Programs that offer public health coverage to kids are crucial to boosting the number of insured kids, but they're often not enough. Research suggests that parents' insurance status is a really strong predictor of whether their kids are covered. Policy wonks call it the "welcome mat effect."
To Campbell Park. To Fairmount Park. To Lakewood, Maximo, or Melrose. The five worst elementary schools in Pinellas County — all among the very worst schools in Florida — have seats with their name tags on them.
Social workers at Rhode Island’s Department of Children, Youth, and Families say they have too many cases to really make a difference in children’s lives. The agency is already facing criticism for other problems, including one of the nation’s highest percentages of foster children in group homes.
A study of Holocaust survivors is casting new light on our understanding of trauma’s effects on the body. The research suggests that extreme trauma can manifest itself in our genetic fingerprints — and that these changes can be passed on to the next generation.
Are high schoolers who use e-cigarettes more likely to turn into smokers? New research published this week strongly suggests that's the case, but the study can't prove one causes the other. Meanwhile, laws preventing the sale of such devices to minors haven't done much to curb their spread.
Michael LaForgia wrote this story for the Tampa Bay Times as part of a 2015 National Health Journalism Fellowship....
Reaching Spanish speakers with information about car seat safety is critical as Hispanic children in the U.S. are killed or injured in car accidents at significantly higher rates than other children.
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.
Children who experience abuse or neglect–or even the stress of poverty—can have serious health problems later in life. That’s one of many challenges for children in Rhode Island’s child welfare system.
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.
