The social care needs of refugees and asylum seekers relates to the social care needs of refugees and asylum seekers. People with social care needs within refugee communities are amongst some of the most vulnerable people and their needs are overlooked. This paper outlines specific experiences of refugees and asylum seekers with social care needs and makes recommendations for services to meet their needs more effectively.

In the past decade, interest and activities in the interface between primary health care and mental health and substance abuse services have increased markedly among the many stakeholders who care about positive outcomes for young children’s mental health and well-being. Building on that increased interest, this document was developed as a resource to give health care providers and policy makers at all levels an overview of a range of innovative efforts across the country where health care providers have attempted to treat families as a whole, provide care in the context of a medical home, identify mental health and substance abuse disorders earlier, and make successful referrals and linkages to community-based mental health and substance abuse services and supports. Primary health care providers represent a significant and natural point of contact for young children and their families. Being able to intervene early with caregivers of infants and toddlers through primary health care can promote children’s mental health and wellbeing, prevent or delay later negative outcomes, promote protective factors and decrease risk factors associated with negative child outcomes, and may prevent the need for intensive and expensive care at a later age. This document includes a relevant literature section, eight case studies of primary care sites using innovative approaches to serve pregnant women and/or families with children birth to three years old, a synthesis of these approaches, lessons learned, and strategies to assist others in replicating these approaches.

This report released by the National Council of La Raza (NCLR) and the California State University, Long Beach (CSULB) Center for Latino Community Health, Evaluation, and Leadership Training finds that Latinos are at a disproportionately high risk for depression and other conditions associated with mental illness, and are also much less likely to seek treatment or receive quality culturally- and linguistically-competent care.

Service user participation in social care has increased markedly in the wider service user movement over the last 20 years, however, the participation of black and minority ethnic service users has diminished over the same period. This report identifies some of the reasons for this reduction, and concludes by stating that given the right opportunities, support and resources, there is genuine commitment and interest from service users to become more actively involved in the process.

Overall median household income rose modestly in 2005, while the poverty rate remained unchanged. For the first time on record, poverty was higher in the fourth year of an economic recovery, and median income no better, than when the last recession hit bottom and the recovery began. In addition, the 1.1 percent increase in median income in 2005, which was well below the average gain for a recovery year, was driven by a rise in income among elderly households. Median income for non-elderly households (those headed by someone under 65) fell again in 2005, declining by $275, or 0.5 percent. Median income for non-elderly households was $2,000 (or 3.7 percent) lower in 2005 than in 2001.

This report evaluates the lone parent work-focused interviews and new deal for lone parents net impacts on benefit exit and employment.

This consultation document seeks views on the policy behind the new family procedure rules. The rules will comprise of a single unified code of practice and procedure along the lines of the existing civil procedure rules.

309,000 individuals and 55,096 families below federal poverty threshold in San Diego County. San Diego’s aggregate income deficit (the amount of money that would lift all families out of poverty) is $431,032,500. Median household income increased from $51,012 in 2004 to $56,335 in 2005. Median income by race was led by Asian median income of $65,205, while Latino median income was the lowest at $41,301.

This report presents findings about the in work benefit calculation (IWBC), also known as the better off calculation. The IWBC gives practical information to claimants about the financial consequences of entering work, comparing the current financial situation with the one a job could provide.

Prior research identifies three groups of factors, all of which may be influenced by public policy, that account for fluctuations in child poverty: (1) changes in federal and state economies; (2) changes in family characteristics, such as size and composition; and (3) changes in the behavior of parents, such as their work effort. For example, Blank and Blinder (1986) find that, historically, changes in such economic factors as unemployment rates can explain changes in the overall poverty rate well. Lerman (1996) finds that the increased share of families headed by single parents can explain changes in the child poverty rate between 1971 and 1989. Hoynes, Page, and Stevens (2006) find that increases in female labor supply and female-headed households had offsetting effects on the overall poverty rate. This brief shows that economic conditions, together with parental education and work, are the dominant factors behind recent changes in child poverty. Changes in the share of families headed by single parents seem to have played almost no role in the recent changes in child poverty. According to the analysis, the 1993 to 2000 drop in child poverty is largely due to improvements in the job market, especially for less-educated workers. The economic downturn beginning in 2000 hit all families, even those with more education, but the families of black children were hit hardest.

This white paper issued by the National Council of La Raza concludes that repeal of the estate tax would exacerbate the wealth gap between Latinos and other Americans and reduce the amount of revenue available for the community’s key policy priorities. The paper examines how the estate tax works and its effects on taxpayers, the budget, and charitable giving. The paper notes that, contrary to public perceptions, the estate tax applies only to a small number of families; however, it does help to alleviate imbalances in the current tax system.

This article provides a brief overview of the prevalence, risk factors and characteristics of persons with mental or behavioural problems in Australia. Unless otherwise stated, this article presents information sourced from the 2004-05 ABS National Health Survey (NHS). It should be noted that the 2004-05 NHS excluded persons in hospitals, nursing and convalescent homes and hospices and hence the data relates only to persons in private dwellings. This article also draws on data from the 2003 Survey of Disability, Ageing and Carers (SDAC) and other ABS and non-ABS sources. Mental or behavioural problems were identified in the 2004-05 NHS through the self-reported information on long-term conditions obtained by the survey

Using data from the 1993 and 2003 Fall Staff Surveys, a component of the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS), this report examines the change in the number and composition of staff in U.S. postsecondary institutions and the change in average salaries of full-time staff between fall 1993 and fall 2003. Over the decade, the growth of the workforce at colleges and universities outpaced the growth of both the civilian labor force and student enrollment, continuing a pattern that began in the 1970s. The growth rate was higher for part-time employees than full-time employees, for female staff than male staff, for racial/ethnic minorities than Whites, and for professionals than nonprofessionals. Although the average salaries of full-time employees increased for each of the seven primary occupation categories, only the rate of increase for executive, administrative, and managerial positions (17 percent) exceeded the median for the overall U.S. family income (14 percent).

Data released today by the Census Bureau show that the number of uninsured Americans stood at a record 46.6 million in 2005, with 15.9 percent of Americans lacking health coverage. “The number of uninsured Americans reached an all-time high in 2005,” said Robert Greenstein, executive director of the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities. “It is sobering that 5.4 million more people lacked health insurance in 2005 than in the recession year of 2001, primarily because of the erosion of employer-based insurance.”

This guidance is also issued in the context of the Respect programme which builds on the Government’s anti-social behaviour strategy. Under the Respect drive,we will maintain and build on the strong enforcement action that has helped us make so much progress, but extend this further through a comprehensive strategy to deliver:
• a new approach to tackling problem families;
• a wide-ranging programme to address poor parenting;
• measures to improve behaviour and attendance in schools;
• initiatives to provide constructive activities for young people; and
• a drive to strengthen communities through more responsive public services.

This E.D. TAB is the first report produced using data from the second round of data collection for the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study, Birth Cohort (ECLS-B), a study of a nationally representative sample of children born in the year 2001. The report provides descriptive information about these children when they were about 2 years old. It presents information on selected child and family characteristics, on children’s mental and physical skills, on children's attachment relationships with their primary caregivers, on their first experiences in child care, and on their fathers. The report profiles data for this population of children both overall and for various subgroups (i.e., males and females, children from different racial/ethnic groups, poor and nonpoor children, and children living in different types of families).

