Detention as a last resort

Superior Court Judge David Edwards, who presides over truancy and at-risk youth cases in Grays Harbor County, said often he will put a child in detention for a noncriminal violation “if I think it is the only safe place for him or her to be.”

Sometimes that means detaining children to protect them from abuse at home or to help get them treatment for an acute mental health condition that makes them a danger to themselves or others, he said.

“There is zero punishment involved in that decision, you understand,” Edwards said. “I’m doing it because I’m worried if I don’t, the child is going to get harmed.”

In truancy, at-risk and dependency cases, Edwards said he always starts by directing children and their parents to participate in counseling, anger control therapy, drug treatment or other services that could help them.

Things get more serious if children don’t follow the court-ordered plan, he said.

Edwards said he normally won’t put a child in detention the first time they disobey his order to stay at home, attend counseling, go to school or stay off drugs. But he will generally send truants and runaways to detention if they violate the court’s order a second time, he said.

“I always come back to the same point, and that is, ‘How can I help these kids become successful if I can’t teach them that there are consequences attached to their actions?’ ” Edwards said.

“I can order them to perform community service, but what if they don’t show up?” he asked. “If they don’t comply, I have to have the ability to compel compliance. And that’s where detention comes in.”

In King and Pierce counties, children may appear before a court commissioner after violating court orders multiple times and still not be placed in detention.

In a court case in March, Jeske was faced with a young man who frequently ran away from home or broke curfew, and had twice disobeyed her orders to attend school and stay clean and sober. At one point, the teenager had jumped out his bedroom window and ran away to avoid a court-ordered drug test.

Jeske didn’t put the teenager in detention. Instead, she told him to write a research paper on the job prospects for adults without a high school diploma.

She also gave him a choice for how he could purge his latest contempt order: attend a Seattle-based computer programming workshop on an upcoming Saturday or create a “vision board” – an art project in which he would depict his strengths, as well as what he sees as his weaknesses and the things that get him off track.

That project was to be carried out through a program known as Creative Justice, an art mentorship program that King County uses as an alternative to detention.

Grays Harbor County doesn’t have a community art program that can serve as an alternative to juvenile detention. Nor does the small county have access to electronic home monitoring for status offenders, an alternative to detention used in both King and Pierce counties.

Yet Edwards said even when counties have those tools at their disposal, judges still need the option of using detention “as the ultimate method of compelling a student to do something.”

“I just don’t know how to get away from that,” he said.

Washington an outlier

While Washington isn’t the only state that allows judges to place youth status offenders in lockup, judges here appear to use that option more than anywhere else.

Although federal law generally prohibits detention of juveniles for noncriminal offenses, it makes an exception for when youth violate a direct order from a judge.

Nationwide, 26 states used the valid court order exception to detain juvenile status offenders in 2011, while another 23 states did not, according to the most recent data from the federal Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention. Judges throughout the United States sent juvenile status offenders to detention for violating court orders about 7,400 times that year, with Washington accounting for more than one-third of those instances.

Why are Washington’s numbers so high? Naomi Smoot, senior policy associate at the Coalition for Juvenile Justice in Washington, D.C., said some other states have stricter laws in place that ban detention for juveniles who haven’t committed criminal acts, even if a child is in contempt of court.

Additionally, judges in other states may be more likely to choose sanctions other than detention for children who violate court orders in noncriminal cases, Smoot said.

Yet even in states where detaining juveniles for non-crimes is allowed, most states don’t have a law in place like the Becca Bill that automatically triggers a court process after a certain number of missed school days.

A 2010 analysis by the Washington Institute for Public Policy found that of 43 states surveyed, only four – Washington, Nebraska, Oklahoma and Texas – required school districts to initiate a court case after a specified number of school absences.

Darneille, the senator from Tacoma, says the automatic process of sending kids to court for truancy is one reason Washington’s use of court orders to detain juvenile status offenders is so high.

This year, Darneille proposed eliminating juvenile detention as one of the potential sanctions for students who violate court orders in truancy cases. Her bill failed to advance in the Legislature.

Hargrove said Washington still doesn’t treat truancy as harshly as some states. Wyoming and Texas, for instance, charge truant students or their parents with a criminal misdemeanor in adult court. The federal Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention hasn’t tracked how often juveniles in Wyoming and Texas are jailed in those cases.

Things are changing in Texas, however. In June, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott signed into law a measure that will decriminalize truancy in the Lone Star state. The new law will take effect Sept. 1.

Becca's legacy

This year, Becca Hedman would have turned 35.

