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News from the field of Child and Youth Care

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30 MAY

New funding supports child and youth mental health in B.C.

To further support the positive mental health and well-being of British Columbia children, youth and families, the Province is investing $850,000 in the F.O.R.C.E Society for Kids’ Mental Health.

The F.O.R.C.E. society will use the funds to strengthen their supports for B.C. families, including evaluating and enhancing their Parent and Youth in Residence Program, developed in 2011. Based on their own lived experience, parents and youth offer peer support, education, mentorship and assistance to young people, families and caregivers in navigating child and youth mental-health services.

To date, there are 16 parent in residence (PiR) and two youth in residence (YiR) mentors working in the province’s five health regions: Vancouver Coastal, Vancouver Island, Fraser, the Interior and the North. Since 2011, these programs have helped more than 10,000 young people, families and caregivers each year throughout B.C. to realize that they are not alone in their struggles and that there are a variety of supports and services that can help them. In addition, the F.O.R.C.E. also supports a significant number of service providers who are looking for assistance in helping young people and families.

To access the services available through the Parent and Youth in Residence Program, contact a PiR or YiR directly. Contacts for each community are provided here: http://www.forcesociety.com/contact

To further ensure that B.C.’s mental-health programs and supports work effectively together, the Province is developing an integrated, cross-government mental-health and substance-use strategy for British Columbia. This work includes a review of current child and youth mental-health programs and services. The goal is to address key gaps in the current system and ensure individuals and families can access support services early, before they find themselves in a crisis.

Quotes

Stephanie Cadieux, Minister of Children and Family Development –

“The F.O.R.C.E. society’s unwavering commitment to supporting children, youth and families with mental health challenges is making a huge difference. The work they do – and today’s investment – will give families the support, resources and positive relationships they need to cope, manage and overcome mental-health challenges.”

Terry Lake, Minister of Health –

“Our government has a broad system of mental-health supports and services for children and youth and adults, and this partnership with the F.O.R.C.E. society is an important piece. We know that that system is broad and can be complex for families to navigate and this funding will help to simplify that process, and ensure that families and young people get the support they need.”

Keli Anderson, founder and CEO, the F.O.R.C.E. Society for Kids’ Mental Health –

“The Parent and Youth in Residence Program, and the work they do to influence practice and experiences of young people and families in B.C., is deeply personal and integral to improve mental-health outcomes for children and youth in our province. We appreciate the ongoing support of the Province as this work is not possible without its support.”

Quick facts

27 May 2016

https://news.gov.bc.ca/releases/2016CFD0027-000879

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27 MAY

USA Administration for Children and Families: Strategic Plan 2015-2016

ACF is guided by the vision of “children, youth, families, individuals, and communities who are resilient, safe, healthy, and economically secure.” We seek to advance that vision by providing federal leadership, partnership, and resources for the compassionate and effective delivery of human services.

We are responsible for federal stewardship of a set of programs that provide essential services and supports for millions of Americans. And through our grants administration, research, technical assistance, and policy guidance, we seek to support national, state, territorial, tribal, and local efforts to strengthen families and communities and promote opportunity and economic mobility.

In our strategic plan, we describe our goals and strategic initiatives for 2015-2016. The plan does not aim to describe everything that ACF will accomplish in this period. Much of our daily work involves our responsibilities to ensure that federal funds are spent in compliance with federal law, and that federal grantees meet the terms of their grants.

In furtherance of and along with those core responsibilities, we seek to advance a set of key goals:

• Promote economic, health, and social well-being for individuals, families, and communities;
• Promote healthy development and school readiness for children, especially those in low-income families;
• Promote safety and well-being of children, youth, and families;
• Support underserved and underrepresented populations; and
• Upgrade the capacity of ACF to make a difference for families and communities.

http://www.acf.hhs.gov/about/acf-strategic-plan-2015-2016

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25 MAY

NEW ZEALAND

High-school students present views on policy to Parliament

A document containing the opinions of over two hundred young people across New Zealand on issues of national importance has been released this week.