The Compendium of International Legal Instruments on Corruption contains all the major relevant international and regional treaties, agreements, resolutions and other instruments. These include both legally binding obligations and some “soft-law” or normative instruments intended to serve as non-binding standards. The United Nations Handbook on Practical Anti-Corruption Measures for Prosecutors and Investigators is part of a larger package of materials intended to provide information and resource materials for countries developing and implementing anti-corruption strategies at all levels, as well as for other elements of civil society with an interest in combating corruption. The package also includes the publications mentioned below. The United Nations Manual on Anti-Corruption Policies contains a general outline of the nature and scope of the problem of corruption and a description of the major elements of anti-corruption policies, suitable for use by political officials and senior policy makers. The United Nations Anti-Corruption Toolkit contains a detailed set of specific tools intended for use by officials called upon to develop elements of a national anti-corruption strategy and to assemble these into an overall strategic framework, as well as by officials called upon to develop and implement each specific element.

Families with four or more children account for less than 5 per cent of all families, but more than 20 per cent of poor children. This research was commissioned by the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) to contribute to its policies to eliminate child poverty. The aim was to investigate whether it is family size itself that explains the relatively weaker economic position of large families, or whether there are other factors associated with having many children which are also associated with a high risk of poverty.

New guidance issued on August 2 by the Department for Education and Skills to accompany the new regulations – The Children Act 1989 Representations Procedure (England) Regulations 2006 – issued July 7 on handling complaints for local authorities and voluntary organisations providing accommodation.

Report and dedicated website explaining how registered childcare providers help children to stay safe and be healthy. It includes ‘best practice’ case studies and the website contains additional materials to help providers evaluate further improve their own practice.

This is a multi-media teaching and learning pack for teachers and young people aged 11-14 years It is available to every secondary school in England. It includes a pupil booklet, with copies available for every key stage 3 pupil.

More than a decade after the Federal Task Force on Homelessness and Severe Mental Illness called it “unacceptable” for people with serious mental illnesses to live in unsafe and threatening conditions, more than 630,000 individuals are homeless in this country on any given night (Burt et al., 2001). About half of all adults who are homeless have substance use disorders, and many have cooccurring mental illnesses, as well. Yet, the outlook is far from bleak. Federal demonstration programs and the experience of hundreds of community-based providers offer a rich reservoir of evidence-based and promising practices. For example, recent studies reveal that the cost of providing permanent, supportive housing for people with serious mental illnesses is more than offset by savings incurred by the public hospital, prison, and shelter systems (Culhane et al., 2001). When nothing is done, people with serious mental illnesses and/or cooccurring substance use disorders who are homeless often cycle between the streets, jails, and high-cost care, including emergency rooms and psychiatric hospitals. This is inhumane, ineffective, and costly. Further, research reveals that people with serious mental illnesses and/or cooccurring substance use disorders who are homeless, once believed to be unreachable and difficult-to-serve, can be engaged into services, can accept and benefit from mental health services and substance abuse treatment, and can remain in stable housing with appropriate supports (Lam and Rosenheck, 1999; Morse, 1999; Lipton et al., 2000; Rosenheck et al., 1998). Clearly, the time has come to end homelessness among people with serious mental illnesses and/or cooccurring substance use disorders.

Some 200 million people, or 5 percent of the global population age 15-64, have used illicit drugs at least once in the last 12 months. Among this population are people from almost every country on earth. More people are involved in the production and trafficking of illicit drugs and still more are touched by the devastating social and economic costs of this problem. Partially a consequence of its pervasiveness and partially a consequence of the illicit and hidden nature of the problem, reliable analysis and statistics on the production, trafficking and use of illicit drugs are rare. The World Drug Report 2006 endeavours to fill this gap. It provides one of the most comprehensive overviews of illicit drug trends at the international level. In addition, it presents a special thematic chapter on cannabis, by far the most widely produced, trafficked and used drug in the world. The analysis of trends, some going back 10 years or more, is presented in Volume 1. Detailed statistics are presented in Volume 2. Taken together, these volumes provide the most up-to-date view of today's illicit drug situation.

This report highlights efforts of many States to use Federal Block Grant funds for mental health and substance abuse services, administered by the Federal Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), part of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS), to provide more effective care for people who are homeless. The Substance Abuse Prevention and Treatment (SAPT) Block Grant is the Federal government’s primary source of funding to States for drug and alcohol treatment and for primary prevention programs. The Mental Health (MH) Block Grant provides funds to States to create comprehensive, community-based systems of mental health care. It is not a requirement of either grant program that the funds to be used to support services to people who are homeless. However, many States and localities have devised strategies to deploy block grant funds to promote provision of both homeless services and innovative planning mechanisms that ensure efficient use of resources. Some of the more effective State strategies identified to date are presented as short case studies in this report.

The Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) program is the federal
government’s principal community development program. It provides
funding for housing, economic development, neighborhood revitalization, and other community development activities. In fiscal year 2006, Congress appropriated approximately $4.2 billion for the program. Administered by the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), the CDBG program provides funding to metropolitan cities and urban counties, known as entitlement communities, and to states for distribution to nonentitlement communities. The program provides annual grants on a formula basis that takes into account population, poverty, housing overcrowding, the age of the housing, and any change in an area’s growth in comparison with that of other areas. The activities undertaken with program funds must (1)principally benefit low- and moderate-income persons, (2) aid in the prevention or elimination of slums or blight, or (3) meet urgent community development needs.

- In 2002-2004, rates of cigarette smoking in the past month among persons aged 12 or older were highest among American Indians or Alaska Natives (34.8 percent) and persons of two or more races (34.6 percent); rates were lowest among Asians (13.4 percent)
- Among Asians, Koreans reported the highest rate of past month smoking (24.9 percent) and Chinese reported the lowest (7.5 percent)
- Among Hispanic current smokers, Puerto Ricans and Cubans were more likely to report daily cigarette smoking than Central or South Americans and Mexicans

This paper examines the cumulative prevalence of victimization and its impact on mental health in a nationally representative sample of 2030 children aged 2–17 in the USA. Telephone interviews conducted with both caregivers and youth revealed socio-demographic variations in lifetime exposure to most forms of victimization, with ethnic minorities, those lower in socio-economic status, and those living in single parent and stepfamilies experiencing greater victimization. Sexual assault, child maltreatment, witnessing family violence, and other major violence exposure each made independent contributions to levels of both depression and anger/aggression. Other non-victimization adversities also showed substantial independent effects, while in most cases, each victimization domain remained a significant predictor of mental health. Results suggest that cumulative exposure to multiple forms of victimization over a child’s life-course represents a substantial source of mental health risk.

Homelessness and sexual violence are inextricably linked. Homelessness places women, men, children, and teens at risk of sexual violence. For many victims, sexual violence can lead to homelessness or substandard housing. Many victims have to make impossible decisions: stay where they are and endure sexual abuse or run away, live on the streets, and face further victimization. Individuals cannot begin to heal from sexual violence if their basic needs, such as housing, are unmet. . . . Many victims find themselves in a social services scavenger hunt when trying to meet the requirements and demands of many systems simultaneously. The courts may mandate drug and alcohol treatment. Child protective services may require the victim to find safe housing for his or her children. The welfare system may place more stringent work requirements and limitations on the victim without providing adequate childcare dollars. Drug and alcohol treatment may require the victim to attend intensive therapy three times a week for the better part of the day. This leaves many victims without the time and resources they need to heal from sexual violence.

Tomorrow, August 29, the Census Bureau will release findings regarding household income and poverty for 2005. It is possible these figures will show that median income increased in 2005 and poverty declined; that is the typical pattern for years well into an economic recovery. And if this is the case, Administration officials likely will hail the figures as good news (and seek to portray them as evidence of the success of Administration policies). But such an assessment would be much too simplistic. To assess the new poverty and income figures entails examining not only the changes that occurred between 2004 and 2005, but also the degree of progress (or lack thereof) in income and poverty during the current economic recovery, and comparing any such progress to the progress made during comparable periods of past recoveries.

