In many ways, the struggles adoptive families face in accessing adoption- competent mental health services mirror the challenges other families face in accessing competent mental health services. All families seeking mental health services for their children confront a patchwork of underfunded services and supports, guided by an often-bewildering mix of theories, philosophies, and treatment interventions. The vast majority of families – adoptive or otherwise – inevitably rely on publicly funded services or services available through private health insurance programs. Thus, they routinely face limitations in the availability, intensity, and duration of mental health services. The challenge of finding competent mental health services is even more complex when adoption-related issues are a component of mental health needs.

“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.”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.

In 1996, the Adoption 2002 Initiative was launched to double the number of adoptions of children in foster care by 2002. The Adoption and Safe Families Act of 1997 (ASFA) was passed by Congress just one year later. ASFA builds on the permanency planning policy and practice framework established in 1980 with the Adoption Assistance and Child Welfare Act (P.L. 96-272). ASFA places greater emphasis on children’s need for permanency through preventive and early intervention supports, intensive reunification and concurrent planning services. If these efforts fail within established time frames, ASFA mandates that states then move more quickly to adoption or other family permanency options.

Compiled by the Casey Center for Effective Child Welfare Practice, September 2006

This internet site is the main way in which the Scottish Executive will disseminate the range of small area statistics including information on health, education, poverty, unemployment, housing, population, crime and social / community issues at the data zone level and above which support a number of the Executive's targets and commitments aimed at closing the gap between disadvantaged areas and the rest of Scotland.

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.

There is growing evidence that people who suffer from mild to moderate psychological problems, particularly depression and anxiety, respond well to treatments involving self care and self management. This approach promotes personal responsibility for one’s own health and well being and is particularly evident when self-help is supported by short-term interventions from a trained practitioner. These interventions are part of a tiered or stepped care approach.

Part one of the report provides background contextual information, covering: suicide trends in Scotland, the cost of suicide, the Scottish Executive policy response and the Choose Life strategy (chapter one); the aims and objectives of the study (chapter two); and the study methodology (chapter three). The main research findings and commentary can be found in part two. Chapter four considers the development of national and local infrastructures to support suicide prevention. Chapter five covers the allocation of Choose Life funding oth nationally and locally and provides a number of different breakdowns on how these resources have been used. Chapter six illustrates innovative practice underway in local areas, providing examples of relevant community, voluntary and self-help activities and describing how funding has been used for innovative ways of working. Chapter seven explores the progress towards, and prospects for, sustainability during phase two of Choose Life (and beyond), at both national and local levels. Chapter eight considers the different stages of decision making for Choose Life and provides an outline and discussion of the learning resources used at each stage. Chapter nine reports on local coordinators’ level of satisfaction with progress towards national milestones and their self-assessment of performance for each of the local milestones.

There is an increasing number of studies assessing whether omega-3 fatty acids play a role in behavioural and mood disorders, particularly depression. Findings of this research have been highlighted in the media, and in recent reports by the Mental Health Foundation1 and the food charity Sustain. As a result, patients might ask their GPs and mental health professionals about taking omega-3 fatty acids for depression. Here we assess whether omega-3 fatty acids have a role in the management of such individuals.

Because most workers receive health benefits from their employers, retirement often disrupts health insurance coverage. This brief examines the availability and cost of health insurance at ages 55 to 64 and changes in coverage after retirement. Today most workers with employer health benefits retain their coverage when they retire early, although their required premium contributions have increased sharply over the past 10 years. In the future, however, steady declines in the share of younger workers with access to retiree health benefits may jeopardize income security for the next generation of retirees.

In June 2006, there were 4 million children aged under 15 years in Australia, representing one-fifth (19%) of the total population (ABS 2006a). Health gains brought about by better living conditions, education, medical care and vaccination would suggest that this generation of children should be the healthiest ever (Patton et al. 2005). However, there are emerging concerns related to rapid social change and the associated new morbidities such as increasing levels of behavioural, developmental, mental health and social problems (AIHW 2006). Early childhood in particular has become a key priority for Australian government and non-government organisations (AIHW 2006).

This paper explores recent patterns involving child maltreatment and disproportionality, the role race plays at various decision-making stages in child welfare, the extent of racially disparate treatment in child welfare, and how other social systems contribute to disproportionality in child welfare. Despite diff erences in the design and methodology of the studies under review, much consensus about disproportionality was revealed in this summary of the professional literature, especially among more recent studies. Most of the studies reviewed identifi ed race as one of the primary determinants of decisions of child protective services at the stages of reporting, investigation, substantiation, placement, and exit from care. Th e only stage where no racial diff erences were identifi ed was the stage of reentry into the child welfare system. Further research is necessary to extend our knowledge of the direct causes of disproportionality and disparate treatment, including tests of diff ering strategies to reduce this problem. The hope for this research is that it serves as a starting point in talking about race and its impact on our nation’s most vulnerable children. As America continues the dialogue about race, we must make sure our voices are heard on behalf of these children, whom we’ve pledged to care for, no matter the color of their skin.

This TIP is based on a fundamental rethinking of the concept of motivation. Motivation is not seen as static but as dynamic. It is redefined here as purposeful, intentional, and positive--directed toward the best interests of the self. Specifically, motivation is considered to be related to the probability that a person will enter into, continue, and adhere to a specific change strategy. This TIP shows how substance abuse treatment staff can influence change by developing a therapeutic relationship that respects and builds on the client's autonomy and, at the same time, makes the treatment clinician a partner in the change process. The TIP also describes different motivational interventions that can be used at all stages of the change process, from precontemplation and preparation to action and maintenance, and informs readers of the research, results, tools, and assessment instruments related to enhancing motivation. The primary purpose of this TIP is to link research to practice by providing clear applications of motivational approaches in clinical practice and treatment programs. This TIP also seeks to shift the conception of client motivation for change toward a view that empowers the treatment provider to elicit motivation. These approaches may be especially beneficial to particular populations (e.g., court-mandated offenders) with a low motivation for change.

Considerable attention has been paid in recent years to the rapid growth of health insurance premiums and its impact on coverage affordability. Premium growth has far outpaced growth in workers earnings, which means that workers have to spend more of their income each year on health care to maintain current coverage levels. Less attention has been given to the disconnection between the growing cost of health insurance and eligibility for health care subsidies in public programs. It is clear that lower income people cannot afford health insurance without some assistance, and various federal and state programs exist to provide or subsidize health insurance for people with limited means.

Local authority youth services are inspected as part of the three-year programme of joint area reviews that began in September 2005. This report provides an overview of their performance in 2005/06. It is set against the backdrop of considerable organisational change in local authorities, and the Government's vision for youth work as set out in Youth matters: next steps. The report draws attention to the factors most likely to secure high quality youth work provision within new and emerging arrangements.

Over 11,000 pupils with a statement of special educational needs (SEN) are placed in out of authority special schools. These are most often children with severe behavioural, emotional and social difficulties (BESD) and autistic spectrum disorders (ASD). Many of these children have complex SEN that are not currently met by their local schools. Expenditure on these placements is high and has increased steeply in recent years, however the rate of increase has decreased since 2003/04. While the interests of the child must be the primary focus of a decision about placement, achieving value for money is also an important consideration.

This report by Sheila Shribman, National Clinical Director for Children, Young People and Maternity Services, outlines how services are being reconfigured to meet the needs of mothers and babies.

