Action for Children InfoNet, Week of 3/24/08

Action for Children InfoNet, Week of 3/24/08

HEALTH

Charlotte Observer
http://www.charlotte.com/162/story/552815.html
"Preemies' risk high as kids, adults: Research shows higher childhood death rates and rise in childlessness"
By Carla K. Johnson, Associated Press

CHICAGO --
The largest-ever study of the long-term consequences of premature birth finds that children born early have higher death rates in childhood and are more likely to be childless in adulthood.

Experts called the research significant because it followed 1.2 million Norwegian births over decades. It also raises questions about future risks for even tinier babies saved today by modern medicine.

New drugs and therapies first used widely in the 1990s now save smaller and sicker babies. So the babies in the study may have been healthier, on average, than children born premature in recent years, experts said.

"Are we improving their survival but at the expense of significant problems down the road?" asked study leader Dr. Geeta Swamy of Duke University Medical Center.

Most preemies grow up to have good health and normal reproduction, but the researchers found heightened risks compared with babies born at full term from 1967 to 1988.

U.S. rates of premature births climbed steadily during the past two decades, reaching an estimated 12.8 percent of births in 2006, government figures show. More than 540,000 babies were born premature that year. Fertility treatments that result in multiple births and older mothers contributed to the rise. (The rate of premature births in Norway that year was 7 percent.)

"In the United States, there is an epidemic of preterm birth, and prevention is absolutely critical," said Dr. Alan Fleischman of the March of Dimes

In the study, appearing in Wednesday's Journal of the American Medical Association, more than 60,000 Norwegian children were born premature, about 5 percent overall. Only single births were included.

As expected, babies born early were more likely to die during the first year of life compared with babies born at term.

Surprisingly, their increased risk of death persisted as they aged...

...In adulthood, other differences showed up. Prematurity was linked to lower levels of education and more childlessness.
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SAFETY

Washington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/03/22/AR2008032201055.html?tid=informbox
"Poison Prevention Tips to Protect the Most Vulnerable"

SATURDAY, March 22 (HealthDay News) -- To mark National Poison Prevention Week, which concludes Saturday, the Soap and Detergent Association offers a home safety checklist for parents with young children.

Parents and caregivers should:

Install child-safety locks on cabinets that house cleaning supplies, medicines, cosmetics, chemicals and other poisons. Never assume a cabinet is too high for a child. Keep all household products in their original packaging, which includes useful first-aid information in the event of accidental exposure or ingestion. If you purchase household products in bulk, buy a smaller size of the same product and use this container for refills. Use child-resistant packaging properly by closing the container securely after each use. Keep in mind that this type of packaging is child-resistant, but not child-proof, and products must still be stored out of reach of children. Read and follow the directions on the product label. Pay particular attention to labels that include the words "Caution," "Warning," "Danger," or "Poison." When using cleaning products, take out only what's needed for the job at hand. Store the rest in a secure location. Don't mix household cleaning products. Doing so could release harmful vapors or cause other dangerous chemical reactions. Don't leave cleaning buckets unattended. If a child falls into the bucket, it may not tip over and the child could drown. If the bucket is tipped, the contents could spill and come into contact with a child's sensitive skin. Immediately clean up any spills and quickly and safely dispose of rags, paper towels and related items that you used to clean up a spill.
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Winston-Salem Journal
http://www.journalnow.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=WSJ%2FMGArticle%2FWSJ_BasicArticle&c=MGArticle&cid=1173355079220&path=!news!today
"KIDS' PLAY: Service offers a safer Internet"
By Walter S. Mossberg, The Wall Street Journal

The Internet presents a real dilemma for parents with younger children. On the one hand, it’s filled with fun and wholesome sites for kids, and lots of educational material. On the other, it teems with inappropriate content and potentially dangerous means of communicating with strangers.

