Prevent Child Abuse New York's Blog

The Behavioral Health Money Trail

The NCCP followed the money trail in children’s behavioral health and found that it leads to strange and unexpected places: fiscal policy that is out of sync with the knowledge base, missed opportunities to spend resources more intelligently and many obstacles to funding strategies to improve mental health for children and youth. On occasion, the money trail also leads to pockets of excellence.

Read Towards Better Behavioral Health for Children, Youth and their Families: Financing that Supports Knowledge http://mcsv.net/cgi-bin/redir?MCid=hYRwVx1292hClyNCLnX6

In order to access the full report you can go to: http://www.nccp.org/publications/pdf/text_804.pdf

The Effects of Childhood Stress on Health Across the Lifespan: CDC Publication Premiere

Stress is an unfortunate part of our daily life.  No one, even the youngest of infants, is immune to its potentially devastating effects.  Research has shown that intensive and prolonged stress can have a variety of negative health outcomes.  Childhood stress can disrupt early brain development, compromise functioning of the nervous and immune systems, and lead to chronic diseases.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is pleased to announce the availability of The Effects of Childhood Stress on Health Across the Lifespan.  This document summarizes the available research on childhood stress and its long-term consequences.  The CDC hopes this publication provides practitioners, especially those working in violence prevention, with ideas about how to incorporate this important information into their work.   The publication is available on-line at http://www.cdc.gov/ncipc/pub-res/effects_of_childhood_stress.htm  Requests for hard copies can be submitted on-line at http://wwwn.cdc.gov/pubs/ncipc.aspx   

CDC is particularly interested in the stress caused by child maltreatment.  An estimated 8,755,000 juvenile victims live in this country. That means that more than 1 of 7 children between the ages of 2 and 17 years have experienced maltreatment.

The Division of Violence Prevention at CDC is working to stop child maltreatment before it begins.  They have recently adopted a new platform for child maltreatment prevention—the promotion of safe, stable, and nurturing relationships (SSNRs).  Children’s experiences are defined through their relationships with parents, teachers, and other caregivers.  Healthy relationships act as a buffer against traumatic childhood experiences. From a public health perspective, the promotion of SSNRs can have synergistic effects on a broad range of health problems as well as contribute to the development of skills that will also enhance the acquisition of healthy habits and lifestyles.

Child maltreatment prevention, particularly through the promotion of safe, stable, nurturing relationships, can prevent or buffer toxic stress in children’s lives.  Improving our understanding of the role of toxic stress in long-term health and well-being will provide a more complete picture of the importance of child maltreatment prevention and the consequences of missed prevention opportunities.   Additional information on child maltreatment prevention is available on-line at http://www.cdc.gov/ncipc

Conquering Youth Violence: A Special Report in the NYS Bar Association Law Journal

Like every other state across the nation, New York is wrestling with what to do about the numbers of
violent children in our midst, overwhelming our education, social services and juvenile justice systems, to
name but a few. In the aftermath of particularly horrific incidents – Jonesboro, Paducah, Springfield, Columbine, Virginia Tech – we grieve together, bringing flowers and candles, playing “Amazing Grace” on the bagpipes as yet again we bury dead students and dead teachers.

And as the dreadful images play over and over on the evening news and the headlines splash across the front pages of the morning papers, we ask ourselves why?  What gets into these kids? How can they go to school and gun down their classmates in such a cold-blooded, calculated manner? Where are these kids coming from?

Contrary to what many may believe, the answer to the question “why” is not a mystery. It lies in the developmental processes of the human brain where all behavior originates. Psychiatrist Dr. Bruce Perry, founder and head of the Child Trauma Center in Houston, Texas, says it best: “It isn’t the finger that pulls the trigger, it’s the brain.  It isn’t the penis that rapes it’s the brain.”

Read more of Meredith Wiley's article by downloading it below:

Download nys. BAR.jan08wiley.pdf

Registration Open for NYSPEP Spring Meeting

Please join us at the upcoming Spring 2008 Meeting of the New York State Parenting Education Partnership!

The tentative agenda and registration information is below.  Hope to see you there!!!

