At-risk kids: Successful New York program a possible solution for Chicago, By Stephanie Banchero, December 27, 2009, Chicago Tribune: “In a Harlem classroom late one afternoon, 20 4-year-olds in ties and plaid skirts sat cross-legged on a carpet, counting to 20 in French. A mile north, doctors and dentists gave eye exams and filled cavities in a health clinic nestled inside a charter school building. And a half-mile to the west in a converted church hall, a 15-year-old girl stared into a camera and recounted the anguish caused by her father’s incarceration, adding to a documentary being made by teenagers. These seemingly disparate events are part of a unique network of services provided by one nonprofit organization that is taking a holistic approach to helping poor children succeed. The Harlem Children’s Zone offers educational, medical and social services from cradle to college in a 97-block area in Upper Manhattan, in hopes of lifting children — and therefore the community — out of academic and economic failure…”

Indigent burials, and cost to public, on rise, By Kevin Duchschere, December 27, 2009, Minneapolis-St. Paul Star Tribune: “It’s a grim but necessary county job that, unlike building roads or jailing bad guys, usually escapes notice: burying the dead when no one else can. In some Minnesota localities, as in many other places around the country, indigent and county-assisted burials have been on the rise in the last couple of years as economic conditions have worsened. State law requires counties to pay basic funeral expenses to bury or cremate those who die alone and destitute, or to provide those services for families who can’t afford a basic coffin and burial for a relative…”

• Midnight in the U.S. food-stamp economy, By Nicole Maestri and Lisa Baertlein, December 18, 2009, Macon Daily: “At 11 p.m. on the last day of the month, shoppers flock to the nearest Walmart. They load their carts with food and household items and wait for the midnight hour. That’s when food stamp credits are loaded on their electronic benefits transfer cards. ‘Once the clock strikes midnight and EBT cards are charged, you can see our results start to tick up,’ says Tom Schoewe, Wal-Mart Stores Inc’s chief financial officer. As food stamps become an increasingly common currency in a struggling U.S. economy, they are dictating changes in how even the biggest retailers do business. From Costco to Wal-Mart, store chains are rethinking years of strategy as they watch prized customers lose jobs and turn to this benefit, the stigma of which is disappearing not just in society, but in corporate America. Besides staffing up for the spike in shoppers on the first day of the month, retailers are adjusting when and what they stock, updating point-of-sale systems to accept food stamps and shifting expansion plans to focus on lower-income shoppers…”
• Food stamp recipients up in Mississippi, By Gary Pettus, December 15, 2009, Jackson Clarion-Ledger: “Charles Penton keeps a log of the jobs he has asked for since moving his family to Mississippi a couple of months ago. The number of turndowns is about 15 or 20 now, said the unemployed security guard. His wife works part time, but he’s still looking. Meanwhile, his family of four, including two school-age children, must eat. ‘So, rather than put a strain on the family as far as having enough food, we applied for food stamps,’ he said. ‘It’s been a godsend.’ Apparently, that is the case for more than 563,000 Mississippians, or one in every five…”
• Food stamps filling void, By Matt Kakley, December 28, 2009, Sun Chronicle: “Both nationally and right here at home, more and more people are turning to food stamps this holiday season to help put dinner on the table as they grapple with the worsening effects of economic recession. Around the area, residents are signing up in droves for the benefit as many continue to struggle finding jobs and face pressure to keep up with mounting mortgage and other bills. Elaine Petrasky of Attleboro Self Help said her organization, which helps area residents sign up for the state-run benefit, has seen a spike in the number of people looking for food assistance in recent months…”

• Need for heat aid in Minnesota higher this year, By Maria Elena Baca, December 21, 2009, Minneapolis-St. Paul Star Tribune: “This winter, Art Swanson is thankful to be part of a group he’d just as soon have avoided. The Anoka County resident represents the newest trend among the more than 125,000 Minnesotans who have applied for federal heating assistance since Oct. 1 (the start of the fiscal year): At 50, he’s a first-time customer. He was laid off in January from his job as a union glazier, installing windows and doors mostly in new commercial buildings, and work this year has been inconsistent at best. Statewide, the number of applicants to the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP) is up 8 percent from this time last year, and 19.5 percent from December 2007. Administrators point to a growing number of families dealing with unemployment or underemployment for the first time…”
• Texas agency slow to spend stimulus funds to weatherize homes, By James Drew, December 20, 2009, Dallas Morning News: “The state received millions of federal dollars from the economic-stimulus package to help poor Texans cut their energy bills, but by the end of last month, just seven homes had been weather-treated under the program. The state has spent $1.8 million of $163 million available over the past four months, with most of it going to administrative costs, such as the salaries of state workers. The weatherization program was a key element of the federal effort to revive the economy, billed as a quick way to create jobs, save energy and cut utility bills. In Texas, the task has been heaped onto a midsized agency that must figure how to hand out millions more in federal funds to local agencies and governments, but do it carefully enough to avoid wasting money…”

• Hawaii’s welfare numbers rising for first time in decade, By Mary Vorsino, December 27, 2009, Honolulu Advertiser: “For the first time in a decade, the number of Hawai’i families receiving state- or federally funded cash benefits is up from the year before as the economic crisis hits the state’s poorest in what advocates say illustrates the scope of need in the community. Advocates also worry more increases are still to come. This year, the average welfare caseload in the Islands increased by about 4 percent compared with 2008 - or by about 300 families. ‘This is the safety net,’ said Debbie Shimizu, executive director of the National Association of Social Workers-Hawai’i, adding, ‘This group is probably going to get bigger…’”
• Welfare program for jobless on rise, By Sara Gavin, December 28, 2009, Charleston Daily Mail: “After declining steadily for the past decade, temporary welfare payments from the state to families who have exhausted all other benefits are on the rise again. WV WORKS, administered by the Department of Health and Human Resources, was restructured in 1997 to provide temporary assistance to families who have exhausted other benefit avenues. The program initially carried a caseload of nearly 38,000. It is part of the larger cash assistance program known as Temporary Assistance to Needy Families. WV Works cases had been declining steadily over the past decade, bottoming out at about 9,000 statewide. But over the past 18 months officials have seen a steady uptick of about 1,800 additional cases, bringing the new total to almost 11,000 in West Virginia…”

• States with expanded health coverage fight bill, By Kate Zernike, December 26, 2009, New York Times: “States that have already broadly expanded health care coverage are pushing back against the Senate overhaul bill, arguing that it unfairly penalizes them in favor of states that have done little or nothing to extend benefits to the uninsured. With tax revenues down and budgets breaking, the states - including Arizona, California, New Jersey, New York and Wisconsin - say they cannot afford to essentially subsidize other states’ expansion of health care. The bill passed by the Senate on Thursday would move toward universal health insurance coverage in large part by expanding Medicaid, a program whose costs have traditionally been shared by the states and the federal government…”
• Health-policy experts say there is little basis for Sen. Nelson’s concerns about Medicaid expansion, By Alec MacGillis, December 19, 2009, Washington Post: “Sen. Ben Nelson of Nebraska, the final Democratic holdout on health-care legislation, said Thursday he is concerned not only about the use of federal dollars for abortion coverage, but also about the impact that expanding Medicaid would have on the finances of his home state. A Medicaid expansion would ‘create an underfunded federal mandate for the state of Nebraska,’ Nelson told a Nebraska radio station. He said states should be permitted to ‘opt out’ of the expansion and find other means of covering low-income residents. But Nelson’s concerns have little basis, according to health-care policy experts. In fact, over the next decade, such an expansion could benefit Nebraska more than it would many other states…”