Is drinking alcohol harming my health now, or will it be harmful to me later in life? Should I stop drinking alcohol? Am I a binge drinker? Most adults who drink alcoholic beverages (beer, wine, or liquor) consume safe and healthy amounts. For others, unsafe drinking patterns increase their risk for injury, illness or future alcohol problems. And, for 1 in 13 American adults, alcohol abuse or alcohol dependence (alcoholism) causes substantial harm to their health and disruption in their lives. If you consume alcoholic beverages, it's important to know whether your drinking patterns are safe, risky or harmful. Answering these questions will take only a few minutes, and will generate personalized results based on your age, gender and drinking patterns. Your responses are completely confidential and anonymous.

Medicare s Quality Improvement Organization Program is the second book in the new Pathways to Quality Health Care series. Focusing on performance improvement, it considers the history, role, and effectiveness of the Quality Improvement Organization (QIO) program and its potential to promote quality improvement within a changing health care delivery environment that includes standardized performance measures and new data collection and reporting requirements. This book carefully examines the QIOs that serve every state as well as the national program that guides and supports them. In addition, it highlights the important roles that a national program with private organizations in each state can play in promoting higher quality care. Medicare s Quality Improvement Organization Program looks closely at the technical assistance role of the QIO program and the need to encourage and support providers to improve their performance. By providing an in-depth assessment of the federal experience with quality improvement and recommendations for program improvement, this book helps point the way for those who strive to create higher quality and better value in health care.

Although national estimates vary according to survey methodologies employed, the results are unequivocal in showing that IPV remains a widespread experience among American women. According to the National Violence Against Women Survey (NVAWS), women’s lifetime prevalence of physical assault victimization by an intimate partner is about 22 percent. Lifetime prevalence is 7.7 percent for intimate partner rape and 4.8 percent for intimate partner stalking. NVAWS data also indicate that 5.3 million victimizations occur annually for adult women. In 1997, nearly 1.5 million women experienced approximately 4.5 million violent acts by intimate partners (Tjaden & Thoennes, 2000a). Estimates from the National Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS) indicate that women suffered nearly 600,000 nonfatal violent victimizations by an intimate partner in 2001 and that 85 percent of IPV incidents were against women (Rennison, 2003). Over a lifetime, as shown in the results of the NVAWS, the prevalence of IPV for women is triple the prevalence for men (Tjaden & Thoennes, 2000b).

Good practice guidelines for healthcare staff working in prisons
The attached guidance note has been produced by Prison Health and Safer Custody Unit with input from a wide range of stakeholders. It is intended to serve as best practice guidance, based on existing strategies and is for PCT/Prison Partnership Boards to consider when devising, implementing and monitoring constant observation practice in establishments.

Drug abuse is implicated in at least three types of drug-related offenses: (1) offenses defined by drug possession or sales, (2) offenses directly related to drug abuse (e.g., stealing to get money for drugs), and (3) offenses related to a lifestyle that predisposes the drug abuser to engage in illegal activity, for example, through association with other offenders or with illicit markets. Individuals who use illicit drugs are more likely to commit crimes, and it is common for many offenses, including violent crimes, to be committed by individuals who had used drugs or alcohol prior to committing the crime, or who were using at the time of the offense. In 2003, nearly 6.9 million adults were involved with the criminal justice system, including 4.8 million who were under probation or parole supervision (Glaze & Palla, 2004). In its 1997 survey, the Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS) estimated that about 70 percent of State and 57 percent of Federal prisoners used drugs regularly prior to incarceration (Mumola, 1999). A 2002 survey of jails found that 52 percent of incarcerated women and 44 percent of men met the criteria for alcohol or drug dependence (Karberg & James, 2005). Juvenile justice systems also report high levels of drug abuse. A survey of juvenile detainees in 2000 found that about 56 percent of the boys and 40 percent of the girls tested positive for drug use at the time of their arrest (National Institute of Justice, 2003).

In earlier research, we established that the nation's most important survey of labor-market activity ― the Current Population Survey (CPS) ― may be systematically missing a large share of nonemployed adults.1 According to our estimates, based on a comparison of responses to the 2000 Decennial Census and corresponding months of the CPS, the undercounting of non-employed workers in the CPS raises the measured employment rate for adults in the CPS by about 1.4 percentage points. If our estimate is correct, the official employment rate for June 2006, for example, would have been 64.8 percent rather than the 66.2 percent reported by the BLS (2006:Table A-1). Since employment typically falls 1.5 to 2.0 percentage points in a recession, the magnitude of this measurement problem is of substantial economic significance. In this paper, we provide additional estimates of the impact of undercounting in the CPS. For the most recent period where the analysis is possible, we produce estimates of the impact of the undercounting of the non-employed on national poverty rates and health-insurance coverage. More importantly, since the problems with undercounting appear to have become more severe over time, especially over the last decade, we also report simple estimates of the impact on employment rates of this deterioration in the representativeness of the CPS over time. Our findings suggest that undercounting in the CPS has a substantial impact on our national measures of employment, poverty, and health-insurance coverage, and that the extent of the impact is likely to be growing over time.

There was more cross-state variation for some indicators than for others. For children of all income levels, participation in extracurricular activities, school engagement, and behavioral and emotional problems varied within a relatively narrow range. In contrast, frequency of parental storytelling and attendance at religious services, children living in poverty, and children with poor or fair health were at least three times higher in the highest state than in the lowest state. For children in low-income families, participation in extracurricular activities and parental volunteering varied within a relatively narrow range, while frequency of attendance at religious services, skipping school, and children with fair or poor health were at least three times higher in the highest state than in the lowest state. Consistency in state rankings across the indicators was limited. For children of all income levels, three states (Massachusetts, Michigan, and Minnesota) ranked in the top five on at least 7 of 15 indicators, while two states (Alabama and Mississippi) ranked in the bottom five on at least 7 indicators. For children in low-income families, rankings were somewhat more consistent: six states (California, Colorado, Michigan, Minnesota, Texas, and Wisconsin) ranked in the top five on at least 7 of 14 indicators,2 while two states (Alabama and New York) ranked in the bottom five on at least 7 indicators.

The present report has been prepared in accordance with the provisions of Security Council resolution 1612 (2005). It is presented to the Council and its Working Group on Children and Armed Conflict as the second country report from the monitoring and reporting mechanism referred to in paragraph 3 of that resolution. The report, which covers the period from May to July 2006, specifies incidents of grave child rights abuses, indicative of the nature and trend of systematic violations in the Sudan. The report focuses specifically on the killing and maiming of children, their recruitment and use as soldiers, grave sexual violence, abductions and denial of humanitarian access to children, and indicates that these violations continue in the Sudan largely unabated. The report explicitly identifies parties to the conflict who are committing grave abuses, including the Sudanese Armed Forces, the Sudan People’s Liberation Army, the Popular Defence Forces, the Sudan Liberation Army, the White Army, the Janjaweed militia, the Lord’s Resistance Army and Chadian opposition forces. The report stresses that individual commanders of the numerous armed forces and groups in the Sudan bear responsibility for the commission of grave violations by their forces, but that the Government of National Unity and the Government of Southern Sudan are also directly accountable for the commission of violations by individuals within their command structures. This government accountability is critical as groups are incorporated into the legally regulated armed forces under government control. The report highlights action plans and other programme responses in place to address violations against children, and contains a series of recommendations with a view to securing strengthened action for the protection of war-affected children in the Sudan.

On August 22, President Clinton signed into law "The Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996," a comprehensive bipartisan welfare reform plan that will dramatically change the nation's welfare system into one that requires work in exchange for time- limited assistance. The bill contains strong work requirements, a performance bonus to reward states for moving welfare recipients into jobs, state maintenance of effort requirements, comprehensive child support enforcement, and supports for families moving from welfare to work -- including increased funding for child care and guaranteed medical coverage.