The 2016 Youth Declaration (Te Whakaputanga o te Rangatahi) is the outcome of a youth conference held in Auckland this April that brought young people together from all around the country to create policy statements representing their views on topics such as economic development, social development, and culture and heritage.

The statements created by the participants tackle issues from methods for addressing the poverty cycle, to public transport and government surveillance. Coordinator Joshua Ramsay said the Declaration was proof that stereotype of disengaged youth was false.

“Through workshops, community outreach and engaging with industry experts at the conference, we really wanted to give participants the depth of knowledge required to make informed proposals to decision-makers.”

The Declaration also addressed pressing concerns of the Syrian refugee crisis, and acknowledged the need for New Zealand to establish itself as a republic.

Aotearoa Youth Declaration was established to give young leaders the platform to learn and be heard at a national level. The conference is organised by volunteers from UN Youth, a youth run charity dedicated to promoting the principles of democracy internationally and locally. The conference received the backing of the Ministry of Youth Development and the University of Auckland.

“Aotearoa Youth Declaration demonstrates the best way to get youth engaged is to show them someone who is willing to listen. The reception of the Declaration of nearly 100 policy statements by Members of Parliament and the community this week, underscores this exact point.”, Ramsay said.

The full Declaration can be read at: https://unyouth.org.nz/events/youth-declaration

http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PO1605/S00320/high-school-students-present-views-on-policy-to-parliament.htm

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23 MAY

Ontario releases report on Child and Youth Residential Services

I am pleased to release the report Because Young People Matter, a review of Ontario’s residential services for children and youth.

I want to thank the expert panel for its invaluable and thoughtful work. The panel met with parents, foster parents, service providers and independent experts. Key input came from youth who shared their life experiences and reflect the rich diversity of Ontario, including: First Nations, Métis and Inuit youth; those who identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans, queer and two-spirited; youth with special needs; racialized youth; and those involved in the justice and child welfare systems.

The panel consisted of:

We value each of the recommendations outlined by the panel in the report. This advice, in concert with recent reports by the Provincial Advocate for Children and Youth, will help inform the ministry’s next steps to improve residential services for children and youth in Ontario.

In the coming months, we will build a blueprint for reform that focuses on improving the quality of care for children and youth, enhancing oversight of licensed residential settings and using data and analytics to inform decision-making at all levels.

This work will be done collaboratively with individuals, communities, Indigenous partners and stakeholders including the Association of Native Child and Family Service Agencies of Ontario, Children’s Mental Health Ontario, the Ontario Association of Children’s Aid Societies, the Ontario Association of Residences Treating Youth, the Ontario Residential Care Association, The Provincial Advocate for Children and Youth and Youth Justice Ontario. We will bring together players from across sectors to form a panel that will help guide reforms to residential services for children and youth in Ontario. Working with the Provincial Advocate for Children and Youth, we will also establish a youth panel to ensure that young people are represented in the process.

Reflecting Ontario’s unique relationship with Indigenous peoples, we will also work with our Indigenous partners to co-develop a plan that will address the specific needs of First Nations, Métis, Inuit and urban Indigenous children and youth. This work will be consistent with the vision, guiding principles and framework of the Ontario Indigenous Children and Youth Strategy. It will also respond to the Calls to Action found in the report of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission.

While we have made progress, there is more work to be done. The upcoming changes to residential services for children and youth are the next step in the transformation across all sectors serving children and youth in Ontario.

The Honourable Tracy MacCharles
Minister of Children and Youth Services

19 May 2016

http://www.children.gov.on.ca/htdocs/English/news/speeches/05192016.aspx

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19 MAY

New Zealand: More families to receive intensive home support

Social Development Minister Anne Tolley says $7.3 million a year will be reprioritised to support more vulnerable children and their families through intensive home visiting programme Family Start.