There are tools for dealing with the problem, most commonly, filtering software that attempts to bar sexual, violent and other objectionable material. But these can frustrate kids and parents, by either blocking too many things or not blocking enough.

Some other approaches, such as the parental controls built right into the latest Windows and Macintosh operating systems, offer parents more control by allowing them to specify what Web sites a child can access. But that requires close and constant involvement by the parent as the child wants access to more Web sites.

Last week, a parental-control service with a somewhat different approach was launched. It’s called KidZui, and it aims to offer kids a safe subset of the Internet where they can roam freely without triggering parental worry. KidZui, for children ages 3 to 12, hopes to emphasize the positive, rather than the negative.

The service, from a San Diego company of the same name, claims to encompass 500,000 safe sites, photos and videos, ranging from pop culture to science, comics and games to history. You can watch the latest American Idol contestant, learn about dinosaurs, delve into history or visit popular kids’ sites, such as Webkinz and Club Penguin.

The sites, photos and videos included in KidZui are approved by a team of about

200 parents and teachers across the country, and are ranked by age, so that a site that might be right for an 11-year-old isn’t served up to a 4-year-old.

While a child can establish a list of friends in KidZui, and can share content with them, there is no instant-messaging or e-mail function.

KidZui isn’t free, and it can’t be accessed via a regular Web browser. Instead, you must download a special KidZui browser, from www.kidzui .com, that runs on either Windows or Macintosh computers.
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Daily Advance
http://www.dailyadvance.com/health/content/shared-auto/healthnews/safe/613520.html
"Health Tip: The ABCs of School Bus Safety"

(HealthDay News) -- It's important to teach your child basic safety rules to be followed when boarding or exiting a school bus.

Here are suggestions, courtesy of the U.S. National Safety Council:

* Always wait on a sidewalk until the bus comes to a complete stop and the doors open. Never wait on a street, road, or alley.
* Make sure that the driver can always see you. Never walk behind the bus.
* If crossing in front of the bus, walk at least 10 feet in front of it, until you can turn around and easily see the driver.
* Pay careful attention to traffic, traffic signals and signs from the driver on when it is safe to cross the street.
* Use the bus handrail to climb up or down the steps.
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EARLY CARE

Raleigh News & Observer
http://www.newsobserver.com/987/story/1013282.html
"Author says babies need more naps"
By Kristin Dizon, Seattle Post-Intelligencer

The premise in Dr. Polly Moore's book -- "The 90-Minute Baby Sleep Program: Follow Your Child's Natural Sleep Rhythms for Better Nights and Naps" -- may shock today's overachieving, overscheduled parents.

Moore, a neuroscientist and director of sleep research at California Clinical Trials in San Diego, says young babies need to nap after every 90 minutes of wakefulness. And that means spending more time at home in those first five or six months rather than being always on the go.

Q: So, how big a problem is infant sleep?

A: Do we need another book on infant sleep? That's what I said when people said I should write a book. What I heard from people is this is the No. 1 concern of parents. I think sleep problems in infants are probably at an all-time high. I don't have numbers to back that up, but I don't think people protect sleep like they did in the 1950s.

Q: Why is adequate baby sleep so important?

A: Babies that don't sleep well become toddlers that don't sleep well and schoolchildren that don't sleep well. And we know that they have higher rates of ADHD, mood disorders and more. Your baby can sleep all night long for eight hours and still need a nap 90 minutes later.

Q: Are we overscheduling our infants? Or keeping them awake too much?

A: We're keeping them awake too much. We don't protect their sleep. We think it's OK if they take a 20-minute catnap in the car. Part of it is that the parents don't want to give up anything in their lives. That's what I hear: "Well, I don't want to stay home. I want to go out and go to the mall."

Q: What is your NAPS plan?

