Sexual and reproductive health is crucial for the achievement of the MDGs. Access to family planning services; safe motherhood; prevention efforts as well as treatment of sexual transmitted infections, including HIV/AIDS; and the elimination of gender violence would improve the lives of the poor and spur economic and social development.

This descriptive report presents selected data on adults’ participation in adult educational activities in the United States, excluding full-time college/university or vocational/technical credential programs, over a 12-month period from 2004-05. These data are from the Adult Education Survey of the 2005 National Household Education Surveys Program. Interviews for the survey were conducted with a nationally representative sample adults. A wide range of statistics is included in the report. For example, 44 percent of adults reported having participated in formal adult educational activities (excluding full-time college programs) in this time period.

This report presents data on participation in after-school activities and programs in the United States. The data are from the After-School Programs and Activities Survey (ASPA) of the 2005 National Household Education Surveys Program (NHES:2005). The data presented in the report are based on a nationally representative sample of students in kindergarten through grade 8. In 2005, 40 percent of students in kindergarten through eighth grade participated in after-school care arrangements that occurred at least once each week.

Key findings:
- Increased life expectancy and advances in U.S. health care mean that Americans ow live longer, but with increased chronic illness at the end of life.
- These changes will likely increase the need for end-of-life care and strain he existing health care system.
- To respond to the changing demands, the U.S. health care system will need to hange the way it provides health care to older Americans in their last years of ife.
- needed reforms will require deliberate efforts from policymakers, health are providers, insurers, consumers, and family caregivers.

Many National Collaboration for Youth member organizations have been providing high-quality out-of-school-time programming to youth for more than 100 years. In spite of this fact, the average American does not know what these programs actually look like, or more importantly, what they can accomplish. Furthermore, policy-makers, administrators in local youth organizations, and frontline youth workers are sometimes unaware of the range of programs and their impact. To address these issues, NCY applied for and received funding from the Charles Stewart Mott Foundation to research and disseminate -- in a user-friendly format -- data and lessons learned from 10 model programs that are making a difference in the lives of youth. The intent is not to present an exhaustive collection of programs, but rather to illustrate the scope and impact of programming being offered by NCY member organizations and their partners in local communities throughout the nation.

"After review and some retesting, GAO relied upon audit work conducted by the CPA firm of KPMG, LLP, which determined that most Red Cross expenses were incurred for eligible disaster services and were supported by adequate documentation. However, KPMG identified six weaknesses in the Red Cross’s internal controls related to expenses incurred for the four hurricanes and reported $712,000 of known questioned costs, with which Red Cross concurred. The Red Cross also concurred with the content of the GAO report."

So often there is something questionable if not criminal about the behavior of the Red Cross. Why does the public tolerate this scam?

Overall, the size of the Section 8 program—that is, the combined number of authorized vouchers and project-based units—increased annually, from 2.93 million in 1998 to 3.36 million in 2004, or 15 percent during the period. This growth resulted exclusively from the authorization of additional vouchers; the number of project-based units actually declined. Specifically, the number of authorized vouchers rose from about 1.60 million in 1998 to 2.09 million in 2004, a 31 percent increase. At the same time, the number of authorized project-based units fell from 1.33 million to 1.27 million, a 5 percent decrease, primarily because property owners and HUD decided not to renew some project-based contracts. HUD generally provided vouchers to households in project-based units for which contracts were not renewed so that these households could continue receiving rental assistance. These “tenant protection” vouchers, including those provided to households no longer receiving assistance under other HUD programs, accounted for 42 percent of the increase in the number of vouchers from 1998 through 2004.

SSA has issued guidance and provided training to assist staff in processing benefit claims under Section 211, but the absence of certain internal controls has allowed some errors to go undetected. SSA issued detailed guidance in August 2004 and subsequently provided staff with training on the law, which some SSA field offices supplemented with additional training. Although SSA’s policies and procedures were fairly detailed, GAO found several incorrect claims determinations and a lack of internal review for preventing them. With regard to the provisions of Section 211, GAO found that SSA improperly approved 17 of the 19 claims that involved noncitizen workers who had been issued SSNs after 2003 and who lacked required work authorization. GAO also found that 1 of the 41 claims that SSA disapproved was improper. SSA officials stated that the improper determinations were likely due to staff’s unfamiliarity with the new requirements. In addition, GAO found that letters sent to claimants informing them of disapproval decisions did not always contain all required information.

Although financing for the response to AIDS in low- and middle-income countries has increased significantly, it falls far short of the scale necessary to achieve the Millennium Development Goal of reversing the epidemic by 2015. It is therefore all the more imperative that the most effective use is made of whatever funds
are available. This in turn requires that the many actors in the response to AIDS at the global, national and local levels fully coordinate and harmonize their efforts. This requirement is felt most keenly at the country level. Even in countries that have established national AIDS authorities and clearly defi ned national priorities, parallel financing, planning, programming and monitoring continue to prevail. Inevitably, this weakens the national response. To tackle this pervasive problem, in September 2003, at the 13th International Conference on AIDS and STIs in Africa, a working group approved a set of guiding principles for optimizing the use of resources and improving the country-level response to AIDS. In April 2004, the Consultation on Harmonization of International AIDS Funding—bringing together representatives from governments, donors, international organizations and civil society—endorsed the “Three Ones” principles

The revised estimates indicate global resource requirements amount to US$ 15 billion in 2006, US$ 18 billion in 2007 and US$ 22 billion in 2008 for prevention, treatment prevention, treatment and care, support for orphans and vulnerable children (OVC), as well as programme and human resource costs. The financial requirements for human resources and programme costs are preliminary, and will form the basis for future refinement and improvement of the estimates.

Many changes in students’ performance and behavior stem from the emotional and behavioral problems that they may experience following such traumas as witnessing violence, undergoing assault or abuse, living through natural disasters, or experiencing acts of terrorism. This paper groups the programs to help support the long-term recovery of traumatized students according to the kinds of trauma they address, and describes how to select students for a program. Finally, it gives a one-page summation of each program selected. This summation describes the objective, intended population, and format of the program and provides details on implementation, personnel training and materials, and contact information.

• Depression: percent of clinically significant depression patients who attain a 5 point or greater reduction in Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ) score within 6 months after their New Episode PHQ
• Depression: percent of clinically significant depression patients who have a documented Current Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ) reassessment between 4 to 8 weeks after their last New Episode PHQ
• Depression: percent of clinically significant depression patients who have had a documented follow-up 1 to 3 weeks after their last New Episode Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ)
• Depression: percent of clinically significant depression patients who, within one month of last New Episode Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ), are on an antidepressant and/or in psychotherapy
• Depression: percent of clinically significant depression patients with a 50 percent or greater reduction in Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ) 4 months or longer after the last New Episode PHQ
• Depression: percent of clinically significant depression patients with a 50 percent or greater reduction in Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ)
• Depression: percent of clinically significant depression patients with a Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ) score less than 5, 4 months or longer after their last New Episode PHQ
• Depression: percent of patients with a diagnoses of minor depression, depression not otherwise specified (NOS), or adjustment disorder (New Episode Patient Health Questionnaire [PHQ] less than 10) who are NOT on an antidepressant
• Depression: percent of patients with a diagnosis of depression and a documented Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ) score within the last 6 months
• Depression: percent of patients with a diagnosis of depression reporting an improvement in function
• Depression: percent of patients with a diagnosis of depression with documented self-management goals set within the last 12 months
• Depression: percent of patients with a diagnosis of major depression or dysthymia who, as of their last visit, are taking an antidepressant
• Depression: percent of patients with diagnosis of major depression or dysthymia who have been on antidepressants for at least 6 months

The 20th Century has been marked by enormous change in terms of how we define race. In large part, we have thrown out the antiquated notions of the 1800s, giving way to a more realistic, sociocultural view of the world. The United States is, perhaps more than any other industrialized country, distinguished by the size and diversity of its racial and ethnic minority populations. Current trends promise that these features will endure. Fifty years from now, there will most likely be no single majority group in the United States. How will we fare as a nation when race-based issues such as immigration, job opportunities, and affirmative action are already so contentious today? In America Becoming, leading scholars and commentators explore past and current trends among African Americans, Hispanics, Asian Americans, and Native Americans in the context of a white majority. This volume presents the most up-to-date findings and analysis on racial and social dynamics, with recommendations for ongoing research.