People with Type A personalities are bound to develop high blood pressure, right? Think again. Being stressed, competitive and impatient can have negative consequences — but high blood pressure isn't necessarily one of them. Yet possible links between stress and high blood pressure exist. And if you've been diagnosed with high blood pressure, understanding those connections can make a long-term difference in your cardiovascular health.

View image of Risky/High Risk Alcohol Consumption

This article provides an overview of the level, prevalence and type of alcohol consumption; the health status, risk factors and demographic characteristics of those who drink alcohol at risky or high risk levels; as well as information on mortality and health costs. This article uses data from the 2004-05 National Health Survey (NHS), the 2004-05 National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Survey (NATSIHS) and the Causes of Death Collection. This article also draws on measures of alcohol consumption from the Apparent Consumption of Alcohol Collection, which uses excise and import trade administrative data to produce an indirect measure of consumption of alcohol, based on a population aged 15 years or more (ABS 2006a).

Data from the 2004 National Drug Strategy Household Survey (NDSHS) are also used in this article (AIHW 2005a).

The purpose of this report is to set out the review findings on HOPDEV’s performance and work, and possible options which were considered for HOPDEV’s future. These included aspects like future organisation, format, sponsorship, work and objectives. . . . HOPDEV acts as a reference group and sounding board to Government. Its members include older people, housing providers, voluntary organisations, local authorities, plus other experts on older people’s housing. It works in partnership with other organisations and Government bodies. It was originally proposed that HOPDEV should be subject to review after 3 years, but it was later amended to 4 – mainly to allow it to complete a newer work programme.

Falls are serious at any age, but especially for older people who are more likely to break a bone when they fall. If you have a disease called osteoporosis, you are more likely to break a bone if you fall. Osteoporosis is called the “silent disease” because bones become weak with no symptoms. You may not know that you have it until a strain, bump, or fall causes a bone to break. Falls are especially dangerous for people with osteoporosis. If you break a bone, you might need a long time to recover. Learning how to prevent falls can help you avoid broken bones and the problems they can cause.

Asthma is the leading cause of school absences in the U.S., accounting for more than 14 million missed school days each year, according to the Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America. An asthma attack at school can be frightening for your child. Close communication with your child's school is essential in preventing and treating an asthma attack.You can help keep your child from missing important school lessons and interactions with classmates by working with teachers and school personnel to be part of an asthma management team. Together, the members of the team can be sure your child's asthma will be kept under control.

Children can only be safeguarded properly if the key agencies work effectively together. Local safeguarding children boards (LSCBs) are designed to help ensure that this happens. They put the former area child protection committees (ACPCs) on a statutory footing. The core membership of LSCBs is set out in the Children Act 2004, and includes local authorities, health bodies, the police and others. The objective of LSCBs is to coordinate and to ensure the effectiveness of their member agencies in safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children.

The transitional years from childhood to adulthood are a significant milestone in a young person’s life. There are a number of factors that hinder a successful transition including a reported increase in the risk of homelessness. This study examines this phenomenon among 16-25 year olds. Quantitative and qualitative data were collected from services involved with young people experiencing homelessness across London (n=123) and from the young people who accessed these services (n=59). Key findings from service sector data included a lack of integration between services attending to housing and mental health needs simultaneously and a lack of mental health awareness, including low confidence across service sector staff to provide basic emotional support for young people within the generic housing and homelessness sector. However, promising practice examples were identified reflecting innovative approaches delivering more comprehensive care and these are presented in the findings. The key findings from young people support current literature within the field of youth homelessness and mental health specifically highlighting the association between these characteristics. Mental health problems commonly precipitated and were exacerbated by homelessness and typically present within socially disadvantaged groups. These findings have implications for policy, commissioning, service practice development, and a training agenda and identify the need for further research within this field. These implications are discussed and recommendations have been made.

This paper presents trends over time in the number of children in particularly vulnerable families, including families facing such risks as domestic violence, child maltreatment, substance abuse, depression, and childhood disabilities. These families are of particular importance to policymakers given the considerable risk to children's safety and development, the challenges to parents' ability to support a family as well as raise children when they are facing these major stressors, and the potential requirement for strong public or community roles to meet children's needs when parents cannot. Providing data on these different family risks in one paper does not mean to suggest that they are similar or that they always occur together. Families raising a child with a disability differ greatly from families in which a parent experiences depression or families with incidents of domestic violence or child maltreatment. Nevertheless, all these families face stressors that go beyond the challenges faced by other low-income families. In addition, while these stressors can occur separately, there is evidence that they often occur in tandem, which can leave families particularly vulnerable. For example, in families where domestic violence occurs between adults, child abuse may be more likely (Appel and Holden 1998; Edelson 1999). Similarly, parents that abuse or neglect their children often struggle with substance problems or depression (DeBellis et al. 2001; Dube et al. 2001; Chaffin, Kelleher, and Hollenberg 1996; Kelleher et al. 1994). Research also suggests that children with disabilities have higher rates of abuse or neglect (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services 1993).

Demographic changes will result in dramatic increases in the number of older people in the UK over the next decades. At the same time, mental health is becoming an increasingly important issue. Depression is the most common mental health problem in later life. There are currently up to 2.4 million older people with depression severe enough to impair quality of life. This number will increase to at least 3.1 million over the next 15 years, unless action is taken.
Mental health problems are not a normal and inevitable part of the ageing process. The majority of older people enjoy good mental health and make valuable contributions to society. Many contribute to the economy; workers aged 50 and over contribute £230 billion per year to national economic output, around a quarter of the total economy. Older people’s unpaid contributions as volunteers, carers and grandparents are valued at £24.2 billion per year4. As consumers, older people boost the economy by an additional £239 billion a year5.
Promoting mental health and well-being in later life will benefit the whole of society by maintaining older people’s social and economic contributions, minimising the costs of care and improving quality of life. Evidence about the factors that affect mental health and well-being has increased. Activity to promote good mental health and well-being in later life could be integrated into current developments in policy and practice, nationally and locally, and add to the existing momentum for change.

An aging population creates challenges for workers, employers, and policymakers. The impending retirement of the baby boomers and the relatively small size of later generations may lead to skills shortages, create upward pressure on wages and inflation, and limit economic growth. Lower output would reduce government tax revenue at the same time that the surge in retirees will increase spending on Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid. Lengthening life-spans force workers to spread their retirement savings over more years than ever before, an effort complicated by employer cutbacks in traditional pension plans and retiree health benefits and threatened cuts in Social Security and Medicare. But population changes tell only part of the story. Economic output will depend on the number of workers relative to those supported by the public. And the number of workers will depend on individual decisions about work and employer decisions about hiring and retention. Demographic shifts will likely present important new job opportunities for older Americans. This fact sheet describes the benefits of delayed retirement, the capacity of older people to remain at work, trends and patterns in labor force participation at older ages, and some of the legal and institutional work impediments that exist for older Americans.

Presents colour maps of key population, family and housing characteristics of Canberra. The maps are easy to interpret as the distribution of the data are represented by different colours or shadings. The data represents all Statistical Local Areas (suburbs) of Canberra and surrounding region. A brief commentary explaining the main features and characteristics also accompanies each map.
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Eligibility for these two major public programs favors children over adults in virtually every state. In fact, almost 75 percent of all uninsured children are eligible for Medicaid or SCHIP, compared to only 14 percent of uninsured adults. This broad eligibility for children's coverage through public programs will be debated over the next year as Congress considers the reauthorization of the SCHIP program. It is likely that a number of important issues will be discussed as part of the reauthorization process, including how much federal funding is needed and whether the federal government should continue giving states the latitude to cover parents and higher-income children with SCHIP funds. This data brief explores how well Medicaid and SCHIP actually protected health insurance coverage for low-income children in comparison to low-income adults (low-income is defined as those with income below 200 percent of the federal poverty level [FPL])(i.e., $38,614 for a family of four in 2004). Because the decline in ESI coverage did not occur uniformly across states, and because states have discretion regarding who is eligible for public coverage and how programs are administered, we ask, "Did public coverage tend to offset the reduction in ESI in some states more than in others?"