Her parents – now retired and living on South Hill – raised four other children. They proudly talk of their 16 grandchildren and six great-grandchildren, photos of whom are displayed throughout their home. Their other legacy, the Becca Bill, they speak of with some regret.

“It’s not anywhere near the concept of the first Becca Bill, and nowhere near what anyone who worked on that was envisioning,” Darlene Hedman said.

Still, Jeske, the King County court commissioner, said she thinks judges throughout the state are trying to carry out the Hedmans’ vision – even if they struggle at times to find the resources to do so.

“I’m sure they hoped when they sought Sen. Hargrove’s help to never see another child lost like their child was lost,” Jeske said. “We’re trying to do the same thing ... trying to help families and connect them to meaningful interventions.”

Becca’s mother questions whether detention needs to be a part of that system, though.

“If they are running away, I don’t think it’s a crime to run away,” Darlene Hedman said. “I think it’s a cry for help to run away. And you don’t help them by putting them behind bars.”

Ague, the former runaway, agrees. Having received a gubernatorial pardon for the crimes she committed as a teenager, she is now the recipient of a national fellowship, working with the state Department of Social and Health Services to advance juvenile justice reforms.

“When you go through that process, it is for sure dehumanizing on so many levels,” Ague said. “The second a kid is being strip searched or has handcuffs on them for skipping school or running away, I don’t think we’re doing those kids any justice.”

http://www.thenewstribune.com/2015/07/11/3911587_washington-no1-for-jailing-noncriminal.html?rh=1#storylink=cpy

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10 JULY

Innovative BC Child and Youth Mental Health
and Substance Use project wins national award

A BC collaborative involving over 800 stakeholders who are working together to improve the lives of children, youth and their families living with mental health and substance use issues, has won a national award in recognition of its innovation and team-work.

The BC Child and Youth Mental Health and Substance Use (CYMHSU) Collaborative, a joint effort funded in partnership by Doctors of BC and BC government, was presented with the award by the Canadian College of Family Physicians and the Canadian Psychiatric Association at their national conference in Calgary earlier this month.

"This award signifies that we are on the right path in supporting mental wellness for children, youth and their families," said Health Minister Terry Lake. "The collaborative approach, which involves a variety of stakeholders, complements the Ministry of Health's "Setting Priorities for the B.C. Health System," our overarching strategy to create a more sustainable and patient-centered health system."

One of the founders of the collaborative, family physician Dr Shirley Sze, states "Young people and their families are now benefiting from new protocols and practices in place as a result of the work of the hundreds of people involved in this Collaborative. It is really gratifying to know that our work is being recognized in the rest of Canada."

For the past 18 months a growing group of BC mental health stakeholders – including youth and families, family doctors, clinicians, psychiatrists, pediatricians, school counsellors, social workers, RCMP, community agencies, First Nations, government experts and more – have focused on identifying and addressing barriers preventing youth and families receiving support and services for mental health and substance use issues. BC government participation involves commitment from three ministries – The Ministries of Health, Children and Family Development, and Education.

"Anxiety and other mental health challenges affect nearly 84,000 children and youth in B.C. – that's one in seven," said Jane Thornthwaite, Parliamentary Secretary for Child Mental Health and Anti-Bullying. "The Collaborative has been working together to identify and address ways to improve the mental health system, which is helping to make a difference in the lives of young people throughout B.C."

Now in 26 communities across the province, Local Action Teams are building relationships to integrate care across systems and within the community. These teams are tackling issues such as linking youth and families to local resources and addressing local waiting lists for services. Gaps in care identified by Local Action Teams at a systemic level are passed on to province-wide working groups.

These working groups, 10 in total, are creating provincial system-wide solutions to remove barriers to care. These include: a standardized approach to care in hospital emergency rooms, including support plans and guaranteed follow up; access to a list of doctors who will ensure care and referrals for youth without a GP; and the use of innovative technology to provide access to specialists in rural and remote areas, and much more.

http://www.benzinga.com/pressreleases/15/07/m5646304/innovative-bc-child-and-youth-mental-health-and-substance-use-project-w#ixzz3fNpoiHFw

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8 JULY

ARIZONA

Parker kids, women pushed youth center

The Players Ninth Street Youth Center started with three people who wanted to do something for the kids of Parker as many were becoming troubled youth.

“Going back 20 years, there was the beginning of substance abuse and gang activity,” said Duce Minor, the Executive Director of the Parker Alliance for Community Empowerment.

In 1994, a group of residents gathered to discuss the options that Parker youth had to stay focused and not get into illegal behavior. The meeting, facilitated by the Arizona Prevention Resource Center, focused on the needs of local youth and assets of the community, Minor said.