This report by Sheila Shribman, National Clinical Director for Children, Young People and Maternity Services outlines how services are being reconfigured to meet the needs of patients.

Throughout much of the last century, scientists studying drug abuse labored in the shadows of powerful myths and misconceptions about the nature of addiction. When science began to study addictive behavior in the 1930s, people addicted to drugs were thought to be morally flawed and lacking in willpower. Those views shaped society's responses to drug abuse, treating it as a moral failing rather than a health problem, which led to an emphasis on punitive rather than preventative and therapeutic actions. Today, thanks to science, our views and our responses to drug abuse have changed dramatically. Groundbreaking discoveries about the brain have revolutionized our understanding of drug addiction, enabling us to respond effectively to the problem. As a result of scientific research, we know that addiction is a disease that affects both brain and behavior. We have identified many of the biological and environmental factors and are beginning to search for the genetic variations that contribute to the development and progression of the disease. Scientists use this knowledge to develop effective prevention and treatment approaches that reduce the toll drug abuse takes on individuals, families, and communities.

This report presents the findings from a literature review commissioned by the Home Office that identifies factors associated with increased risk of illicit drug use among young people. The report identifies a diverse range of factors linked to increased risk of drug use and factors that protect against drug use.

The nutrition title of the omnibus 2007 "farm bill" will be the focus of legislative proposals affecting domestic food assistance programs in the 1st Session of the 110th Congress. The program areas that are expected to be addressed (because various authorities, like authorizations for appropriations expire at the end of FY2007) include: the regular Food Stamp program, programs operating in lieu of food stamps in Puerto Rico and American Samoa and on Indian reservations, The Emergency Food Assistance Program (TEFAP), the Commodity Supplemental Food Program (CSFP), Community Food Projects, the Seniors Farmers' Market Nutrition Program (SFMNP), and projects and initiatives to make fresh fruit and vegetables available in schools. Other nutrition assistance -- child nutrition programs (like the School Lunch program), the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (the WIC program), the WIC Farmers' Market Nutrition program -- are on a different reauthorization/review schedule and probably will not be a significant part of the nutrition assistance debate in the 1st Session. The most significant issues raised are likely to be those surrounding the Food Stamp program and fresh fruit and vegetable projects.

The Balanced Budget Act of 1997 (BBA 97; P.L. 105-33) established the State Children’s Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) under a new Title XXI of the Social Security Act. In general, this program allows states to cover targeted low-income children with no health insurance in families with income that is above Medicaid eligibility levels. As of 2004, the upper income eligibility limit under SCHIP had reached as high as 350% of the federal poverty level, or FPL (in one state). Under SCHIP, states may enroll targeted low-income children in Medicaid, create a new separate state program, or devise a combination of both approaches. States choosing the Medicaid option must provide all mandatory benefits and all optional services covered under the state plan, and must follow the nominal Medicaid cost-sharing rules. In general, separate state programs must follow certain coverage and benefit options outlined in SCHIP law. While some cost-sharing provisions vary by family income, the total annual aggregate cost-sharing (including premiums, copayments, and other similar charges) for any family may not exceed 5% of total income in a year.

Current law requires that a person wait five months from the onset of a qualifying disability before receiving Social Security benefits. This report explains the five-month waiting period and its legislative history. This report also provides information on other programs that provide income support during this waiting period. It also briefly describes legislation introduced in the 109th Congress that would reduce or eliminate the five-month Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) waiting period (H.R. 308, H.R. 2799, and S. 1199). This report will be updated to reflect legislative activity.

Views related to day laborers vary considerably. Some people view them as valuable resources providing cheap labor that others will not do. Others see them as illegal immigrants and transients who take jobs, commit crimes, and cause community disorder. How communities view day laborers largely depends on how intrusive day-laboring activities become on citizens’ daily lives. Most communities will be ambivalent to day laborers until their presence leads to
problems, some criminal and some not. Community attitudes against day laborers may be rooted in anti-immigration views more generally. How the community views day laborers and illegal immigrants, whether they are critical or sympathetic,
will affect how any particular community addresses problems at day laborer sites. This guide does not adopt any particular judgment about illegal immigrants rather it is intended to objectively inform you about the effectiveness and consequences of various approaches to managing problematic
behavior at day laboring locations.

The number of children with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASDs) has risen over the past decade, but it is unclear whether the increase is due to changes in diagnosis or to a true increase in cases. The causes and risk factors for ASDs are also unclear. To get a better picture of the scope of ASDs in this country, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has established the Autism and Developmental Disabilities Monitoring (ADDM) Network. The network is working to gain accurate counts of children with ASDs, to identify differences in how ASDs affect various subgroups, and to characterize the ASD population. This report summarizes the findings from the first years of the ADDM Network’s program.

Causing Pain: Real Stories of Dating Abuse and Violence is a 30-minute video containing true stories of teens, parents, and professionals who have been in or witnessed abusive relationships. They describe their experiences and insights so that teens and parents can recognize and prevent dating abuse in their own lives or in the lives of their friends.

There are several components to sexualization, and these set it apart from healthy sexuality. Healthy sexuality is an important component of both physical and mental health, fosters intimacy, bonding, and shared pleasure, and involves
mutual respect between consenting partners (Satcher, 2001; Sexuality Information and Education Council of the United States [SIECUS], 2004). In contrast, sexualization occurs when
 a person’s value comes only from his or her sexual appeal or behavior, to the exclusion of other characteristics;
 a person is held to a standard that equates physical attractiveness (narrowly defined) with being sexy;
 a person is sexually objectified—that is, made into a thing for others’ sexual use, rather than seen as a person with the capacity for independent action and decision making; and/or
 sexuality is inappropriately imposed upon a person.

Considerable controversy exists about the size and character of the Jewish population in the United States. Available sources of data about American Jewry are based on complex surveys that have become increasingly difficult to conduct. Accumulating evidence suggests that these surveys provide a misleading portrait. The goal of the present report is to identify key problems with existing socio-demographic data on American Jewry, describe a new paradigm for gathering basic data, and provide initial findings from the application of new methods.The collection of systematic socio-demographic data about American Jewry has been the focus of a set of specialized national and local studies, funded in virtually all cases by Jewish communal organizations. As part of the present assessment of existing data, this report re-examines the most prominent national study, the National Jewish Population Survey (NJPS) 2000-01, and uses it as the basis for discussing the utility of currently available information about American Jewry.

This review evaluates existing research to understand the processes through which people with multiple or complex needs engage, or do not engage, with services to resolve their problems and identifies good practice.

This report presents the findings from a study commissioned by the Home Office that explored both the risk and protective factors that might influence young peoples’ decisions about using drugs, as well as the nature of resilience to drug use among this group. The study involved in-depth interviews with a group of young people who were identified as being resilient to drug use.