A: The NAPS plan is a way to start observing your baby's natural sleepiness and alertness cycles -- to recognize their signs of sleepiness and initiate sleep while they're sleepy. Somewhere around 90 minutes, you look for your baby's signs of sleepiness and put them down for a nap. (If you miss that window, after about 10 to 15 minutes, baby will go back to a state of alertness and won't be ready to sleep for another 90 minutes.)
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WECT-TV6
http://www.wect.com/Global/story.asp?S=8077552&nav=menu157_11
"Health Tip: Help Your Child's Cognitive Development"

(HealthDay News) -- Cognitive development refers to fostering a person's ability to think and reason. In a child's case, it's an important part of his or her emotional and mental growth.

The Lucile-Packard Children's Hospital offers these suggestions to encourage your adolescent child's cognitive development:

* Talk to your child about adult, complex topics such as politics, world issues and current events.
* Encourage discussions where the child can express thoughts, ideas and opinions.
* Encourage the child to develop personal goals, opinions and ideas.
* Recognize and praise the child for making good, well-planned decisions, and help the child learn from mistakes.
* Teach the child to think about and plan for the future, the possibilities that lie ahead, and how to best reach personal goals.
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EDUCATION

The Stanly News & Press
http://www.thesnaponline.com/local/local_story_086095439.html
"Dropout rates rise, but students continue education"
By Sarah Jane Rosser, Staff Writer

Tuesday, March 25, 2008 — With drop-out rates in the county in-creasing, Stanly County Schools Superintendent Dr. Samuel DePaul emphasized the amount of students continuing their education at Stanly Community College (SCC).

Just under one half of the total percent increase in the dropout rate resulted from students signing out of their high schools to attend SCC, which the state continues to count as a dropout.

"Let me emphasize, we too are concerned with the results but we have worked hard, we are working hard and we will continue to work hard on this particular statistic," DePaul said.

On Feb. 25, Assistant Superintendent Dr. Angela Mills, Student Services Director Doug Smith and DePaul met with the high school principals to discuss and review recent dropout rates for Stanly County Schools.

"While we certainly don’t want to sugar coat the findings, it is important for you and the community to understand the reasons for the results," DePaul said.

The other part of the overall increase was due to attendance, academics, culture, pregnancies, living arrangements and drugs continuing to be a rising factor in the dropout rate. Also, parents continue to support their 17- and 18-year-old children to simply drop out since the state only mandates a child to go to school until they turn 16.

DePaul said Albemarle High School (AHS) Principal David Bright informed him that of the 57 dropouts at AHS, 23 of the students were in grades nine through 11 and were 18 years or older. Additionally, two students in the 12th grade were 20 years old. Bright is working on a freshman academy program to help the dropout statistics.

Depaul added that there are ongoing programs that are both for preventative purposes and intervention purposes in identifying at-risk students for dropping out.

"There’s no magic program from the state or the federal government that is a cure all," he said.

The pre-k program is in full swing in the Stanly County school system, with programs at Central Elementary School, Stanfield Elementary School, Richfield Elementary School, Norwood Elementary School, and North Albemarle Elementary School. Recently, the pre-k program also expanded to daycares across the county, giving parents the opportunity to enroll their child in a free program, begin their child’s education early and still have the daycare atmosphere geared toward pre-k age children.

Stanly County Partnership for Children Executive Director Barbara Whitley said early education helps children with socialization skills and adjustment.

"Many studies show that children’s learning abilities are set when they are about 6 years old," Whitley said.

Whitley referenced the Success at Six program of United Way that is geared toward educating students in the early years in order to retain more.

Whitley said children’s brains are like sponges in that they soak in information at a very young age.

"That’s why children are learning two-to-three difference languages," she added.
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Rocky Mount Telegram
http://www.rockymounttelegram.com/news/content/news/stories/2008/03/23/education.html
"Education seen as key to area's future"
By Carolyn Casey, Rocky Mount Telegram

"Planning in today's fast changing world is essential simply to maintain the status quo."

The words of Delma Binson nearly 16 years ago still ring true today.

