• Job woes exacting a toll on family life, By Michael Luo, November 11, 2009, New York Times: “Paul Bachmuth’s 9-year-old daughter, Rebecca, began pulling out strands of her hair over the summer. His older child, Hannah, 12, has become noticeably angrier, more prone to throwing tantrums. Initially, Mr. Bachmuth, 45, did not think his children were terribly affected when he lost his job nearly a year ago. But now he cannot ignore the mounting evidence. ‘I’m starting to think it’s all my fault,’ Mr. Bachmuth said. As the months have worn on, his job search travails have consumed the family, even though the Bachmuths were outwardly holding up on unemployment benefits, their savings and the income from the part-time job held by Mr. Bachmuth’s wife, Amanda. But beneath the surface, they have been a family on the brink. They have watched their children struggle with behavioral issues and a stress-induced disorder. He finally got a job offer last week, but not before the couple began seeing a therapist to save their marriage…”
• Job losses both deep and enduring, especially for the young, By Floyd Norris, November 13, 2009, New York Times: “The rise in unemployment that has occurred in the current recession has been hardest on young workers, while having a smaller effect on older workers than previous downturns. Women have been more likely than men to hold on to their jobs. The overall unemployment rate, which reached 10.2 percent on a seasonally adjusted basis last month, remains below the post-World War II peak of 10.8 percent, reached in late 1982. But the proportion of workers who have been out of work for a long time is higher now than it has ever been since the Great Depression. The persistence of joblessness for so many people - 5.6 million Americans have now been out of work for more than half a year even though they have continued to seek employment - may provide the greatest challenge for the Obama administration if it decides to seek a new economic stimulus program…”

• Congress pressed to act to curb child-abuse deaths, By David Crary (AP), October 21, 2009, Washington Post: “Armed with grim statistics, experts and activists are mobilizing this week to demand expanded federal efforts - including more money and tougher oversight - to reverse a recent rise in the number of children dying from abuse and neglect. Child-welfare advocates gathering for a rally and conference in Washington say America should be embarrassed to have a child-abuse death rate far higher than other wealthy democracies. They cite the latest federal figures showing that an estimated 1,760 U.S. children died from abuse and neglect in 2007 - up 35 percent from 2001…”
• Abuse report: 10,440 children died 2001-07, By Wendy Koch, October 20, 2009, USA Today: “More than 10,000 children died from abuse or neglect in the United States from 2001 through 2007, a report released today says. The U.S. death rate is more than double the rate in France, Canada, Japan, Germany, Great Britain and Italy, countries that have less teen pregnancy, violent crime and poverty, according to the report by the Every Child Matters Education Fund, a non-partisan advocacy group…”
• R.I. spends most in U.S. on child-abuse prevention, By Karen Lee Ziner, October 21, 2009, Providence Journal: ” According to a new report that shows a sharp rise in child-abuse and neglect deaths between 2001 and 2007, Rhode Island spends more per capita - $181 - than any other state on child-welfare services aimed at preventing such deaths. South Carolina spends the least: $15 per capita. The report released Wednesday by the nonprofit Every Child Matters Education Fund, cites Rhode Island as one of only two states that reported no child-abuse deaths in 2007. Within the six-year time frame, Rhode Island reported 15 child-abuse deaths…”

• 140,000 of Minnesota’s kids are living in poverty, By Warren Wolfe, September 30, 2009, Minneapolis-St. Paul Star-Tribune: “Rising child poverty means that more Minnesota children are suffering physical and emotional “toxic stress” that, for some, will result in irreversible delays in brain development, according to a new report that tracks 14 indicators of child well-being over the last decade. Even in the best years, more than 100,000 Minnesota children live poverty. But the past few years have not been good for children, according to the 2009 Kids Count report by the Children’s Defense Fund-Minnesota…”
• Childhood poverty rates on the rise, By Tim Nelson, October 1, 2009, Minnesota Public Radio: “A new report on child welfare in Minnesota predicts the number of children in poverty will jump by a one-third over the course of the current recession. The Children’s Defense Fund of Minnesota says while the economic downturn may last only a few months, it will leave a long and troubling legacy. The organization’s annual Kids Count report says more than 26,000 additional children fell into poverty in the first part of this decade. But twice that number could join their ranks during this recession alone…”