Young people in care have spoken out about the different reasons for running away from children's homes, foster placements or schools. They revealed harrowing details of what they experienced when they ran away, in a series of discussions with the Children's Rights Director, Dr Roger Morgan

The National Childcare Strategy was introduced in 1998 and it led to a wide range of initiatives and funding streams. Regular information is required by DfES to assess progress towards targets. The questionnaire used for this research report collected information on the number and characteristics of providers, children enrolled, workforce composition, qualifications and training, and business composition.

The National Childcare Strategy was introduced in 1998 and it led to a wide range of initiatives and funding streams. Regular information is required by DfES to assess progress towards targets. The questionnaire used for this survey report collected information on the number and characteristics of providers, children enrolled, workforce composition, qualifications and training, and business composition.

As many as one in four Americans earn poverty-level wages, typically in jobs that offer few or no benefits. In general, steady work alone is not enough to
help these workers increase their earnings significantly or advance to better jobs; some postsecondary education or training, and supports targeting advancement are often necessary. In addition, access to employers that offer room for wage growth—particularly those in higher-wage sectors of the economy,
such as construction, manufacturing, transportation, and health services—increases workers’chances of moving to better jobs over time. States can influence the quality of local jobs by targeting economic and workforce development efforts toward businesses providing “good jobs”—those that offer wages that can support a family, health care and other benefits, and opportunities for advancement. A key question for policymakers and program administrators is: which skillsupgrading policies and programs most effectively achieve the dual goals of helping workers advance and helping businesses create and keep good jobs?

Congress is debating whether or not to legalize more than 11 million unauthorized immigrants, as well as stricter border and workplace enforcement. Mostly left out of this debate are the more than 5 million children living in unauthorized families, who, like their parents, would be greatly affected by the outcome of this debate. Because of recent immigration trends, children with immigrant parents—whether legal or illegal—are the fastest growing segment of the nation's child population. The well-being of these children is influenced not only by the legal status of parents, but also by family income and structure; parental work patterns, educational attainment, and English proficiency; health insurance coverage; and access to work supports, such as tax credits, food assistance, and child care. This fact sheet describes the population of U.S. children of immigrants—especially those with unauthorized parents

This paper contributes to the literature by examining the effects of a rich and comprehensive set of specific welfare policies on poverty and deep poverty among women and children. We capture objective and detailed measures of states' policies by measuring policies individually, and in continuous values such as dollars, wherever possible. Nineteen specific policies are included in our analysis. These polices are grounded in a conceptual framework of how policies can influence poverty and are measured in great detail on a monthly basis from 1986 through 2000. Our approach leads to results that are robust to alternate specifications. Variation in welfare policies over time and across states enables us to measure the relationship between policy and poverty. States implemented changes to their welfare programs via welfare waivers in the early to mid-1990s and then used the flexibility provided by federal welfare reform's 1996 Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program to further change policies. We also examine how the effects of these policies change over time, as there can be short-run mechanical effects that are simply due to changes in grant size and eligibility rules, for example, as well as medium-run behavioral responses as families alter their work effort in response to changes in program rules. In addition, we contribute to the literature by examining the impact of welfare reform on the economic well-being of children as well as adults.

This Perspective offers additional insight into work at older ages. Data from the 2002 Health and Retirement Study (HRS)1 are used to examine job characteristics and attitudes about work among adults age 60 and older and to explore whether richer and poorer workers differ. Findings include substantial increases in the number of working adults who report being selfemployed as age increases. Also, adults working past their normal retirement age of 65 say they enjoy work even more than workers age 60 to 64. Also, remarkably few differences in attitudes about work exist across the income scale. The results suggest that the vast majority of adults working at older ages feel satisfied with their work. More knowledge about these workers, their job characteristics, and their outlook on work could provide guidance for policymakers seeking to extend work lives.

This statistical bulletin presents information on drug misuse among young people. The key sources used within this publication are Drug Use, Smoking and Drinking among Young People in England, The British Crime Survey, Drug Offenders in England and Wales and The Offending, Crime and Justice Survey. The main findings are
• In 2005, 11% of secondary school children in England reported using drugs in
the month prior to interview while 19% reported using drugs in the year prior to interview;
• Among 11 year olds, 4% had sniffed volatile substances in the last year while
1% had taken cannabis. Among 15 year olds, 7% reported using volatile substances compared to 27% who used cannabis;
• Among secondary school children who had taken drugs in the year prior to interview in 2003, 43% reported wanting to give up immediately, but 13% said they did not want to stop;
• In 2003, 17% of secondary school children thought it was acceptable to try cannabis, 10% thought it acceptable to try sniffing glue and 4% believed it OK to try cocaine;
• 26.3% of young adults aged 16-24 reported using drugs in the year prior to interview in England and Wales in 2004/05. 16.3% had used drugs in the month prior to interview. Almost half (45.8%) reported that they had ever used drugs;
• More young men than young women reported using drugs in the year prior to interview (32.9% compared with 20.8%);
• Between 1998 and 2004/05, the reported prevalence of drug use among young adults in the month prior to interview decreased from 20.8% to 16.3% and in the year prior to interview decreased from 31.8% to 26.3%;
• Among young people aged between 10 and 25 living in England and Wales in 2004 who had ever used drugs, almost half (48%) reported first using a drug between the ages of 10 and 15;
• Deaths related to drug misuse fell between 2000 and 2004. Among young people under the age of 30, deaths fell from 583 to 401.

This White Paper sets out how the Department aims to meet its strategic objective to combat poverty and promote security and independence in retirement for today's and tomorrow's pensioners. It contains major proposals that set the direction for the long term future of pensions and retirement savings.

Given current demographic trends, nearly one in five U.S. residents will be of Hispanic origin by 2025. This major demographic shift and its implications for both the United States and the growing Hispanic population make Multiple Origins, Uncertain Destinies a most timely book. This report from the National Research Council describes how Hispanics are transforming the country as they disperse geographically. It considers their roles in schools, in the labor market, in the health care system, and in U.S. politics. The book looks carefully at the diverse populations encompassed by the term Hispanic, representing immigrants and their children and grandchildren from nearly two dozen Spanish-speaking countries. It describes the trajectory of the younger generations and established residents, and it projects long-term trends in population aging, social disparities, and social mobility that have shaped and will shape the Hispanic experience.