“We’re investing in those who are in the most need of support by increasing the funding for Family Start, an evidence-based intensive home visitation programme with proven results,” Mrs Tolley says.

“Family Start has been shown to increase mothers’ use of community-based mental health services, child immunisation rates and participation in Early Childhood Education.”

The funding will be reprioritised from the low-intensity home visitation programme, Parents As First Teachers (PAFT), which is aimed at lower-risk families and has shown no evidence of effectively reducing child maltreatment.

“Family Start currently works with 5000 at-risk families at any one time, and this funding will support an additional 1250 families nationwide,” Mrs Tolley says

“Eligible families currently receiving PAFT will be referred to Family Start and others will be able to access resources such as Strategies for Kids, Information for Parents (SKIP) and targeted parenting programmes such as Incredible Years.

“MSD will work with existing Family Start sites to expand their boundaries and new sites will be established in Tauranga, Palmerston North, New Plymouth and Timaru/Ashburton.

“This reinvestment supports the Community Investment Strategy which is working to align funding for those with the highest needs to evidence-based and results-focused social services.

“The transfer will take effect from 1 October 2016 to allow time for providers to assess which families should be referred.”

More information about Family Start is available at https://www.familyservices.govt.nz/working-with-us/programmes-services/early-intervention/new-family-start/

19 May, 2016

http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PA1605/S00370/more-families-to-receive-intensive-home-support.htm

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17 MAY

Off track and headed in the wrong direction: Fewer U.S. students receiving quality sex education

Sex education in this U.S. schools still relies on abstinence and leaves many students unprepared and in the dark, according to new research from the Guttmacher Institute that examines sex education from 2006-2013.

The study, released yesterday from the Guttmacher Institute, examined sex education from 2006-2013 and found that fewer students are learning about how to use and where to get birth control and about HIV and STDs. Perhaps most worrisome, the percentage of young people learning about condoms or birth control before having sex has declined: 43 percent of adolescent females and 57 percent of adolescent males did not receive information about birth control before they had sex for the first time.

Yet, 75 percent of young people received abstinence-only-until-marriage instruction.

“This makes no sense,” said Debra Hauser, President of Advocates for Youth. “Schools are still relying on abstinence-only lessons, putting young people at risk of HIV, STDs, and unintended pregnancies. It’s a violation of their right to lead healthy lives.”

Notably, young people living in lower-income households were less likely to receive instructions about birth control and condoms. Lower-income young people are also at higher risk of experiencing HIV, STDs, and unintended pregnancies. Failing to provide them with the skills and information they need puts them at an even greater disadvantage and endangers their health.

The National Sexuality Education Standards call for age-appropriate instruction in birth control methods, where to find birth control, and abstinence. It calls for young people to learn strategies for planning to protect themselves, communicating their decisions, and sticking to their plans. Only 21 states and the District of Columbia require that sex education and HIV education be taught in schools. Eighteen states and DC require that information about contraception be taught, while 37 require lessons on abstinence.

“We are failing young people by continuing to ignore the realities of their lives,” said Hauser. “We need to right the ship, get back on track, and make sure all students receive quality sex education that prepares them to make informed and healthy decisions.”

15 April 2016

http://www.advocatesforyouth.org/component/content/article/2569-press-release-off-track-and-headed-in-the-wrong-direction-fewer-us-students-receiving-quality-sex-education

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13 MAY

IRELAND

Minister Reilly publishes Adoption (Amendment) Bill

Dr. James Reilly, Minister for Children and Youth Affairs, has today announced that the Government has approved the publication of the Adoption (Amendment) Bill 2016. The primary purpose of the Adoption (Amendment) Bill is to amend the Adoption Act 2010 to give legislative effect to the Children Referendum. The Bill provides for:

• the adoption of any child, irrespective of the marital status of his or her parents, in circumstances where both parents have placed the child for adoption and where both parents consent to the making of the adoption order;

• a change in the criteria under which the High Court may, in a case of parental failure, make an order authorising the adoption of a child without parental consent; and for

• the best interests of the child to be the paramount consideration in relation to any adoption proceedings; and, in that regard for the views of the child to be ascertained by the Adoption Authority or by the court and for those views to be given due weight, having regard to the age and maturity of the child.