• Cash incentive program for poor families is renewed, By Julie Bosman, September 20, 2009, New York Times: “An experimental antipoverty program that pays poor families up to $5,000 a year for going to regular medical checkups, attending school and keeping jobs has been extended for a third year. Linda I. Gibbs, the deputy mayor for health and human services, said she was encouraged by some early results in the education component of the program that showed students improved their attendance and passed more exams when they were rewarded with cash…”
• Latin America makes a dent in poverty with ‘conditional cash’ programs, By Tyler Bridges, September 21, 2009, Christian Science Monitor: “Denise de Oliveira lost her job as a janitor in June when she had to stay home to care for her 13-year-old son, who had pneumonia. The 45-year-old single mother of four has kept food on the table, however, thanks to a government program that pays her family $70 per month. ‘It doesn’t give you enough to buy everything you want, but it sure helps,’ said de Oliveira, who lives on a dirt street in this impoverished town on the outskirts of Rio de Janeiro. Unlike traditional government handouts, however, this popular anti-poverty program, which has spread throughout Latin America and even to New York City, requires that de Oliveira’s children stay in school. The children also must have twice-a-year health exams and be vaccinated against diseases. The program goes by different names - Bolsa Familia (Family Fund) in Brazil and Oportunidades (Opportunities) in Mexico, the most populous countries it’s in - and has slightly different rules depending on the country. Analysts say it’s become the most successful anti-poverty program in years because it requires the poor to do something meaningful and measurable in exchange for government charity…”

• Child welfare: The nanny state, September 3, 2009, The Economist: “When the poet William Wordsworth declared that ‘the Child is father of the Man’, he meant that the gifts of childhood endow adults with some of their finest qualities. And many governments, these days, feel that the path to happiness for society as a whole lies through spending on the welfare of its youngest members: their health, education and general well-being. A report from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), a rich-country think-tank, scrutinises these efforts and asks if the aim is being achieved. With its stress on quantifiable facts, the spirit of the OECD report differs from one by UNICEF, the UN children’s agency, in 2007 which made waves by saying children in Britain did badly. UNICEF relied too much on asking youngsters how they felt (did they have ‘kind and helpful’ schoolmates?); the new study stresses meatier things like vaccination and test scores…”
• Spending levels on single-parent benefits criticised, By Carl O’Brien, September 2, 2009, Irish Times: “The government has been criticised for spending considerable amounts on single-parent welfare benefits with little evidence that they influence the wellbeing of children. In a report comparing child welfare in 30 developed countries, the Paris-based International Organisation for Economic Development (OECD) said Ireland, along with a handful of other countries, was spending significant sums on lone parent benefits that last until children are well into their teens…”

• US fares poorly in OECD survey of childhood welfare, despite above-average spending, By Greg Keller (AP), September 1, 2009, Los Angeles Times: “America has some of the industrial world’s worst rates of infant mortality, teenage pregnancy and child poverty, even though it spends more per child than better-performing countries such as Switzerland, Japan and the Netherlands, a new survey indicates. The OECD, a Paris-based watchdog of industrialized nations, urged the United States to shift more of its public spending to its youngest children, under the age of six, to improve their health and educational performance. The report released Tuesday, ‘Doing Better for Children,’ marks the first time the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development has reported on child well-being within its 30 member countries…”
• High spending fails to improve child welfare, says OECD report, By Owen Bowcott, September 1, 2009, The Guardian: “High public spending in the UK on child welfare and education is failing to deliver results, an international comparative study warns today. The report, by the Paris-based International Organisation for Economic Development (OECD), points out that Britain, although moderately well placed in the rankings, has relatively high rates of teenage pregnancy, drunkenness and young people not in education, employment or training (neets). The survey, entitled Doing Better for Children, suggests that globally girls do better than boys and that, while bullying is on the decline, children are smoking and drinking more…”

