the Door for Latchkey Children

Transcription

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SS
1992 DISTINGUISHED
ACHIEVEMENT AWARD WINNER
Since 1973
20th Anniversary Issue
January 1993
the Door
for
Latchkey
Children
INSIDE
The 1993 Multicultural Calendar
The Latchkey Roundtable
0
-o
SI
International Perspectives
Finding the Funders
Profile
S
S
0
Li)
-1
2
CHILDREN’S ADVOCATE
JANUARY 1993
STAFF
Executive Editor
Marti Keller
Managing Editor
Karen Greene
Special Assistant to
the Publisher
Pam Elliott
Confributing Editor
Hedy Chang
Consulting Editor
Karen Sharpe
Contributing Writers
Angela Noel
ADVOCATE
Liz Harris
Copy Editor
Linda Ackerman
Editorial Intern
Victoria Hudson
Research Volunteers
Patty Overland
Lea Delson
Design and Production
Canterbury Press
Printing
Mann Sun Printing
Distribution
Jane Welford
Legal Counsel
Nonprofit Legal Services Network
Board of Directors
Hazaiah Williams, President
Barbara Cannon, Vice President
Victor Rubin, Secretary
Arnell Hinkle, Treasurer
David Gancher
Ronda Garcia
Dana Hughes
Maryain Rashada
Richard Saiz
OF CONTENTS
TABLE
3
A
January 1993
Volume XXI Number 1
Since 1973
Editorial/Program Assistant
Nancy Cole
Woiw ABouT “DORKs”:
A brief history of latchkey care and the stigma attached to it. By Vwona
Hudson
4
INcuBATiNG Acnv1sl—CHlwN’s HosPnAl.s UNIm: Nobody knows better than the staff at Children’s
Hospital Oakland, you can’t treat children’s illnesses without coping with poverty.
By Karen Greene
I
6
CHIWREN
PAY THE
PIPER—CAUF0RNIA’s
1992—93 Bun Curs:
Especially
in the areas
of social services, health, and mental health for children, state budget cuts will be played out at the
local level. By Randy Reiter
Advisory Board
Maria Campbell Casey
The Urban Strategies Council
Gwyneth G. Donchin
Consultant
Louis Freedberg
San Francisco Chronicle
Michael Freedland
Citibank
Asa Hilliard 111, Ed.D.
Georgia State University
EllieJourney
March of Dimes
Herb Kohl
Author & Educator
Don Marbusy
Corporation for Public Broadcasting
Holly Echo-Hawk Middleton
Children’s Home Society
8
10
THE 1993 MuLncuLmRj1. CALENDAR: A rainbow of events in the year of Childrent Advocate’s 20th anniversary.
THE
3
Effie Lee Morris
California Library Services
Michelle Seligson
Center for Research on Women
Wellesley College
Sue Brock Toigo
Institute for Fiduciary Education
The bimonthly Children’s Advocate Newspa
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Ciuw DvLol’,n RouNDTABU S,tw.s, No.2—OceluIG
THE
auc Ciuwitei:
DooR o
Several latchkey service providers
answer every question we throw at them—and raise a few good ones of their own.
14
Fuiit,
THE
FuwtNG
CoNFERENcE CiLENDAR
5
15
iiirntnot,i*i.
12
Booic BAslur
FoR YouR INFoRMATiON
EDITOR’S
T
P5PECTIVE
he recent national economic summit in
Little Rock, breathtaking in its scope, put
the needs of children at the heart of the
new administration’s strategic agenda for
change.
Major social welfare reform and child development
experts shared the platform with Nobel economists and
corporate executives, giving the clear and unifying
message that the economic health and well-being of’this
country depends on our commitment to our young
people, well before they start school.
For those of us who are proud to be amateur (or fullfledged) “policy wonks”, the conference was a celebration of visionary ideas on how to support the strengths
of our families and communities, even at this time o
budgetary bleakness.
Without question, California still faces deeper financial crisis than the rest of the country, with projections of
nearly 1 1 percent unemployment, at least a seven billion
NOTE
dollar state budget deficit, and no real signs of improvejiient in the next couple of years. Also, unquestionably,
as Randy Reiter from the Children’s Advocacy Institute
points out in his analysis piece, a generation of our
state’s children depend on us not to be divided into
warring health, education and welfare camps, but to
stay focused on our commitment to the whole child.
We are proud to be starting our 20th year of publi
cation. Our Board of Directors, staff, and volunteers
have rededicated themselves to the mission of educatin
and empowering people who work with and on behal
of children. In response to your suggestions, we’re
holding forums and roundtables, profiling the stars in the
field ot child development, keeping you clued into new
funding opportunities, and broadening your horizons
through national and international trends—because
we’re not the only country struggling with these issues.
Let us know what we can do more of, or do better.
All the best to you in your New Year’s work.
