Environmental Health

Earlier this year, an expert panel called for the closure of L.A. County's Welcome Centers for kids awaiting foster placements. But the real problems have more to do with a lack of foster homes and chronic underinvestment in programs that can keep kids from needing foster care in the first place.

A look inside the Tuscon classroom where parents and grandparents will soon be able to learn how to install car seats properly. The training initiative started after a report found that 4 in 5 parents are doing it wrong, with significant safety hazards to children as a result.

Despite the numbers of Floridians stranded in a health policy no man’s land – earning too much for Medicaid but not enough for subsidies – the “coverage gap” was getting little attention from policymakers and media. A reporter at the Miami Herald set out to change that, by telling their stories.

The Arizona Republic highlights reporter Bob Ortega's investigation into car seat safety, which found a glaring need for more information, particularly in Spanish-speaking communities. But beyond merely reporting the issue, Ortega's series led to a widespread project to boost awareness.

Roughly four out of five parents don't install car seats correctly, and the results can be disastrous. A new investigative series by The Arizona Republic finds that Hispanic and Native American children were from two times to as much as 10 times likelier not to be properly restrained.

Balitmore Sun reporter Andrea McDaniels set out to tell the stories of the children and families who aren’t the direct victims of violence but who suffer its horrible after-effects for years afterwards. Almost nothing about the project was easy, as McDaniels and editor Diana Sugg recently shared.

When it came to reaching low-income mothers suffering from maternal depression and other issues, the old ways of reaching out to moms weren't working. So the New Haven-based MOMS Partnership started taking the services to where moms are — including the local supermarket.

“Sometimes I think I’m just about to fall asleep,” said Juana Garcia, a mother with five children, two chronic diseases, one waterless home and zero income. “But then I start thinking, what am I going to do about water? Will I last much longer here? Yes, mentally I get very stressed out.”

There was a striking case of news convergence earlier this week: the annual KIDS COUNT report from the Annie E. Casey Foundation emphasized high rates of childhood poverty, and a new JAMA Pediatrics study issued alarming new results on the effect of poverty on young brains.

African American men in North Carolina suffer from some of the world’s highest rates of prostate cancer, but it's not exactly clear why. That tip was enough to launch News & Observer reporter Jay Price on a long reporting journey that would take him to churches, barber shops and community meetings.