This report presents findings from a qualitative research project to investigate the routes by which people become recipients of incapacity benefits. The study was aimed at increasing our understanding of how people become Incapacity Benefit recipients so that further policy development can take place around more ‘preventive’ job retention and rehabilitation measures. Although producing standalone findings that can inform policy thinking, it is also the first stage in a two part project, the second part of which is a large quantitative survey of new Incapacity Benefit claimants to be conducted in 2006.

Research has shown that parents and other caretakers who have resources and support are more likely to provide safe and healthy homes for their children. Specifically, parents need a network of supportive personal relationships and other resources for coping with stress, knowledge and understanding of critical child development issues, and financial and other concrete supports such as shelter, food, and childcare. A lack of these critical supports, on the other hand, can cause otherwise well-intentioned parents to make poor decisions that can lead to neglect or abuse. As we learn more about why child abuse and neglect occur, more organizations, agencies, and tribal communities are recognizing the best way to promote prevention is to provide parents with the skills and resources they need to understand and meet their children’s emotional, physical, and developmental needs and protect their children from harm.

A modest backlash in attitudes towards legalized gambling has taken hold among an American public that spends more money on more forms of legal gambling now than at any time in the nation’s history. Seven-in-ten (70%) Americans say that legalized gambling encourages people to gamble more than they can afford, according to a new Pew Research Center survey. By contrast, 62% expressed that concern in 1989 when the same question was posed in a Gallup survey. Similarly, 71% of the public today—down from 78% in 1989—approves of lotteries as a way for states to raise revenue. Public support for other forms of legalized gambling, such as casino, off-track betting on horse racing and pro sports betting, has either been stable or declined since 1989. These findings come at a time when gambling has become more pervasive in the popular culture, with a record number of casinos operating across the country, with online gambling gaining fast in popularity (albeit from a small base), with several celebrities going public with their gambling problems and exploits, and with poker tournaments having become a new form of television entertainment.

This White Paper addresses the critical need for policy and practice aimed at achieving and sustaining stability and permanence for children through adoption. The focus on the needs of adoptive families at this time is an important one, given current public policy initiatives which, since 1996, have
led to significant increases in the number of children adopted and available for adoption. This paper reviews trends and issues in adoption today; identifies the needs of children waiting for adoption; describes the growing importance of post-adoption services for children and families; highlights
elements of responsive post-adoption services programs; and presents a set of post-adoption principles to guide the development of policy and practice recommendations that support systems change and enhance quality service delivery.

“Aging out” without a permanent family and/or adequate preparation for adulthood is a crisis. It is a personal injury to each and every youth in care
and a public emergency for our national child welfare system. “Each year, as many as 25,000 teenagers ‘age out’ of foster care, usually when they turn eighteen. For most of their lives, a government agency has made every important decision for them. Suddenly they are entirely alone, with no one to count on.”1 Exiting the system as an older adolescent by“aging out” without a permanent family is correlated with a range of deleterious outcomes as a young adult such as early pregnancy or parenthood, criminal involvement, homelessness, lack of employment or dropping out of high school.

Queensland Key Statistics is a web based product created by the Australian Bureau of Statistics, containing the latest important summary data on Queensland. Queensland Key Statistics contains data on: population; employment and unemployment; wages and prices; building; finance; trade; and tourism. This webpage is regularly updated to provide the most recent Queensland data available. It also contains links to source publications on the ABS web site to enable readers to explore particular topics in more detail.

The Chapin Hall Center for Children at the University of Chicago and the university’s law school recently co-hosted a two-day conference for legal advocates to share their strategies – successful and unsuccessful – for applying the federal McKinney-Vento educational protections to youth in foster care. Protections include a child’s right to choose a school; remain in one’s school of origin; enroll in classes immediately; and receive funds for transportation costs.

The Government has previously rejected calls for the introduction of DCRs, partly due to a lack of research. However, much more evidence now exists, from projects around the world. The IWG was set up to take an objective look at this growing evidence and to consider whether DCRs would have a significant impact on the particular problems in the UK. Chaired by Dame Ruth Runciman, the IWG included senior police officers, academics, health professionals and a practising barrister. Over a 20-month period, the IWG reviewed published evidence, commissioned new research, heard from relevant witnesses and visited DCRs abroad.

According to Current Population Survey estimates for 2005, 75.6 million American workers were paid at hourly rates, representing 60.1 percent of all wage and salary workers.1 Of those paid by the hour, 479,000 were reported as earning exactly $5.15, the prevailing Federal minimum wage. Another 1.4 million were reported as earning wages below the minimum.2 Together, these 1.9 million workers with wages at or below the minimum made up 2.5 percent of all hourly-paid workers. Tables 1 - 10 present data on a wide array of demographic and socioeconomic characteristics for hourly-paid workers earning at or below the Federal minimum wage.

This study, prompted by concern over the rate of obesity among school-age children, was designed to obtain current national information on availability of foods and opportunities for physical activity in public elementary schools. The report includes findings on the types of food sold at one or more locations in schools and in their cafeterias or lunchrooms; the types of food sold at vending machines and school stores or snack bars, and times when foods were available at those locations; food service operations and contracts with companies to sell foods at schools; scheduled recess, including the days per week, times per day, and minutes per day of recess; scheduled physical education, including the days per week, class length, and average minutes per week of physical education; activities to encourage physical activity among elementary students; and the physical assessment of students.

Presents data on prison and jail inmates, collected from National Prisoner Statistics counts and the Census of Jail Inmates 2005. This annual report provides the number of inmates and the overall incarceration rate per 100,000 residents for each State and the Federal system. It offers trends since 1995 and percentage changes in prison populations since midyear and yearend 2004. The midyear report presents the number of prison inmates held in private facilities and the number of prisoners under 18 years of age held by State correctional authorities. It includes total numbers for prison and jail inmates by gender, race, and Hispanic origin as well as counts of jail inmates by conviction status and confinement status. The report also provides findings on rated capacity of local jails, percent of capacity occupied, and capacity added.

Alcohol occupies an important place in British society. It is part of the social and cultural life of the country. For many of the 90% of adults in the UK who drink, alcohol is an enjoyable and pleasurable accompaniment to food, entertainment, sport and other leisure pursuits. The UK alcohol industry is valued at more than £30 billion per annum. It employs around one million people and contributes £8 billion in taxes. However, alcohol has always been a major cause of many of society’s ills. Around a third of people drink more than is good for them, with men more likely to do so than women. Binge drinking is the growing fad with serious adverse consequences both for the drinker and for those around him or her. Amongst Government Office Regions the West Midlands comes about midway in terms of mean consumption (15.9 units per week for men and 7.2 for women) with the North East consuming the most and London the least amount of alcohol. The West Midlands is average also for the proportion of people exceeding advised daily limits of alcohol consumption. In 2003, 42% of men drank more than 4 units on at least one day in the previous week.

In recent years, Arizona and California overwhelmingly passed ballot initiatives that were expected to divert minor, nonviolent drug offenders from incarceration-jail and prison-to treatment. With respect to the prison population, it was unknown whether low-level drug offenders had a violent or lengthy criminal history that made prosecutors reluctant to drop the low-level drug charge, whether the quantity or type of drug involved influenced the prosecution pattern, and whether there were differences across racial groups in the prosecution of low-level drug offenders. This study was designed to fill those knowledge gaps. The evidence from the period before the implementation of the initiatives supports prosecutors’ hypotheses that offenders sent to prison on low-level drug charges generally had more severe criminal histories, were involved with harder drugs, or were caught with substantial quantities. The report’s findings also show that marijuana offenders are not first- or second-time offenders and are not treated more “harshly” or more “leniently” than other drug offenders. The authors generally found no differences in treatment of racial/ethnic groups, though in some cases small sample sizes made it difficult to reach definitive conclusions. Plea-bargaining for prison-bound low-level drug offenders appears to be used in a manner consistent with prosecutorial practices aimed at incarcerating drug offenders who are perceived to present a greater threat to the community.

