Welfare Watch - November 29, 2009 - News You Can Use

• DJJ Audit - Georgia's juvenile justice system spends less money per child than comparable states, a state audit has found. Online Athens Article and report download.
• SAMHSA Report: Children of Substance-Using Parents - Recent statistics from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) illustrate the breadth of the parental substance use problem. According to SAMHSA's National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH), between 2002 and 2007more than 1 in 10 children were living in homes with substance-dependent or substance-abusing parents.
• First Ever National Data on Adopted Children and Their Families - Adoption USA: A Chartbook Based on the 2007 National Survey of Adoptive Parents presents findings from the first nationally representative survey of adoptive parents in the United States. About two percent of U.S. children joined their families through adoption. The Chartbook describes the characteristics, adoption experiences, and well-being of these children and their families, making comparisons between adopted children and the general population of children in the United States and among children adopted through different adoption types. The Chartbook contains information on types of adoption, adoption by relatives, contact with birth families, physical health and social and emotional well-being of adopted children, and parenting.  It is based on the National Survey of Adoptive Parents, a collaborative effort of several agencies within the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).  Researchers from Child Trends conducted the analyses under contract to HHS.
• Governor’s Office for Children and Families Announces Training Initiative - ATLANTA (November 17, 2009) – The Governor’s Office for Children and Families (GOCF) is launching a new initiative to promote statewide training and capacity building resources in communities to improve outcomes for Georgia’s children, youth and families. These trainings will focus on GOCF’s four results areas – educated, healthy, safe, and growing, with the goal of supporting communities in planning, implementing, evaluating, and sustaining prevention and intervention services. Working with our collaborative partners, GOCF will sponsor training opportunities at no cost to participants. Such trainings are now advertised on our website along with various trainings hosted by GOCF partner organizations. The systems of care framework above captures a Caring Community approach that incorporates a broad array of services and supports that focus on the whole needs of the child and family while coordinating prevention, intervention and treatment services.
• Report Says Child Abuse and Neglect Deaths Under Reported - A report released today by the nonpartisan child advocacy group Every Child Matters Education Fund shows that the deaths of 10,440 U.S. children in the seven-year period of 2001 to 2007 were ruled to be from abuse or neglect, but that experts believe the real figure is at least 50 percent higher. The report, We Can Do Better:  Child abuse and neglect deaths in America, provides state-by-state data on child abuse deaths, rates of poverty, expenditures on child protection and substantiated neglect and abuse complaints.
• The Importance of Family Engagement in Child Welfare Services This recent Northern California Training Academy publication discusses the importance of family engagement in child welfare services. Engagement in child welfare services has been associated with positive outcomes for child welfare services, drug treatment programs and mental health services. However, effective engagement between the worker and biological parent is often elusive for a variety of reasons, including severe parent problems such as drug and alcohol abuse, parent mental health problems and worker and agency characteristics that serve as barriers to effective engagement. The publication identifies best practice approaches as well as characteristics of children and families associated with effective engagement. Additionally, it presents an extensive review of the literature and outlines the critical features of engagement, such as early and intensive client involvement. The research includes both client and worker views of effective engagement practices as well as barriers to effective engagement. Overall, a strengths-based, collaborative approach to service is supported. (2009) http://humanservices.ucdavis.edu/academy/pdf/family_engagement_review.pdf
• Parents Matter: The Role of Parents in Teens' Decisions about Sex - Positive parent-teen relationships, high parental awareness and monitoring of whom their children are with, and family dinner routines are all linked to delayed sex among teens, according to a new Child Trends research brief.  The brief, Parents Matter: The Role of Parents in Teens' Decisions about Sex, explores how parenting practices that occur before adolescents have had sexual intercourse are associated with the probability of first sex by age 16. 
• IRS Issues New Non-Profit Compliance Guide - The Internal Revenue Service has recently published a new compliance guide for non-501(c)(3) tax-exempt organizations. The guide is intended for organizations granted tax exemption under section 501(a) of the tax code other than section 501(c)(3) charities and foundations and section 527 political organizations, which have their own unique rules to follow. The guide addresses activities that could jeopardize an organization’s exempt status and identifies general compliance requirements having to do with record-keeping, reporting and disclosures for section 501(c) organizations. Download a copy of the new EO compliance guide here.  

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Welfare Watch, an email newsletter of the
Georgia Association of Homes
and Services for Children
as a public service.
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                            Normer Adams, Editor
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