Three women – Janice Shelton, Julie Castillo and Pat Gnau – wanted a youth center.

“You know kids always say there is nothing to do in Parker,” Duce said. “But we had Little League, Scouts programs, church activities, all which are organized. But we had no place for kids just to hang out. At the time we had no movie theater, mall or Wal-Mart. We wanted to create something that was unstructured.”

Shelton had heard of an event at the University of Arizona, called Teen Biz, which was held in the summer of 1995. La Paz County sent five teens to attend: Brandon Barley, Terry Esquerra, Daniel Scott, Chris Shelton and Kristen Woodard.

“The kids wanted a youth center. The conference was about entrepreneurship and the participants had to come up with a business plan. They learned about the value of volunteerism,” Minor said.

The teens came home and were set on creating a youth center. That’s when Players Entertainment Center was born, on 11th Street in Parker. By October 1995, it was open in the old Cablevision office. The company rented the space at half price.

Minor was hired as center coordinator and he went to civic clubs, the town and county trying to get support. The center received a pool table and games as well as cash donations for building expenses.

“I was glad to be a part of it but it was the kids who pushed it,” he said.

There was a time when substance abuse was a problem and gang issues. A police officer was threatened with a graffiti message in a public place. Parker Police Department and Parker Unified School District wanted to address the gang issue quickly.

The Mesa Police Department Gang Division talked to Parker High students during the day and there would be a public meeting in the evening at the PHS gym. The event proved to be heated but it got the attention of the community. A youth center was important for the youth of Parker.

Also, assisting in the funding, Shelton, Gnau, Minor and then-Parker Police Chief Marvin Towell received a grant of $5,000.

The town of Parker requested a building for the youth center through their Community Development Block grant. The request was granted but property was still needed for the building. Minor talked to then-Town Councilman Billy Ripberger and he suggested placing it in a park.

Then-Public Works Director Frank Savino worked with PAACE and drew out the design of the building.

Minor stated, “We worked with the town and Don Hoffman Construction. Hoffman was the low bidder,” Minor said. “He was able to give us amenities as a local contractor who was civic-minded.”

While the Ninth Street Youth Center is not charged rent, PAACE is responsible for maintenance, repairs and janitorial services.

Members of the community have stepped up. For instance, Cenpatico funded a new flowing and air-conditioner. Cenpatico of Arizona has behavior health counseling, a variety of services and supports children and communities.

“We are lucky we have donors in this community. The Colorado River Indian Tribes like to give donations without fanfare, checks for $500 and $1,000 a couple of times. Wal-Mart has been great to us—we apply to their foundation and we get $2,500. Also Pacific Gas & Electric invited to apply, we did and got $2,000. The most consistent personal donor is David Plunkett; he is quite generous,” Minor said.

“Every donation is important to us, we’re good stewards of the community’s donations,” he said.

Joan M., Travis Parker Pioneer
July 7 2015

http://www.parkerpioneer.net/news/article_ba4ceb0e-2435-11e5-b8d7-8fa16a4a715a.html

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6 JULY

Ireland: Message to young people, from young people
… Let’s go Mental

Indie Rock band, Olympic sailor and Love/Hate actor join Minister Reilly in launching Let’s Go Mental

Let’s Go Mental is a major new nationwide campaign, designed by young people, to promote positive mental health amongst young people. The campaign will involve 31 separate events in every local authority area around the country, using music, sport, the arts and other activities to stress the value of positive mental health.

Today Dr James Reilly, TD, Minister for Children and Youth Affairs launched Let’s Go Mental, at two events in Dublin; one outside Leinster House involving a double decker “Let’s Go Mental” bus and later a press conference at the Science Gallery, Pearse Street, Dublin.

The launch was kicked off by music from rock band HamsandwicH on the Let’s Go Mental community bus. Also on the bus was Annalise Murphy, the Irish Olympic Sailor who, like HamsandwicH, is an ambassador for the campaign. The bus arrived at the TCD Science Gallery for the official launch of Let’s Go Mental. Actor Brian Gleeson is the third celebrity ambassador.

Speaking at the launch, Minister Reilly said: “I am delighted to launch and support Let’s Go Mental and am particularly impressed that its focus is on positivity and on giving young people the tools to use in their everyday lives to manage their own mental health. Let’s Go Mental is a series of 31 regional events to promote positive mental health through music, sport, the arts and other fun activities. The Let’s Go Mental events are being organised and run by the 31 Comhairle na nÓg from June to October this year.