The former director of the Rural Education Institute at East Carolina University wrote that statement in a memo sent to the Edgecombe County Board of Education in January 1992. Two months later, the Institute released a profile of Edgecombe County that has closely predicted the county's path throughout the past two decades. The study showed a population shift and economic changes – the very path county officials are trying to veer off.

For nearly 20 years, the county has seen a small decrease in population and stagnant industrial growth with the loss of agriculture and manufacturing jobs. As Edgecombe County finalizes its Land Development Plan for the next decade and keeps an eye on growth, there is one county entity officials say could play a role in expansion: education.

Education is directly related to the growth of a county and, more specifically, economic development, said Ola Pittman, Edgecombe County's planning director. The more opportunities students receive before graduating from high school or community college, the more highly trained individuals the county has entering the work force.

"Counties really need to be able to tell as much as possible to potential employers unique things about their schools," said John Dornan, president and executive director of the Public School Forum of North Carolina.

As industries change, businesses looking to settle are not just concerned with land and water availability, Dornan said. Companies are searching for a school system to supply a skilled work force and one with unique selling points, such as technology.

Much hype surrounds Edgecombe County Public Schools' recent unveiling of its one-to-one laptop initiative. While it will be added at the high school level to modernize teaching, the tool has also been linked to a possible countywide change in development. Greene County Schools credits its similar laptop program with better preparing students for college and bringing businesses to what was once an agriculture-dependent county.

"We want to make sure we're providing access and opportunities for all types of students," Edgecombe County Public Schools Superintendent Dr. Craig Witherspoon said. "If we continue to expand with technology and access we can meet the students' needs."

The laptop initiative is part of preparing students for the 21st century, but the school district can't "hang its hat" solely on the program, Witherspoon said. Edgecombe County Public Schools is looking into more rigorous courses and recently implemented the Professional Learning Communities and Positive Behavior Support initiatives. The programs help staff examine what teaching practices are working and create a uniform set of rules in the schools, respectively.

Technology, whether it be updated science equipment, interactive classroom materials or laptops, is important because of changing industries and globalization, Witherspoon said. Students are learning real world skills virtually and digitally through state and community college online courses, and the district has gone as far as investigating video conferencing to expand its course offerings.

"If we have the opportunity to expose our students to that type of learning early on, that's something I'm excited to do," Witherspoon said.

Local officials say staying abreast with technology in schools plays a role in the type of work force and industries Edgecombe County will be able to produce and attract.

The increase of technology in education and the ability for students to stay home and earn a degree at the community college are two major assets for the county moving forward, Pittman said.
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ECONOMIC SECURITY

Raleigh News & Observer
http://www.newsobserver.com/business/story/1013494.html
"Triangle is pricey for families"
By Jonathan B. Cox and Sue Stock, Staff Writers

Michael Lamont of Raleigh works for a delivery company by day and cleans offices at night. That leaves about four hours for sleep.

"I'm working my fingers to the bone," said Lamont, 29, as he shopped at the Super Dollar in downtown Raleigh on Tuesday. His wife works, too, but the couple stretch to make ends meet.

"Imagine if I had a kid right now," he said.

The Triangle is the most expensive place in the state for those with children, according to a report released Tuesday. On average, a Wake County family must earn $50,435 a year to cover basic needs, calculations by the N.C. Budget & Tax Center showed. About a quarter of families in the county make less than that, according to 2006 census data.

Orange, Durham and Chatham rounded out the most costly counties, followed by Mecklenburg, which includes Charlotte.

In the state overall, a family needs an average $41,184 annually to get by -- almost twice the federal poverty threshold for a family of four, according to the report. The Budget & Tax Center, which advocates for the poor and middle-income, concluded that 1.4 million people in the state live in families that make less than its calculated standard.

"This really reaches to a fundamental part of the American social contract, the idea that if you work hard, in return you'll be able to support yourself and your family," said John Quinterno, the report's author. "The fact that that the promise isn't holding for a sizeable number of families is cause for alarm."