In an effort to identify lessons learned in the aftermath of hurricanes Katrina and Rita and to share promising practices, AARP convened a diverse group of more than 100 government officials at federal, state and local levels; emergency preparedness and response experts; relief organizations, and aging and disability advocates in Washington, DC, on December 1st, 2005. All of the panelists were “people who had been there.” The goal of the conference was to bring the right stakeholders together to explore workable strategies for the future to better protect older persons in both the community and in nursing homes. Highlights from the AARP conference and an extensive literature review, plus data from a short survey of persons age 50 and older conducted by Harris Interactive for AARP in November 2005, are presented in this AARP Public Policy Institute report

The Americans With Disabilities Act of 1990 (ADA) provides guidelines that assure the provision of services to people with disabilities and the protection of their legal rights. The ADA prohibits discrimination on the basis of disability in employment, access to public services, public accommodations, and commercial facilities, and it requires telephone companies to offer telephone relay service for individuals who use telecommunication devices for the deaf (TTYs) or similar devices. The ADA includes a legal definition of disability, in part defining a person with a disability as one who has “a physical or mental impairment that substantially limits one or more major life activities.” . . . . In 2002, 51.2 million people (18.1 percent of the population) had some level of disability and 32.5 million (11.5 percent of the population) had a severe disability

In August 2005, the Census Bureau released its annual report on income, poverty, and health insurance coverage in the United States. The income and poverty figures in that report were based on money income alone and did not include the effect of important public programs such as the Earned Income Tax Credit and noncash assistance such as food stamps and public or subsidized housing programs. As in previous years, the Census Bureau is now releasing a study that includes the effect of these and other government programs on economic summary measures, such as median household income, the Gini Index of income inequality, and the percentage of people below the poverty level. This release includes fewer alternative income definitions than previous reports to provide a more focused assessment of the effect of government programs (cash and noncash transfers and taxes, including the effect of the Earned Income Tax Credit) on income and poverty summary measures. Unlike previous reports, the poverty estimates shown here use a single set of thresholds that differ from the official poverty thresholds, see Section V for details. The resulting alternatives illustrate how poverty estimates are affected when various types of noncash benefits are treated as income and when taxes are taken into account, while holding constant the measure of need (the thresholds).

The aim of this review is to complement the evidence base built by mainstream literature for drug prevention among young people by systematically reviewing those drug prevention materials that do not traditionally find their way into systematic reviews, namely grey literature.

In commemoration of Mother’s Day, Save the Children is publishing its seventh annual State of the World’s Mothers report. By focusing on the 60 million mothers in the developing world who give birth every year with no professional help and the 4 million newborns who die in the first month of life, this report helps to bring attention to the urgent need to reduce infant mortality around the world.The report also identifies countries that are succeeding in improving the health and saving the lives of mothers and babies, and shows that effective solutions to this challenge are affordable – even in the world’s poorest countries.

A substantial body of social science research finds that living in high-poverty and racially isolated neighborhoods can undermine the well-being and life-chances of both children and adults. Clearly, neighborhood environment is not the sole—or even the most important—factor influencing people's well-being; individual and family attributes also play critical roles and interact in complex ways with neighborhood characteristics. Just because researchers observe a high incidence of a problem (such as poor health or teen parenting) in high-poverty neighborhoods does not necessarily mean that the neighborhood environment caused the problem. It may mean that many families with these problems ended up living in high-poverty neighborhoods, perhaps because housing was more affordable there or because discrimination limited access to other neighborhoods. Nevertheless, rigorous research indicates that neighborhood isolation and distress can contribute to or exacerbate individual and family distress (Ellen and Turner 1997). . . . This paper uses the latest data from the National Survey of America's Families (NSAF) to explore variations across types of neighborhood environments in the well-being of families and children.

This fact sheet gives an overview of diet and obesity in the UK. It looks at eating disorders, losing weight and why people become obese. It is designed to introduce the topic rather than be a comprehensive summary.

Over the past ten years, there have been two sharply different trends in child poverty in the United States: a major reduction from 1993 to 2000 and an increase from 2000 to 2004. Both trends have been even more marked for black children. This period of ten years with two sharp changes in child poverty offers an unusual opportunity to tease out the reasons for trends in child poverty. Exploring these reasons in turn is of potentially great importance to policy, as well as to the well-being of children. Among the very different reasons that have been suggested for these changes are changes in federal and state policy, changes in federal and state macroeconomic conditions, and changes in family characteristics and behavior, such as family structure and education.

The Roadmap to Coverage initiative develops three policy options that would provide universal health insurance coverage for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Within this overall objective, all three options are designed to minimize (a) disruptions in the employer-based coverage that is the basis of the existing health insurance market, (b) the need for new revenues, and (c) the expansion of government's role. Lack of health coverage has been proven to adversely affect health, increase financial uncertainty for families and individuals, and contribute importantly to personal bankruptcy. Therefore, covering the uninsured has direct health and financial benefits to Commonwealth residents—at the same time that it reduces the strains on the overall health care delivery system by helping those who cannot pay.

Congress is debating whether or not to legalize more than 11 million unauthorized immigrants, as well as stricter border and workplace enforcement. Mostly left out of this debate are the more than 5 million children living in unauthorized families, who, like their parents, would be greatly affected by the outcome of this debate. Because of recent immigration trends, children with immigrant parents—whether legal or illegal—are the fastest growing segment of the nation's child population. The well-being of these children is influenced not only by the legal status of parents, but also by family income and structure; parental work patterns, educational attainment, and English proficiency; health insurance coverage; and access to work supports, such as tax credits, food assistance, and child care.

This fact sheet describes the population of U.S. children of immigrants—especially those with unauthorized parents

The Affordable Rural Housing Commission was set up by the Government to look at ways to help families in rural areas find affordable homes. This report argues that providing affordable housing is essential to sustaining rural communities and sets out a series of detailed recommendations, which Government will be considering over the coming months.

New York City’s child welfare system has long failed to meet even its own goals in ensuring that children in foster care have timely opportunities to grow up in permanent families – the families to whom they have been born or new adoptive families. The Administration for Children’s Services (ACS) has made much progress in better ensuring the safety and well-being of children in its care, but the children served by ACS continue to remain in foster care for significantly longer periods of time than is the case nationally. Children in the City’s foster care system in 2004 had been in care, on average, slightly more than four years (49.1 months), compared to the national mean of 31 months and the national median of 18 months. . . . Undertaken by Children’s Rights in January 2004, this study was designed to deepen the understanding of the extent to which permanency is being achieved in a timely way for the children and amilies served by New York City’s foster care system. . . . Importantly, the study utilized a participatory action design that involved parents, young adults formerly in foster care, and adoptive parents in all aspects of the design and implementation of the study. It was further enhanced by the guidance of a body of national and local child welfare experts. Recent data on permanence from ACS provided further evidence of the depth of the problem and the need to take action now. A comprehensive literature review also enriched the study and provided a strong research base for the study’s focus on four key areas.