“Mental health issues affect us all. Everyone has bad days and difficult times. I am keenly aware of the challenges facing young people today who are often under pressure in school, from their friends, from their families, from the media and from social media. In this job, I have seen the importance of young people sharing their problems, talking to their friends and family and seeking help when they need it. Today proves that young people themselves must be given the opportunity to be part of national decision-making and of proposing ideas and solutions to issues such as mental health. Last week, I launched the first National Strategy on Children and Young People’s Participation in Decision-making (2015-2020), the first of its kind in Europe. The strategy is a cross-government initiative requiring all departments and agencies to work together to enable participation by children and young people in decision-making,” added the Minister.

“I would like to thank all three ambassadors, Annalise Murphy, Brian Gleeson and HamsandwicH for supporting this very important campaign,” concluded the Minister.

Annalise Murphy said: “I am very lucky that I get to spend so much time outside being physically active as part of my job. I think it's really important for young people to be active. It can be anything that you have an interest in! Nothing helps clear my head better than getting out for a run or a cycle or a sail on a nice day. Even though sometimes being a professional athlete can be hard, especially when I am not performing at my best, I have to remind myself how fortunate I am to be chasing my dreams and doing something that I love every day.”

Brian Gleeson is filming in Ireland but made a video for the event in which he said: “My advice to young people is get out and get involved in something you love and follow your bliss in life.”

Also speaking at the launch, teenager Garreth O’Connor from Fingal Comhairle na nÓg said: ‘Let’s Go Mental is based on Headstrong’s ‘Five-a-Day for your Mental Health’ which are: Connect, Be Aware, Get Moving, Give and Get Involved. We would love to see the ‘five-a-day for your mental health’ become a part of the everyday life of young people in Ireland.”

Emma Moloney from Limerick Comhairle na nÓg added: “At each of the 31 local events, young people will have the opportunity to explore the five-a-day concepts in innovative ways. We offer young people the opportunity to try out a new hobby, sport or activity. It’s a great opportunity to find out all the cool stuff that’s going on in your local area. The Let’s Go Mental campaign is about finding out what works for you. What works for one person may not work for another.”

Wednesday, 24 June 2015

http://www.dcya.gov.ie/viewdoc.asp?Docid=3479&CatID=11&mn=&StartDate=1+January+2015

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3 JULY

Chronicle of Social Change takes on child trauma
thanks to new reporting initiative

As part of grant funding from the California Endowment, The Chronicle of Social Change kicks off a new reporting initiative focused on child trauma with particular attention given to children and youth involved in the child welfare and probation systems.

Building on an increasing amount of evidence about harmful effects of toxic stress, adverse childhood experiences and brain development, The Chronicle will focus on issues surrounding child maltreatment prevention and child trauma identification and intervention.

As part of a yearlong investigation into the issue, The Chronicle of Social Change has hired Jeremy Loudenback as child trauma editor.

Loudenback is a graduate of Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism, and just completed a degree in urban and social policy at the Sol Price School of Public Policy at the University of Southern California.

In 2014, while still a student at Price, Loudenback took Fostering Media Connection’s Media for Policy Change course. That summer he worked as a summer fellow, producing stories for The Chronicle of Social Change, and went on to co-teach the same class this year.

“Jeremy has earned his stripes as a journalist who can meld storytelling with policy analysis to paint a clear path to positive social change,” said Daniel Heimpel, founder of Fostering Media Connections and publisher of The Chronicle of Social Change. “While some people misconstrue this with advocacy journalism, Jeremy is in fact a practitioner in the art of impact journalism. I am so pleased that the California Endowment has allowed us to focus his skills on matching the trauma children face with solutions to mitigate it.”

Loudenback’s previous experience also includes blogging about California politics and policy, working with public health researchers in South Los Angeles, and mentoring youth experiencing homelessness on Skid Row in downtown Los Angeles.

In the months ahead, The Chronicle of Social Change plans to highlight the multi-generational cycle of families in the child-welfare system, how trauma-informed practices can shape child maltreatment prevention, and the way predictive analytics and other data-driven approaches are changing the landscape of child trauma.

The California Endowment is committed to uncovering the harmful effects of toxic stress and trauma experienced by children as well as finding what can be done to create resilience in body and spirit. In declaring that “trauma is the number one health issue of our time,” California Endowment President and CEO Dr. Robert K. Ross has called attention to the many ways in which childhood trauma has created serious long-term physical and socio-emotional issues. The race is on to find interventions in communities, schools, and across systems that can support healing and life-long success.