The Bill also makes much improved provisions on step parent adoption. The Bill provides for the adoption of a child by his or her step parent without the requirement for the child’s other parent to adopt his or her own child. Previously, if a parent and a step parent wanted to adopt, both the parent and the step parent had to apply to adopt – the parent became an ‘adopting parent’ . Under this Bill, the parent will continue to be a parent and the step parent will be an adoptive parent.

The Bill also provides for couples who are civil partners or cohabitees to be eligible to apply to adopt a child. The relevant provisions are being brought forward into this Bill from the Children and Family Relationships Act 2015 .

5 May, 2016

http://www.dcya.gov.ie/viewdoc.asp?Docid=3779&CatID=11&mn=&StartDate=1+January+2016

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11 MAY

New Zealand: Sanctions imposed on parents, what happens to the children?

Child Poverty Action Group (CPAG) says we have a welfare system that is more focused on punishing, or teaching lessons, than helping people.

Government sanctions "offending beneficiaries" who do not obey stringent rules. "This is bad enough for the adults," says CPAG's Social Security spokesperson, Associate Professor Mike O’Brien. "But children can be hugely affected by the sudden cut to an already inadequate income. There are tens of thousands of children involved."

CPAG challenges the Minister to provide information about the number of children affected by sanctions, for how long and with what effect. We do know that there is widespread social distress and high demands for food banks and budgeting services. With around half of all 165,177 sanctions being imposed on beneficiaries with an undisclosed number of dependants, the numbers of children affected could be well over 100,000.

In 2014 CPAG published a report which discussed the lack of clarity surrounding the data provided by the Ministry of Social Development (MSD) about the impact of benefit sanctions on children.

The data does not provide enough information about:

The sanctions are being imposed far too freely and largely for missed appointments. There is no evidence that sanctions on the scale of 70,000 a year actually improves outcomes for anyone let alone children caught up in them. Protecting vulnerable children is something the Government claims is a goal of welfare reform.

Sole parents, an already marginalised and stereotyped group are often unable to keep appointments: the car breaks down, the child is sick, the traffic is impossible, the school demands and so on. Financial struggles lead to physical struggles which may mean that a day is unpredictable and hard to manage, especially for a sole parent with young children.

"The purpose of welfare has been lost in a crazy obstacle course, especially for parents who need all the support, encouragement and financial stability we can muster to enable the vitally important work they do for society by nurturing and investing in their children," says Associate Professor O’Brien.

Press Release: Child Poverty Action Group

9 May, 2016

http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PO1605/S00100/sanctions-imposed-on-parents-what-happens-to-the-children.htm

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9 MAY

Bisexual and questioning young women more susceptible to depression, Drexel study finds

Gay and bisexual men also found to have higher levels of depression and traumatic stress

A study exploring the prevalence of mental health symptoms in the lesbian, gay, bisexual and questioning (LGBQ) community, found that the oft-overlooked questioning and bisexual youth face their own significant challenges, particularly when it comes to depression, anxiety and traumatic distress.

"I think the failure to include bisexual individuals in research studies reflects a larger culture of bisexual invisibility," said Annie Shearer, a research assistant with Drexel's Family Intervention Science program within the College of Nursing and Health Professions. "And with regard to questioning individuals, I think people assume that is a temporary identity, causing them to be overlooked, too. But during adolescence and young adulthood, when many individuals are still exploring their sexuality, it's particularly important to include both the bisexual and questioning groups."

Shearer and a team from Drexel's Department of Couple and Family Therapy published their findings in the Journal of Adolescent Health under the title, "Difference in Mental Health Symptoms Across Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Questioning Youth in Primary Care Settings."