Of the more than 500,000 children and youth in foster care, almost one-third are under age five and one-fifth are over the age of 16. Almost half are placed with non-relative foster families, one-fourth live with relatives, and one-fifth are living in group homes or institutions. Forty percent have been in foster care for more than two years. Many of these children and youth have disabilities. There are 119,000 children and youth in foster care who are waiting to be adopted. Their average age is eight; more than one-third are under the age of five, and more than one-third are over the age of 11. They have been in foster care an average of nearly four years. The majority of these children and youth have disabilities.

The good practice guidance on this website does not replace previous guidance but builds further on the experience of those who have made referrals in the Protection of Vulnerable Adults (POVA) scheme's first year of operation and who have been able to suggest what works best in these important, and often sensitive, procedures. Using practice examples, the guidance aims to clarify the referral process and support people making referrals to the POVA list. There are also links to relevant sources and websites.

These reports discuss foundations that are actively engaged in place-based community-change initiatives, a strategy that Chapin Hall has dubbed “embedded” funding. In 2004, Chapin Hall published a report, "Moving Forward While Staying In Place: Embedded Funders and Community Change," that identified a set of common characteristics of embedded funders, including a place-based approach; being located in the community in which they invest; a long-term commitment to their change efforts; a focus on broad and deep community-change goals; a belief, actualized in practice, that the foundations’ capacities as conveners, brokers, and knowledge resources, rather than just grantmakers, are central to their community work; a “partnership” approach toward working with grantees and other community stakeholders; and the involvement of staff and trustees who are personally engaged in the community-change effort. The 2004 report also included in-depth profiles of 11 foundations to give life to how each embedded funder demonstrates these principles in its particular community-change initiatives. The 2006 follow-up report examines an additional 12 foundations. The intent of the research was to deepen understanding of embedded funding and what it might have to teach the rest of philanthropy about promoting positive community change.

This report combines data from interviews with grandparents and a survey of social service providers to explore the need for and barriers to the use of mental health services among grandparent-caregiver families. More than 100,000 Illinois grandparents have primary responsibility for their grandchildren who are living with them, according to 2000 Census data. Focusing on two target geographic areas in Illinois, this report provides a rich portrait of these caregivers’ experiences that draws on a family perspective and highlights a number of service-utilization issues. The interviews revealed that absent parents play an ongoing and under-recognized role in the well-being of grandparents and grandchildren, regardless of whether they are a consistent, sporadic, or rare presence in the home. With respect to mental health needs, one-third of grandparents reported symptoms of depression themselves, and two-thirds were caring for grandchildren whom they identified as having emotional or behavioral problems. However, half of the families had no involvement with a child welfare agency, and fewer than a third of the grandchildren and only a handful of the grandmothers were currently receiving mental health services. The unmet mental health needs of both grandparents and their grandchildren are discussed as well as the implications of these findings for practitioners and advocates interested in meeting the service needs of grandparent-caregiver families.

This series of reports is based on a longitudinal study of Wisconsin’s Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program. Chapin Hall examined the experiences of a representative sample of 1,075 Milwaukee County families that sought assistance from the TANF program between March and August 1999. The reports in this series are based on survey data that were collected at three points in time and administrative data from two state agencies. The reports cover five domains: employment and earnings, income and poverty, economic hardships and food insecurity, barriers to employment, and child welfare services involvement. The picture that they paint is rather sobering. More than four years after they sought help, most of these TANF applicants continued to face significant barriers to employment and, as a result, were not employed consistently. The vast majority of their families still experienced economic hardships and remained poor. Many also had some involvement with the child welfare system. Taken together, these reports indicate that despite significant reductions in Wisconsin’s welfare caseload, reform efforts did little to improve the economic well-being of families that applied for assistance. The reports also suggest that if states are to meet more stringent federal work requirements, more attention will need to be paid to helping families balance the demands of work and parenting.

High quality health and social care services should be delivered in a person-centred way that respects the dignity of the individual receiving them. Unfortunately, older people are not always treated with the respect they deserve.

The inspection of Devon Youth Offending Service found it to be functioning well. It also found areas for improvement (eg assessing and managing risk of harm needs to be improved and greater consistency to be applied to enforcement).

This report considers how local agencies responsible for community safety can work better together and with local people to make neighbourhoods safer and improve the perception of public safety. These local agencies include the police, local government, the fire authorities and primary care trusts.

This practical guide for implementing the protection of vulnerable adults (POVA) scheme is accompanied by the following documents: overview of POVA implementation flowchart; pre-employment checks for domiciliary care providers and managers; pre-employment checks for adult placement scheme providers and managers; and pre-employment checks for care home providers and managers.

This report provides details of the level of investment in adult mental health services in England for 2005/06 and compares it with the results reported in previous years. The analysis in this report is derived from the detailed finance mapping exercise coordinated by Local Implementation Teams (LITs) as part of the regular adult mental health review process undertaken each autumn.

How are family and neighborhood contexts linked to participation in out-of-school time (OST) activities, particularly for disadvantaged youth? Answering this question could greatly help with the development and implementation of policies and programs that aim to increase opportunities for low-income and disadvantaged youth. Findings to date show that demographics, parenting behaviors, and neighborhoods are all factors in youth activity participation. For this study, Heather Weiss and colleagues used two large data sets, the Panel Study of Income Dynamics-Child Development Supplement and the National Educational Longitudinal Study of 1988, to examine youth participation rates across the country. They found demographic differences in getting youth “in the door” of activities, in the number of activities youth participate in, and the amount of time youth spend in activities.

Experimental studies—studies that randomly assign participants to either a group receiving some intervention (the treatment group) or a group receiving no intervention (the control group)—are still relatively rare in both the out-of-school time (OST) field and other child- and youth-related fields, such as education. The rarity of such studies may be due to logistical and financial challenges and/or to the fact that random assignment can sometimes create ethical dilemmas. However, because they are less biased than many other types of studies, experimental studies are valuable for justifying public investment—financial, political, and social—in after school programs and other human services. The evaluation of the federal 21st Century Community Learning Centers (21st CCLC) initiative is one of the largest and most publicized experimental studies of after school programs. Now, a growing body of experimental studies of smaller after school programs and initiatives is beginning to surface, as stakeholders in the field seek to learn when, whether, and how individual after school programs can make a difference in the lives of youth. This Snapshot examines the programs, evaluation methods, and evaluation findings of these smaller scale experimental evaluations.

Street sex work is relatively new in some areas, but in others has long been part of the urban street scene. Some residents are less content than others with this state of affairs, and some regard street sex markets as a source of anti-social behaviour. Sex work also restricts residents' use of public spaces at particular times. This study examines how residential areas characterised as being used by female street sex workers are shared by different sections of the community. In light of debates about managing 'the street scene', researchers from Staffordshire, Loughborough and Strathclyde Universities considered whether residential streets could serve as shared spaces where residents and sex workers could coexist.