- In 2002-2005 among women aged 15 to 44, pregnant women (17.3 percent) and recent mothers (23.8 percent) were less likely to have smoked cigarettes in the past month than nonpregnant women who were not recent mothers (30.6 percent)
- Among pregnant women, recent mothers, and nonpregnant women who were not recent mothers, those with annual family incomes of less than $20,000 were more likely than those with higher family incomes to have smoked cigarettes in the past month
- Pregnant women aged 15 to 44 were more likely to have smoked cigarettes during their first trimester (22.9 percent) than during their second (14.3 percent) or third (15.3 percent) trimesters

In this report, ADL documents a noticeable spike in activity by Klan chapters across the country:
- Longstanding groups have increased their activity and experienced a rapid expansion in size.
- New groups have appeared, causing racial tensions in communities previously untroubled by racial issues. They hold anti-immigration rallies and recruitment drives and distribute racist literature with a new emphasis on the immigration issue, and Hispanics.
- Klan groups have become more active in parts of the country that had not seen much activity in recent years, including the Great Plains States such as Iowa and Nebraska, and Mid-Atlantic states such as Maryland, Pennsylvania and New Jersey. The report includes a state-by-state listing of active Klan groups.

Thousands of foster children and the states responsible for them are losing the critical help they need from the federal government. In 1998, 53 percent of the children in foster care were eligible for federal support, but, by 2005, the percentage had declined to 46 percent—an estimated 35,000 fewer eligible foster children. The number eligible for federal financial assistance is projected to continue to decline by approximately 5,000 children each year. The decrease in the number of children eligible for federal foster care has translated into an estimated $1.9 billion loss in federal foster care support to the states between 1998 and 2004. Because states are required by federal law to protect children from harm and provide foster care services when necessary, states must make up the difference. And as states devote more of their resources to foster care, fewer funds are available to provide the range of other services children and families need. Many factors affect the number of children eligible for federal foster care assistance, including changes in state policies and in the demographics of a state’s foster care population, but the decline is due in part to a federal eligibility policy known as the lookback.

This is the final report of the 18-month evaluation of the programme that began in April 2004. Pilot sites were provided with guidance and support from the Home Office and were also given flexibility to develop their own approaches to implementation within their local context, particularly in relation to arrest referral.

This is the final report of the 18-month evaluation of the programme that began in April 2004. Pilot sites were provided with guidance and support from the Home Office and were also given flexibility to develop their own approaches to implementation within their local context, particularly in relation to arrest referral.

Since the onset of the U.S. HIV epidemic in 1981, stigma and discrimination have detrimentally affected people living with HIV (PLWH) in every aspect of their lives — including employment, education, housing, insurance, health care, and relationships with family, friends and sexual partners. This has resulted in harms including the erosion of social support networks, eviction from homes, loss of work, denial of healthcare, social isolation, depression and violence. Although confidentiality laws, the Americans with Disabilities Act and state antidiscrimination laws have provided some legal protection and relief against HIV-related discrimination, and the introduction of highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) in 1996 dramatically increased the life expectancy of those PLWH with access to care, too many PLWH in the United States continue to be harmed by stigma and discrimination.

There is currently a great deal of interest in, and misunderstanding about, Australia’s Muslim communities. Muslim Australians are not a homogenous group as some media reports might lead us to believe, but make up a small, culturally diverse section of Australian society. Over a third (36 per cent) of Muslim Australians are Australian-born, while those who have arrived here as immigrants come from all over the world—from Lebanon and Turkey to Bangladesh and Fiji. Some come from countries where women wear a burqa or a veil, most do not. And despite concerns expressed by some, many others argue that the vast majority of Muslim Australians see no conflict of loyalty between Islam and Australian citizenship.

Most new retirees are reasonably maintaining their income and assets: Over the 12-year period from 1992–2004, the majority of 65–75-year-old Americans appear to be starting their retirement reasonably successfully in terms of income and total wealth change. Overall, about 53 percent of Americans who have reached age 65 recently were found to have had no decline in household income, and 71 percent were found to have no decrease in total wealth over the period. About 60 percent had a decline in one or the other, but less than 20 percent had a decline in both.

Over the past 25 years, an important change has occurred in the structure of employer-sponsored retirement plans in the private sector. Although the percentage of the workforce who participate in employer-sponsored retirement plans has remained relatively stable at approximately half of all workers, the type of plan by which most workers are covered has changed from defined benefit (DB) pensions to defined contribution (DC) plans. The responsibilities of managing a DB plan -- making contributions, investing the assets, and paying the benefits to retired workers and their survivors -- lie mainly with the employer. In a typical DC plan, the worker must decide whether to participate in the plan, how much to contribute, how to invest the contributions, and what to do with the money in the plan when he or she changes jobs or retires. As a result of the shift from DB plans to DC plans, workers today bear more responsibility for preparing for their financial security in retirement. According to data collected by the Federal Reserve Board, 45% of households in which the householder or spouse was employed contributed to employer-sponsored retirement plans in 2004, and 58% owned a retirement account of any kind. Among married-couple households in which the householder was under age 35, the median balance in all retirement accounts owned by the household was $19,000 in 2004. Among unmarried householders, the median retirement account balance in 2004 was just $7,000. Among married-couple households headed by individuals between 45 and 54 years old, median retirement assets in 2004 were $103,200.

The risk of miscommunication and unsafe care is not solely the potential fate of those who cannot read. It is a risk for a large segment of the American population who, according to the most recent national literacy study, have basic (29 percent) to below basic (14 percent) prose literacy skills. An additional five percent are non-literate in English. About half of the U.S. adult population has difficulty using text to accomplish everyday tasks. The ability of the average American to use numbers is even lower – 33 percent have basic and 22 percent have below basic quantitative skills. These skills include the ability to solve one-step arithmetic problems (basic) and simple addition (below basic.)

Thousands of refugees and other legal immigrants who were permitted to relocate permanently to the United States because they face persecution in their home countries now confront destitution as a result of losing federal subsistence aid. Extremely poor refugees and other humanitarian immigrants who are unable to work because they are elderly or have disabilities are eligible for subsistence aid under the Supplemental Security Income (SSI) program. But under restrictions enacted a decade ago, their eligibility for such aid is limited to seven years, unless they become naturalized citizens. The Social Security Administration estimates that as a result of the time limit approximately 12,000 refugees and other humanitarian immigrants have already lost SSI benefits and another 40,000 such needy individuals will lose benefits over the next decade. (See Table 1.) Congress should prevent this extremely vulnerable group from suffering further hardship by eliminating the time limit on SSI benefits for refugees and other humanitarian immigrants who are elderly or have disabilities. Bipartisan legislation that is consistent with an Administration proposal to temporarily extend the time limit has been introduced and at the very least Congress should immediately enact such legislation as a stopgap measure.

Social Security Act for certain children with disabilities if their families have low incomes and minimal assets. Social Security benefits may be paid under Title II of the act to the children of workers who have retired, become disabled, or died. An estimated 30,000 children receive SSI or other Social Security benefits while in foster care. Federal regulations require that in most cases the Social Security Administration (SSA) select and assign a representative payee — an individual, organization, or government entity — that manages SSI and Social Security payments for children, including those in foster care. Nearly all states designated as the representative payee for a foster child use the child’s benefits as a funding stream for child welfare spending. In Washington State Department of Social and Health Services v. Guardianship Estate of Keffeler (hereafter Keffeler), the Supreme Court held that the process used by the state of Washington to keep the Social Security benefits received as a child’s representative payee was not prohibited by the Social Security Act. The Court also concluded that the use of funds for reimbursement for foster care services was consistent with the act’s provisions that such funds be spent for the “use and benefit of the beneficiary” and within the regulatory definition of “current maintenance” (i.e., food, clothing, shelter, medical care, and personal comfort items).