The number of WIC-only vendors has tripled since 1999, with growth concentrated in a few states. However, WIC-only vendors’ share of the national WIC market was relatively small compared to that of regular WIC vendors in 2004. Nationally, WIC-only vendors increased in number from 394 in 1999 to 1,180 in 2004, but 84 percent of these vendors are in California, Texas, and Florida. Despite their growth, WIC-only vendors accounted for 3 percent of all WIC vendors nationwide, and their market share, that is, their percentage of all WIC redemptions nationally, was on average 6 percent in 2004. Because of limitations in the data, we were unable to calculate annual growth rates or analyze changes in market share over time. WIC-only and regular WIC vendors generally employed different business and marketing practices, largely in response to the two different customer groups they served, according to WIC state agency officials. Because WIC participants are not required to consider retail prices, WIC-only vendors competed for participants’ business by emphasizing customer service, which participants seemed to value. On the other hand, regular WIC vendors served non-WIC consumers as well as WIC participants. Because these non-WIC consumers are price sensitive, regular WIC vendors competed for their business based on price and competitors’ behavior. An important difference in these approaches was that because WIC participants were not price sensitive, they might choose the service offered by WIC-only vendors, regardless of price. Finally, WIC-only and regular WIC vendors used similar food purchasing practices, because the cost of food purchased for resale is related more to the volume purchased than to the type of vendor purchasing the food. Both WIC-only and regular WIC vendors were able to lower the average cost of food purchased for resale when they bought in volume, according to WIC state agency officials.

All of the information here is based on the findings of the National Inquiry into Self-harm among Young People. The Inquiry was carried out by two charities, The Mental Health Foundation and The Camelot Foundation. The Inquiry panel heard evidence from many hundreds of people including young people who self-harm, or have self-harmed in the past, and those who work with or care about them. This booklet is based on what they said. You will see the words of young people who have self-harmed throughout this booklet, in the form of quotes.

Teenage pregnancy has been recognized as both a cause and consequence of social exclusion. In 1999, the Government published the first Teenage Pregnancy Strategy for England to address both the prevention of teenage pregnancy and the support needs of young parents. The Social Exclusion Unit’s report Teenage Pregnancy1, which underpinned the Strategy, highlighted the increased risks of poor health and social outcomes faced by teenage parents and their children. These included: a 60% higher rate of infant mortality; a 25% increased risk of low birth weight babies; and three times the rate of postnatal depression. In addition, teenage mothers were reported as having low educational attainment. Despite these negative findings, this publication made clear that poor outcomes were not inevitable if the needs of young parents were met with specialist tailored support. In response to this, the Sure Start Plus pilot initiative was established in 2001, as a specific project within the Teenage Pregnancy Strategy. The aim of the pilot was to test models of specialist support for teenagers who were pregnant or parents in order to inform future service provision.

The estimates for each race and Hispanic group are cross-tabulated by single year of age and selected age groups for each state and by five-year age groups for counties. In addition to the estimates for states and counties, this release contains population estimates by age and sex for Puerto Rico and its municipios.

From Santa Barbara to Tallahassee and Birmingham to Santa Fe, the U.S. Census Bureau today released for the first time key demographic and social data for areas with populations of 65,000 or more – an updated look at how the nation’s population has changed, and the first for many communities since Census 2000. The Census Bureau’s new American Community Survey (ACS) provides more timely and updated information about the nation’s changing and diverse population every year. Without the ACS, this type of information — historically gathered just once a decade — would not be available for communities until 2012.

The consideration of ethical issues relating to pediatric environmental health is a recent phenomenon. Discussions of biomedical ethics, research on children and environmental health research have a longer history. In the late 1990s, researchers at the Kennedy Krieger Institute in Baltimore, MD undertook a study to compare the effectiveness of several methods of reducing lead-risk in housing. In a preliminary finding in the case of Grimes v Kennedy Krieger Institute Inc a Maryland Court questioned the ethics of performing research on children when there is no prospect of direct benefit to those children and whether parents can consent to such research. This case dramatically raised the profile of ethical issues amongst the pediatric environmental health research community.

A human rights paradigm for environmental health research makes explicit the
relationship between poor health and poverty, inequality and social and political marginalization and aims at civic problem solving. As such, it incorporates support for community-based, participatory research and takes seriously the social responsibilities of researchers. For these reasons, a human rights approach may be better able than conventional bioethics to address the unique issues that arise in the context of pediatric environmental health research, particularly the place of environmental justice standards in research. At the same time, as illustrated by disagreements over the ethics of research into lead abatement methods, bringing a human rights paradigm to bear in the context of environmental health research requires resolving important tensions at its heart, in particular, the inescapable tension between ethical ideals and political realities.

The state pension reforms in the recent White Paper are intended to make the State Pension fairer and more widely available and to provide a solid foundation on which people can save1. To see the effects of the reforms on individuals, complex calculations are needed. This Briefing Note provides some preliminary case studies.

This article identifies issues arising from and potential solutions for the
privacy and informed consent challenges of pediatric environmental health research intended to adequately protect the rights and welfare of children, family members and communities. .. The article begins with a discussion of family members as secondary research participants and moves on to the specific ethical challenges of longitudinal research on late onset environmental effects and gene-environment interactions. It concludes with a discussion of the confidentiality and social risks of recruitment and data collection of research conducted within small or unique communities, ethnic minority populations, and low income families. . . The responsible conduct of pediatric environmental health research must be conceptualized as a goodness of fit between the specific research context and the unique characteristics of subjects and other family stakeholders.

Interactive world map; find resources on the 50+ population worldwide.

Data from the Annie E. Casey Foundation’s 2006 KIDS COUNT Data Book are now available in our easy-to-use, powerful onlinedatabase, "State Level Data Online", that allows you to generate custom graphs, maps, ranked lists, and state-by-state profiles; or, download the entire data set as delimited text files.

Presents data from the Survey on Sexual Violence, 2005, an administrative records collection of incidents of inmate-on-inmate and staff-on-inmate sexual violence reported to correctional authorities. The report provides counts of sexual violence, by type, for adult prisons, jails, and other adult correctional facilities. The report provides an indepth analysis of substantiated incidents, including where the incidents occur, time of day, number and characteristics of victims and perpetrators, nature of the injuries, impact on the victims and sanctions imposed on the perpetrators. The appendix tables include counts of sexual violence, by type, for all State systems, the Federal Bureau of Prisons, and all sampled jail jurisdictions. The report also includes an update on BJS activities related to implementation of the data collections required under the Prison Rape Elimination Act of 2003 (Public Law 108-79).

The White House Office of National Drug Control Policy recently convened a forum to bring together law enforcement and public health officials, prevention specialists, and treatment providers from Federal, State, and local governments to discuss the public health threat and response techniques arising from the recent deaths related to fentanyl-laced heroin.

One of the famous questions in social science is whether money makes people happy. We offer new evidence by using longitudinal data on a random sample of Britons who receive medium-sized lottery wins of between £1000 and £120,000 (that is, up to approximately U.S. $200,000). When compared to two control groups – one with no wins and the other with small wins – these individuals go on eventually to exhibit significantly better psychological health. Two years after a lottery win, the average measured improvement in mental wellbeing is 1.4 GHQ points.