A government sponsored Domestic Abuse campaign was first launched in Scotland in 1998. A Domestic Abuse campaign has run annually since then. Through this on-going programme of advertising and other publicity measures, the campaign aims, firstly, to strengthen public opposition to, and condemnation of, domestic abuse as totally unacceptable behaviour and, secondly, to promote the national domestic abuse helpline. This research follows the eighth phase of advertising (between 26 th December 2005 and 1 st February 2006), which saw the launch of a new TV advertisement, 'Reminders', and a new radio advertisement, 'Elizabeth'. The previous phase of advertising (evaluated in wave eight of research) ran on fewer TV channels than either the earlier phases or this, most recent, phase. This should be borne in mind when comparing results from wave 8 with wave 9.

New research published today shows Scotland's advertising campaign against domestic abuse continues to grab the public's attention and promote the helpline set up to provide support. The latest phase of the campaign broke new ground by showing through a new television advert that domestic abuse can be psychological and emotional as well as physical.
Helpline 0800 027 1234
A new radio advert focused on the impact domestic abuse can have on children who often witness fear, violence and damage at home. The evaluation study found people are aware of the harm caused by domestic abuse and they recognise that the abuse can take many forms including psychological controlling behaviour.

This report presents the early results of a program in Louisiana designed to help low-income parents attending community college cover more of their expenses and also provide a financial incentive to make good progress. The program, known as Opening Doors, operated at two New Orleans-area institutions — Delgado Community College and Louisiana Technical College-West Jefferson — in 2004-2005, before Hurricane Katrina devastated the region. The colleges offered students a $1,000 scholarship for each of two semesters, or $2,000 total, if they maintained at least half-time enrollment and a 2.0 (or C) grade point average. The scholarships were in addition to Pell Grants and any other financial aid for which students qualified and were paid in installments so that college counselors could verify that students stayed enrolled and passed their courses. Most of the program’s participants were women who are single parents.

This report presents findings from a secondary analysis of the British Cohort Study and investigates the factors that help children who grow up in low-income households to go on to escape poverty in later life. It also looks at the characteristics of children who were poor at age 16, as well as the characteristics of their parents, and uses multivariate statistical techniques to identify the key factors that helped them escape poverty by the time they reached the age of 30.

The aims of the survey were to examine participation in work-focused interviews for partners (WFIPs), and to assess the success of WFIPs in reducing the number of workless households, as well as helping partners move closer to the labour market. It also examines the effectiveness of different elements of the WFIP delivery process, including referral to New Deal for Partners, to identify lessons for improvement.

Reports findings from the 2004 National Youth Gang Survey, the tenth annual survey conducted by the National Youth Gang Center. Data on the number of gangs, gang members, and gang-related homicides in larger cities, suburban counties, smaller cities, and rural counties are provided to accurately reflect youth gang activity in the United States. Based on survey results, it is estimated that nearly 3,000 jurisdictions across the United States experienced gang activity in 2004.

Examines the prevalence of alcohol, drug, and mental disorders among youth at the Cook County (Illinois) Juvenile Temporary Detention Center, by gender, race/ethnicity, and age. Drawing on research conducted by the Northwestern Juvenile Project, this Bulletin finds that nearly two-thirds of males and three-quarters of females studied met diagnostic criteria for one or more psychiatric disorders. The Bulletin presents information that can help the juvenile justice system detect youth psychiatric disorders and respond with an integrated system of services.

This tool offers simple steps to help women prepare their families for natural or other disasters. When disaster strikes, you may not have much time to act. Prepare now for a sudden emergency. By taking simple steps to prepare your family for natural or other disasters, you can help protect your loved ones and you will be able to cope better if a disaster does occur.

This inquiry report is based on survey responses from 236 local authorities across England and Wales, nine case study authorities and more than 400 responses to a public call for evidence. It provides the first authoritative evidence of how far local authorities are meeting their statutory duty to promote race equality and good race relations in their work on gypsy sites. It also explores the policing of authorised and unauthorised sites, and the police's role in this.

This describes the outcome of the Department's consultation on the role of the Director of Adult Social Services. It also includes statutory and best practice guidance on the post.

This paper is a summary for local areas of the detailed guidance for heads of youth service on the enhanced youth inspection process.

Management of patients with dementia. A national clinical guideline.
This guideline updates a previous version: Interventions in the management of behavioural and psychological aspects of dementia. A national clinical guideline recommended for use in Scotland by the Scottish Intercollegiate Guidelines Network. Edinburgh (Scotland)

Supporting People is the Government's long-term policy to enable councils to plan, commission and provide housing related support services that help people with a range of different needs to live independently. It brings together significant funding streams into a single pot of £8.8 billion to be administered by 150 councils over a five-year period. This report is designed to assist those responsible for planning and managing services. It provides a picture of the impact the programme has on the lives of social care service users.

This volume covers a range of outcome indicators at local and national level for children who have been continuously looked after for at least 12 months in England. This is an update of last year's release that was published by DfES on 26 May 2005 and a detailed follow-up to the Statistical First Release that was scheduled for publication on 20 April. The key points will cover: The number of children looked after continuously for at least 12 months by: SEN, absences and exclusions, achievements at key stage 1, 2 and 3, Year 11 children who obtained at least 1 GCSE (or equivalent), Year 11 children who obtained at least 5 GCSEs at A* - C (or equivalent), employment status at end of Year 11, cautions and convictions and immunisations, dental checks and health assessments.

About 1-in-every-3 U.S. residents was part of a group other than single-race non-Hispanic white — according to national estimates by race, Hispanic origin and age released today by the U.S. Census Bureau. In 2005, the nation’s minority population totaled 98 million, or 33 percent, of the country’s total of 296.4 million. Hispanics continue to be the largest minority group at 42.7 million. With a 3.3 percent increase in population from July 1, 2004, to July 1, 2005, they are the fastest-growing group.

The main highlights of the April update include 1999 to 2005 quarterly benefits indicators at the data zone level from DWP which are presented on a client group basis for the first time. Benefit data by individual benefit will continue to be available from the SNS site and a revised quarterly dataset will be published later in the year. Updates for existing indicators include immunisations at the data zone level for 2005; and drug usage from the Scottish Drug Misuse Database at the local authority level for 2003/04 and 2004/05. Social Enquiry Reports, Community Orders, Probation Orders, and Supervised Attendance Orders at the local authority level for 2004/05.

This research report aims to address the overarching question of which Children's Fund practices and approaches promote good outcomes for children and young people, and support their pathways to inclusion.

The United States is viewed by the world as a country with plenty of food, yet not all households in America are food secure, meaning access at all times to enough food for an active, healthy life. A proportion of the population experiences food insecurity at some time in a given year because of food deprivation and lack of access to food due to economic resource constraints. Still, food insecurity in the United States is not of the same intensity as in some developing countries. Since 1995 the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) has annually published statistics on the extent of food insecurity and food insecurity with hunger in U.S. households. These estimates are based on a survey measure developed by the U.S. Food Security Measurement Project, an ongoing collaboration among federal agencies, academic researchers, and private organizations. It is an experiential measure based on reported behaviors, experiences, and conditions in response to questions in a household survey. The measure was developed over the course of several years in response to the National Nutrition Monitoring and Related Research Act of 1990 (NNMRR). The legislation specifically called for development of a standardized mechanism and instrument(s) for defining and obtaining data on the prevalence of food insecurity in the United States and methodologies that can be used across the NNMRR programs and at the state and local levels.

Under the Race Relations (Amendment) Act 2000, public authorities (in this case the Department of Health) are required to undertake a race equality impact assessment of new policies and functions. This consultation is for people or organisations who wish to take part in the impact assessment of the Department's proposals to amend the Mental Health Act 1983.