Methamphetamine has risen to the top of the American drug-policy agenda. For most of its history, it was regarded in law and public opinion as a secondary or regional concern, different from and less damaging than the drugs -- heroin, cocaine, and marijuana -- that have defined the focus of national drug policy. More recently, however, as the production, trafficking, and use of methamphetamine have spread, a gathering consensus has come to regard it as one of the most dangerous substances available in illegal markets. Methamphetamine's dangers, including the devastating impact of the drug on child welfare and health care systems in blighted communities, the risk of fires and explosions and the environmental contamination resulting from illicit manufacture of the drug, and the rapid increase in foreign suppliers of the drug are likely to keep this drug problem at the forefront of the congressional agenda. Existing evidence of the pattern of methamphetamine abuse and the effectiveness of alternative responses to its abuse are in some cases highly imperfect, and policymaking in this field remains an exercise in decision making under uncertainty. There is, however, little doubt that methamphetamine use has risen significantly since the early 1990s. Indeed, this trend arguably is the most important change in drug consumption patterns since the crack cocaine epidemic of the late 1980s and early 1990s.

The survey was designed to understand how a one percent cut in federal funding during fiscal year 2006 has affected Head Start programs nationally and in each state. This cut occurred in the context of an estimated 13 percent real cut (inflation-adjusted) in federal funding from fiscal year 2002 to fiscal year 2008. This survey revealed many alarming problems (see Appendix 1 for a state-by-state summary of these cuts). It is apparent from the data that the erosion in federal funding is harming Head Start programs. Fully 90 percent of the Head Start programs responding to this survey reported that they were at full enrollment. This signals that these programs have been forced to make increasingly deep cuts in order to maintain enrollments.

Main findings
- The Netherlands heads the table of overall child wellbeing, ranking in the top 10 for all six dimensions of child well-being covered by this report.
- European countries dominate the top half of the overall
league table, with Northern European countries claiming the top four places.
- All countries have weaknesses that need to be addressed and no country features in the top third of the rankings for all six dimensions of child well-being (though the Netherlands and Sweden come close to doing so).
- The United Kingdom and the United States find themselves in the bottom third of the rankings for five of the six dimensions reviewed.

Across the nation, methamphetamine (or “meth”) is a destructive force that is having tragic consequences for an increasing number of children, the child welfare systems that protect them, and America’s families. This report examines the deleterious impact of meth on children, families, communities and the child welfare system. It identifies some promising strategies to prevent meth use, keep children safe, and help parents with addictions complete treatment. However, to truly combat meth abuse and the many other serious problems confronting families today, national changes are desperately needed to bring about more flexibility in child welfare policy, funding, and practice while ensuring a reliable funding stream. The report provides a comprehensive set of recommendations that, taken together, will significantly improve the child welfare system’s ability to combat the impact of meth and many of the other serious issues facing children and families.

Between the end of World War II and 1973, the percentage of Americans living in poverty fell by half. Since then, however, the overall poverty rate has remained largely unchanged. Why didn’t poverty continue to decline? Falling wages and increasing rates of lone parenting are the two principal explanations. Economic changes led to stagnant and declining wages at the bottom of the wage distribution, especially among men with a high school diploma or less, and demographic changes saw a near doubling of the fraction of all families with children headed by a single parent. . . The problems of falling wages and single parenthood are intertwined. As the wages of men with a high school education or less began to tumble, their employment rates also fell, and, in turn, the share of men who could support a family above the poverty line began to decline — and with it the professed willingness of low-income mothers and fathers to marry. . . Because the U.S. social welfare system is built around the needs of poor families with children — and largely excludes single adults who are poor (and disproportionately male) — it creates disincentives to work and marry for some families, aggravating these larger trends. While recent changes have reduced marriage penalties in the tax and transfer system, some do remain, particularly when both individuals have similar earnings. A strategy that used the federal Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) to supplement the earnings of all low-wage workers age 21 to 54 who work full time — whether they have children or not and whether they marry or not — would counter three decades of wage stagnation and persistent poverty, with significant positive corollary effects on employment and parental support.

Through the past decade, the out-of-school time (OST) field has seen demand for services increase dramatically. A number of societal factors have influenced this demand and the subsequent changing dynamics of the OST field. First, the reality of more women entering the workforce created a greater need for adult-supervised activities after school. The need for childcare to support welfare reform also heightened OST issues for policymakers. The emerging field of research on the benefits of OST programs to deter youth crime and improve children’s social and academic skills has stimulated a greater public interest in after-school programs. Finally, the growing emphasis on educational standards and accountability favors the development of supplemental learning opportunities to support children in their academic achievements. As the demand for OST services and the complexity of the OST field continue to grow more will be expected of child and youth workers in the future; however, resources to support these outcomes must keep pace with demands on OST programming.

For black teens and young adults in the United States, homicide is the leading cause of death. According to 2004 data (the most recent available) from the Federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), for black teens and young adults in the age groups 15 to 19, 20 to 24, and 25 to 34, homicide is the leading cause of death. (The CDC data is the leading federal resource ranking causes of death.) For blacks aged 15 to 24, 40 percent of all deaths (2,803 of 7,049) were homicides. Eighty-nine percent of these homicides were perpetrated with a firearm. In comparison, homicide was the third leading cause of death for whites in the age groups 15 to 19, and 20 to 24; and the fifth leading cause of death in the age group 25 to 34. For whites aged 15 to 24, 8.5 percent of all deaths (2,126 of 25,013) were homicides. Similarly, 72 percent of these homicides were committed with a firearm.

In a setting where husbands wield considerable coercive power, forms of marriage should adapt to protect the interests of women and their families. The authors study the pervasive marriage custom of watta satta in rural Pakistan, a bride exchange between families coupled with a mutual threat of retaliation. They show that watta satta may be a mechanism to coordinate the actions of two sets of in-laws, each of whom wish to restrain their sons-in-law but who only have the ability to restrain their sons. The authors' empirical results support this view. The likelihood of marital inefficiency, as measured by estrangement, domestic abuse, and wife's mental health, is significantly lower in watta satta arrangements as compared with conventional marriages, but only after properly accounting for selection.

Human services agencies are only as good as the workforce that directly serves children, youth, and their families. Yet most observers agree that this workforce has not received adequate attention; workforce issues of crisis proportions, including high turnover, shortages of qualified applicants, and low morale, challenge human services agencies across the country. There is growing awareness of the critical impact the human services workforce has on service delivery and successful client outcomes. We believe that human services agencies, by working with human resources as a strategic partner, can improve their workforce and thereby improve client outcomes.

On any given night in this country 800,000 persons experience homelessness. Nearly 200,000 of these individuals are veterans who have served in the armed forces. Over the course of a year, approximately 500,000 veterans experience homelessness. With our nation currently at war it is more important than ever that we develop measures to ensure that every veteran has access to housing and appropriate supportive services. Already veterans are returning from serving in Afghanistan and Iraq to find themselves facing mental illness, a lack of employment opportunities, and homelessness. In response to these needs, concerned elected officials have begun to introduce proposals which would provide veterans with additional housing options and support. This represents an opportunity for dialogue around the potential such proposals have to meet the needs of homeless veterans.

In the past few years several major reports highlighted the gap between our knowledge of effective treatments and services currently being received by consumers. Th ese reports agree that we know much about interventions that are eff ective but make little use of them to help achieve important behavioral health outcomes for children, families, and adults nationally.Th e purpose of this monograph is to describe the results of a far-reaching review of the implementation literature. Th ere is broad agreement that implementation is a decidedly complex endeavor, more complex than the policies, programs, procedures, techniques, or technologies that are the subject of the implementation efforts.