During the January 2003 through December 2005 period, 3.8 million workers were displaced from jobs they had held for at least 3 years, the Bureau of Labor Statistics of the U.S. Department of Labor reported today. The number of displaced workers decreased from 5.3 million in the previous survey that covered the period from January 2001 through December 2003. Since 1984, the Employment and Training Administration of the U.S. Department of Labor has sponsored surveys that collect information on workers who were displaced from their jobs. These surveys have been conducted biennially as supplements to the Current Population Survey (CPS), a monthly survey of households that is the primary source of information on the nation's labor force. Displaced workers are defined as persons 20 years of age and older who lost or left jobs because their plant or company closed or moved, there was insufficient work for them to do, or their position or shift was abolished.

Youth involvement in Amnesty International
Young people aged 14-25 make up almost 50 per cent of AI membership. However, except in certain stand-out situations, reaching and engaging young people is generally considered an area of weakness for the organization. Looking on the bright side, an exciting question arises from these observations: if AI is not particularly "youth-friendly" but approaching one million young people are nevertheless involved – what will AI’s growth and impact look like as youth work is prioritized and global best practice is considered?
A new international youth strategy
Following a resolution at the International Council Meeting (ICM) in August 2003, the International Executive Committee of AI appointed the ad hoc International Youth Strategy Development Committee to draft a global Youth Strategy for the movement. The resulting document, adopted by the 2005 ICM, contains a number of objectives and recommendations to foster engagement with young people and youth organizations, ensure young people’s participation in the life of the AI movement and enable effective youth-led activism for human rights impact.

Over the past 3 years, Scotland’s population has been rising – against the previous trend of slow decline from the early 1970s. The birth rate has been rising, which is unusual in developed countries and which may (or may not!) be a short term phenomenon. Over the last 3 years, too, in-migration has significantly exceeded out-migration – a picture radically different from Scotland of the 1960s and 1970s, and even the 1980s. This report casts light on these facets of Scotland’s demography. But there are still many points where we can observe demographic changes without having a clear view of why they occur. The Scottish Executive and the Economic and Social Research Council have funded a 2 year £300,000 project to investigate three key aspects of Scotland’s demography – migration, fertility and the impact of an ageing population – and we will soon know the results.

As we approach the 10-year anniversary of the signing of the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act (PRWORA), commonly referred to as "welfare reform," pundits are rushing to declare the effort either an unqualified success or an utter disaster. Despite the hype, most of us know the truth lies somewhere in between. There have been undeniable successes, yet significant policy challenges remain. Welfare reform is not over.

In 2004, approximately 18 percent of all children in the United States lived in poverty. Over the last five years, child poverty has risen substantially, increasing by 12 percent. After hitting a low of 12.1 million children in 2000, more than 1.4 million children have been added to the poverty rolls, becoming members of this country’s “new poor.” Children who grow up in poverty experience significant hardships that can have lasting effects well into adulthood. At the national level, family characteristics have had little relationship with whether children experienced increasing poverty between 2000 and 2004. Overall, increases in U.S. child poverty did not vary by parents’ employment status, parents’ education level, or parents’ nativity. These national statistics mask varying economic realities across regions. This report examines regional differences in the family characteristics of children who have seen the greatest rise in poverty. During the last five years, children living in the Midwest experienced the biggest increases in child poverty, accounting for 43 percent of the national rise in the number of poor children. At the same time, poverty did not increase among children living in the West.

Although much is known about how to help welfare recipients find jobs, little is known about how to help them and other low-wage workers keep jobs or advance in the labor market. This report assesses the implementation and two-year follow-up effects of a program in Texas that aimed to promote job placement, employment retention, and advancement among applicants and recipients in the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program. The Texas program is part of the Employment Retention and Advancement (ERA) project, which is testing 15 such programs across the country. The ERA project is being conducted by MDRC, under contract to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, with additional funding from the U.S. Department of Labor. To encourage employment retention and advancement among working TANF leavers, the Texas ERA program provided job search assistance, pre- and postemployment case management, and a monthly stipend of $200. The program was evaluated in three sites — Corpus Christi, Fort Worth, and Houston — starting in 2000. The ERA evaluation uses a random assignment research design: Through a lottery-like process, eligible individuals were assigned either to a program group, whose members participated in the ERA program, or to a control group, whose members participated in Texas’s standard welfare-to-work program (called “Choices”). The control group’s outcomes tell what would have happened in the absence of the ERA program, providing benchmarks against which to compare the program group.

• Practice guideline for the psychiatric evaluation of adults
• Practice guideline for the treatment of patients with eating disorders
• Practice guideline for the treatment of patients with substance use disorders
• 2006 United Kingdom national guideline on the sexual health of people with HIV: sexually transmitted infections

The purpose of the Joint Commission's National Patient Safety Goals is to promote specific improvements in patient safety. The Goals highlight problematic areas in health care and describe evidence and expert-based solutions to these problems. Recognizing that sound system design is intrinsic to the delivery of safe, high quality health care, the Goals focus on system-wide solutions, wherever possible. This tool addresses the 2007 Long Term Care National Patient Safety Goals (from http://www.qualitytools.ahrq.gov/ )

The Belgian social security system was not built in one day. Rather, it is the result of several evolutions that have occurred during the past 150 years. Some features of the various periods of the past are still present in the current system. The beginning of our social security system can best be set in the period of the first industrial revolution and the rise of capitalism. Poverty, until that period usually solved within the family or with charities, is finally considered a problem of society. That consciousness led to the creation of so-called 'Civil Houses of God' and of 'Offices of Benevolence', the predecessors of our current public centres for social aid (OCMW - CPAS). Secondly, the industrial revolution has given rise to specific risks, as the workers were forced to work in the mills: sickness, incapacity for work, unemployment, etc. In order to insure themselves against these new risks, the workers created their own 'Societies for Mutual Assistance'. These voluntary mutual insurance funds protected the affiliated workers against the new social risks. They procured, for instance, benefits in case of unemployment or incapacity for work of the breadwinner or if he became too old to continue to work, etc. Under the influence of the emerging trade unions, these local Societies for Mutual Assistance were transformed into health insurance funds (ziekenfonds - mutualité). Next to the initiatives of the workers themselves, several christian-inspired employers created family benefit funds, providing indemnity for workers with children. These were private initiatives; there was no question of government contributions yet.

The Electronic Hallway serves as an online repository of quality teaching cases and other curriculum materials for faculty who teach public administration, public policy, and related subjects. Cases are available in numerous policy areas; economic development, education, environment and land use, human services, international affairs, nonprofit, state and local government issues, utility and transit issues, and urban and regional issues. Many Hallway cases include teaching notes, and several have video of cases being taught by experienced teachers. Hallway materials are used widely throughout the United States and in many foreign countries in both graduate and undergraduate programs, as well as in government training programs.

This annual report provides information on the council's activities in 2005-06, including an analysis of its research and training expenditure, and its research portfolio. The report contains the council's full accounts for the year.

It is more accurate to say that the Social Security program merely turned 55 years old last year and that Roosevelt never lived to see its birth. Only on August 28, 1950, when Harry S. Truman signed the Social Security Act Amendments of 1950, did the advocates of old-age insurance—mainly Democrats, organized labor, and the Social Security Administration—win and their Republican opponents concede regarding the form and meaning of support for the American elderly.