• Utility bill is one more casualty of recession, By Erik Eckholm, December 19, 2009, New York Times: “For the Cardente family, the shutoff of their electricity and gas in September was a wrenching marker in a two-year downslide. A run of mishaps, including illness and the husband’s workplace injury, extensive structural damage from a burst water bed and the mother’s layoff from a nursing job, had already upended their middle-class lives. Then the pile of utility bills emerged as a headache to rival the past-due mortgage. ‘You always try to pay your mortgage or rent to keep a roof over your head,’ said Debra Cardente, the mother. ‘Then you ask, do you pay your electric or gas bill, pay your telephone or put food on the table?’ The recession has accentuated what was already a growing home-energy challenge for low-income and many middle-class households across the nation. Rising numbers have had their utilities shut off, causing desperate scrambles to pay arrears and penalties to get them restored…”
• Government helps more Americans pay their heat bills, By Julie Schmit, December 18, 2009, USA Today: “More Americans are getting help to pay home heating bills, and more are likely to need help as the economy continues to struggle, says the National Energy Assistance Directors’ Association. Almost 8 million U.S. households received federal government help to heat homes in fiscal year 2009, up 33% from the prior year, the association says. Applications for assistance in the current fiscal year, which started Oct. 1, are running even higher as more people join the ranks of the long-term unemployed, the association says. ‘It looks like 2010 will be a very difficult winter for a lot of people,’ says Mark Wolfe, the association’s executive director. The group represents programs that subsidize energy bills…”

• Poverty line drop could hurt Vermonters, By Daniel Barlow, December 15, 2009, Rutland Herald: “The federal government’s poverty level guidelines will drop in 2010 for possibly the first time ever, changing the qualifications for a host of programs ranging from state-subsidized health insurance to food stamps. The reduction in what the federal government considers poverty could result in Vermonters either losing benefits they now receive or seeing a decrease in their subsidies depending on their annual household income. For example, for a single person to qualify for a state or federal program that covers up to 100 percent of the federal poverty level they would need to make less than $906 a month. Starting next year, that benchmark changes to $899 a month for a single person…”
• Calculating poverty, Editorial, December 16, 2009, Rutland Herald: “It is hard to believe that poverty is decreasing in Vermont, but it appears the federal government may be preparing to make that declaration. The federal government establishes federal poverty level guidelines each year to determine who is eligible for a wide variety of assistance from state and federal programs. At present, the poverty level for a single person in Vermont is less than $906 per month. Officials in state government have learned that federal statisticians have run the numbers and found that the poverty guidelines for 2010 may fall for the first time since guidelines were established in 1965. This is alarming to those in state government who manage benefit programs, which include food stamps, welfare and health care programs. If poverty levels drop, people who now rely on federal and state assistance could see their benefits drop significantly…”

Nearly half of Detroit’s workers are unemployed, By Mike Wilkinson, December 16, 2009, Detroit News: “Despite an official unemployment rate of 27 percent, the real jobs problem in Detroit may be affecting half of the working-age population, thousands of whom either can’t find a job or are working fewer hours than they want. Using a broader definition of unemployment, as much as 45 percent of the labor force has been affected by the downturn. And that doesn’t include those who gave up the job search more than a year ago, a number that could exceed 100,000 potential workers alone…”

• Jobless Floridians encounter delays in getting extended unemployment benefits, By Jeff Harrington, December 16, 2009, St. Petersburg Times: ” Nearly six weeks after President Barack Obama extended unemployment benefits in hard-hit states like Florida, Janet Husted of St. Petersburg is still waiting for her first check. Like thousands of Floridians, Husted can blame the waiting game on slow technology and bad timing. Floridians who happened to exhaust their unemployment benefits after Nov. 1 were automatically enrolled to receive the new round of extended benefits, so their weekly checks kept flowing. Those whose benefits had expired before November, however, had to reapply with the Florida Agency for Workforce Innovation…”
• State’s computers hold up extension of jobless benefits, By John Diedrich, December 13, 2009, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: “The federal government’s latest extension of unemployment benefits passed in early November, but jobless people in Wisconsin have yet to see the money. State officials said Friday the delay was because of computer programming requirements that come with federal funds. They expect the first checks to be mailed Wednesday. President Barack Obama signed the extension at the end of the first week of November - the sixth extension of unemployment benefits during the recession. A delay of more than 30 days is not unusual, said Chris Marschman, spokesman with the state Department of Workforce Development…”
• Bill would extend programs for unemployed, By Deb Price, December 15, 2009, Detroit News: “Congress would extend the cut-off dates for two critical programs for laid-off Michiganians by two months under a deal announced today. House-Senate conferees working on the Department of Defense appropriations bill reset the expiration dates for expanded unemployment benefits and for a federal subsidy to help laid-off workers pay the premium on COBRA health insurance. ‘It is vital that we maintain these programs for people who are unemployed and actively looking for work,’ said Rep. Sander Levin, D-Royal Oak. The two-month provisions in the DOD bill are critical to Michigan, which is reeling from an unemployment rate of 15.1 percent, the highest in the nation. The national unemployment rate is 10.2 percent…”

• Medicaid faces major cuts, By Patrick Marley and Guy Boulton, December 15, 2009, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: “The state may be forced to cut more than $1 billion over the next 18 months from BadgerCare Plus and other health care programs for the disabled, elderly and low-income families. The shortfall comes at a time when more people are turning to BadgerCare Plus because of the state’s battered economy. About 700,000 people were enrolled in BadgerCare Plus alone on Nov. 30, an increase of more than 70,000 since the start of the year. At the same time, state tax revenues have plummeted because of the economic downturn. Since April, the Department of Health Services has been working on a plan to find an estimated $608 million over two years from an array of cost-saving moves, including rewriting contracts, increasing the use of generic drugs, reducing hospital and pharmacy reimbursements and delaying payments…”
• State health programs for the poor face new budget crisis, By Jason Stein, December 15, 2009, Wisconsin State Journal: “A flood of newly impoverished participants in state health programs for the poor could send those initiatives as much as $150 million into the red, a legislative report found. The projections raise fresh questions about how long the cash-strapped state can afford expanded health programs for struggling Wisconsin residents at a time of unprecedented economic crisis. To keep the programs running, state officials said they would consider tough choices including putting new rules on participants and cutting payments to the clinics and hospitals that care for them…”

California’s payments to foster-care providers are too low, court rules, By Carol J. Williams, December 14, 2009, Los Angeles Times: “California’s compensation to foster-care providers is so low that it violates a federal child-welfare law, an appeals court ruled Monday. In a case brought by group home administrators caring for about 9,500 wards of the state with special needs, the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals deemed the state’s payments of 80% or less of the actual cost of care illegal and insufficient. The case was brought last year by California Alliance of Child and Family Services, which operates more than 100 homes across the state for children who have been deemed unsuitable for foster family placements…”

• Poor being turned away from free cancer screenings, By Valerie Bauman (AP), December 12, 2009, Washington Post: “As the economy falters and more people go without health insurance, low-income women in at least 20 states are being turned away or put on long waiting lists for free cancer screenings, according to the American Cancer Society’s Cancer Action Network. In the unofficial survey of programs for July 2008 through April 2009, the organization found that state budget strains are forcing some programs to reject people who would otherwise qualify for free mammograms and Pap smears. Just how many are turned away isn’t known; in some cases, the women are screened through other programs or referred to different providers…”
• Move to curb mammograms for poorest women sparks outrage, By Jim Sanders, December 16, 2009, Fresno Bee: ” Many of California’s lowest-income women in their 40s no longer will be eligible for free breast cancer screenings by the state beginning New Year’s Day. The decision by state health officials has stirred a hornet’s nest of opposition from lawmakers and others who argue that early detection saves lives. A letter signed by 21 members of California’s congressional delegation expressed deep concern and urged rescission of the policy affecting tens of thousands of women…”

A Courier-Journal Special Report: Children in Crisis, By Deborah Yetter, Louisville Courier-Journal:

• Part One: Kentucky leads the nation in deaths from child abuse and neglect and at least half the deaths have come after the cases came to the attention of child welfare authorities.
  • Kentucky officials knew that many of the children who died from abuse might be at risk
  • Recognizing the warning signs of abuse can save some children’s lives
  • Many Kentucky social workers ‘bombarded’ by pressures of job
  • Painful lives cut short: Three tragic tales of child abuse in Kentucky
  • Victims of child abuse come from all parts of Kentucky
  • Graphics: Child abuse by the numbers; child abuse trends
• Part Two: Kentucky continues to have a high rate of child abuse even as its rate of substantiating abuse and neglect has declined.
  • As allegation rate rises, advocates fear Kentucky is missing some abuse
  • Baby crash dummies help sort out facts
  • Funding is a struggle for other social agencies too
  • Graphics: Abuse reports; ages of abuse; abuser relationship to victim
• Part Three: Even after a child dies, the records of abuse remain confidential under Kentucky’s law that provide secrecy.
  • Jefferson jurist allows rare look behind scenes of family court
  • Confidentiality exceeds law’s requirements in Kentucky

• Racial disparities reason for ranking in poverty, By Sarah Chacko, December 13, 2009, Baton Rouge Advocate: “Race and location are still the strongest factors in determining whether a child lives in poverty in Louisiana, according to a recent report on the status of the state’s children. In Louisiana, black children are 3.5 times as likely to live in poverty as white children. Poverty rates are highest in rural parishes in northeast Louisiana, along the Mississippi River. However, 2000 census data also show that a majority of black children in every one of the state’s eight largest metropolitan areas lived in a high-poverty neighborhood. Social service experts say government programs have not been expansive enough to fill in the economic and educational gaps…”
• More Kansas kids in poverty, By Cristina Janney, December 12, 2009, Newton Kansan: “Data recently reported by Kansas Action for Children raises concerns about the number of children living at or just above the poverty level in the state. Kids Count is an annual report from data collected by the Kansas Health Institute for Kansas Action for Children. The report indicates almost 40 percent of Kansas children live below 200 percent of the federal poverty level. The number of children living in lower-class and lower-middle-class homes increased slowly between 2004 and 2008. However, authors of the report noted the data is dated and may not fully reflect the impact of the recession on household incomes…”

• Error inflates Missouri food stamp numbers, By Chad Livengood, December 15, 2009, Springfield News-Leader: “The state of Missouri has been over-counting the number of residents getting food stamp assistance for seven years — by more than a quarter of a million people in September. The reporting error inflated the number of Missourians on food stamps in September by 263,408 — from 855,408 to the reported 1,119,067, according to the Department of Social Services, which administers the food stamp program. The reporting error, which did not lead to additional food stamps being issued, was apparently caused by a computer coding error dating back to 2002, said DSS spokesman Scott Rowson…”
• Missouri reported inflated food stamp figures to feds, By David A. Lieb (AP), December 14, 2009, Kansas City Star: “Missouri acknowledged Monday that it reported inflated numbers of food stamp recipients to the federal government, calling into question millions of dollars of bonuses paid to the state for running one of the nation’s top-flight programs. The Department of Social Services said a computer programming error has consistently exaggerated the figures submitted since September 2002. For example: the agency reported more than 1.1 million food stamp recipients this September. It now says the actual number may be closer to 855,000. The errors generally occurred when one of several food stamp participants in a household left - and thus no longer was receiving benefits - but still was counted by the computer-generated report as if he or she remained in the home…”

• Foster care news good and bad, By Paul Hammel, December 15, 2009, Omaha World-Herald: “While fewer Nebraska children were in foster care in 2008 and a record number of foster kids were adopted, the percentage of children who re-enter the system after being returned to family members was on the rise. And there are serious concerns about the lack of drug treatment for parents and the state’s move to privatize service delivery to kids in out-of-home care. Those are the good news-bad news highlights of the 2008 annual report by the Nebraska Foster Care Review Board, which was released today…”
• Report: Percent of children returning to foster care increasing, By JoAnne Young, December 15, 2009, Lincoln Journal Star: “There was good news in 2008 about children in foster care. The number of children dropped to 4,620, compared to 5,043 the year before. And 572 — 100 more than the year before — found permanent adoptive homes. But in the middle of the good news was a disturbing trend: The percentage of children who returned to foster care increased to 41 percent in 2008, according to the Foster Care Review Board’s 2008 annual report. The report highlighted the need for more funding for mental health services for kids traumatized because they are removed from their homes and parents and then moved around in foster care…”

• Milwaukee child welfare system can learn from Pittsburgh area, By Gina Barton, December 14, 2009, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: “‘It takes a village to raise a child.’ That line is repeated over and over by child welfare advocates across the country. But officials in Allegheny County, Pa., have done more than just talk. They have spent the past 13 years building that village one neighborhood at a time. ‘The first step has to be: Your child welfare agency has to build trust. You’ve got to prove you’re not simply there to take people’s kids away. Then people will be more prone to get on board and band together,’ said Richard Wexler, executive director of the Virginia-based National Coalition for Child Protection Reform. Because Allegheny County - which includes Pittsburgh - has achieved that goal, the county’s child welfare system has transformed ‘from a national disgrace to a national model,’ Wexler often says. As the State of Wisconsin works to reform the Bureau of Milwaukee Child Welfare with a focus on prevention, Pittsburgh holds lessons for how to implement effective reforms. Although the number of children in out-of-home care in Milwaukee County has dropped dramatically since the state took over child welfare in 1998, Milwaukee’s rate of removal remains relatively high, experts say…”
• $15 million computer system makes agency more accountable, By Gina Barton, December 14, 2009, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: “Eleven years ago, the computer systems used by Allegheny County’s Department of Human Services were a mess. Ninety-six different applications couldn’t ‘talk’ to each other. Workers didn’t know how to find information in any of them. Clients were entered into the systems multiple times, so officials couldn’t figure out anything about the people they served - or even how many there were…”
• Youth support partners have learned from experience, By Gina Barton, December 14, 2009, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: “Ashley Hartman was raped by her best friend’s brother when she was 13. She dropped out of school, so child welfare officials came to the house where she lived with her drug-addicted father. A year later, now a ward of the state, Hartman was addicted to drugs and living in a shelter for teens when she got pregnant - with twins. The babies’ father was 21. Today, at 19, Hartman is a high school graduate, living on her own and raising her daughters. She works full time for the Allegheny County Department of Human Services. Her job is to help other teens survive the child welfare system…”
• Support centers give families a place to interact, By Gina Barton, December 14, 2009, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: “Christine Hyatt walked to the Hilltop Family Care Connection center to pick up baby formula through the federal Women, Infants and Children program. While she was there, one of the workers told her about a free play group for her 1-year-old daughter, Kaitlyn Kotvas. Now, Hyatt and Kaitlyn come to the group every week. Hyatt, 24 and pregnant with her second child, also attends a new moms support group and an early-literacy program that provides her family with free books…”
• Program empowers families to make decisions, By Gina Barton, December 14, 2009, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: “When 14-year-old Lavante was shot and left a quadriplegic, his family started falling apart. His mother couldn’t eat, and her health declined to the point where she couldn’t get to the rehabilitation hospital to see her son. His father stopped at a bar every night after work. His three teenage siblings ran wild. To make matters worse, Lavante’s doctors called in a neglect complaint to Allegheny County’s Office of Children, Youth and Families. Lavante’s mother wasn’t visiting enough, they said. Further, they thought she was illiterate and were concerned about whether she would be able to care for her son…”

More to qualify for aid with redefinition of poverty line, By Thu Van, December 15, 2009, Viet Nam News: “More than 6 million disadvantaged people in Viet Nam will be able to receive the Government’s financial support if the proposed poverty line is applied in 2011. This move means the State coffers will have to subsidise basic living costs for 16 million people who live in extremely poor conditions. With the current poverty standard, there are 10 million residents living below this line. According to the Ministry of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs’ recent proposal, the new poverty standard includes those living in rural areas who earn VND350,000 (US$19) or less a month,or those living in urban areas who earn VND450,000 ($25) or less a month. The existing poverty line, which was created in 2005, is VND200,000 per person per month in the countryside and VND260,000 for those living in urban areas…”