Observation #1: There are many variables necessary to create successful child welfare outcomes, but none is as important as workforce quality. While private agencies have considerable control and flexibility in creating positive work environments that contribute to workforce standards, they are ultimately limited in their ability to attract and retain a superior workforce by the adequacy of salaries and benefits. Contracts that fail to provide for even basic cost-of-living rate adjustments are causing significant workforce problems for private agencies.

The national same-sex marriage debate has been dominated for the past decade by the interstate recognition issue. This article seeks to shift the focus of the debate to same-sex marriage prohibitions themselves and their incompatibility with several limitations of federal constitutional law. After showing the legal irrelevance of the Defense of Marriage Act to the interstate recognition issue, the article addresses the proper resolution of that choice-of-law issue through the lens of a well-known New York Court of Appeals decision. In that case, despite New York's ban on uncle-niece marriage, the New York high court - one of the most respected state supreme courts over the years in choice-of-law matters - applied Rhode Island law to uphold the validity of an uncle-niece marriage in Rhode Island between two New Yorkers. On its face, the case appears to offer powerful support for recognizing an out-of-state same-sex marriage that is valid where formed, but as the article demonstrates, the court's choice of law is so difficult to defend that it actually militates against interstate recognition of same-sex marriage.

Budget 2006 announced that the 2007 Comprehensive Spending Review would be informed by a series of policy reviews, one of which was a review of children and young people, building on the Government's strategy to improve their outcomes. Terms of reference of the Review. A discussion paper, published on 9 January 2007, reports on the evidence that has been gathered to date to inform the Review of Children and Young People. It also provides a discussion of the issues and challenges raised by that evidence.

This article summarizes the background and basic concepts of evidence-based practice (EBP),contrasts EBP with traditional approaches, and examines how EBP fits within child welfare and child maltreatment related service systems. The emerging recommendations of best practice workgroups are reviewed, along with evidence across a range of child welfare target areas, including prevention, treatment and foster care settings. The article concludes with a review of challenges and possible solutions for implementing EBP’s in child welfare and child maltreatment related service systems.

Through a comprehensive review of the available academic research and professional literature, we answer some basic questions, including why so many LGBT youth are becoming and remaining homeless. We report on the harassment and violence that many of these youth experience in the shelter system and we summarize research on critical problems affecting them, including mental health issues, substance abuse and risky sexual behavior. We also analyze the federal government’s response to youth homelessness, including the specific impact on LGBT homeless youth of increased federal funding for faith-based service providers.

Total spending on health care for mothers and babies is significant, and these services account for about 1 in 10 dollars spent by hospitals on inpatient care. In 2002–2003, Canadian hospitals outside of Quebec and rural Manitoba spent an estimated $821 million on pregnancy and childbirth services for typical maternal inpatients (6% of total inpatient spending) and $361 million on care for typical newborns (4% of total inpatient spending). Added to this are the costs of services provided by physicians and other health care providers before, during and after birth; out-of-pocket spending by families; and other costs.

In December, Muhammad Yunus and the Grameen Bank he founded received the Nobel Peace Prize for their pioneering contributions to the development of microfinance. There are many stories of the transformative effect of microfinance on individual borrowers but until recently there has been surprisingly little rigorous research that attempts to isolate the impact of microfinance from other factors, or to identify how different approaches to microfinance change outcomes. Six new working papers by CGD non-resident fellow Dean Karlan and his co-authors are helping to fill this gap by applying the highest scientific standards to the study of microfinance.

• Group versus Individual Liability: A Field Experiment in the Philippines
• Credit Elasticities in Less-Developed Economies: Implications for Microcredit
• Observing Unobservables: Identifying Information Asymmetries with a Consumer Credit Field Report
• Expanding Credit Access: Using Randomized Supply Decisions to Estimate the Impacts
• Teaching Entrepreneurship: Impact of Business Training on Microfinance Clients and Institutions
• Female Empowerment: Impact of a Commitment Savings Product in the Philippines

The positive influence that physical activity has on health has been well established. Among adults, regular physical activity has been associated with a reduced risk of stroke (1), impaired glucose tolerance (2), Type 2 diabetes (2), mortality (3), and cardiovascular disease incident events (3). Engaging in physical activity daily has also proven to be helpful in both losing weight and maintaining weight loss (4). This report compares national estimates of physical activity, both usual daily activity and leisure-time physical activity, among adults based on responses to the physical activity questions found in the 2000 and 2005 National Health Interview Surveys (NHIS).

Preadmission Screening and Resident Review for Younger Nursing Facility Residents With Serious Mental Illness

Preadmission Screening and Resident Review for Younger Nursing Facility Residents With Mental Retardation

Preadmission Screening and Resident Review for Younger Nursing Facility Residents With Serious Mental Illness

Preadmission Screening and Resident Review for Younger Nursing Facility Residents With Mental Retardation

Preadmission Screening and Resident Review for Younger Nursing Facility Residents With Serious Mental Illness

Preadmission Screening and Resident Review for Younger Nursing Facility Residents With Mental Retardation

The birth and fertility rates contained in Vital Statistics of the United States, 2002, Volume I, Natality, may differ from rates contained in previously published reports in the series. Those rates that were based on postcensal population estimates consistent with the 1990 census, where as rates in this report for 1992-1999 are based on intercensal estimates.

When we asked ourselves how do we thank all our DC clients for the warm welcome and business trust given us, we thought the best thing we could do is to provide you with something valuable to assist with the important work you do. With that intent, we spent this past year accumulating information on salaries paid by nonprofit organizations in the DC Metro area for a variety of positions. In addition, we emailed a survey to over 800 DC nonprofits asking for salary information. The result is the only salary report of its kind for nonprofits in the Washington, DC area. Knowing the salary ranges paid for positions by your colleagues in similar organizations allows you to compete effectively for the talent you need as well as budget for the future. PNP’s salary survey of New York area nonprofits has become an invaluable and highly regarded management tool, and we are certain that the same will be true for our new DC salary survey.

Crises have a debilitating impact on the lives of women and children, exacerbating existing prejudices that harm them both. Together with its UN and NGO partners, UNICEF has learned through its emergency work that there are opportunities to achieve improvements even in apparently dire situations. What is required is a focus on strengthened and enhanced outreach of social services, combined with determined support to change policies and practices that inhibit the active participation of women and girls in development. Together these measures can have significant impact on morbidity, mortality and the full realization of women’s and girls’ rights. We must all tackle the obstacle of gender inequality head-on through service delivery and policy reform. Boosting women’s decision-making power, providing educational and economic opportunities and increasing women’s political participation can also lead to the double dividend of saving and improving the lives of children.

Background: Child abuse touches the lives of millions of American children each year. In 2001 alone, 2.6 million reports of child abuse were made to child protection authorities, resulting in over 600,000 substantiated cases involving over 900,000 children (ACYF, 2003). Victimization surveys of adults and adolescents indicate that 8.5% of American youth have suffered severe physical abuse and, at least, 8.1% have experienced a completed rape (Kilpatrick, et al., 2003; Saunders, et al., 1999; Boney-McCoy & Finkelhor, 1995). The short and
long-term effects of maltreatment in childhood are well-documented. Over 1300 children die each year at the hands of their caregivers (ACYF, 2003). Child abuse has been found repeatedly to be a major risk factor for many mental health disorders, emotional problems, behavior difficulties, substance abuse, delinquency, and health problems.