- In 2003-2004, 6.1 percent of youths aged 12 to 17 were classified as needing treatment for alcohol use and 5.4 percent as needing treatment for illicit drug use
- Of the youths who were classified as needing treatment for alcohol use, 7.2 percent received specialty alcohol use treatment; 9.1 percent of the youths who were classified as needing treatment for illicit drug use received specialty illicit drug use treatment
- Among the youths who were classified as needing treatment, very few of the youths who had not received treatment perceived an unmet need for treatment (2.2 percent for alcohol use treatment and 3.5 percent for illicit drug use treatment)

Our nation’s foster care system serves more than 800,000 children and adolescents each year. Many of these children are neglected, abused, and face a number of other challenges and hardships. State and local child welfare agencies, courts, private service providers, and public agencies that administer government programs often do everything they can to support these young people. However, because of these children’s many needs, their postsecondary education aspirations and preparation oftentimes are neglected. Much of the research conducted on youth from foster care has primarily examined their health status and the effects of placement in foster care on adult maturation. A few recent studies — most notably the Institute for Higher Education Policy’s excellent report, Higher Education Opportunities for Foster Youth — have explored postsecondary enrollments of youth formerly in foster care. However, to our knowledge, no nationally representative data have been recently analyzed or synthesized on foster students’ progress through the higher education system.

Walk into any first-period high school classroom and it s obvious: teenagers are exhausted. Sleep deprivation is an epidemic as widespread as obesity and just as damaging. Fortunately, science has answers and Dr. Helene Emsellem has solutions that all parents can use. Affecting the lives of more than 41 million adolescents in the United States alone, sleep deprivation is a chronic problem for kids today. We know this intuitively as we watch teenagers frantically juggle a hectic social calendar with the overwhelming demands of school, work, and chores. School performance around the country is suffering but it s not just grades that are at risk. Sleep deprivation has been found to affect nearly every aspect of a teenager s life, from emotional stability and behavioral issues to physical well-being and the potential for drug and alcohol abuse. For years, we ve blamed many of these adolescent characteristics on the natural maturing process or changing hormones. And while chemicals do surge through the body creating strong effects, sleep the right amount and the right kind has now been targeted for its prime importance in overall success and well-being.

Using data from the 1993 and 2003 Fall Staff Surveys, a component of the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS), this report examines the change in the number and composition of staff in U.S. postsecondary institutions and the change in average salaries of full-time staff between fall 1993 and fall 2003. Over the decade, the growth of the workforce at colleges and universities outpaced the growth of both the civilian labor force and student enrollment, continuing a pattern that began in the 1970s. The growth rate was higher for part-time employees than full-time employees, for female staff than male staff, for racial/ethnic minorities than Whites, and for professionals than nonprofessionals. Although the average salaries of full-time employees increased for each of the seven primary occupation categories, only the rate of increase for executive, administrative, and managerial positions (17 percent) exceeded the median for the overall U.S. family income (14 percent).

This consultation sets out proposals to review the frequency and methodology of inspections, as part of a wider review of the national minimum standards for children's social services. The review will consider what changes are needed to enable inspections to become more targeted to where they are most needed. It will also help to avoid placing unnecessary burdens on providers with a good service record.

This report presents national estimates of fertility, family formation, contraceptive use, and father involvement indicators among males 15–44 years of age in the United States in 2002 from Cycle 6 of the National Survey of Family Growth (NSFG). Data are also shown for women for purposes of comparison. . . .This report covers a wide range of topics including first sexual intercourse and its timing in relation to marriage; contraceptive use; wantedness of births in the past 5 years; marital and cohabiting status at first birth; living arrangement of fathers with their children; father’s activities with children they live with and those they do not live with; HIV-risk related behaviors; and infertility services. Conclusion The reproductive experiences of men and women 15–44 years of age in the United States vary significantly, and often sharply, by demographic characteristics such as education, income, and Hispanic origin and race.

This guidance sets out changes to social services complaints procedure for adults, which comes into force on 1 September 2006. The guidance is issued as Section 7 guidance under the Local Authority Act 1970, which requires local authorities to act under the general guidance of the Secretary of State.

SES participation among eligible students increased from 12 to 19 percent between school years 2003-2004 and 2004-2005, and the number of recipients also increased, due in part to a rise in the number of schools required to offer services. Districts have used some promising practices to inform parents and encourage participation, such as offering services on school campuses and at various times. However, challenges remain, including timely and effective notification of parents and attracting providers to serve certain areas and students, such as rural districts or students with disabilities. To promote improved student academic achievement, SES providers took steps to align their curriculum with district instruction and communicate with teachers and parents, though the extent of their efforts varied. A majority of the 22 providers we interviewed worked to align SES and district curriculum by hiring teachers familiar with the district curriculum as tutors. However, at least some providers did not have any contact with teachers in about 40 percent of districts. Both providers and district officials experienced challenges related to contracting and coordination of service delivery. Providers, districts, and schools reported that greater involvement of schools would improve SES delivery and coordination, as it has in some places where this is occurring.

NIH and CDC have undertaken a range of autism activities, and the agencies reported that their funding of autism activities has increased. Many of NIH’s activities were developed in response to requirements in the Children’s Health Act for NIH to expand, intensify, and coordinate its autism activities. According to estimates from NIH, the agency increased funding for autism from about $51.5 million in fiscal year 2000 to about $101.6 million in fiscal year 2005. CDC supports surveillance activities in certain locations that track the prevalence of autism and other developmental disabilities, and its total funding of autism activities increased from about $2.1 million in fiscal year 2000 to about $16.7 million in fiscal year 2005. CDC’s surveillance methodology has relied, in part, on information in student education records, but CDC officials believe that a 2003 change in the Department of Education’s (Education) interpretation of relevant federal privacy law has hindered CDC’s ability to use this methodology to determine the prevalence of autism. Education stated that the law does not allow CDC to access these records without written parental consent. A 2003 law required HHS and Education to submit a report to the Congress by June 2005 describing ways to overcome the challenges CDC faces in obtaining education records. As of June 2006, CDC and Education had not agreed on options for overcoming these challenges and could not estimate when the report would be completed.

The Occupational Outlook Handbook is a nationally recognized source of career information, designed to provide valuable assistance to individuals making decisions about their future work lives. The Handbook is revised every two years. . . . The Occupational Outlook Handbook tells you:
- the training and education needed
- earnings
- expected job prospects
- what workers do on the job
- working conditions

There is increasing government interest in promoting positive parent-child relationships as one means of improving outcomes for children. More generally, debates continue about the role of fathers, parenting in single-parent families, and what helps or hinders good parent-child relationships. A team from the University of Sussex sought to address some of these issues by examining the parent-child relationships for 346 children in 173 families with at least two children between the ages of 4 - 8 years. The families were diverse in terms of socio-economic background, and included two-parent as well as single-mother families.

An estimated 14.9 million workers (11% of the workforce) would receive an increase in their hourly wage rate if the minimum wage were raised from $5.15 to $7.25 by 2008. Of these workers, 6.6 million workers (5% of the workforce) currently earn less than $7.25 and would be directly affected by an increase. The additional 8.3 million workers (6% of the workforce) earning slightly above the minimum would also be likely to benefit from an increase due to “spillover effects”.

The annual report outlines the main findings from interviews carried out in 2005, providing detailed information about people living in Scotland today, reporting both nationally and by groups of local authority. The survey has been commissioned to provide accurate, representative and up-to-date information on the characteristics, composition and behaviour of households in Scotland in a number of areas, particularly relating to communities, transport and local government. The results are based on interviews carried out with 15,395 households throughout Scotland in 2005.

The Mental Capacity Act 2005 is due to come into effect in April 2007. A Best Practice tool has been developed and made available, in the first instance, to statutory organisations and independent and voluntary hospitals to assist them to successfully implement the Act

The Department has supported the setting up of local implementation networks based on the geographical boundaries of councils with social services responsibilities. Further advice on the primary tasks of local implementation networks has been developed.

