wellbeing

One of my first jobs was working at a therapeutic child care center. The center helped children one-month through five-years overcome the effects of child abuse and/or neglect. These young children often could not speak with words about what had happened to them, but often their behaviors, or their parents behaviors had triggered a Child Protective Service response and allowed them into the center’s opening arms.

Reading in the Seattle newspapers about the 14-year-old girl in Carnation that suffered from starvation and abuse, made me think about many of the young children I saw come through the center. The article also reminded me about how important it is to know the warning signs of child abuse and neglect, and how it takes a concerned community to stop or prevent abuse from happening. In Carnation all it took was a neighbor who called the police saying she was concerned—the power of one person who cared to make a call.

There are often signs and symptoms of abuse or neglect, please take a moment to learn more. The Child Welfare Gateway website has an easy list to review:

The Child:

• Shows sudden changes in behavior or school performance
• Has not received help for physical or medical problems brought to the parents' attention
• Has learning problems (or difficulty concentrating) that cannot be attributed to specific physical or psychological causes
• Is always watchful, as though preparing for something bad to happen
• Lacks adult supervision
• Is overly compliant, passive, or withdrawn
• Comes to school or other activities early, stays late, and does not want to go home

The Parent:

• Shows little concern for the child
• Denies the existence of—or blames the child for—the child's problems in school or at home
• Asks teachers or other caregivers to use harsh physical discipline if the child misbehaves
• Sees the child as entirely bad, worthless, or burdensome
• Demands a level of physical or academic performance the child cannot achieve
• Looks primarily to the child for care, attention, and satisfaction of emotional needs

The Parent and Child:

• Rarely touch or look at each other
• Consider their relationship entirely negative
• State that they do not like each other

In Washington you can report suspected abuse or neglect (of either a child or an adult) by calling the Washington State Department of Social and Health Services (DSHS) toll-free hotline at 1-866-END-HARM (1-866-363-4276). It takes adults caring about children and the persistence to get them help that will change a child’s life.

There are many programs and services in place to help prevent child abuse in neglect. Childhaven offers a Crisis Nursery that can offer respite care for children under the age of five in King County. D.A.D.S. (Divine Alternatives for Dads) offers one-on-one case advocacy program for fathers in need of family services. Washington State 211 can help to connect you with services in your community—again all it takes is a phone call. By dialing 211 you can explain what services you need and they will connect you to those services in your area.

Often the stories of prevention don’t make the front page of the newspaper, but that doesn’t make those stories any less important. I remember so many of the young children that passed through my old workplace. One child, a chubby little four-year-old with spiral braids and a knee length dress, said to me “You’ll remember me, right?” Today, if I saw her I would tell her “Of course I remember you!” 

*UPDATE*

Lorrie Grevstad, a dedicated colleague, brought to my attention Stregthening Families here in Washington. The Stregthening Families website has some wonderful information for families, providers, the community about protecting children and helping all families provide nurturing care for children. Read Below to leran more:

Strengthening Families Washington – Making Small Changes for Big Results

Early childhood professionals have known for decades that they play a unique role in protecting and nurturing young children as well as promoting their social and emotional development.

Now there is evidence to suggest that early childhood programs that reach out to parents may also be the best child abuse and neglect prevention strategy. Washington has been selected to expand an approach aimed at connecting child care centers, parents and communities with the resources and support each need to ensure the best possible outcomes for children.

The Strengthening Families Washington initiative is based on national research and evidence that recognizes the important role child care providers play in building protective factors in families with young children. Protective factors help parents use resources, support and strategies that allow them to parent more effectively, even under stress.

 Research shows that quality child care can enhance:

• Parental resilience 
• Social connections 
• Knowledge of parenting and child development
• Concrete support in times of need 
• Social and emotional competence of children

Please take a moment to look at their website and learn more about how you can make a difference in a child's life. If you know of other websites, books, or information please let us know, you can leave a comment or email me at erin@earlylearning.org. We want to hear from you.

Summer is here. With the sun and heat comes throwing open the shades and opening a window to help cool off. Yet with all of the joy around summer, I was deeply sadden to read about Honor Cornell Callandert, a two-year-old who fell out of a seventh story window. Seeing Honor’s picture in the newspaper reminded me of Isaiah, my friend’s vibrant toddler; I know I do not want anything harmful to happen to him. Sadly leading up to Honor’s death the newspapers have reported that several other children fell out of windows. Some of the children received bumps and bruises; others had more serious injuries and did not survive.