If by "middle class" we mean intact families with children (the stereotypical family of four), then these families no longer comprise the majority of the statistical middle 20 percent of taxpayers. The majority of families with children now populate the wealthiest 40 percent of Americans, in part because of the growth in dual-earner households. So if Ways and Means members focus too much on the "median family" or "median taxpayers" they will not be accurately portraying the economic status of today's working families.

Social Security's projected financial shortfall has spurred discussions about increasing the age at which workers can first receive retirement benefits. This brief examines the future distributional impacts of raising the retirement age by about three years. Raising the retirement age hits lower-income workers less hard than other groups because the disability program provides some protection. However, it still increases poverty rates. Combining the retirement age change with an enhanced minimum benefit increases lifetime benefits for the lowest earners and substantially cuts the Social Security deficit without significantly increasing poverty rates.

In testimony before the U.S. House Ways and Means Committee, visiting fellow Harry Holzer says the costs to the United States associated with childhood poverty total about $500 billion per year, or the equivalent of nearly 4 percent of GDP. This suggests that investing significant resources in poverty reduction might be more cost-effective than previously thought.

The National Study of Child Care for Low-Income Families is a five-year research effort that will provide policy-makers with information on the effects of Federal, state and local policies and programs on child care at the community level, and the employment and child care decisions of low-income families. It will also provide insights into the characteristics and functioning of family child care, a type of care frequently used by low-income families, and the experiences of parents and their children with this form of care. . . . The study was initiated in the wake of sweeping welfare reform legislation enacted in 1996.

Despite Social Security's success at bolstering retirement security, many older Americans remain mired in poverty. Because Social Security does not guarantee a minimum benefit, many long-service, low-wage workers receive benefits that leave them below the poverty line. African Americans, Hispanics, and unmarried women are especially vulnerable. Although productivity gains are likely to reduce old-age poverty over time, Social Security's long-term financing problem makes future benefit cuts likely. This analysis explores two potential minimum-benefit designs and shows that an effective minimum benefit could help protect the highest-risk groups.

Given the ongoing interest in providing high-quality programming for youth among those concerned about children and families, a better understanding of how to find, develop and retain skilled program staff becomes a high priority for youth-serving organizations. To address these issues, the National Collaboration for Youth (NCY) received funding from Cornerstones for Kids to research and disseminate promising recruitment and retention strategies being used by NCY member organizations. Interviews were conducted with 20 leaders in the youth service field at the local and national levels, most in community-based organizations. These local agencies employ roughly 16,000 frontline youth workers, at annual salaries ranging from $14,500 to $31,500, and provide program services to more than 200,000 youth. While the results of these interviews do not represent a comprehensive study of all youth service groups or even all NCY organizations, they do illustrate a wide range of effective strategies.

This TAP presents seven papers submitted to the 2004 National Rural Alcohol and Drug Abuse Network (NRADAN) Awards for Excellence. Each paper describes effective and innovative models of treatment and prevention services in rural populations. This publication seeks to promote and showcase research addressing the unique and special challenges of providing treatment services to individuals in rural areas and their families. The first place paper describes the effectiveness of a self-funded drug court. The second place paper highlights effective strength- and home-based substance abuse treatment and recovery support programs. The third place paper presents a substance abuse prevention program for lower income mothers. The topics of the other four papers include treatment outcomes of people who use methamphetamine, a discussion of faith- and community-based reentry services, a comparison of people who use drugs in rural and very rural areas, and a description of an electronic version of the Addiction Severity Index.

Yet in spite of their importance to plans to end homelessness, mainstream low- income housing assistance programs have fared poorly in the federal budget in recent years. Since the reemergence of federal budget deficits in 2003, the Administration and Congress have reduced funding for a number of domestic programs, including most low-income housing assistance programs. By 2006, funding for HUD programs had declined by $3.3 billion (or 8 percent) in comparison to 2004, once adjustments for inflation are made. These cutbacks have affected nearly every low-income housing assistance program important to state and local plans to end homelessness. CDBG, HOME, and public housing have been hit the hardest, with their funding declining by 20 percent, 16 percent, and 11 percent, respectively, from 2004 to 2006. Yet the Housing Choice Voucher Program and most other HUD programs have suffered losses as well. The result has been a noticeable reduction in housing assistance resources available to local communities, including the loss of more than 150,000 housing vouchers since 2004.

Complete guide to pregnancy, from planning your pregnancy to understanding pregnancy tests and managing pregnancy symptoms.

The solvency of the U.S. retirement system partially hinges on how long baby boomers stay in the workforce. If they retire as early as the previous generation, the number of workers per retiree will soon plummet, reducing the tax base and squeezing budgets for Social Security and all other government programs. But new research shows that as the boomers approach retirement they intend to work longer than people born a dozen years earlier, promoting economic growth and partly offsetting the economic pressures created by an aging population.

The Corporation has produced a national report that for the first time tracks volunteering over a 30-year period. “Volunteer Growth in America: A Review of Trends Since 1974” illustrates how volunteering has rebounded to a 30-year high today – rising by more than 32 percent over the past 16 years – after declining between 1974 and 1989. The report found that older teenagers (ages 16-19) have more than doubled their time spent volunteering since 1989; that far from being a “Me Generation,” that Baby Boomers are volunteering at sharply higher rates than did the previous generation at mid-life; and that the volunteer rate for Americans ages 65 years and over has increased 64 percent since 1974; and the proportion of Americans volunteering with an educational or youth service organization has seen a 63 percent increase just since just 1989. “Volunteer Growth in America” is based on statistics from the U.S. Census Bureau and the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The findings are encouraging while demonstrating that more engagement is needed to achieve a national goal of raising the number of volunteers from 65 million in 2005 to 75 million by 2010.

In recent years the metaphor of an “academic pipeline” has been used to describe the processes of transition from undergraduate student to full professor and especially for the transitions of women and minority students. Equality in the pipeline assumes that the same proportion of each group can be found at each stage of the pipeline. Reductions in group representation at succeeding stages of the academic pipeline are referred to as “leaks.” The underlying question of this paper is whether the proportion of minorities in sociology stays stable or declines at each juncture of the pipeline. If the “leak” scenario is the case, then the discipline would start with a relatively large number of minorities compared to whites and end with a relatively small number. The result of this scenario is what some have referred to as a “color-line,” set by those with “a taste for discrimination,” full of obstacles for minorities to cross. Obviously, no one expects all 25,000 sociology bachelor’s degree recipients in 2004 to become full professors. Labeling the decreasing ratio of blacks to whites as “seepage in the pipeline” assumes that obtaining a PhD and becoming a full professor in the same field as the one in which you received a Bachelor’s and Master’s degree is the preferred outcome of sociological training.

The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) announces the availability of the updated Technical Assistance Publication (TAP) 21, Addiction Counseling Competencies: The Knowledge, Skills, and Attitudes of Professional Practice. This printing of TAP 21 contains updated competencies that are essential to the effective practice of counseling for substance use disorders. Under each competency, the TAP lists updated knowledge, skills, and attitudes that counselors need to become proficient in that competency. It also includes expanded bibliographies and new sections on cultural competence and Internet resources. TAP 21 was originally developed in 1998, in cooperation with the Addiction Technology Transfer Center Network.

