UPDATE: Check out Child Welfare Information Gateway's webpage providing resources on the use of psychotropic medicines for children and youth in fostercare. With the newly-released Government Accountability Office report, "Foster Children: HHS Guidance Could Help States Improve Oversight of Psychotropic Prescriptions," there has been a flurry of activity recently on the issue of over-medicating youth [...]
Today is the last day of National Prematurity Awareness Month where the issue of births prior to 37 weeks gestation are highlighted. In approximately 50 percent of all premature births, there is no definite cause for spontaneous preterm labor. Sometimes infections and maternal health conditions, such as diabetes and preeclampsia, are the cause. Some women [...]
As we head into the Thanksgiving holiday weekend, many Americans are feeling excitement over the time off from work or school, the gathering of family and/or friends, the large amounts of food to be cooked and then eaten, and, of course, the shopping deals one can find as early as midnight on Friday morning. Tables [...]
(Updated November 26 with new legislation. -HNO) Due to the intense media coverage of the child sexual abuse scandal at Penn State, it seems that a blog post on mandated reporting in child welfare might be quite relevant and useful. Although the media can be helpful in bringing child welfare issues to the top of [...]
Today is World Mental Health Day. This year's theme is "The Great Push: Investing in Mental Health," with a call for governments and others to invest in policies and approaches for removing barriers to mental health services and investing in prevention efforts as a cost-savings measure. In observance of this day, I feel it is [...]
You may have noticed that we have begun posting blog entries under individual author names, rather than the organization's name. This is due to the addition of new team members contributing to our blog's content. As our blog redesign nears completion, we will be changing our blog content slightly: Rather than focusing on a monthly [...]
Our Friday recap of highlighted legislation on our Facebook page: H.R. 2012/S. 420: Foster Care Mentoring Act of 2011Bill description: To support the establishment or expansion and operation of programs using a network of public and private community entities to provide mentoring for children in foster care.Bill status: Waiting for a hearing in the House [...]
This week on our Facebook page we began highlighting current child welfare-related legislation in the U.S. Congress as a way to keep our readers informed about legislation that, if enacted, may impact their work with clients involved in the child welfare system. As an extension of this service, we will be recapping our Facebook highlights [...]