New York State Parenting Education Partnership
Spring 2008 Meeting

Thursday, April 10, 2008
10:00am-4:00pm
Office of Children & Family Services
Room 265 West, 44 Washington Avenue
Rensselaer, NY 12144

Please register online at:

http://fs8.formsite.com/PCANY/form910607129/index.html

If you cannot register online, the form is below for print/fax.

Download nyspep_spring_2008_agenda.doc
Download nyspep_spring_2008_registration_form.pdf

A Special Report on the Quality of Healthcare for America's Children

When it comes to getting the right care at the right time, children in the United States fare even worse than adults. RAND's previous national assessment of quality found that on average, adults receive about 55% of recommended care. Findings from Dr. McGlynn's new study, the largest and most comprehensive examination of health care quality for America's children, show that children receive recommended care less than half the time. They are not receiving recommended preventive care and screening services, such as regular weight and measurement checks to ensure that they are growing properly and are not at risk for obesity; nor are they receiving standard care for common conditions such as asthma and diarrhea. Many people have assumed that quality of care was not a problem for children. This study demonstrates how wrong that assumption was.

The study was presented by Dr. Elizabeth McGlynn, Associate Director for RAND Health and an internationally recognized expert on assessing and reporting on quality of care. This Policy Luncheon was hosted by the Promising Practices Network and the RAND Corporation in Santa Monica, California on December 4, 2007.

Video is available online by clicking here.

HFNY in NYS Association of Counties Magazine

"Counties Care for Children" is the theme of the Winter 2008 edition of the New York State Association of Counties' NYSAC News. The magazine includes an article about Healthy Families New York and one of its programs, Healthy Schenectady Families. Click the link below to download the article.

Download nysachfny_article.pdf

HFNY Evaluation Findings on the Promising Practices Network

Listed as a "proven" program that works, the Healthy Families New York citation on the Promising Practices Network's web site has been updated with recent evaluation findings.

Intro to key evaluation findings:
The Mitchell-Herzfeld et al. (2005) study found overall positive program effects in terms of childbirth outcomes and parenting practices. HFNY mothers experienced better childbirth outcomes than control mothers. Moreover, compared with parents in the control group, HFNY participants were less likely to report neglecting their children and reported committing fewer acts of severe physical abuse, minor physical aggression, and psychological aggression against their children.

One of the items in the Issues discussion:
DuMont et al. (2006) found more pronounced program effects among the first-time mothers under age 19 than among the entire sample, and this subgroup of first-time young mothers resembled the type of participants typically served by NFP programs. Therefore, the HFNY evaluation team proposed that the characteristics of recipients might be a key factor in explaining the differences in the program effects between the NFP and HFA model. In fact, consistent with these findings from the HFNY subgroup analysis, the NFP data have shown that higher-risk mothers also benefit more from NFP services (see the discussion in Karoly et al., 2001). Further studies that examine this hypothesis would be valuable.

Click here to read more.

NYS Budget Deficit Grows Deeper: Call to Protect Programs for Children and Families!

New York State’s budget deficit is getting deeper according to Governor Eliot Spitzer’s latest revenue projections.  An additional $380 million in state spending will be cut from the budget in upcoming 21-day amendments.

Please join with us to ensure that important programs and supports for children and families are maintained.  Contact your New York State Legislator today!

Click here for information on contacting your New York State Assemblyperson.
Click here for information on contacting your New York State Senator.

Joint Legislative Hearing Testimony: Increase in Funding for Home Visiting

Prevent Child Abuse New York's Projects Manager, Michelle Gross, gave testimony to the Joint Legislative Hearing on the Human Services Budget on February 5, 2008, encouraging an increase in funding for home visiting.

An excerpt:  "We do so much for education, and now for universal pre-k, but learning and nurturing do not begin at age three or four.  Families at risk must be reached right from the start, and infancy must not be ignored.  [That's why] we are seeking additional funding for Healthy Families New York:  to ensure that New York's most vulnerable children grow up in safe, nurturing environments with supportive, informed parents."

To read the testimony (Download pcany_testimony.pdf)