According to Safe Kids USA, 80-percent of fall-related injuries to children under the age of four happen in the home. Male children have two-times more fall related injuries than females. Harborview Medical Center, a trauma center in Seattle, reported that they treat 40-60 fall related cases a year. Dr. Brian Johnston, chief pediatrician at Harborview, is quoted in the Seattle Times as saying most of the children were supervised at the time of the fall; the falls were not a result of neglect.
Caregivers need to remember that window screens do not offer security. Window screens are meant to keep bugs out and allow air in. Many window screens are purposefully designed to be easily punched out or removed in case of fire. This means that screens are not meant to hold the weight of a baby or toddler. 

Here are several ways to prevent children from falling out of windows:

• Lock all unopened windows.

• Keep chairs, high chairs, beds, furniture, boxes, etc. away from windows.
• Whenever possible open windows from the top not the bottom.
• Be aware of radiators and other built in fixtures that are near windows—teach children not to climb on them.
• Place window guards over windows.

Parents please take the time to child proof your house and windows. While it is easy to put this task off, you never know when an accident can happen. For those of you, who are apartment managers or residential landlords, consider these upgrades as necessary safety precautions. Any window fall is scary to all involved. Falls can be prevented, take the steps to do so today. If you need a reason to child proof your windows, think about two- year-old Honor, I know I will.

For more information on window safety:

Kids Can't Fly brochure by Boston Public Health Commission

Below are several article on window guards:

Window Guards & Stops - Keep Children Safe

Are Your Window Guards Installed Correctly?

Greetings

Recently a board member sent me the UNICEF Innocenti Report on Child Poverty in perspective: An Overview of Child Well-Being in Rich Countries.

This report looked at six different areas of child well being in 25 countries around the world. These countries are predominently European with the United States and Canada included. The findings were based on data collected by each country.

The areas of well being looked at for the purpose of this report are: Material Well Being, Health and Safety, Educational Well Being, Family and Peers Relationship, Behaviors and Risks and Subjective Well Being. The last area used a survey of 11, 13 and 15 year olds who responded to questions posed by the interviewers.

All you have to do in order to get depressed is scan the charts that show the ranking of countries in each of the areas of well being. The United States come in at the bottom in nearly every one of the area unless the chart is showing negative results and then we score pretty high. I was almost thankful to the United Kingdom as that country was usually just above or below us.

A summary of the results show the following:

• The Netherlands scored the highest in child well being
• The European countries consistently dominated the top half of the charts, especially the Nordic countries who scored high in all areas.
• The United States and the United Kingdom were in the bottom third in five of the six areas of child well being
• There was no obvious relationship between levels of child well being and a country's GDP

The US scored last out of 25 countries in Health and Safety. The measures used were:

• Death rate of children before the age of one
• Percentage of low birth rate
• Percentage of childrenbetween the ages of 12-23 months who are immunized (we didn't do too badly on this one)
• Number of deaths per accident (we did badly on this)
  
  

The US scored 14th of 25 on Educational Well Being. The measures used were:

• School achievement by age 15 in the following area:Average achievement in reading, math and science literacy
• Percentage of 15-19 year olds remaining in education
• Percentage of 15 year olds expecting to get low skill jobs
  
  

The US scored 21st of 25 in the achievement of 15 year olds in reading, math and science.

The US scored 24th of 25 in Relationships of young people to families and peers. The measures used were:

• Percentage of children in single parent families.
• Percentage of children in stepfamilies
• Percentage of children reporting eating main meal with their parents more than once a week
• Percentage of children reporting that they spend time with their parents "just talking"
• Percentage of children who find their peers kind and helpful.

Have you had enough? This report is so depressing and such an indictment of the adults in the United States. Clearly, we are a country that does not value children. Clearly, we are a country that doesn't keep its children safe or healthy. Clearly, we are a country that has a hard time carving out some time in our busy lives to "just talk" to our children.

I don't have any answers to what we should or shouldn't do. Obviously we can learn from other countries who have clearly put their children in a much more valued position. We can start advocating loudly and consistently for better health care, high quality child care, decent wages for child care providers and teachers and everyone else who works with children and their parents. We can begin to cherish our children as much or even more than we cherish our possessions. We can begin to stop thinking about "getting ahead" and figure out how to "get along". And even if you don't have children, you can still feel responsible for them.

The study begins with a quote (no author cited)

"The true measure of a nation's standing is how well it attends to its children-their health and safety, their material security, their education and socialization and their sense of being loved, valued, and included in the families and societies into which they are born."

Surely we can reverse this disheartening trend. Surely we can move up that chart to a place that makes us all proud and that tells the rest of the world that we value our children and take care of them and keep them safe. Because if we can't or won't, then what's the point?

Jeanne