Studies show that elderly people are at greater risk of some mental disorders and their complications than younger people, and many of these illnesses can be accurately diagnosed and treated. However, many of the nation’s elderly are reluctant to seek psychiatric treatment that could alleviate or cure their symptoms and return them to their previous lifestyle. Why? Many people don’t understand mental illness or even acknowledge its existence. Some people feel ashamed or frightened of their symptoms or believe that they are an inevitable part of aging. Often, elderly people, their loved ones and friends and even their doctors fail to recognize the symptoms of treatable mental illness in older people.

Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) is an anxiety disorder in which time-consuming obsessions and compulsions significantly interfere with a person’s routine, making it difficult work or to have a normal social life. OCD often begins in childhood, adolescence or early adulthood. Afflicting over four million Americans, OCD is equally common in men and women and knows no geographic, ethnic, or economic boundaries.

Alcohol use among young people under 21 is the leading drug problem in the United States.
- More youth in the United States drink alcohol than smoke tobacco or marijuana, making it the drug most used by American young people.1
- Every day, 5,400 young people under 16 take their first drink of alcohol.2
- In 2005, one out of six eighth-graders, one in three tenth-graders, and nearly one out of two twelfth-graders were current drinkers.3
- More than 7 million underage youth, ages 12 to 20, reported binge drinking – having five or more drinks on at least one occasion in the past 30 days – in 2004, according to data released in September 2005.

Health status, health care utilization, and health-promoting behaviors among adults aged 55 and over vary considerably by age and other sociodemographic characteristics. Identifying these variations can help government and private agencies pinpoint areas of greatest need and greatest opportunity for extending years of healthy life among the Nation’s seniors.

This report presents national estimates on access to health care for the following five subgroups of Hispanic or Latino women aged 18 years and over in the United States: Mexican, Puerto Rican, Cuban, Central or South American, and other Hispanic. For comparison, estimates are also presented for non-Hispanic white women and non-Hispanic black women.

This report presents health statistics from the 2004 National Health Interview Survey for the civilian noninstitutionalized adult population, classified by sex, age, race and Hispanic origin, education, family income, poverty status, health insurance coverage, marital status, place of residence, and region of residence for chronic condition prevalence, health status, functional limitations, health care access and utilization, health behaviors, and human immunodeficiency virus testing. Percentages and percent distributions are presented in both age-adjusted and unadjusted versions.

This report sets out an ambitious programme of action that will bring disabled people fully within the scope of the “opportunity society”. By supporting disabled people to help themselves, a step change can be achieved in the participation and inclusion of disabled people. The report proposes that the Government should set an ambitious vision for improving the life chances of disabled people. ‘By 2025, disabled people in Britain should have full opportunities and choices to improve their quality of life and will be respected and included as equal members of society’.

This report is based on two surveys of patients: the first was conducted in 2004 among a nationally representative sample of adults in Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, and the United States; the second was conducted in 2005 among a sample of adults with health problems in the same five nations and Germany. It ranks patients’ ratings of various dimensions of their health care, according to the Institute of Medicine’s framework for quality. The U.S. system ranked first on measures of effectiveness but ranked last on other dimensions of quality. It performed particularly poorly in terms of providing care equitably, safely, efficiently, or in a patient-centered manner. For all countries, responses indicate room for improvement. Yet, the other five countries spend considerably less on health care per person and as a percent of gross domestic product than the United States.

Gaps in health insurance coverage—a problem that has long afflicted lower-income U.S. families—is increasingly becoming an all-American problem. Findings from the Commonwealth Fund Biennial Health Insurance Survey show that, while lack of insurance continues to be highest among families with incomes under $20,000, uninsured rates for moderate- and middle-income earners and their families are rising, putting their health and financial security at risk. The survey finds that most of these individuals reside in working families: Of the estimated 48 million American adults who spent any time uninsured in the past year, 67 percent were in families where at least one person was working full time. In addition, survey respondents were asked about problems with medical bills and accrued medical debt; difficulties in accessing needed health care; problems managing chronic conditions; utilization of routine preventive care, like mammograms and colonoscopies; and coordination and efficiency of care.

The House is expected to resume consideration today of a budget plan (or “budget resolution”) for fiscal year 2007. The Budget Committee approved the plan on March 29, and the House began to debate it on April 6. The plan would cut funding for domestic “discretionary” (or non-entitlement) programs by $10.3 billion in fiscal year 2007 and $167 billion over five years, relative to the Congressional Budget Office baseline. (The baseline reflects the amounts that CBO estimates to be needed to maintain current levels of service in these programs, and equals the 2006 funding levels adjusted for inflation.) The plan also would reduce entitlement programs by $5.1 billion over five years. House committees would be required to produce entitlement reductions of $6.8 billion, but $1.7 billion would be allowed for increased entitlement spending, apparently for outstanding flood insurance claims

DOD offers an extended health care benefit to some OEF/OIF veterans for a specified time period, and VA offers health care services that include specialized PTSD services. DOD’s benefit provides health care services, including mental health services, to some OEF/OIF veterans for 180 days following discharge or release from active duty. Additionally, some veterans may purchase extended benefits for up to 18 months. VA also offers health care services to OEF/OIF veterans following their discharge or release from active duty. VA offers health benefits for OEF/OIF veterans at no cost for 2 years following discharge or release from active duty. After their 2-year benefit expires, some OEF/OIF veterans may continue to receive care under VA’s eligibility rules. Using data provided by DOD, GAO found that 9,145 or 5 percent of the 178,664 OEF/OIF servicemembers in its review may have been at risk for developing PTSD.

This volume covers a range of outcome indicators at local and national level for children who have been continuously looked after for at least 12 months in England.

This provides an analysis of inequalities in the national and local labour markets between ethnic groups, using the 1991 and 2001 census. It traces the impact of social and human capital, improvements over time, generational contrasts, and the geography of disadvantage.

The aim of this study was to: review the current position of ethnic minorities in Britain's labour market; explore how ethnic minority representation and achievement varies by different employer characteristics; and establish how far these variations might be linked to discrimination in the workplace.

An exploration of using household expenditure rather than income for measuring poverty trends. Much of the recent policy debate surrounding poverty in Britain focuses on income as a measure of living standards. This report looks at household expenditure as a way of measuring poverty. This alternative to using income data has been largely overlooked in the mainstream poverty debate in the UK. Economic theory suggests that household expenditure is an important measure of financial well-being. Using 30 years of data from household surveys, this report:
- shows the trends in poverty in Britain since the 1970s when household expenditure, rather than household income, is used as a measure of financial well-being;
- investigates how using spending, rather than income, as a measure of well-being alters our view of who is poor;
- examines the spending levels of the lowest income households;
- analyses whether low-income pensioners' spending on basic and non-basic items increased as a result of the large increases in entitlements to means-tested benefits since 1999.

Since 1997 the Joseph Rowntree Foundation (JRF) has been exploring whether a consensus can be built around possible mechanisms for meeting the costs of long-term care in the UK. Earlier this year the JRF published a report, Facing the Cost of Long-term Care: Towards a Sustainable Funding System, which drew together some of the key evidence that the programme had generated and presented a number of policy options. To test the viability and acceptability of these options, public attitudes towards these options were tested in a series of eight focus groups. This report and summary documents the findings.