March/April Issue 1993
Advertising Deadline:Jan. 25, 1993
JfJJ
/.7r
.1
,
Thanks to Our Recent Donors:
Ann and Roger Cole, Arnell Hinkle, Ha.zaiah Williams, Francie Hornstein, Rosie Weilerstein, Fritzi C. Ryan, Lu Charlotte
JANUARY 1993
3
A Word About “Dorks” (Latchkey Children)
By Victoria Hudson
s a term for children left to
fend for themselves before or
after school, “latchkey” has historically carried negative connotations. The latchkey symbol—the house key carried by a child—
identified children who lacked parental
supervision.
“The house key tied around the neck
is the symbol of cold meals, of a child neglected and shorn of the security of a
mother’s love and affection,” stated a 1944
report about working parents and latchkey
children.
Unfortunately, the stigma remains, but
as researcher Bryan E. Robinson notes in
his book, Latchkey Kids, the latchkey phenomenon is a common one “for which
many children are properly prepared. They
or
are not as a rule eating cold meals
parent’s
security
of
their
deprived of the
love and affection.”
The term “latchkey” was coined sometime during the eighteenth century and
referred to a way of accessing a house by
lifting the door latch. As a word for children whose parents were unavailable before
and/or after school, it followed “dorks,” a
term used during the turn of the century in the United
States to refer to children who had their own door keys.
A
...
Lcifchkey Roctvdfa6Ie
PageslO&11
“Latchkey” and “doorkey” resurfaced during the ‘40s
to describe children left alone after school because
their fathers had gone off to war and their mothers had
to work. The first public reports appeared during World
War II when child welfare professionals voiced their
concerns about the number of “eight-hour orphans”
left to fend for themselves because ofworking mothers.
Approximately 11.2 million women were working or
looking for work in March 1940. By March 1944, the
16.8 million working women comprised nearly a third
of the 51.3 million-person labor force.
When surveys showed as many as 25 percent of
elementary school children had both parents working,
the need for school-age child care became clear,
The exact number of latchkey children is difficult to
pin down. Estimates vary. Latchkey children are de
fined differently, as is the range of care provided,
explains Ann Walsh of the American Home Economics
Association’s Project Home Safe. The reluctance of
some parents to reveal
that they leave
their children alone—
a violation of the law
in many states—also
contributes to the
variations.
The U.S. Census
Bureau doesn’t track
latchkey children, but
does calculate child
care arrangements of
working women. In
1990, of 53.9 million
children nationwide,
30.2 million had working mothers.
Of that 30 million,
roughly 10 percent of
children ages 0 to
15—3.3 million—are
in some form of pre
school, day care, nurs
eryorafterschoolpro
gram, with children in
the under- age- five
category comprising
nearly 2.5 million of
that amount. In California, the number of children
participating in state-funded latchkey programs for the
1991-92 school year is 13,000.
Some of the needs of today’s latchkey children have
been met, butexpertswould agreewith Frances Smardo
Dowd who writes in her recent book on latchkey chil
dren that the acute lack of affordable, high-quality
wrap-around child care is probably the most important
factor contributing to the large number of children
who are still witout supervision.
Victoria Hudson is a journalism student at San Francisco
State University and an intern at Children’s Advocate.
FINDING THE FUNDERS
By Marti Keller
Why Can’t You Get Money for Doing What You Do?
Editor’s Note: This is the first in what we expect to be a regular series of columns on sources of support for children’s advocacy and services.
Especially in these times of shrinking government budgets and major “realignment” ofpublic dollars, agencies will be turning to the jirivate
corporate and foundation sectors. We hope this will be an opportunity for exchange and dialogue.
ooner or later, in every conver
sation Children’s Advocate has
with child care and other
children’s services providers, the
subject turns to money. People
in the field, especially those working
with low-income families, are underpaid
and their programs are living month to
month— or on the brink of bankruptcy.
The general perception is that, except
for the increasingly popular “season of
sharing” type holiday giving programs
that funnel donations to organizations
that feed, shelter, and otherwise care for
people in need, funders are only willing
to pay for new and different special
projects. Whatever happened to support
for good programs thatjust want to keep
doing well what they have always done?
S
What about help paying for toys and
supplies, publications and continuing
education, transportation, or respite for
exhausted workers?
The tendency is for
hinders to “hop on
bandwagons.”
So where do we look for general oper
ating support? According to a recent
article in the Non-Profit Times, corporate
contributions to nonprofits in 1991
amounted to $6 billion, rising just two
percentage points from the previous year.
This marked the fourth consecutive
year of slow growth with a projection
that overall 1992 contributions will have
decreased by about four percent. Also,
corporations typically set geographic
restrictions on donations (tying them
to where they do business) or involve
their employees in setting priorities.
Dayton-Hudson (Mervyns and Target)
and Levi Strauss are two companies that
have placed a high priority on improv
ing the quality of child care, primarily
through community-wide campaigns,
including public education and grants
to providers.
While corporate giving has declined,
according to a survey by the Foundation
Center, the assets of the nation’s foun
dations have increased, with a 9.7 per-
cent increase in giving from 1989. A
survey by the Columbus Foundation of
local community foundations also
showed growth, with an increase of 12
percent in 1991.
Has there really been a move by foun
dations away from general operating sup
port for individual children- and youthserving agencies?