During routine visits with physicians, participants in the study – numbering 2,513 between the ages of 14 and 24 – took a survey through Behavioral Health Screen, a tool designed to uncover mental health concerns in patients. The tool was developed by Guy Diamond, PhD, director of the Family Intervention Science program and co-author of the study.

Every participant was screened for depression, anxiety, traumatic distress, substance use and suicide ideation, both current and over their lifetime. Each was also asked to report their sexual attraction, which was organized into the categories of gay, lesbian, bisexual or questioning. Since the study focused on sexual preference, transgender individuals were not included, since being transgendered was considered a gender identity.

Data from the screening indicated that female bisexual and questioning people had significantly higher scores for depression, anxiety and traumatic distress than female heterosexuals.

When it came to suicide, bisexual, questioning and lesbian female respondents reported significantly higher scores for lifetime suicide ideation – meaning whether they'd ever thought about suicide – than heterosexual females; bisexual females reported the highest scores for current suicide ideation.

"I think one point is important to point out: with the exception of lifetime suicidiality, women who reported exclusive attraction to other women were actually no more at risk than women only attracted to men for depression, anxiety, traumatic distress, current suicidiality or substance abuse," Shearer said. "I think this contradicts previous findings that same-sex attraction is always a risk factor for mental health symptoms. This may reflect an increasing societal acceptance of same-sex attraction and relationships."

On the male side of the study, gay and bisexual respondents displayed significantly higher scores for depression and traumatic stress. Gay males also scored significantly higher for anxiety than heterosexual males.

Bisexual males trended higher than heterosexual males for anxiety, but only slightly. Their lifetime suicide ideation scores were significantly higher than heterosexual males, however.

A key difference between the male and female survey-takers was that questioning males did not exhibit any significant risks for the mental health symptoms in the screening. In the Journal paper, the research team admitted it wasn't sure why the difference existed, theorizing that the "intersectionality of sexual and gender identity creates unique risks for women who are questioning" which may not exist as distinctly for men.

The team believes that its study demonstrates a clear need for medical providers and researchers to be sensitive to differences across the LGBQ community without lumping them all together. While a general risk of mental health issues remains for the entire community, it would be best to stay mindful of certain groups' susceptibility to particular issues.

"I think bisexual persons and, perhaps, questioning individuals as well, experience prejudice and stigma from gay and lesbian communities in addition to heterosexual communities," Shearer said. "Furthermore, some people still refuse to acknowledge bisexual and other non-binary identities as legitimate, which I think can be very harmful to those who can't -- and shouldn't have to -- identify as exclusively heterosexual or homosexual."

5 May 2016

http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2016-05/du-baq050516.php

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5 MAY

Studying how poverty keeps hurting young minds, and what to do about it

The human brain begins as a neural tube that develops five weeks after conception. Years later, it is fully formed. On Tuesday, experts in neuroscience, genetics and social work met in Manhattan to talk about what can happen to it along the way, and what emerging research tells us about how children who seem broken can be made whole. Officially, the meeting was called Poverty, the Brain and Mental Health. It could have been called This Is Your Brain on Poverty. Or: Don’t Give Up on Little Kids.

For some children, living in poverty is like playing football without a helmet; everyday life causes social concussions. The developing brain gets hammered not by linebackers, but by the stresses often present in homes where people are poor. Brute force is not required to cause physical changes in the brain, emerging science shows.

“There’s no doubt that the field of public health has been slow to embrace much of this research and insight,” Dr. Mary T. Bassett, New York City’s health commissioner, said. “A lot more work has been committed to helping infants survive early death. Less has been done to truly help them thrive.”

How does stress reshape the brain? It sets off the release of a hormone called cortisol, essential to the “fight or flight” response, and critical to a child’s healthy development, Dr. Bassett said.