• Poll reveals trauma of joblessness in U.S., By Michael Luo and Megan Thee-Brenan, December 14, 2009, New York Times: “More than half of the nation’s unemployed workers have borrowed money from friends or relatives since losing their jobs. An equal number have cut back on doctor visits or medical treatments because they are out of work. Almost half have suffered from depression or anxiety. About 4 in 10 parents have noticed behavioral changes in their children that they attribute to their difficulties in finding work. Joblessness has wreaked financial and emotional havoc on the lives of many of those out of work, according to a New York Times/CBS News poll of unemployed adults, causing major life changes, mental health issues and trouble maintaining even basic necessities…”
• Poll: For many, unemployment brings crisis, By Brian Montopoli, December 14, 2009, CBS News: “The economic downturn has brought financial crisis, emotional problems and difficulty in attaining basic medical care into the lives of unemployed Americans, a new CBS News/New York Times poll finds. The poll, taken as unemployment stands at ten percent, marks the most in-depth look at the situation faced by the unemployed of any recent survey. To gather the data, CBS News and the New York Times interviewed more than 700 unemployed Americans. They found that 86 percent of those surveyed say the loss of their jobs plunged them into crisis. For 46 percent of the unemployed, that crisis was described as ‘major.’ And it tends to deepen with time: Among those out of work more than six months, 57 percent say their unemployment caused a major life crisis…”

New York finds extreme crisis in youth prisons, By Nicholas Confessore, December 13, 2009, New York Times: “New York’s system of juvenile prisons is broken, with young people battling mental illness or addiction held alongside violent offenders in abysmal facilities where they receive little counseling, can be physically abused and rarely get even a basic education, according to a report by a state panel. The problems are so acute that the state agency overseeing the prisons has asked New York’s Family Court judges not to send youths to any of them unless they are a significant risk to public safety, recommending alternatives, like therapeutic foster care. ‘New York State’s current approach fails the young people who are drawn into the system, the public whose safety it is intended to protect, and the principles of good governance that demand effective use of scarce state resources,’ said the confidential draft report, which was obtained by The New York Times…”

Missing more than a meal, By Amy Goldstein, December 12, 2009, Washington Post: “Three weeks before he was elected president, Barack Obama set an audacious goal: end hunger among children in the United States by 2015. Since his inauguration, Obama has seldom broached the subject. His aides brainstorm weekly with several agencies, but their internal conversations so far have not produced fundamentally new approaches. The president’s goal could prove daunting: Childhood hunger is more complex than previously understood, new research suggests, and is unlikely to be solved simply by spending more money for food programs. If Obama intends to erase childhood hunger, the government will need to reach even further into the rowhouse kitchen where Anajyha Wright Mitchell sometimes takes tiny portions so her mother will have more food. ‘I tell her to eat, eat, eat, because she is real skinny,’ Anajyha, 12, said of her mother, Andrea Mitchell. Anajyha, a serious girl with two younger brothers and a mother who has lost two of her three part-time jobs, is growing up with an ebb and flow of food typical of a growing number of families. In her home, in a scuffed neighborhood called Strawberry Mansion a few miles north of the Liberty Bell, food stamps arrive but never last the month. There can be cereal but no milk. Pancake mix and butter but no eggs. The intricacy of the problem — and of the Obama administration’s task — plays out here, where Anajyha could have enough to eat but shortchanges herself…”

• Overhaul of state welfare will debut next month, By Will Higgins and Robert Annis, December 14, 2009, Indianapolis Star: “The long-awaited overhaul of Indiana’s ailing welfare program will begin next month in the southern part of the state, a step key to salvaging a system hobbled by a failed attempt at privatization. The new system of delivering food stamps, Medicaid and temporary assistance for needy families will debut in 10 counties in the Evansville area, said Marcus Barlow, a spokesman for the Indiana Family and Social Services Administration, the state agency responsible for dispensing benefits. FSSA released details Sunday of what it calls a ‘hybrid plan’ that will keep the best aspects of the automated system but add more personal contact between caseworkers and clients. The agency said the changes will improve state oversight of the private portions of the system, keep better tabs on documents submitted by clients and move more workers from call centers to county welfare offices…”
• FSSA to test hybrid welfare system, By Ken Kusmer (AP), December 14, 2009, Fort Wayne News-Sentinel: “Under fire for problems since it automated and privatized its welfare intake system, Indiana’s human services agency plans to introduce more face-to-face contact with caseworkers and make other improvements in January in 10 southwestern counties. The Indiana Family and Social Services Administration released details Sunday of what it is calling a ‘hybrid plan’ that will keep the best aspects of the automated system but add more personal contact between caseworkers and clients. The agency said the changes will improve state oversight of the private portions of the system, keep better tabs on documents submitted by clients and move more workers from call centers to county welfare offices…”
• Hybrid welfare rollout nearing, By Niki Kelly, Fort Wayne Journal Gazette: “Ten counties in southern Indiana will serve as a pilot for a new hybrid welfare delivery system that will start sometime in January, the Family and Social Services Administration announced Sunday. But Allen County and other areas affected by the failed modernization effort will have to wait for improvements…”

Poor children likelier to get antipsychotics, By Duff Wilson, December 11, 2009, New York Times: “New federally financed drug research reveals a stark disparity: children covered by Medicaid are given powerful antipsychotic medicines at a rate four times higher than children whose parents have private insurance. And the Medicaid children are more likely to receive the drugs for less severe conditions than their middle-class counterparts, the data shows. Those findings, by a team from Rutgers and Columbia, are almost certain to add fuel to a long-running debate. Do too many children from poor families receive powerful psychiatric drugs not because they actually need them - but because it is deemed the most efficient and cost-effective way to control problems that may be handled much differently for middle-class children? The questions go beyond the psychological impact on Medicaid children, serious as that may be. Antipsychotic drugs can also have severe physical side effects, causing drastic weight gain and metabolic changes resulting in lifelong physical problems…”

State delays new child subsidy rules, By Suzanne Roig, December 11, 2009, Honolulu Advertiser: “The state will delay, by one month, a change in the child care subsidy scale to give providers and families time to work out solutions and apply for federal grants. The department has created a new 10-part scale that pays varying amounts to needy families or their providers for child care so that the parents can afford to go to work. The state will help child care providers apply for assistance from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act or the Salvation Army. The one-month delay will help families make the transition from the three-level subsidy system to the 10-level system, said Christina Cox, president of KCAA Preschools of Hawai’i and liaison for the Childcare Business Coalition, which represents 44 licensed preschools…”

Grandpa does more than baby-sit, By Michael Winerip, December 10, 2009, New York Times: “In May 2006, Tom Kust discovered that his two grandchildren, Monica, then 6, and Nathan, 2, were about to be adopted by a foster-care family in Florida. He had hired a lawyer to help his daughter, the children’s mother, get the children back. But his daughter kept dropping out of rehab programs, unable to shake her addiction to cocaine and heroin. Mr. Kust wanted Monica and Nathan, but grandparents have limited custody rights, their legal status varying state to state. As a result of working full time as a machine shop manager 1,000 miles away here on Long Island, tension with his daughter over her years of drug use and the lack of coordination between social workers in two states, Mr. Kust had trouble tracking his grandchildren’s case…”