He reviewed the cost of seven core expenses including housing, food and child care for his research, which is part of a periodic assessment of families' financial well-being. It has taken on more import this year because of the deteriorating health of the U.S. economy.

The nation's financial system is struggling because of problems in the housing market and tightened credit markets. Joblessness has increased as companies pare their rolls to account for slumping demand. Food and fuel prices are rising, straining family budgets.
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Winston-Salem Journal
http://www.journalnow.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=WSJ/MGArticle/WSJ_BasicArticle&c=MGArticle&cid=1173355091907
"Report sets standards for living income: Family of four in Forsyth needs $41,990, it says"
By Fran Daniel, Journal Reporter

A family with two parents and two children in Forsyth County requires $41,990 a year to meet the basic expenses for a simple lifestyle, according to a report released yesterday by the N.C. Budget and Tax Center.

The center said that low-quality jobs, which offer low wages, few benefits and little opportunity for advancement, are leaving North Carolina families with children struggling to meet a basic living standard.

“Making Ends Meet on Low Wages: The 2008 North Carolina Living Income Standard” used actual cost data to assess how much money four common family types, from a two-member family to a five-member family, need to afford the market prices of seven core expenses: housing, food, child care, health care, transportation, other necessities and taxes.

For example, the report found that the monthly budget needs for a family with two parents and two children in Forsyth County include $640 for housing, $913 for child care and $636 for health care.

That compares with $709 for housing, $899 for child care and $636 for health care in Guilford County; $565 for housing, $750 for child care and $636 for health care in Davidson County; and $477 for housing, $789 for child care and $636 for health care in Surry County.

“Alarmingly, the vast majority of families that fall below the living-income standard do so despite work,” said John Quinterno, a research associate for the N.C. Budget and Tax Center. “This suggests that financial hardships result not so much from a lack of hard work as from the kind and quality of available jobs.”

The exact amount of required income varies depending on a family’s size and place of residence.

“In a rural area, a family will have lower income needs there as opposed to a large metropolitan area,” Quinterno said. “One of the points we’re trying to make is that the level of income a family requires is much higher than is traditionally captured by measures like the federal poverty level.”

From a statewide standpoint, he said, a significant number of families fall below even the modest income thresholds.

The report noted that the Triad forms the state’s third-largest population center but has a cost structure that more closely resembles that of a smaller urban area than Raleigh-Durham or Charlotte. As a result, some of the counties in Northwest North Carolina have average family incomes closer to what the report says is the living-income standard than the larger population centers.
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CHILD MALTREATMENT

Fayetteville Observer
http://www.fayobserver.com/article?id=289181
"Anti-spanking group rallies in Robeson County"
By Venita Jenkins, Staff writer

LUMBERTON — A national organization seeking to ban corporal punishment in public schools has been in Robeson County this week protesting its use in the Tar Heel state.

The group, called The Hitting Stops Here, wants Robeson County to be the starting point of a statewide ban on corporal punishment, said Paula Flowe, the organization’s director and a professor in San Jose, Calif.

"We want Robeson County and North Carolina to be the pacesetter for the other 20 states that allow corporal punishment," she said. "We will focus on Robeson County until they ban it then go elsewhere."

The group has staged protests at various schools. It started Monday at Lumberton High School. On Thursday, about 30 protesters spent most of the day at Red Springs Middle School. They later gathered at a grocery store carrying signs that read "Corporal Punishment RIP 1770-2008" and "Child Abuse is Loose in N.C." Some of the signs showed a picture of a child’s bruised buttocks. They had planned to march down West 5th Street to the school system’s central office. Instead, they drove to the central office and protested out front.

A case involving a Rowland Middle School student caught Flowe’s attention and brought her to Robeson County, she said. In September 2005, Tina Jones claimed a teacher used excessive force after her son, who was 12 at the time, got in trouble at school. The seventh-grader had bruises on his buttocks. Jones filed a complaint with the school board.