Numerous reports have underscored the contradictions and deficiencies in the nation’s mental health service system for children with serious emotional disturbances (SED), including a heavy reliance on residential care and out-of-home placements (e.g., Campaign for Mental Health Reform 2005; New Freedom Commission on Mental Health 2003). Recent studies have also reinforced long-standing concerns that some parents have had to relinquish custody of their children solely to obtain treatment for their children’s behavioral or emotional problems (Government Accounting Office 2003). Overall, these reports have motivated federal and state legislators to consider new strategies for improving child mental health services and, in particular, enhancing access to effective home and community services. Youth with SED include children and adolescents with chronic depression, major conduct disorders, substance abuse problems, and other behaviors that are challenging for families and communities. Many youth with SED are first identified in the schools, child welfare or juvenile justice systems, and they often claim a great deal of public attention because of the wide gap between their need for intensive treatment and the availability of appropriate services, including home-based counseling, respite care, family-to-family support, treatment foster care, and school-based mental health care. More and more studies indicate that these services are effective not only in improving mental health outcomes for youth with SED, but also in reducing or preventing stays in residential care and other out-of-home settings (Hawaii Department of Health 2004; Knitzer and Cooper 2006; Sheidow et al. 2004). Given these signs of progress, policymakers have expressed greater interest in making these services more widely available (Waxman 2006).

The Food Stamp Program is a central component of American policy to alleviate hunger and poverty. The program’s main purpose is “to permit low-income households to obtain a more nutritious diet . . . by increasing their purchasing power” (Food Stamp Act of 1977, as amended). The Food Stamp Program is the largest of the domestic food and nutrition assistance programs administered by the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food and Nutrition Service. During fiscal year 2005, the program served over 25 million people in an average month at a total annual cost of over $28 billion in benefits, excluding disaster assistance provided as a result of hurricanes in September 2005. The average monthly food stamp benefit was about $210 per household. This report presents estimates that, for each state, measure the need for the Food Stamp Program and the program’s effectiveness in both 2002 and 2003. The estimated numbers of people eligible for food stamps measure the need for the program. The estimated food stamp participation rates measure, state by state, the program’s performance in reaching its target population. In addition to the participation rates that pertain to all eligible people, we derived estimates of participation rates for the “working poor,” that is, people who were eligible for the Food Stamp Program and lived in households in which someone earned income from a job.

The Dignity in Care initiative has been set up to ensure all older people are treated with dignity when using health and social care services. As well as running a series of events, nationwide, for people to tell us their views we are also keen to find out how you feel about the services you use.

The aim of the study was to examine whether or not there are significant differences in the way local authorities plan for and manage diversity through a focus on key policies and provision. This allowed questions to be asked on the extent to which local authority policies and programmes can promote or inhibit community cohesion. The research was conducted in four local authorities, Blackburn with Darwen, Burnley, Oldham and Rochdale. They were chosen because of their relative proximity, similar industrial and economic structure, patterns of migration and size.

The Effective Supervision Inspection programme (now completed) contained a thematic element, the subject changing twice a year. In the last seven probation areas, inspected between September 2005 and March 2006, the thematic element was substance misuse. The findings relating to each of the individual areas have already been described in their own Effective Supervision Inspection reports. This report therefore focuses mainly on national issues. Although the link between substance misuse and offending is complex, there is little doubt that there is a strong association between the two. The contribution of the National Probation Service towards reducing offending by substance misusing offenders, in partnership with others, is therefore very important. This report brings together the findings from the seven areas and highlights the differing levels of treatment provision for drug and alcohol misusing offenders.

In the context of an ageing population and increasing demand for care services in the European Union, there is growing concern about the supply of suitably qualified care workers. Low pay, low status, and high rates of turnover and burnout make it difficult to attract workers to the care sector and to keep them in their jobs. The report looks at a range of innovative approaches, in 11 EU Member States and two acceding countries, aimed at increasing the supply of qualified workers who can meet the growing demand for care services.

The principles of the risk and choice framework are that the individual is in the centre of the decision-making process and they may at times make unusual decisions. As long as they have capacity to make decisions, practitioners will work towards supporting the individual to make the choice.

Evaluators and others studying what happens to victims of major disasters—such as earthquakes, floods, September 11-type incidents, or Hurricane Katrina-like catastrophes—must begin with a comprehensive understanding of victim services needs under such extraordinary circumstances. Based on that understanding, desired service outcomes and associated indicators will need to be constructed. To assist in the development of such research, this guide provides a series of starting, generic checklists of outcome indicators and related information considered pertinent to studying emergency services responses. The indicators cross a range of critical service areas and cover a wide array of conditions likely to be important to disaster victims, allowing for assessment of the extent to which victim services needs are met during and following disasters. Studies of services responses are likely to address questions about the type, timing, and adequacy of the responses, as well as about who delivered (or failed to deliver) various services. Thus, included here are both a starter set of indicators relating to the quality of service provision and a start at identifying information on the characteristics of the various service interventions. Because outcome findings will be considerably more useful if broken out by key victim demographic characteristics, we have also provided a starter-set of such characteristics. Together, the respective sets of outcome indicators, responding services characteristics, and demographic characteristics are intended to serve as a guide and checklist for future evaluations and other studies.

This guidance sets out changes to the children's social services representations procedure as a result of the Children (Leaving Care) Act 2000, Adoption and Children Act 2002 and the Health and Social Care (Community Health and Standards) Act 2003. It is for representations, including complaints, made by children and young people. It also applies to parents, foster carers and other adults making a complaint.

Despite spending the most on health care, the United States lags behind other industrialized nations on many dimensions of health system performance. Formed in July 2005, The Commonwealth Fund's Commission on a High Performance Health System seeks to chart a course for a U.S. health care system that provides significantly expanded access, higher quality, and greater efficiency for all Americans, especially those who are most vulnerable. In this consensus statement, the Commission defines "high performance" and outlines its vision of a uniquely American, high performance health system. It then identifies the most critical sources of our current system's failures and offers a strategic framework for addressing them through specific actions.

Congress reauthorized Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF), the nation's primary cash assistance program for families with children, in February 2006 as part of the Deficit Reduction Act of 2005. Under reauthorization, Congress increased the share of the caseload that states must include when calculating work participation rates, and it restructured the caseload credit that states receive. These changes will require most states to greatly increase work participation among their caseloads in order to avoid financial penalties1 and could cause many states to rethink their current welfare policies overall. This marks a good time to review states' current rules. Such a review can provide a benchmark against which future changes can be assessed. Virtually any statement about welfare is no longer universally true across the country. While welfare benefit levels have always varied tremendously, the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996 (PRWORA) gave states autonomy to set eligibility rules and to determine how participants will meet federal work and time limit requirements. In addition, states may now choose to use state funds for certain recipients who would not be covered by federal funds, furthering local options. As a result of this flexibility and the ensuing diversity of state policy choices, it is difficult to summarize clearly and briefly the national picture of state welfare policy. This brief reviews the multiple ways a family can get on welfare, stay on, and leave (or lose) assistance.3 It uses the Urban Institute's Welfare Rules Database (WRD) to examine the variation in key policies.4 Details are offered on how each state defines its program as of 2003.5 We include some discussion of how states' TANF programs differ from the program TANF replaced in 1996, Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC), to highlight the changes that have occurred over the past decade.

Millions of workers in the U.S. economy participate in some form of “contingent” employment, such as temporary or part-time work. While definitions of the contingent workforce vary, broadly defined, contingent workers are workers who do not have standard full-time employment, that is, are not wage and salary workers working at least 35 hours a week in permanent jobs. Contingent work arrangements often have the potential to provide flexibility for employers and workers. However, such arrangements may also exclude some contingent workers from receiving key worker benefits and protections such as the guarantee of workers’ rights to safe and healthful working conditions, a minimum hourly wage and overtime pay, freedom from employment discrimination, and unemployment insurance. The Department of Labor (DOL) enforces a wide range of labor laws that provide protections to workers, including the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), which provides minimum wage, overtime pay, and child labor protections. Other federal and state agencies enforce laws that provide workers with additional workforce benefits and protections.