• Despite recession, 26 states grew health coverage this year, By Phil Galewitz, December 8, 2009, Miami Herald: “Despite the economic downturn that’s busting state budgets from Sacramento to Tallahassee, 26 states this year made it easier for low-income children, parents or pregnant women to get health coverage, according to a report released Tuesday by the Kaiser Family Foundation. But the gains could be fleeting as most were made possible by new federal stimulus dollars, which run out at the end of 2010, along with a requirement that states maintain Medicaid eligibility levels. The report surveyed how states were handling Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP). States also benefited from the federal reauthorization of the CHIP program last February, which gave them new options to expand eligibility and millions of dollars to find uninsured kids…”
• Most uninsured In Lower Hudson are working U.S. citizens, By Candice Ferrette and Tim Henderson, December 8, 2009, Journal News: “They are waiters, dental assistants, preschool teachers, hairdressers, small-business owners and recent college graduates. More than half of the uninsured people living in the Lower Hudson Valley are working U.S. citizens who stand to be affected by the national health-care reform debate. As more people become unemployed, this group of people still has jobs but no health insurance…”

State faces backlog of applications for Montana Healthy Kids, By Mike Dennison, December 10, 2009, The Missoulian: “Two months into the state’s new, expanded children’s health insurance program, only about 740 kids have been added, as health officials try to erase a backlog in processing applications. State officials also have held off on a planned statewide advertising blitz for the new program, known as Healthy Montana Kids, while they work through delays in the approval process. ‘We want to make sure our eligibility (processing) is working as it should,’ said Anna Whiting Sorrell, director of the state Department of Public Health and Human Services. ‘We don’t want to frustrate people.’ Yet Whiting Sorrell said the state is still encouraging families to apply for the programs. ‘Our message to all Montana families who would like health coverage for their children is, apply now,’ she said. ‘Even though we’re experiencing a heavy workload, people should still apply.’ Healthy Montana Kids, approved by voter initiative in 2008, expands two government health insurance programs - Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Plan - with the goal of covering an additional 29,000 children in low- and moderate-income families in Montana…”

• India set to measure poverty beyond food, By S.P.S. Pannu, December 11, 2009, India Today: “India is likely to switch to a new method of estimating poverty, which includes total expenditure required by families on clothes, housing, health, education and conveyance apart from adequate food, which was until now the sole criterion for determining poverty. Planning Commission member Abhjit Sen said this gives a more realistic picture of the poverty level as the earlier estimates were based only on the food calorie intake of a person. Sen said the new method uses the lifestyle of the urban households as a benchmark for the rural families as well since they also need to spend on health, education, clothes, transport and housing. Estimates, for the year 2003- 04, using the new method show that a whopping 41.8 per cent of the country’s rural population live below the poverty line based on the wider criteria…”
• 37.2% of India is in poverty by criterion of consumption, By P. Vaidyanathan Iyer and Priyadarshi Siddhanta, December 9, 2009, Express India: “The poverty ratio or the number of poor as a percentage of total population in India for 2004-05 is estimated at 37.2 per cent, according to a new report submitted on Tuesday by the Suresh Tendulkar committee to Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia. The committee, headed by Tendulkar, former chairman of the PM’s Economic Advisory Council, was asked to review the methodology to measure poverty. The committee has defined the poor based on a normative living standard - it has moved away from calorie intake as the criterion and considered per capita consumption expenditure on commodities and services. The number of poor in India in 2004-05 based on an estimate by the Planning Commission released in March 2007 is 30.17 crore or 27.5 per cent of the population. It will, however, be wrong to compare the Tendulkar committee’s estimate with the Plan panel’s 2007 numbers since the criteria for defining the poverty line itself have changed…”

• City judge rules against state in food stamp processing lawsuit, By Brent Jones, December 11, 2009, Baltimore Sun: “A Baltimore Circuit Court judge ruled Thursday that the state has failed to deliver food stamps and medical benefits in a timely manner to thousands of Marylanders, and he ordered a corrective action plan to be filed by late January. Judge Barry Williams ruled that the Department of Human Resources needs to fully comply by the end of 2010 with a law that requires that emergency and medical benefits be received by applicants within 30 days. The case was brought by a Baltimore County woman who sued the state after she applied for food stamps in February but did not receive the services until April, more than 60 days after the request…”
• No food stamps blamed on Md., By Henri E. Cauvin, December 11, 2009, Washington Post: “A Maryland judge ruled Thursday that the state government is failing to provide food stamps and other public benefits as promptly as federal and state law requires. Thousands of families have been affected by the delays over the last few years, and in announcing his decision, Circuit Judge Barry G. Williams said the Maryland Department of Human Resources had engaged in a pattern and practice of violating the law. The judge gave the department 45 days to provide a plan to correct the problems and a year to bring the agency into full compliance with the laws governing food stamps, temporary cash assistance and medical aid…”

• $17 million cut from Medicaid program, By Kim Archer, December 11, 2009, Tulsa World: “The Oklahoma Health Care Authority board voted unanimously to cut nearly $17 million in the state’s Medicaid program Thursday, but left payments to providers such as hospitals, doctors and nursing homes untouched. But Mike Fogarty, chief executive officer, warned that state legislators have indicated additional cuts are likely so providers likely will face a 1 percent reduction in Medicaid payments. ‘If and when this board meets again to discuss more cuts, provider rates will unavoidably be on the table,’ he said. ‘Additional cuts will take us into muscle.’ Cuts to patients - the agency serves about 20 percent of the state’s population - include such things as prescription co-payment increases and a cap on outpatient mental health services…”
• State hit with cuts to SoonerCare, By April Wilkerson, December 11, 2009, Journal Record: “Cuts to the state’s SoonerCare health insurance were made official Thursday, but the program may face further reductions before the fiscal year ends. Members of the Oklahoma Health Care Authority voted to approve cuts that will affect SoonerCare members when they go to the dentist, get a prescription filled, open their wallets to make a co-payment and more. SoonerCare is the state’s Medicaid program and provides health care to nearly 700,000 elderly, disabled and children of low-income families. The cuts were required when the state mandated a 5-percent budget reduction earlier this year, which the OHCA accommodated by trimming $9.8 million. But on Nov. 1, another 5-percent reduction was required, so the OHCA began shaving another $16.8 million…”

Food stamp numbers soaring, By Brad Cain (AP) and Susan Palmer, December 10, 2009, Eugene Register-Guard: “The number of Oregonians receiving food stamps has risen 36 percent over the past year and is expected to climb through 2010 as the state continues to contend with high unemployment, according to figures released Wednesday. In Lane County, 70,155 people are on food stamps, or about one in five residents. The figures released by the state Department of Human Services show that more than 650,000 Oregonians now rely on food stamps, or one out of six Oregon residents. John Radich, manager of the Lane County DHS branch, said his office has seen a steady increase in applications of 1½ to 2 percent a month for the past 18 months…”

• Nearly 25% of Phila. foster children live with kin, By Alfred Lubrano, December 9, 2009, Philadelphia Inquirer: “A new statewide child-welfare report shows a mixed picture in the region - including the encouraging finding that the percentage of Philadelphia children in foster care who live in the homes of relatives is higher than the state average. Nearly 25 percent of foster children in Philadelphia are placed in the homes of relatives, compared with around 21 percent for the state as a whole, according to the report released yesterday by Pennsylvania Partnerships for Children, a statewide advocacy group based in Harrisburg. Children placed with family members do better than those in nonfamily settings, the group’s analysts said…”
• Foster families to feel pinch of slashed budget, By Jennifer Jacobs, December 10, 2009, Des Moines Register: “Iowa foster parents will get about $35 less each month for expenses for the abused or neglected children they care for on behalf of the state. That could hurt the foster care system, said several Iowans who oversee the Iowa Department of Human Services. The 10 percent across-the-board budget cut Gov. Chet Culver ordered for this budget year will decrease state spending on foster care subsidies by about $315,000…”