The school system issued a moratorium on the use of corporal punishment a month later so officials could review the school system’s policy and determine whether its use should continue. The ban was lifted a few weeks later.

North Carolina is one of 21 states that allow corporal punishment in its public schools. It is administered only with the permission of parents or a guardian.

"The people in this community are not aware of what is going on at these schools," Flowe said. "These kids need protection."
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JUVENILE JUSTICE

Daily Tar Heel
http://media.www.dailytarheel.com/media/storage/paper885/news/2008/03/24/StateNational/N.c-Prisons.Overcrowded-3279338.shtml
"N.C. prisons overcrowded"
By Jake Ratliff, Staff Writer

N.C. prisons are expected to run out of space this year, according to projections from the N.C. Sentencing and Policy Advisory Commission.

The growing prison population is also proving to be a strain on the state's jails, which often serve as a pressure release valve when prisons don't have enough room for inmates. Prisons hold those sentenced for felonies, while jails hold those awaiting trial, those sentenced for misdemeanors and those confined for civil matters.

"If someone is going to the Department of Correction but there isn't enough space, we'll hold him," Wake County Sheriff Donnie Harrison said.

"It hurts us, but we understand we have to work together."

According to the commission's estimates, the N.C. prison population is expected to steadily increase from 39,397 in June 2008 to 46,801 by June 2017, thereby exceeding Expanded Operating Capacity by 885 to 6,137 prisoners, respectively. The EOC is the number of inmates a prison can legally hold and allows for 130 percent of a prison's Standard Operating Capacity.

"I wouldn't say we're overcrowded right now," said Keith Acree, spokesman for the N.C. Department of Correction, adding that there will be overcrowding in the near future if current trends persist.

Although the number of inmates is increasing, Acree said that prison staff are not currently experiencing additional stress.

"I wouldn't say there is strain right now because the courts do not allow us to keep packing them in past the EOC," Acree said.

The Department of Corrections reimburses jails for temporarily holding inmates, but that still cuts into the Sheriff Department's budget and sometimes leads to overcrowding, Harrison said.

"Jail is a short-term solution," said Susan Katzenelson, executive director of the N.C. Sentencing and Policy Advisory Commission. "As a rule, jails are not a substitute for prisons because they cannot provide the same programs that prisons do."

While the Department of Corrections is responsible for planning new construction, it is the General Assembly's job to review the department's plans and appropriate money, if any, to fund prison expansion, Katzenelson said.

Some legislators support decreasing the prison population rather than expanding facilities.

N.C. Sen. Eleanor Kinnaird, D-Orange, said the structured sentencing grid, which outlines minimum and maximum sentences for criminals, is in need of reform.

"The grid has problems, but every time legislators try to fix it they're afraid to look soft on crime," she said. "It's very short-sighted public policy."

Kinnaird said that because many inmates were abused as children, the school system can help by connecting social workers with children from abusive homes.

"It's about trying to turn one into a productive citizen, starting out as children," she said.
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Raleigh News & Observer
http://www.newsobserver.com/opinion/letters/story/1009067.html
"Proof in place"
Letter to the Editor, by Buddy Howell, Ph.D., Pinehurst

Your otherwise excellent March 6 article "Juvenile programs fear funding loss" failed to mention that the $22 million Juvenile Crime Prevention Council programs have been evaluated statewide -- and that they scored positively overall.

That study, conducted by an independent group at Vanderbilt University and me, is the first statewide evidence-based evaluation of juvenile delinquency programs in history. It evaluates how closely a program's characteristics match with those shown by the available research literature to be associated with reduced recidivism, and it also provides guidelines for better results.

The state Department of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention should be commended for pioneering the development of this automated instrument. It now has this tool in place to continuously evaluate the JCPC programs and track improvements.

Thank you,

Action for Children North Carolina