State of the Children

Important news out this week includes coverage of still more proposed budget cuts, which would fall disproportionately on mental health programs around the state. There is also emerging research that finds more children socially and emotionally unprepared for school, poor rankings for Texas in both child food security and child obesity, and ongoing opportunity gaps for kids of color. In each disheartening piece of news, though, you also will find promising nuggets about how policy improvements can help turn poor conditions around.

Imagine if a new terrorist plot were revealed, with widespread implications for our economy, its supply chains, and many civic institutions. Let's say the scheme has the potential to set our nation back by a generation, but that, fortunately, some of the country's top scientists have determined a way to subvert the plot before it occurs. In that case, we would expect our elected leaders to come together in a nonpartisan way and act to protect our common interests for safety and economic stability. Now, if the preventable scenario that would damage our communities for decades turned out not to come from off-shore terrorists, but from our own ill-conceived policies, isn't that all the more reason to come together and address a key threat we face?

Texas-grown ideas for improving kids' fitness, nutrition, and graduation rates are among the positive highlights in this week's news and reports round-up. We also feature news about the effect of toxins on pregnant mothers, the growing trend toward criminalizing classroom misbehavior even for elementary students, and more about the effects of state budget decisions on Texas families and children--stories we hope you will join us in following closely, and taking action to address.

The $1.2 billion in state budget cuts announced this week are bad news for the wellbeing of Texas children and families, and states throughout the country are taking actions that, advocates fear, will set back child wellbeing for years to come, our latest round-up reports. In the good news department, though, a win from last session for children who need an alternative to foster care goes into effect, the Supreme Court followed a Texas lead by barring life sentences for minors (at least in most instances), and Big Food declares a plan to get Americans to consume 1.5 trillion fewer calories....

Imagine, if you can, all the children in Texas in one giant room together. What would they look like? How much of the group would be Hispanic? Black? White? Now picture all of the children in Texas' foster care system together in one place. Do the two groups look different? Unfortunately, if you said "yes,” you would be correct. This is disproportionality, the child welfare buzzword that captures the fact that some racial or ethnic groups are represented at greater or lesser rates within the child welfare system than in the general child population.

Child care standards, federal updates, fighting child obesity together, making Child Protective Services accountable to African-American communities, and lots of mental health news as Children's Mental Health Awareness Week approaches are among the highlights in our latest round-up of news and reports. As we mentioned last week, this was also a busy week for advocates, with partners meeting with us on everything from food policy to the children's mental health workforce, from health coverage for kids to money for the Texas budget, as well as strategies to prevent teen pregnancies, implications of making juvenile offenders register as sex offenders, and ways to support transitions to adulthood for foster youth. Have you ever wondered, though: What's up with all those meetings? We answer in the post this week. . .

Perhaps you heard the story of little Eli Johnson, and maybe it got to you, too. In my home state of Oklahoma, 3-year-old Eli lost his life when the adults responsible for his care lost their temper. He is one of about 1,700 American children who died last year of child abuse or neglect. Every sixth child in that statistic was from Texas, which had its highest number of child abuse fatalities on record last year. That's especially disheartening, considering that child abuse rates overall are falling. Yet these, the most tragic of cases, continue to climb year after year. . . .

State grants to fight obesity, an audit of the Texas food stamp eligibility system, covering preexisting conditions in children, and much more are featured in our round-up of the week's news. Also, with the beginning of Child Abuse Awareness Month came word that national efforts to combat child abuse and neglect continue to make a difference...

Drug use during pregnancy is the sort of hot-button issue that draws lawmakers' attention. Last session was no exception, with two bills presented during the session that would have allowed the state to use newborn infants who test positive for illegal drugs as legal evidence against their mothers. . . .

School nutrition, a policy shift at TYC, a big national health reform summit, and disheartening news about child abuse dominated the week's news. All are featured in our weekly round-up. We also invite your thoughts on a letter to the editor published this week--our response to an editorial in Monday's Dallas Morning-News . . . .

Some good chances to speak out about issues pertaining to children are coming up, and we highlight these, along with updates on everything from Texas children's H1N1 vaccines to approaches to treating depression in this week's round-up. Of course, the big national story on many folks' minds is what happens now with health reform. Perhaps the context most important to keep in mind for Texans this week is that the state responsible for an electoral upset that has led some to question the fate of the reform bills pending in Congress just happens to be the one with the least to gain from health reform. . .