A year after Michael Brown was killed by police in Ferguson, a reporter returned to the neighborhood and spent months talking with families about how they cope with toxic levels of stress and violence.
Children & Families
In the wake of studies finding big differences in language ability between rich and poor kids by the age of 18 months, a leading researcher outlines the latest thinking on how to bridge the class-based "word gap."
The little girl just wasn’t herself. Her mom, Jacqueline Thomas, knew something was seriously wrong....
Despite decades of effort and millions in taxpayer money, Cleveland’s kids continue to have some of the highest rates of lead poisoning in the country. Bad housing and urban blight only compound their stress and suffering.
It’s an ongoing debate that has been given special urgency in light of recent attention to police killings of black men. When does the need to inform cross over to sensationalism?
“To find out after the fact that this could have been avoided — you put my kid through a little nightmare here and you affected his health,” said one mother whose 13-year-old son fell ill after jet skiing in the lake.
One parent referred to Georgia's 46-year-old system for segregating children diagnosed with emotional and behavioral disabilities as “a warehouse for kids the school system doesn't want or know how to deal with.”
Criminalizing pregnant women and new mothers for drug dependency problems leads to poorer health outcomes while disproportionately punishing low-income women of color, argues maternal health advocate Emily Eckert.
The number of children diagnosed with developmental disabilities has increased notably in the past two decades, and a growing body of science suggests that environmental pollution, stress and food insecurity are fueling the trend.
Variation in C-section rates has been well explored, but journalistically, there is much more to do: What is the impact on women from these surgeries? What are the costs? What strategies are working to reduce rates?