Despite the efforts of public officials to reduce the time children spend in foster care, many children live in foster homes for a substantial portion of their childhoods. In fact, a child placed in a foster home may remain in that home for an extended period, with a significant possibility of remaining there permanently. In light of this situation, the decision to place a child in a particular foster home is extremely important. The federal Multiethnic Placement Act (MEPA) significantly affects foster care placement decisions. This law expressly prohibits public child welfare agencies from delaying or denying a child’s foster care or adoptive placement on the basis of race, color, or national origin. Federal officials have interpreted MEPA as barring public agencies from routinely and systematically considering race when placing children in particular foster homes. In other words, MEPA precludes these agencies from pursuing children’s interests through a policy or practice of matching a child’s race with that of his or her foster parent. To date, commentators who have examined MEPA have focused their attention on identifying and weighing the benefits and harms of transracial adoption for minority children and communities. As a consequence, they have not addressed the impact of MEPA on foster care placement decisions in any detail. In contrast, this article examines foster care placement decisions.

Across metropolitan America, black and Hispanic children face particularly severe challenges, especially compared to white and Asian children. Not only do black and Hispanic children live in families that experience many disadvantages, but disparities among individuals and families are exacerbated by vast inequalities in neighborhood and school environments. These inequalities go far beyond what can be explained by income differences, as poor black and Hispanic children tend to encounter environments considerably worse than poor white and Asian children. Yet the very conditions that contribute to these inequalities suggest some possible policy solutions.

There has been a vast proliferation in the past decade, of the number of voluntary organizations helping refugees and asylum seekers. The majority rely on Home Office or Local Authority funding to support aspects of their work and some feel they are being used to deliver government policy on a so-called 'shadow state' basis. It is not only less friendly to refugees than the agencies themselves would like, but may also be counter to the interests of individual migrants, according to the study. The organisations - based within refugee communities - say there can be friction between their desire to help asylum seekers to exist in Britain, and the government's policy of subsuming people's national and cultural identity by making them give up their own citizenship in exchange for becoming British - a step which in many cases, will prevent them ever going home. However, people who flee hardship in their own country and seek temporary refuge in Britain, are regarded by the system as 'ungrateful' if they fail to fully embrace Britishness, and their access to services is limited, the study says.

The proposed definition of Gypsies and Travellers which was consulted upon only applied to English housing authorities. Secondary legislation applying to Wales is the responsibility of the National Assembly for Wales (NAW) and NAW propose to make similar regulations shortly. The proposals should have additional impacts on the wider ‘settled’ community and businesses, since the wider policy framework, of which this definition is an essential part, should reduce the levels of unauthorised camping and development. The impacts of the proposals on the wider community and small businesses are discussed in this document.

In the United States happiness, on average, varies positively with socio-economic status; is fairly constant over time; rises to midlife and then declines; and is lower among younger than older birth cohorts. These four patterns of mean happiness can be predicted rather closely from the mean satisfaction people report with each of four domains – finances, family life, work, and health. Even though the domain satisfaction patterns typically differ from each other and from that for happiness, they come together in a way that explains quite well the overall patterns of happiness. The importance of any given domain depends on the happiness relation under study (by socio-economic status, time, age or birth cohort), and no single domain is invariably the key to happiness.

The findings from this survey provide a good insight into the perceptions, attitudes, knowledge and awareness of discrimination and inequality in the European Union in 2006. In the report the six legally prohibited forms of discrimination in the EU are examined: discrimination on the basis of gender, ethnic origin, religion or beliefs, age, disability and sexual orientation.

Economic research suggests that individuals living in poverty face an increased risk of adverse outcomes, such as poor health and criminal activity, both of which may lead to reduced participation in the labor market. While the mechanisms by which poverty affects health are complex, some research suggests that adverse health outcomes can be due, in part, to limited access to health care as well as greater exposure to environmental hazards and engaging in risky behaviors. For example, some research has shown that increased availability of health insurance such as Medicaid for low-income mothers led to a decrease in infant mortality. Additionally, exposure to higher levels of air pollution from living in urban areas close to highways can lead to acute health conditions. Data suggest that engaging in risky behaviors, such as tobacco and alcohol use, a sedentary life-style, and a low consumption of nutritional foods, can account for some health disparities between lower and upper income groups. The economic research we reviewed also points to links between poverty and crime. For example, one study indicated that higher levels of unemployment are associated with higher levels of property crime. The relationship between poverty and adverse outcomes for individuals is complex, in part because most variables, like health status, can be both a cause and a result of poverty. These adverse outcomes affect individuals in many ways, including limiting their development of the skills, abilities, knowledge, and habits necessary to fully participate in the labor force.

Many pundits and policymakers, however, have mistakenly described the projected rise in federal expenditures as an “entitlement crisis.” That phrase is problematic, as it can mislead policymakers and the public into thinking that the source of expenditure growth is most or all entitlement programs, rather than just the “big three.” It may even cause them to think that all entitlement programs, regardless of their design or purpose, necessarily grow unsustainably. (Some journalists have gone further and have actually asserted that entitlements other than the “big three” are contributing to the long-run fiscal problem. A recent Wall Street Journal editorial, for example, blamed growth in “Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security, food stamps, and the like” for the projected rise in federal expenditures

The aging of the baby boom generation, low fertility rates and increasing longevity are transforming the age structure of the United States. By 2030, the number of age 65+ Americans is expected to double, increasing from 12 percent to nearly one-fifth of the U.S. population. This “graying” of America has caused alarm among many experts that the future cost of federal health and retirement programs will create huge federal deficits, dry up capital for investment, and jeopardize long-term economic growth. Spending entitlements–specifically Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid–are generally seen as the main factor driving this scenario. This AARP Public Policy Institute Issue Paper shows that an aging population is not the primary cause of our projected fiscal problems, and it points to hopeful trends that may portend a more sustainable economic future. A future “train wreck” can be averted if we are able to maintain the same level of spending restraint in our health programs that we have already achieved in the past decade, we allow revenues to rise automatically without legislating additional tax cuts, and we make other attainable reforms to our health and retirement systems.

This document is part of the on-going health reform programme and focuses on the development of a regulatory framework that will support health reform to achieve safety, quality, fairness and efficiency for patients and service users across the health and adult social care system. It is launched for consultation for three months.

Food aid is one of the oldest forms of foreign aid and one of the most controversial. Food aid has been credited with saving millions of lives and improving the lives of many more, but it was also a serious obstacle in the Doha Round of multilateral trade negotiations. Nothing seems more obvious than the need to give food to hungry people, and yet this apparently benevolent response is far more complicated than it seems. Does food aid do more harm than good? This issue of The State of Food and Agriculture seeks to understand the challenges and opportunities associated with food aid, particularly in crisis situations, and the ways in which it can – and cannot – support sustainable improvements in food security.

1. The Government is committed to protecting the integrity of the benefits system. In 1997, the Government’s first priority was to reduce benefit fraud. Since then, we have made great strides in tackling fraud. It is now at an all-time low (see Figure 1).
2. In July 2006, in a major international study,1 the National Audit Office found that the Department’s levels of fraud and error were comparable with those of other countries, and reported that the UK is at the forefront of comparable countries in measuring losses from fraud and error. The study found that the Department also stands out in developing a comprehensive range of actions designed to tackle fraud and error.