The Chronicle of Social Change is a national online news site published by Fostering Media Connections, a nonprofit based in San Francisco, CA. The Chronicle produces daily news about child welfare, juvenile justice and children’s mental health issues, and aims to be the hub of mainstream news coverage on issues affecting vulnerable children and youth.

To learn more about The Chronicle’s coverage of child trauma issues or to suggest an idea for a story, contact Chronicle Managing Editor Christie Renick at 213/507-0853, crenick@fosteringmediaconnections.org.

Press release
2 July 2015

http://www.pr.com/press-release/626693

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1 JULY

Bipartisan response to growing child and youth
homelessness introduced

Washington – Advocates today applauded the introduction of bipartisan legislation to eliminate bureaucratic obstacles that deny federal assistance to nearly one million homeless children and youth.

The U.S. Department of Education estimates that nearly 1.3 million children and youth in America are homeless. Children and youth face the same problems as other homeless Americans, including hunger, health problems, and increased risk of exploitation and violence. But because the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) uses a different definition of “homeless” than other federal agencies, the bulk of the nation’s homeless children and youth cannot get basic HUD-funded assistance. HUD’s definition and associated paperwork requirements practically exclude many homeless families from a safe place to stay, employment assistance, help finding housing, counseling, and help accessing health care and child care.

The Homeless Children and Youth Act, sponsored in the United States Senate by Senators Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) and Rob Portman (R-Ohio), and in the U.S. House of Representatives by Congressman Steve Stivers (R-Ohio-15) and Congressman Dave Loebsack (D-Iowa-2nd), would eliminate the definitional obstacle and funding restrictions that effectively deny most homeless children and youth basic assistance. The bill would not require local governments and nonprofits receiving HUD funds to prioritize children and youth over adults, but it would empower local leaders to serve all homeless people and end current policies that deny most homeless children and youth the same assistance available to homeless adults.

Organizations endorsing the legislation included the First Focus Campaign for Children, the National Network for Youth, the National Association for the Education of Homeless Children and Youth, the National Law Center on Homelessness & Poverty, the National Center for Housing and Child Welfare, and Covenant House. Responding to the bill’s introduction, these organizations released the following statement by First Focus Campaign for Children president, Bruce Lesley:

“HUD denies help to nearly a million homeless children and youth who live every day with hunger, trauma, exploitation and violence. This bill offers a bipartisan plan to level the playing field, so Washington bureaucrats can no longer deny homeless people help just because they’re young.”
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The First Focus Campaign for Children is a 501(c)(4) nonprofit organization affiliated with First Focus, a bipartisan children’s advocacy organization. The Campaign for Children advocates directly for legislative change in Congress to ensure children and families are the priority in federal policy and budget decisions. For more information, visit www.campaignforchildren.org.

The National Network for Youth (NN4Y) is the nation’s leading network of homeless and runaway youth programs. The Network champions the needs of runaway, homeless, and other disconnected youth through strengthening the capacity of community-based services, facilitating resource sharing, and educating the public and policy makers. NN4Y’s members serve homeless youth across the country, working collaboratively to prevent youth homelessness and the inherent risks of living on the streets, including exploitation, human trafficking, criminal justice involvement, or death. For more information, visit www.nn4youth.org.

The National Association for the Education of Homeless Children and Youth is a national membership association dedicated to supporting the educational success of children and youth experiencing homelessness. NAEHCY connects educators, service providers, advocates, families and youth to ensure school attendance and overall success for children and youth whose lives have been disrupted by homelessness. NAEHCY accomplishes its mission through advocacy, partnerships, and education. For more information, visit www.naehcy.org.

The National Center for Housing and Child Welfare (NCHCW) links housing resources and knowledge to child welfare agencies in order to improve family functioning, prevent family homelessness, and reduce the need for out-of-home placement. NCHCW also brings housing resources to child welfare agencies in order to ensure that older youth in foster care have a connection to permanent family as well as a solid plan for stable housing and services to help them be successful as adults.

Covenant House was founded in 1972 with the simple, profound mission to help homeless kids escape the streets. Today we are the largest privately funded charity in the Americas providing loving care and vital services to homeless, abandoned, abused, trafficked, and exploited youth.

Ed Walz

FIRST FOCUS Campaign for Children
Press Release

http://campaignforchildren.org/news/press-release/bipartisan-response-to-growing-child-and-youth-homelessness-introduced/

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The International Child and Youth Care Network
THE INTERNATIONAL CHILD AND YOUTH CARE NETWORK (CYC-Net)

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Incorporated as a Not-for-Profit in Canada: Corporation Number 1284643-8

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