• Experts say welfare safety net inadequate to aid jobless, strapped families in recession, By Jim Abrams (AP), December 9, 2009, Los Angeles Times: “The 1996 law that ended an American’s right to welfare also frayed the safety net for some people trying to cope with the current recession. The Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program that grew out of that law has responded slowly to the increasingly number of people without jobs and descending into poverty, witnesses told the House Budget Committee on Wednesday. They said that contrasted with sharply increased activity in other safety net programs, including unemployment insurance benefits and food stamps…”
• Why welfare reform fails its recession test, By Peter Edelman and Barbara Ehrenreich, December 6, 2009, Washington Post: “We all like to imagine that there’ll be something to stop our fall if we hit hard times. Mulugeta Yimer, for example, is a 56-year-old Alexandria cabdriver who escaped poverty and persecution in Ethiopia 20 years ago only to be clobbered by the recession. Business is way down, and he’s facing possible foreclosure on his home. He says he is averse to government handouts, but when he contemplates what might be in store for his wife, who works part-time at a convenience store, and their two young children, he muses wistfully, ‘There’s always welfare, isn’t there?’ Actually, no. When President Bill Clinton signed welfare reform into law, he didn’t just end welfare as we knew it. For all practical purposes, it turned out, he brought an end to cash help of any kind for families with children in much of the country. While welfare reform was long ago declared a success in some quarters, it was deeply flawed from the beginning. The recession has shown how seriously unprepared it left us for hard times…”

Homeless families overwhelm shelters, By Marcus Green, December 7, 2009, Louisville Courier-Journal: “Shelters in Louisville and Southern Indiana say they are struggling to cope with an increase in homeless families - turning common areas into makeshift sleeping quarters, starting waiting lists, and, in some cases, turning people away. Advocates, school and shelter officials all say they fear family homelessness is reaching record levels here, and while it’s difficult to precisely quantify, they cite a variety of indications, which include…”

Michigan rules derail child support payments, By Catherine Jun, December 7, 2009, Detroit News: “Scores of Michigan parents have fallen behind on their child support payments, and state regulations prevent some from ever catching up. A large percentage of the debt is due to a surcharge the state began applying to delinquent payers in 1996, officials acknowledge. Though designed to encourage parents not to skip the payments, the surcharge has pushed some parents into such a deep hole they can’t climb out. About $9.2 billion in back child support is owed in Michigan, affecting more than 600,000 children. That’s about two-thirds of child support cases in the state. With state unemployment at 15 percent, courts and prosecutors that hunt down deadbeat dads are finding some fathers don’t have the money to pay. ‘Yeah, I have been falling behind,’ said Jeremy Deron, 38, of Westland, who was ordered to pay at least $5,000 in back payments by January. Deron, who lost his job a year and a half ago as a union bricklayer, said he regularly paid child support for his two sons until his unemployment checks ran out a few months ago. Now he faces a felony charge if he misses the January deadline. ‘I don’t have the five grand,’ he said. ‘Now I’m fighting to stay out of jail.’ Michigan ranks third among states with the highest amount of uncollected child support funds. The state surcharge is a key culprit, compounding the debt of delinquent payers by essentially adding interest onto overdue back payments, said Marilyn Stephen, director of the state Office of Child Support…”

• The fourth ‘R’: Rural school systems locally face big challenges, By Andrea Castillo, December 8, 2009, Macon Telegraph: “Georgia has the third-highest rural student population in the country, according to a report released by the Rural School and Community Trust in November. More than 500,000 Georgia students attend rural schools, making up more than one-third of the state’s student population, according to the analysis. Georgia’s rural schools tend to have high poverty rates among students and low graduation rates, according to the report. The report was compiled using data from the 2006-07 school year from the National Center for Education Statistics, the U.S. Census Bureau and The New America Foundation. School officials in several Middle Georgia counties say one of the challenges of serving students in rural schools is having a smaller tax base, limiting the academic and cultural resources the schools can offer students. In addition, student poverty - commonly measured through eligibility for free and reduced lunches - affects the students in a number of ways, from reduced student concentration and parent involvement to transportation limitations…”
• Report shows poverty in rural schools, By Paula Wolf, December 6, 2009, Lancaster Sunday News: “Some of the county’s most rural school districts have their share of impoverished children, according to figures released last month by the U.S. Census Bureau. The School District of Lancaster, which covers Lancaster city and Lancaster Township, and Columbia Borough School District top the list with 26.9 and 19.6 percent of children ages 5-17 in families in poverty. But in three other districts - Eastern Lancaster County, Solanco and Pequea Valley - at least 13.9 percent of children in that age range live in poverty, exceeding the Lancaster County average of 12.4 percent, the census reported. The numbers, for 2008, are from the Small Area Income and Poverty Estimates program. They were produced for the U.S. Department of Education to help it enforce the No Child Left Behind Act. The estimates take into account children residing within the school district’s borders - not just those enrolled in district schools…”

• One in four local kids in poverty, report says, By Nikki Buskey, December 8, 2009, Thibodaux Daily Comet: “One of every four children in Lafourche and Terrebonne lives in poverty, a new report shows. That’s 5,223 children, or 24 percent, in Lafourche. In Terrebonne, it’s 6,934, or 25 percent. The federal standard for poverty is an annual income of $20,650 for a family of four. The number of children living in poverty locally is just below the state average, according to the 2009 Kids Count report, produced by Agenda for Children, a Louisiana advocacy group. Statewide, 27 percent of children, or 285,425 kids, are living in poverty. The child-poverty rate in Louisiana is twice as high as the elderly poverty rate, which is 13 percent…”
• Poverty in three parishes severe, By Stephen Largen, December 5, 2009, Monroe News Star: “Northeastern Louisiana’s Delta is home to three of the top 25 parishes or counties in the United States with the highest rate of children whose families have incomes below the federal poverty threshold, according to a report released this week. Morehouse Parish (51 percent of children in poverty), Tensas Parish (50 percent of children in poverty) and East Carroll Parish (56 percent of children in poverty), labeled by Newsweek in 1994 as ‘The Poorest Place in America,’ all earned the dubious distinction in the 2009 Kids Count Data Book on Louisiana’s Children, produced by Agenda for Children. East Carroll Parish has not shed that label in the intervening years: according to the report, East Carroll has a higher percentage of its residents on welfare than any county or parish in the United States. The report is based on 2007 data from state agencies and the U.S. Census Bureau…”

• Hard times, hard choices: The decision to go on food stamps, By Jim Spencer, December 6, 2009, Minneapolis-St. Paul Star Tribune: “Three years ago, the National Republican Congressional Committee gave Ini Augustine a Congressional Medal of Distinction, recognizing her prospering temporary-employment business. Today, Augustine is among tens of thousands of Minnesotans forced on to food stamps for the first time by a recession that first imploded the stock market and now has exploded stereotypes of welfare recipients. ‘I’ve been working since I was 13,’ Augustine, 28, said. ‘I never had trouble finding a job.’ Until now…”
• In Twin Cities, foods stamps are feeding the suburbs, By Jason Hoppin and MaryJo Webster, December 7, 2009, Pioneer Press: “Off carefully planned streets and behind manicured lawns, welfare is increasingly putting food on the dinner tables of Minnesota’s suburban families. As job losses batter Minnesota’s economy - 70 percent of the state’s $1.2 billion deficit is attributed to lost wages - the use of food stamps, called Food Support in Minnesota, is on the rise. But a look at the numbers shows that while the use of food stamps is still most prevalent in the urban core, it is in the suburbs where their use is rising the fastest. Both wealthier and less diverse than other parts of the state, the suburbs are often perceived to be free of the ills that gnaw at bigger cities like Minneapolis and St. Paul. But over the past decade, that has started to change…”
• Number of S.J. residents receiving food assistance up by thousands, By Zachary K. Johnson, December 7, 2009, Stockton Record: “Thousands more county residents now receive food assistance every month than did just a year ago, mirroring a nationwide climb in the number of people receiving federal food stamps benefits. In October, 77,814 county residents benefited from the program, an 18 percent increase from the 65,861 residents in October 2008, according to San Joaquin County Human Services Agency, which administers the program. The number of people in the program, known as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, has been rising steadily since at least July 2008, when the number of people getting the benefit was at 63,520…”
• Under-use of program costs county millions, By Zachary K. Johnson, December 7, 2009, Stockton Record: “Up to 142,000 people in San Joaquin County struggle to afford enough to eat, but many of them are not receiving federal assistance to help put food on the table, according to reports recently released by a statewide advocacy group. If everyone eligible for food stamps benefits in the county received them, another $46.8 million in federal money would flow into the county each year, according to the California Food Policy Advocates. But the impact would be greater, generating $86 million in economic activity as food stamp beneficiaries spend more money, according to the group’s Lost Dollars, Empty Plates report released last month…”