Despite the fact that today’s young cohorts are smaller in number and better educated than their older counterparts, high youth unemployment remains a serious problem in many OECD countries. This reflects a variety of factors, including the relatively high proportion of young people leaving school without a basic education qualification, the fact that skills acquired in initial education are not always well adapted to labour market requirements, as well as general labour market conditions and problems in the functioning of labour markets. The paper highlights the contrasting trends in youth labour market performance over the past decade using a wide range of indicators. It also presents new evidence on i) the length of transitions from school to work; and ii) the degree to which temporary jobs serve as either traps for young people or stepping- stones to good careers. In addition, the paper reviews some recent policy innovations to improve youth employment prospects.

The Kaiser Family Foundation's updated version of Key Facts: Race, Ethnicity and Medical Care, 2007 Update, serves as a quick reference source on health disparities, presenting the best available data and analysis. This report includes data on the uninsured and access to care by race/ethnicity as well as information about the disproportionate effect that specific conditions such as diabetes, HIV/AIDS, and asthma have on racial and ethnic minority populations in the U.S. New in the 2007 Key Facts are demographic data on the racial/ethnic minority population in each state and the U.S. territories. This edition of Key Facts also includes data from the National Healthcare Disparities Report, examining changes in health care disparities over time.

In November 2006, MetLife commissioned a study to understand the U.S. public’s attitudes and perceptions regarding the erosion of corporate and social safety nets. The study set out to determine whether or not individuals feel they are bearing more of the burden for their own financial security than in the past. For the purposes of this study we define corporate safety nets as traditional defined benefit pension plans and other employer-paid benefits such as health, life and disability insurance, and social safety nets as the government’s two largest social programs: Social Security and Medicare. Against this backdrop of a financial burden shift—the debate about the future viability of government programs such Social Security and Medicare, declining pensions, the growing affordability crisis, and recent corporate and government scandals—the study set out to determine hether or not the American dream is still alive and well. Additionally, the study sought to determine if pursuit and achievement of the American dream differs from generation to generation.

- Overwhelming majorities of the public are willing to give up various freedoms to tackle the threat of terrorism - four in five think that following people suspected of involvement with terrorism, tapping their phones and opening their mail is ‘a price worth paying’.
- Commitment to civil liberties is in decline: in 1990, 40% disagreed that every adult should carry an ‘identity card’; this figure has nearly halved to 22%.
- The current law that prohibits assisted dying is at odds with public opinion - four out of five people in Britain say that the law should allow a doctor to end someone’s life at the person’s request if they have an incurable and painful illness from which they will die.
- ‘Britishness’ is in decline - fewer people say that ‘British’ is the best or only way of describing themselves now than 10 years ago, and this is partly due to an increase in feelings of ‘Englishness’
- Compared with the 1960s, there has been no decline in the proportion of people identifying with a social class. More people still identify with the working class than the middle class.

Tony Blair has outlined how he believes the right balance can be struck between integration and diversity. In the fifth of his Our Nation's Future lectures, he told an audience in London: "It is not that we need to dispense with multicultural Britain. On the contrary we should continue celebrating it."

Retirement prospects for the baby boomers—the large cohort born between 1946 and 1964—are uncertain. Studies suggest that, while the boomers are likely to have more wealth and higher incomes in retirement than earlier generations, they may not retire with the same prosperity they enjoyed as workers (Butrica and Uccello 2004; Congressional Budget Office 2003). And high-risk groups, including African Americans, will remain vulnerable. For instance, 22 percent of African American boomers are projected to have incomes below twice the poverty level at age 67, compared to 12 percent of white boomers (Butrica and Uccello 2004). Working longer would brighten the boomers' retirement outlook. Those who delay retirement avoid early retirement cuts to their Social Security and defined-benefit pension benefits, accumulate more savings, and reduce the period when savings must be tapped. By working until age 67 instead of retiring at age 62, for example, a typical worker could gain about $10,000 in annual income at age 75, significantly reducing the likelihood of falling into poverty at older ages (Butrica et al. 2005).

Across America, states, localities, and private communities are debating and implementing laws to limit the places of residence of convicted sex offenders. Sixteen states and hundreds, if not thousands, of local communities have adopted statutes which severely limit the places where a sex offender may legally live. In this article, I trace these new laws to historical practices of banishment in Western societies. I argue that the establishment of exclusion zones by states and localities is a form of banishment that I have termed “internal exile.” Internal exile is an uncommon practice in the West and within the United States. The advent of exclusion zones for sex offenders is a development that could fundamentally alter basic principles of the American criminal legal system. Ultimately, I conclude that the best policy alternative for tailoring sex offender policy to the nature of the problem includes a move to individualization in sex offender sentencing; provisions for judges to have full access to relevant clinical, actuarial, and social science data about sex offenders; and allowing judges a full menu of sentencing options. These reforms will avoid the worst effects of residency restriction approaches while being substantially more effective in the fight against sex crimes.

In the past 30 years, the population of prisoners in the United States has expanded more than 4.5 fold, correctional facilities are increasingly overcrowded, and more of the country’s disadvantaged populations—racial minorities, women, people with mental illness, and people with communicable diseases such as human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)/acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS), hepatitis C, and tuberculosis—are under correctional supervision. Because prisoners face restrictions on liberty and autonomy, limited privacy, and often inadequate health care, they require specific protections when involved in research, particularly in today’s correctional settings. Given these issues, the Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) Office for Human Research Protections (OHRP) commissioned the Institute of Medicine (IOM) to review the ethical considerations regarding research involving prisoners.

The Government is committed to improving the life chances of children and young people. The Review of Children and Young People is assessing progress made to improve outcomes and what further action needs to be taken as part of the 2007 Comprehensive Spending Review and beyond. This document presents evidence the Review has collected to date. Fulfilling the potential of all children Preventing problems or intervening as soon as they are identified is essential to sustain children’s life chances. Positive outcomes are self-reinforcing, that is they are likely to lead to even better outcomes later or improve a child’s resilience against poor outcomes. A preventative approach therefore needs to develop the full potential in all children. Analysis produced for this review shows that while a small number of children remain at risk of poor outcomes throughout their childhood many develop poor outcomes later. This suggests that support needs to be available at all ages of childhood – and that universal services such as schools and health services need to play a key role to monitor and identify children who are at risk of or begin to develop problems.

Depressive disorders such as major depressive disorder (MDD), dysthymia, and subsyndromal depression (including minor depression) may be serious disabling illnesses. MDD is the most prevalent, affecting more than 16 percent (lifetime) of U.S. adults. In 2000, the U.S. economic burden of depressive disorders was estimated to be $83.1 billion. More than 30 percent of these costs are attributable to direct medical expenses. Pharmacotherapy dominates the medical management of depressive disorders and may include first-generation antidepressants (tricyclic antidepressants and monoamine oxidase inhibitors) and more recently developed second-generation antidepressants. These second-generation treatments include selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) and serotonin and norepinephrine reuptake inhibitors (SNRIs). The mechanism of action of most of these agents is poorly understood. These drugs work, at least in part, through their effects on neurotransmitters such as serotonin, norepinephrine, or dopamine in the central nervous system.

We analyze social and economic phenomena involving beliefs which people value and invest