Evidence mounting that poverty causes lasting physical and mental health problems for children, By David Templeton, November 24, 2013, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette: “Sheila Good faced the decision most mothers dread. Should she spend more time raising her son or earning a paycheck? Should she be a better mom or a better provider? For her 6-year-old son, Benjamin, a little redhead dedicated to baseball, either choice would induce stress. It’s one of those puzzles of poverty with health impacts on children. Three recent studies add to mounting evidence that poverty can exact a lasting toll on a child’s mental and physical well-being, with stress representing a key pathway. Those studies focus on poverty’s impact on a child’s brain volume, the adverse impact of childhood poverty on adult health, and the mental and behavior problems associated with substandard housing…”
Tag: Mental health
Mental Health Screening for Children
Screening children for mental health issues may not guarantee care, By Chelsea Conaboy, November 25, 2013, Boston Globe: “Six years after the state launched an unprecedented effort to address the mental and developmental needs of young children, doctors in Massachusetts are screening more children for behavioral health concerns than any other state. Nearly 7 in 10 Massachusetts children under age 6 in low-income families were screened in 2011 and 2012 — more than twice the rate in the United States as a whole, according to data released this month by the Massachusetts Budget and Policy Center as part of the national Kids Count report. Doctors in North Carolina, which had the second highest rate, screened just over half of this group of children…”
Homelessness and Housing
- A new start for KC’s homeless as shelter eliminates daily lines for beds, By Lynn Horsley, November 13, 2013, Kansas City Star: “Every afternoon for 30 years, as many as 100 men and women have lined up behind reStart’s homeless shelter in downtown Kansas City, waiting for overnight stays in a grim dormitory. They got a free meal and bunk bed in a crowded room. They had to leave during the day, often to wander the streets and then return to line up again each afternoon. But by the end of this week reStart is declaring, ‘This is the end of the line.’ Literally. No more lining up. Instead, single adults will stay in rooms of four to six people that they can call home while reStart helps them find long-term housing. It’s part of a national trend to end chronic homelessness, and it’s showing early signs of success in Kansas City…”
- Huge increase of mentally ill homeless in Alameda County, By Doug Oakley, November 14, 2013, Contra Costa Times: “The number of homeless people in Alameda County with severe mental illness jumped by 35 percent in just two years, according to a census taken earlier this year by a consortium of local agencies called EveryOne Home. The overall number of homeless people in the county was slightly higher since the last count two years ago, up 86 at 4,264, according to the report released Tuesday night. It did not break out individual cities within Alameda County. When the count was taken during the spring, 1,106 homeless identified themselves as having a severe mental illness, up from 818 in 2011, the report said…”