A plea to Congress on jobless benefits, By Erik Eckholm, December 7, 2009, New York Times: “State labor officials and worker advocates on Monday appealed for quick Congressional action to extend emergency unemployment benefits and to renew health insurance subsidies for the long-term jobless. Prolonged unemployment insurance, passed this year in the stimulus act, expires this month, and officials estimate that more than one million workers will see benefits end in January if Congress does not act. The health subsidies, under which the federal government pays 65 percent of insurance costs under Cobra for up to nine months, have already expired and are not available to the newly unemployed, who will have to pay family premiums averaging $1,100 if they want to keep their existing health plans…”

• Need is up, but funding plummets for legal aid, By Mary Pat Flaherty, December 7, 2009, Washington Post: “For accountant Jose Burgos, who was laid off in October, the free legal advice he’s received in Montgomery County could make the difference in whether his family keeps its Silver Spring condominium. For the legal staff, Burgos, 41, is one more complicated bankruptcy consultation in a year of many — and that is where the stress hits. At the very time that more newly poor people need help with the likes of mortgages, rent disputes and battles over wages, clinics across the country that help with noncriminal cases are enduring sharp funding drops…”
• Report: Insufficient funding for legal aid, By Scott Daugherty, December 7, 2009, The Capital: “The weak economy is cutting into a vital source of funding for legal aid in Maryland, leaving many area residents without any help to navigate the courts in civil matters, according to a state panel. A report released last month by the Maryland Access to Justice Commission found the Interest On Lawyers Trust Accounts program, which historically provided about half of the state’s funding for legal aid, is generating about 70 percent less revenue than it did two years ago. The program, which diverts interest from many attorney-held bank accounts, is expected to pull in about $2 million this fiscal year, down from $6.7 million two years ago…”

• Colorado again fails federal test on child protection, By Electa Draper, December 5, 2009, Denver Post: “Colorado’s child-welfare system again fell short of federal standards for protecting the safety and well-being of the state’s kids, according to a comprehensive federal review released Friday. Despite extensive public and political focus on human services following a series of preventable children’s deaths, Colorado’s overall performance, assessed between Oct. 1, 2007, and March 20, 2009, was no better than its substandard showing after the first such review was completed in 2002. ‘There is no measurable improvement. It’s a sobering result,’ said Liz McDonough, spokeswoman for the Colorado Department of Human Services. Colorado’s child-welfare system, one of 11 in the nation where services are delivered by individual counties instead of the state, demonstrated a lack of consistency and problems with accessibility of services and accountability, said the new report by the federal Department of Health and Human Services…”
• Child welfare in Colorado found lacking, Associated Press, December 5, 2009, New York Times: “Colorado’s child welfare system is not in compliance with federal regulations on child safety and well-being, according to a review released Friday by the federal Department of Health and Human Services. The review found that Colorado did not meet standards for abuse in home care and placement stability. The state is also not in compliance with standards measuring child safety and well-being…”

• Jobs report is strongest since the start of the recession, By Louis Uchitelle and Javier C. Hernandez, December 4, 2009, New York Times: “In the strongest jobs report since the recession began two years ago, the nation’s employers all but stopped shedding jobs in November, the government reported on Friday, and they appeared to be on the verge of finally rebuilding the work force. The sudden and unexpected improvement surprised even the most optimistic forecasters. Instead of yet another six-figure job loss, only 11,000 jobs disappeared last month and instead of another rise in the unemployment rate, it went down, to 10 percent from 10.2 percent in October…”
• Unexpected drop in jobless rate sparks optimism, By Christopher S. Rugaber (AP), December 4, 2009, Houston Chronicle: “A surprising drop in the unemployment rate and far fewer job losses last month raised hopes Friday for a sustained economic recovery. The rate unexpectedly fell to 10 percent, from 10.2 percent in October, as employers cut the fewest number of jobs since the recession began. The government also said 159,000 fewer jobs were lost in September and October than first reported. If part-time workers who want full time jobs and laid-off workers who have given up looking for jobs are included, the so-called underemployment rate also fell, to 17.2 percent from 17.5 percent in October…”
• Repaid bailout money may go to jobless benefits, By Jackie Calmes, December 2, 2009, New York Times: “Under pressure from Democrats in Congress, the Obama administration has begun talks with lawmakers about tapping unspent money from the government’s financial bailout program to help offset additional spending to create jobs and aid the long-term unemployed. The discussions reflect the Democrats’ effort to balance concerns for the high federal budget deficit and a costly, crowded domestic agenda, including an effort for further economic stimulus measures that is likely to exceed $100 billion. On Thursday, House leaders may decide the outlines of a jobs bill to pass this month, even as President Obama holds a White House jobs summit seeking long-range ideas. Now that the financial industry has stabilized, and some bailed-out companies have repaid the government with interest, the $700 billion bailout fund created in October 2008 is left with a balance exceeding $200 billion, according to the Treasury…”

Retailers take notice as record numbers turn to food stamps, By Tim Grant, December 4, 2009, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette: “A historic high number of Pennsylvanians — many of whom are middle-class families experiencing job loss and reduced work hours — are being forced to rely on government help to put food on the table. Records from the state Department of Public Welfare show there were 1.3 million people in the state who might have gone hungry if not for the federal food assistance program during the first 10 months of this year. Of that number, 136,563 are residents of Allegheny County. It is the highest number of food stamp recipients on record for the county and the state. According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the number of food stamp recipients is at record highs across the nation. With more people receiving assistance than ever before and retailers across the country struggling to maintain if not increase sales, many stores that had not previously accepted food stamps are taking steps to do so…”

• Barbour slashes $54.3M from Mississippi budget, By Elizabeth Crisp, December 4, 2009, Jackson Clarion-Ledger: “Gov. Haley Barbour is whittling another $54.3 million from the state budget as revenues continue to fall, but Mississippi’s remaining $160 million shortfall likely will be addressed in January after the legislative session begins. ‘When the Legislature spent more money than we had, it falls on the governor to make the savings, which I do,’ he said. Barbour is making his second round of budget cuts since July 1. The cuts, coupled with those in September, amount to $226.3 million. He cut $200 million the previous fiscal year. Many state agencies are now nearly 10 percent below their funding for last year…”
• Agency to decide Oklahoma Medicaid cutbacks, By Michael McNutt, December 3, 2009, The Oklahoman: “Thousands of Oklahoma Medicaid patients would see benefits reduced as the state agency that manages the federal program grapples with required 5 percent budget cuts, according to a spending-cut proposal presented Wednesday to a House budget subcommittee. Proposals include limiting paid emergency room visits to three a year, eliminating outpatient adult therapies, such as speech and physical therapy, eliminating reimbursement for newborn circumcision and reducing the number of brand-name prescriptions from three to two for adults, said Mike Fogarty, chief executive officer of the Oklahoma Health Care Authority…”