• Kids report shows data issues, By David Crary (AP), July 29, 2009, Knoxville New Sentinel: “Serious shortcomings in national data, including an outdated federal measure of household poverty, are undermining the task of identifying and assisting America’s most vulnerable children, according to a report issued Tuesday. The Annie E. Casey Foundation, in its annual Kids Count report on children’s health and well-being, says national efforts to track and analyze such trends ‘fall far short of what is possible, what is needed, and what is demanded’…”
• Granite State still first in children’s well-being, By Adam D. Krauss, July 29, 2009, Foster’s Daily Democrat: “The rankings are in, and once again the Granite State was deemed to be the best state for the well-being of children. But advocates aren’t resting on their state’s laurels…”
• Children faring worse in state, By Mike Averill, July 29, 2009, Tulsa World: “Oklahoma dropped to 44th nationally in child well-being, according to a national report that ranks states on 10 health indicators. The state ranked 43rd last year, 42nd in 2007 and 38th in 2003, according to the 2009 Kids Count Data Book, released annually by the Annie E. Casey Foundation…”
• Child poverty on the rise, By Martha Stoddard, July 29, 2009, Omaha World-Herald: “Iowa children are better off than those in Nebraska, according to a new national report. But the 2009 Kids Count Data Book shows growing numbers of children in both states living in poverty. The increases occurred even before the current recession hit last year…”
• More kids in state living in poverty, By Angela Mapes Turner, July 29, 2009, Fort Wayne Journal Gazette: “The ranks of Hoosier children living in poverty or with unemployed parents are growing, according to a state-by-state study on the well-being of America’s youth…”
• 24% of Alabama kids living in poverty, By Lydia Seabol Avant, July 29, 2009, Tuscaloosa News: “Almost a quarter of Alabama’s children live in poverty, according to a national Kids Count study released Tuesday. Alabama ranks 48th in the nation in the annual state-by-state analysis that examines the well-being of children. The study looks at 10 measures, including teen birth rate, child death rate, high school dropouts and the poverty rate…”
• Study: La. 49th in child welfare, By Sarah Chacko, July 29, 2009, Baton Rouge Advocate: “Despite improvements in key areas, including a decline in births to teenage mothers and high school dropouts, Louisiana again ranked second to last in a national study on child well-being released Tuesday. The Annie E. Casey Foundation’s 2009 Kids Count data book ranks Louisiana 49th out of 50 states - a place Louisiana has held for at least the past decade…”
• State is 47th in well-being of its children, By Nancy Cole, July 29, 2009, Arkansas Democrat Gazette: “Arkansas lags behind all but three states, ranking 47th in children’s health, education and economic well-being, according to a report released Tuesday by a national child-advocacy group…”

• U.S. children likely worse off due to recession, By Carol Morello, July 28, 2009, Washington Post: “The well-being of American children changed only modestly during the boom years of this decade and undoubtedly has worsened since the onset of the recession, according to a report issued this morning.  The Kids Count assessment by the Annie E. Casey Foundation examines 10 key indicators culled from the U.S. Census and other government statistics. The figures showed slight improvements in six areas since 2000, including infant mortality, high school dropout rates and the percentage of idle teens neither attending school nor working. But the report noted that teenage pregnancies, although still lower than in 2000, are again on the rise in all but nine states and the District…”
• Infant mortality rate significantly higher in Md., report claims, By Brent Jones, July 28, 2009, Baltimore Sun: “Maryland’s infant mortality rate has significantly increased, continuing an erratic trend since 2000 that has seen the state drop to 11th worst in the nation, according to the 2009 Kids Count Databook, an annual report released Tuesday by the Baltimore-based Annie E. Casey Foundation…”
• Children’s lot in R.I. improves in 2008, By Colin Chazen, July 28, 2009, Providence Business News: “Rhode Island ranked 15th in the nation in overall children’s well-being in a nationwide report released by Kids Count today. The state moved up six places in the rankings from last year, led by improvements in the teen death rate and percentage of teens who are high school dropouts. Massachusetts was ranked fifth and Connecticut fourth, with the lowest scores concentrated in the South and the Southwest…”

• Report: More American children living in poverty, skipping meals, By Annie Gowan, July 10, 2009, Washington Post: “A growing number of American children are living in poverty and with unemployed parents, and are facing the threat of hunger, according to a new federal report released today. According to ‘America’s Children: Key National Indicators of Well-Being,’ 18 percent of all children 17 and under were living in poverty in 2007, up from 17 percent in 2006…”
• Overall health of U.S. children a mixed bag, July 10, 2009, Austin American-Statesman: “More of America’s children get recommended vaccinations and have health insurance than in years past, but a new U.S. government report paints a mixed picture of the overall health of the nation’s youngsters.  And because of the recession, that picture could soon become bleak, experts say. The report examines child well-being in the areas of family and social environment, economic circumstances, health care, physical environment and safety, behavior, education, health and special health needs…”

In prisoners’ wake, a tide of troubled kids, By Erik Eckholm, July 4, 2009, New York Times: “Herbert Rashad Scott, whose parents were in and out of prison throughout his childhood, vowed to break his family’s cycle of self-destruction.  The circumstances were not promising. Mr. Scott, 20, was awaiting sentencing for drug possession and robbery, but he was allowed supervised release from jail in May to attend a job preparation class — a chance to turn his life around…”