Ohio Groups Advocate for School Health Care / Public Information Service

COLUMBUS, Ohio – Children’s advocacy groups argue that school health centers are a good investment for the children of Ohio.

Tracy Najera, Executive Director of the Children’s Defense Fund-Ohio, said being able to meet health care needs at school gives children and families a “medical home” for primary care and other services. She said a child’s physical and mental well-being is essential for success in school and in life.

“Especially during this pandemic, children and families are really fighting and suffering,” she said. “Behavioral health issues have reached crisis levels – and many children, in general, have not received their wellness visits.”

Ohio has at least $ 3 billion in unallocated American Rescue Plan Act recovery funds, and the Ohio Children’s Budget Coalition calls for the governor’s office to invest $ 25 million per year over two years to help school districts across the state expand or establish school health programs. Najera said the investment could fund between 15 and 30 projects.

The convenience of a school-based health center not only helps improve access to care, Najera said, but it also reduces absenteeism.

“It’s one day less work than a parent misses, and one day less school than a child misses,” she said. “So really bringing the services to where the kids are, makes a lot of sense.”

Najera added that the centers are part of an “all-child” program promoted by the Ohio Children’s Budget Coalition.

“Children need food, they need housing, they need education, they need health care – they need all of these things to really thrive and flourish,” said she declared. “Children don’t come apart, and neither do our budgetary and political decisions.”

A new report from the American Academy of Pediatrics said the number of school health centers has more than doubled in the United States since 1998. There are more than 60 in Ohio schools.

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LITTLE ROCK, Ark. – With the Arkansas health insurance market’s open enrollment period quickly approaching, advocacy groups are gearing up to cover as many families as possible.

A new report shows that the number of uninsured children in the state is increasing from just over 4% in 2016 to 5.6% in 2019.

Loretta Alexander, director of health policy at Arkansas Advocates for Children and Families, which released the report, said poverty may play a role in keeping parents and children without medical coverage.

“And we know poor families have a lot of other challenges,” Alexander observed. “They move around a lot. Let’s say if they were on Medicaid, and the Medicaid agency contacts them for a renewal or for information or something, and they don’t get the communication. They’re going to have their case ended if they don’t. not give information to the agency on time. “

In 2019, 151,000 children statewide lived in poverty, according to data from the US Census Bureau. Alexander pointed out that Arkansas children in families with incomes up to 200% of the federal poverty line are eligible for Medicaid coverage.

The report shows that since 2018, the number of children who may have untreated health problems due to lack of insurance has increased by nearly 10,000.

Alexander stressed that ensuring children have access to affordable health care is crucial for their well-being throughout childhood.

“Insurance helps mothers get the prenatal care they need for healthier births,” Alexander said. “After childbirth, coverage of visits to healthy children is important to get the screenings and developmental assessments that children need, as well as preventive care for infants and toddlers,” and preschool children. “

Registration open to the health insurance market runs from November 1 to January 15. Eligible Arkansans can apply for Medicaid coverage at any time of the year.

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HARRISBURG, Pa .– Pennsylvania is implementing a new evidence-based prevention plan on Friday to help children at risk of out-of-home care stay with their families when possible.

The Family First Prevention Services Act, passed by Congress in 2018, moves funds away from foster families and group homes to focus instead on keeping families together. It requires states, including Pennsylvania, to submit a five-year plan, known as Title IV-E, in order to be reimbursed for their prevention work.

Terry Clark, president and CEO of the Pennsylvania Council of Children, Youth and Family Services, said this approach is a way to help children grow up in their community without being uprooted.

“This is of course about trying to help families be stronger,” Clark explained. “Strengthen these families by providing all kinds of proactive support, so that the likelihood of them being abused or neglected is really reduced. And then, of course, you don’t have to separate them from their families.”

Some evidence-based programs selected for Title IV-E include Functional Family Therapy and Nurse-Family Partnership. The scheme also includes reimbursement of kinship browser programs, to help relatives raising children in need to access resources when they assume guardianship.

Rachael Miller, director of policy at Pennsylvania Partnerships for Children, said Family First has suffered unintended consequences, including limiting which programs are eligible for funding. She hopes the law will allow the state to include services in non-abuse categories that sometimes lead to child protection placement, such as poverty.

“The law currently does not allow federal reimbursement for programs that show promising results but may not meet the rigor of an evidence-based review,” Miller said. “So expanding these types of services to be reimbursable would benefit the children and families we serve.”

The Pennsylvania Office of Children, Youth, and Families submitted their plans to the US Department of Health and Human Services in August and will implement them for the first time on October 1.

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BOISE, Idaho – Simone Biles and other American gymnasts face sexual abuse in their sport, most notably during a Senate Judiciary Committee this month. Now, with sports returning to school, advocates for preventing sexual abuse want people to think about prevention methods closer to home.

Roger Sherman, executive director of the Idaho Children’s Trust Fund, a state affiliate of Prevent Child Abuse America. He said preventing abuse is not so much about finding predators as it is about minimizing opportunities that attackers might have.

“The important thing that we have to recognize is that this is entirely preventable,” Sherman said. “But we have to put systems in place to make sure that if there are predators, they are not able to take advantage of the children – our children.”

Certain protections are in place for young athletes, in particular the Safe Sport Authorization Act, which was adopted in 2017 in response to the USA Gymnastics sexual abuse scandal surrounding team doctor Larry Nassar.

But Sherman noted that parents can go further. He said they should ask teams and schools how they approach abuse prevention, noting that his organization and other state organizations provide education and training.

“The type of training that we think is important in preventing child sexual abuse is learning the facts first,” Sherman said. “The second is to minimize the opportunity. The third is to be prepared to talk about it.”

Sherman said the abuse can be debilitating, leaving lasting scars for those who are abused.

“You can heal, and that’s important to know,” Sherman said. “But it’s better if that never happens, and that’s really our job as adults. That’s what our job as parents is. You know, our job is to pose the right ones. questions and making sure the adults responsible for our children are doing the right thing. “

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