• Why aren’t there more Deidre Greens?, By Susan Troller, December 2, 2009, Capital Times: “Deidre Green got off to a rough start with a bad case of infant jaundice that overwhelmed her mother. She went to live with her grandmother, who showered her with attention that likely changed the arc of her life. ‘I suppose I got pretty spoiled,’ the UW-Madison freshman says with a laugh. ‘My grandma played with me all the time - she did puzzles with me, read to me. She always told me I was smart, so when I got to school, that was what I expected. It was what she expected, too.’ For Green, a variety of serendipitous factors - her own talent and hard work, supportive mentors in and out of school, a core group of good friends and key opportunities - helped her excel in Madison public schools. An educational pioneer in her family, she intends to also do well in college and then go to law school…”
• Report: Minorities, low-income students lag in college success, By Daniel de Vise, December 3, 2009, Washington Post: “A new report, billed as one of the most comprehensive studies to date of how low-income and minority students fare in college, shows a wide gap in graduation rates at public four-year colleges nationwide and ‘alarming’ disparities in success at community colleges. The analysis, released Thursday, provides a statistical starting point for 24 public higher education systems that pledged two years ago to halve the achievement gap in college access and completion by 2015. Together, the systems represent two-fifths of all undergraduate students in four-year public colleges…”
• Skills gulf near impassable for poor children, By Adele Horin, December 3, 2009, Sydney Morning Herald: “Children from poor families have fallen so far behind their peers by the age of six in language development and other measures they are in danger of never catching up, a study has shown. Researchers tracked 5000 four-year-olds and 5000 infants for two years and found stark differences in the cognitive development of children from different socio-economic backgrounds. The differences were evident by age four. As well, there were marked differences in the health of children from different backgrounds, with the most disadvantaged likely to have poorer general health, sleep problems, and ‘illnesses with wheezes.’ Dr Jan Nicholson, associate professor of psychology at the Murdoch Children’s Research Institute, said the results were worse than expected for cognitive development. The findings will be presented to the Growing Up in Australia conference this week…”
• How the economy is failing students, By J. Patrick Coolican and Emily Richmond, December 2, 2009, Las Vegas Sun: “The Clark County School District has always struggled with its sky-high population of poor children. The number of homeless students is expected to reach 8,000 by the end of the academic year, a 30 percent increase. And a full 44 percent of the district’s students receive free or reduced-price lunches, a commonly used indicator of childhood poverty. Family poverty, in turn, is correlated with lagging student achievement. Now, the deep recession threatens to make this problem worse, and do so for years to come. According to a study from two economists at the University of California, Davis, a parent’s job loss can increase by 15 percent the likelihood that a student will repeat a grade. This short-term damage, which is particularly acute in families where the breadwinner has just a high school degree, matches up with other data showing the negative long-term effects of poverty on student achievement…”

• Poverty in Britain is at a nine year high, says Joseph Rowntree Foundation report, By Christopher Hope, December 3, 2009, The Telegraph: “The Tories said the report was an indictment of the Government’s failure to tackle low earnings and blew ‘Labour’s hollow claim to be the party of poverty.’ The study by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation found that the gap between the haves and have-nots started growing in 2004, long before the recession began. The foundation’s report found that the number of people living in ‘low income’ households was now 13.4 million, the highest level since 2000 when it was nearly 14 million. A low income household is one that lives on less than 60 per cent of the average UK household income in the year in question - after housing costs and council tax. For a family of four it is £14,560 a year. The annual report into poverty in Britain also found that nearly one in eight people of working age are out of work - the highest proportion since Labour came to power in 1997. Repossessions were now back at the level they were in 1994, the study said…”
• Poverty on the rise, says Joseph Rowntree report, December 3, 2009, BBC News: “Poverty has been rising in the UK since 2004 and is now at the same level as the start of the decade, a report by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation says. The group said that issues of unemployment and the repossession of homes had become more acute before the recession started. It said long-term solutions were needed to reverse the poverty trend. But the report also pointed to improvements over the last decade, such as a decreasing fear of crime. It added that 11 to 16-year-olds were getting better basic school results, and there were fewer youngsters thrown out of school. The rate of premature deaths is falling and infant mortality has also dropped over the past 10 years…”

• Food stamp use soars in S. Dakota, By Jon Walker, December 2, 2009, Sioux Falls Argus Leader: “Food stamps are putting supper on the table for more South Dakota families, and the usage has soared in Sioux Falls, home of the state’s most robust economy. Statewide use of the government benefit jumped 34 percent this fall compared to a year ago, and in Minnehaha County, the rate rose 52 percent. ‘Obviously, it’s the hard economic times. Some folks who were always eligible just scraped by and did not apply. Now, they can’t just scrape by anymore,’ said Kim Malsam-Rysdon, deputy secretary of the South Dakota Department of Social Services in Pierre. More than one-tenth of South Dakotans now use food stamps, which give eligible households an average of $319 a month for groceries. The income limit for a family of four to qualify is $2,389 a month or $28,668 a year…”
• Report: Food stamp rolls have grown in La., By Sarah Chacko, December 3, 2009, Baton Rouge Advocate: “More Louisiana families are receiving food stamps now than in the past 20 years, a trend mirroring national reports that more people are in need of the federal assistance because of job loss. Nationwide, the number of food stamp recipients has climbed by about 10 million since 2007, resulting in a program that feeds one in eight Americans and nearly one in four children, according to a story published Sunday in The New York Times. However, Louisiana’s trends may not be directly linked to a poor economy, a state official said…”

• Homeless children a growing statistic, By Joseph Gidjunis, November 30, 2009, Courier-Post: “For the second time in Tracy Adkins’ life, she and her children are homeless. The 26-year-old has held several jobs, but she’s lost them in this recession. Rent remains expensive, as is every utility, she said. Now she and her two children, one 6, another 3, are sharing a room at the Anna Sample Complex in Camden, an in-demand shelter run by Volunteers of America Delaware Valley. Adkins’ 3-year-old attends preschool in Camden and her 6-year-old rides a bus to Woodbury Public Schools. Her daughter takes the bus at Woodbury’s expense to minimize separation and missed schooling. If feasible, federal law requires districts to do what is in the child’s best interests, despite the cost, officials said. More than a year into the national housing crisis and recession, Adkins’ family story isn’t rare. While some recovering economic indicators such as the country’s Gross Domestic Product and stock market offer hope that the financial crisis is on the rebound, state and local officials said they expect to see peak counts of homeless children this year…”
• Ind. sees more homeless students as economy slumps, By Deanna Martin (AP), December 1, 2009, Chicago Tribune: “The number of Indiana public school students who are homeless has jumped in recent years — and is expected to climb further — as high foreclosure and unemployment rates leave more parents struggling to provide stable homes for their children. During the 2005-2006 school year, Indiana public schools recorded 7,547 homeless students, according to an issue brief released Wednesday by the Indiana Youth Institute. The number jumped to 8,249 the following year and to 8,480 during the 2007-2008 school year — marking a 12 percent increase over two years. Those numbers do not include younger students who are not of school age or ‘unaccompanied youth’ who are especially difficult to count because they are living on their own and often do not seek help from shelters…”

• 25.6% of U.S. households use conventional banks little or not at all, By Tiffany Hsu, December 3, 2009, Los Angeles Times: “More than a quarter of American households have limited or no interaction with conventional banks, making it more difficult for those families to establish credit, according to the first-ever federal survey of how consumers use financial services. The survey, released Wednesday, found that 25.6% of households — 30 million in all — did not use basic banking services last year or relied on alternative services, such as high- interest payday loans, to get needed cash. Those so-called unbanked and underbanked Americans are disproportionally low-income and minority families, including more than half of black households, according to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. survey…”
• FDIC: Poor, minorities struggle to access banks, By Daniel Wagner (AP), December 2, 2009, Wisconsin State Journal: “More than a million American households lost access to basic banking services like savings accounts last year, bank regulators say. Those families are among 30 million households that have little or no access to such services, according to a survey released Wednesday by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. Poor, minority and immigrant families are especially hard-hit. In all, 25.6 percent of U.S. households either lack bank accounts or use payday loans, check-cashing services and other costly alternatives to traditional banks, according to the survey…”