Some children are exposed to multiple, chronic stresses: neglect, abuse, maternal depression, parental discord, crime and other domestic dysfunctions. In response, cortisol levels rise and stay high, said Margaret Crotty, executive director of the Partnership With Children and an organizer of the meeting. One analogy: like revving a car engine too fast, for too long.

Too much cortisol changes two parts of the brain, Ms. Crotty said: “One is your prefrontal lobe in the front of your brain. That’s how you develop executive functions – negotiating with people, telling the difference between good and bad, thinking about the consequences of your actions, your social behaviors in a classroom. Literally, how you behave.” The other area, she said, is the hippocampus, deeper in the brain, which is central to creating memories of fact. “The things you can declare and verbalize,” Ms. Crotty said. “Pretty important to school.”

Her organization provides social services in the city’s schools. “You’d be amazed at how many kids are suffering from not having an alarm clock,” she said. “In one of our schools, 47 percent of the kids are living in shelters within walking distances of the schools. There was one child who was consistently late and finally just stopped coming to school. We went there; what was happening? Well, the mother’s cellphone was stolen, and she couldn’t afford to get another one. Who’s she going to tell that to?”

Two decades ago, doctors and researchers in California studied the effects of home lives that included abuse, neglect and dysfunction in childhood on the health of 17,421 adults. It was called the Adverse Childhood Experiences study; the stress factors were called Aces. The more factors children had, the more likely that disease and mental health problems would emerge when they were adults. It is considered a landmark piece of research, and its findings have stood up, Dr. Bassett said.

Research in the field of epigenetics, the study of how genes and the environment interact, has explained some of the responses that cause trouble, said Dr. Frances Champagne, an associate professor of psychology at Columbia University. Early-life stress turns on genes that overreact to stress. At the same time, Dr. Champagne said, “those genes that help us, to buffer us, from the effects of stress are epigenetically silenced.”

She and others said in the meeting, which was held at the American Museum of Natural History, that evidence showed the brain’s ability to adapt meant that children and even older people were not doomed by biology and environment. Dr. Bassett said stresses were risk factors, and that city policies like universal prekindergarten were based on research that showed they did not have to define a child’s future.

Outside the home, children can build resilience by forming caring, consistent relationships with adults, Ms. Crotty said. “That’s how your cortisol levels drop,” she added.

Renée Wilson-Simmons, director of the National Center for Children in Poverty at Columbia’s Mailman School of Public Health, said a proverb could sum up the wisdom in the research. “Work the clay,” she said, “while it’s soft.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/05/04/nyregion/studying-how-poverty-keeps-hurting-young-minds-and-what-to-do-about-it.html?rref=collection%2Ftimestopic%2FChildren%20and%20Youth&action=click&contentCollection=timestopics&region=stream&module=stream_unit&version=latest&contentPlacement=1&pgtype=collection&_r=0

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3 MAY

US Federal study increases understanding of homeless youth

More than half of homeless youth become homeless for the first time because they are asked to leave home by a parent or caregiver, and more than half say they have tried to stay at a shelter but it was full. Those findings resulted from a study released today by the Department of Health and Human Services’ Administration for Children and Families (ACF).

The first-of-its-kind study, funded by ACF’s Family & Youth Services Bureau and conducted by researchers at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, focused on 873 youth ages 14 to 21 in 11 cities. Respondents included street youth receiving services from ACF’s Street Outreach Program grantees and street youth who were not currently using services from SOP grantees. The study found the following:

• The average youth spent nearly two years living on the streets.
• More than 60 percent were raped, beaten up, robbed, or otherwise assaulted.
• Nearly 30 percent of participants identified as gay, lesbian or bisexual, and nearly 7 percent identified as transgender.
• About half of youth had been in foster care and youth with a foster care history had been homeless for much longer (27.5 months on average) compared to youth who had never been in foster care (19.3 months, on average).

http://www.acf.hhs.gov/media/press/2016/federal-study-increases-understanding-homeless-youth

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