Melody Cao's reporting was undertaken as a California Health Journalism Fellow at the University of Southern California's Center for Health Journalism.
Children & Families
At his lowest point in prison, Simeon U‘u, a broad-shouldered man with tattoos down one arm and a thick silver chain around his neck, doubted he would get his children back. “I felt like I was a bad parent, that I abandoned them.”
In Johnson County, for every 1,000 infants born in recent years, fewer than five don’t make it to their first birthday. In Wyandotte County, the number is closer to eight.
For years, the percentage of Native Hawaiians in the state’s foster care system has significantly exceeded their share of the overall population of the state’s children. The Honolulu Star-Advertiser delves into the underlying causes and potential solutions to the problem.
In pediatric practices across Florida, doctors are struggling to serve patients in the face of paltry reimbursement rates and more intense demands from Medicaid insurance companies.
At her home studio in Westwood, Kansas, instructor Marilyn Pace leads a class of 5-to-8-year olds through yoga positions. But just six blocks from the yoga studio — where Wyandotte County begins — the picture of health is quite different.
For 30 years, the best school in Florida's Pinellas County was in a black neighborhood. Then the School Board stepped in.
Advocates have been urging the FDA to allow corn masa to be fortified with folic acid for years, with the goal of curbing rare birth defects among Hispanic children. The FDA hasn't budged so far, but that could change as the agency reviews new research.
Sexually exploited minors are often arrested on prostitution charges and put behind bars. But in one LAPD unit, officers are trained to recognize exploited teens and put them in touch with social services, instead of juvenile court.
When it comes to lowering high infant mortality rates, Rwanda has become an encouraging if unexpected example of what can be done with "big data made small."