Life’s uncertainties can upend the best-laid retirement plans. Health can fail as people grow older, or their spouses can become ill. Older people can lose their jobs, and often have trouble finding new ones. Marriages can end in widowhood or divorce. Health, employment, and marital shocks near retirement can have serious financial repercussions, raising out-of-pocket medical spending, reducing earnings, disrupting retirement saving, and forcing people to dip prematurely into their nest eggs. This brief examines different types of negative events that can strike near retirement. It reports the incidence of widowhood, divorce, job layoffs, disability, and various medical conditions over a 10-year period, and estimates their impact on household wealth. Data come from the Health and Retirement Study (HRS), a nationally representative survey of older Americans conducted by the University of Michigan for the National Institute on Aging. The survey interviewed a large sample of non-institutionalized adults ages 51 to 61 in 1992 and re-interviewed them every other year. The analysis uses data through 2002, the most recent year available.

Currently, 46 million people or nearly one in five nonelderly adults and children lack health insurance in the United States, an increase of 6 million since 2000.1 The recent rise in uninsurance has been attributed to a number of factors, including rising health care costs, the economic downturn, an erosion of employer-based insurance, and public program cutbacks. Developing effective strategies for reducing uninsurance requires understanding why people lack insurance coverage. This brief looks at the reasons people report being uninsured overall and by key population subgroups (defined by age, race/ethnicity, health status, and family and employment characteristics). We also examine how those reasons have changed over time.

This site is to provide help and information on mental health issues to young people who are either having difficulties themselves, or are worried about a friend or relative or just want to know more about mental well being. This site is for young people aged 12-14, but we hope that all ages will find it informative and helpful. There are also links to useful websites at the end of each page. Above all this site is: Written and designed by young people, for young people.

As part of its Policy and Practice Development Programme on Long-term Care, the Joseph Rowntree Foundation asked William Laing of Laing and Buisson to estimate the cost of a range of policy changes. This document gives a summary of these costings and how to interpret them. The data behind these calculations (Excel, 1.04MB) is reproduced in a spreadsheet available alongside this paper. The context of these costings is given in JRF’s Foundations document, Paying for long-term care: moving forward, published in April 2006, which presents the programme conclusions and options for reform. Note: these costings are all illustrative rather than precise calculations of what a particular policy would cost. The main objective is to show the order of magnitude of the cost of various changes, in order to open up discussion of the desirability of these options.

Retirement villages are a relatively new type of provision in the UK. Data measuring their impact on residents’ health and quality of life, or on the demand for other health and social care services, is limited. Drawing on the author’s own research, as well as other studies of retirement villages to enhancing older people’s choices for independent, this report reviews the evidence on the impact of retirement villages. he report explores five key themes:
- potential of retirement villages to enhance independent living;
- benefits of larger developments and economies of scale;
- accessibility and affordability;
- potential impact of such villages on local health and social services; and
- impact on local communities.
The evidence to date indicates that retirement villages have great potential to address policy objectives of promoting independence, choice and quality of life for older people.

Continuing care retirement communities are relatively new in the UK. However, they are increasingly seen as a positive response to the perceived weaknesses of traditional models of care for older people. This comprehensive manual provides information and advice on the main planning and development issues which arise. Published in association with the Planning Officers Society and based on UK experience to date, this guide focuses on three key areas:
- development issues, including demographic and market research, scheme type, consultation and tenure policy;
- planning policy issues, including a review of local, regional and national policies and best practice;
- planning application and development control issues, including a review of the way in which various planning issues, such as the Use Class classification (C2 or C3?), design and sustainability, should be approached and balanced.

In August 1996, President Bill Clinton signed a landmark law that fulfilled his promise to "end welfare as we know it." The law killed the 60-year-old Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC) program. Instead, Congress gave the states money to run their own programs and required them to move many welfare recipients into the workforce. Supporters declared it a new day, the beginning of self-sufficiency for poor families. Others warned the action would push women and children into the streets, perhaps by the millions.

From TV tournaments to the World Wide Web, the poker revolution is sweeping America. Thanks to its glitzy presentation on television, and the millions in prize money, it's the pastime of choice for high school and college kids.

The European Centre is a UN-affiliated intergovernmental organization concerned with all aspects of social welfare policy and research. On the website you find information about projects, events, websites from 2003 - 2006, all book series, all books outside the series enriched with downloads, cross-references and external links.

This report documents the views of respondents to the Commission's Rural Housing Inquiry. It also sets out the Commission's recommendations for addressing rural people's concerns and aspirations for the future, which have been submitted to the Government's Affordable Rural Housing Commission.

The drug interventions programme is a critical part of the Government's strategy for tackling drugs. It began in 2003 as a three-year programme to develop and integrate measures, known as 'interventions', for helping adult drug-misusing offenders out of crime and into treatment.

This toolkit offers a structured approach for addressing quality improvement and a collection of "lessons learned" by a diverse group of health plans serving Medicaid members. This toolkit offers realistic approaches to help health plans develop a new preventive care program or improve an existing program.

Cancer strikes people of all ages, but you are more likely to get cancer as you
get older, even if no one in your family has had it. The good news is that cancer death rates are going down. No matter what your age, the chances of surviving cancer are better today than ever before.

This chart lists recommended screenings and immunizations for women at average risk for most diseases. These are guidelines only. Your health care provider will personalize the timing of each test and immunization to best meet your health care needs.

This volume of the final report for the project, Design Options for the Assessment of Head Start Quality Enhancements, provides a compendium of measures that could be used to evaluate the effectiveness of Head Start enhancements. We focus primarily on child outcome measures, although we also present and discuss measures pertaining to intermediate outcomes related both to changes in the program (for example, program management, teacher-child interaction, teacher knowledge and behaviors, and global classroom quality) and to changes in the home, (for example, parenting practices and the emotional and cognitive stimulation available in the home environment), outcomes that some Head Start enhancements could target. We also review measures and variables pertaining to baseline characteristics and conditions that may serve as moderators of program impacts. All of the measures reviewed here have been used in studies of Head Start programs, children, and families.

Head Start, the largest federally funded preschool program, provides comprehensive services to economically disadvantaged children and their families so that children can enter kindergarten ready to succeed in school. Performance standards for the program include requirements for the intensity and quality of a broad range of services for children and families. Head Start programs must offer education, health, and nutrition services to children, offer social services to their families, and provide opportunities for parents’ involvement in the programs. Head Start is designed to enhance children’s cognitive skills, social development, physical and mental health, and good nutrition. Programs also are expected to support the parent as the child’s economic provider, first teacher, and primary advocate for education and health services. Some tailoring of program services is expected to meet the needs of diverse communities. Education services must be appropriate to children’s linguistic backgrounds and developmental needs, and family services must be individualized to meet parents’ goals and needs. Head Start has long emphasized the importance of continuous program improvement and, in keeping with this emphasis, has invested significant resources in strategies to enhance
the quality of program services.

Using the FBI’s NSOR, we identified about 700 registered sex offenders living in long-term care facilities during 2005, representing 0.05 percent of the 1.5 million residents of these facilities. About 3 percent of nursing homes and 0.7 percent of ICFs-MR housed a registered sex offender during 2005. Almost 90 percent of registered sex offenders we identified lived in nursing homes and were considerably younger than the general nursing home population, with 57 percent under age 65 compared to about 10 percent of all nursing home residents. However, our count is understated because of limitations in data availability.