Emphatically yes, says Stella Shao, who
recently resigned as a program officer
from the Mann Community Foundation
in Larkspur, California. Last fall, she
attended the annual Council on Foiin
dations affinity group meeting for
funders of children and youth services.
As it has been for at least the past three
Con’Thued on page 14
4
JANUARY 1993
Incubating Activism: Children’s Hospitals Unite
By Karen Greene
t’s not your prototypical breeding ground for lated Institutions (NACHRI), elaborating on the
coalition’s beginnings. “You can’t be a children’s hos
activists.
pital without dealing with poverty.”
Some of the incubators are draped like
Children’s hospitals are regional centers for highly
bird cages with quilted white baby blankets;
the youngest, most fragile infants need several specialized pediatric care (including birth defects and
cancer). They have also become major sources of
more months of sleep in a safe, dark place. In
a crib on stilts, an older preemie sleeps quietly, hugged primary care for local medically needy children. From
gently in a tiny cotton snuggler invented once upon a the vantage point this dual role creates, it’s impossible
time by an infant care
nurse. Several more
nurses hover over an
other baby, who is re
covering from openheart surgery. Two
beds away a tiny boy
lies flat on his back,
legs and anns akimbo.
His whole body vibrates
with the oscillator that
puffs 300-plus staccato
breaths per minute
into his lungs. He is
too small and his or
gans are too weak to
handle a regular res
pirator. Nearby, reg
istered nurse Joan
DeBeaumont checks
the vital signs of a twopound drug-exposed
infant born in a city
park and admitted to
this California inten
sive care nursery at
Children’s Hospital
Oakland an hour after
he was born.
The survival of each
Richquette Simms, 3, listens intently to the heartbeat of Maudell Houston, R.N.
of these children is a
triumph of technology and professional dedication.
to isolate health issues from their larger social context.
But no one knows better than the hospital staff
Founded in 1912 with only 30 beds, Children’s
the ethical, economic and social implications of the Hospital Oakland—now celebrating its 80th birthday—
care they provide. As they see it, from the intensive care
treats more than 700 babies every year in what is one of
nursery to the out-patient clinics, keeping babies alive
the largest intensive care nurseries (ICN) in the coun
and ministering to children’s physical ailments are try. Neonatal, ambulatory (out- patient), and regular
in-patient services combined, it treats more than 145,000
children a year (ages birth to 18). Between 60 and 75
percent of these are low-income children on Medi-Cal
or Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC).
The emergency room in Children’s Hospital Oak
land, sees an average of 80-primary care patients a day.
The most expensive care, it is often the only alterna
tive for the underinsured or uninsured. Working par
ents or those reluctant to seek help because of lack of
funds postpone treatment so the children arrive sicker.
Sicker children require more care that is generally more
expensive.
Last winter in their emergency room, in one eighthour shift the same doctor saw children from four
only a part of the complex and urgent battle to be families who had lost their medical insurance within the
fought for the well-being of children. The administra past month.
“We are committed to caring for all children regard
tion is with them on this one.
Under the leadership of the state and national less of their ability to pay,” says pediatrician Pat Chase,
children’s hospital associations, Children’s Hospital assistant director of Oakland’s ambulatory services,
“but it’s hard. Children’s medical problems are so
Oakland hasjoined with more than 200 other children’s
hospitals and concerned community organizations to related to their psycho-social problems.”
There are a myriad of problems. What if a child’s
form the Coalition for America’s Children. The
coalition’s agenda lists four broad areas of concentra family is homeless or too poor to provide the child with
tion: health, education, safety, and security (income nutritious meals? How do health workers help family
members who don’t speak English or who are unfamil
and family unity).
‘The social pathology has caught up with us,” says iar with technology to care for children with special
Susan Bales, vice president of public affairs for the needs? “Hospitals have trouble discharging these chil
National Association of Children’s Hospitals and Re- dren,” Ann Hoffman, executive director of the Califor
J
Keeping babies alive is only
a part of the complex and
urgent battle to be fought
for the well-being
of children.
nia Children’s Hospitals Association (CCHA) reports.
Bobby Steinhart, one of 34 staff social workers at
Oakland asks, “What are the services for the kids we
save who don’t come out so well?”
Nurse DeBeaumont focuses on prevention. The
mother of the baby she was caring for in the ICN
had stopped smoking because she though it would
harm her fetus, but she hadn’t stopped drinking
or using cocaine.
“You think edu
cation is getting
out and then you
hear something
like that,” DeBeau
mont says.
Conscious of the
countless related is
sues and frustrated
by the fragmented
efforts ofchildren’s
advocacy work
prior to the last
general election,
NACHRI and the
American Acad
emy of Pediatrics
collaborated to
form the Coalition
for America’s Chil
dren one year ago.
It ran a major me
dia campaign be
fore the 1992 elec
tion campaign with
the slogan “Who’s
for kids and who’s
just kidding?”
The coalition in
cludes the Associa
tion of Junior Leagues, the Food Research Action
Center, the American Association of School Adminis
trators and the American Association of Retired Per
sons (AARP). The presence of AARP is significant; an
intergenerational approach is central to the strategy.
Social worker Steinhart says, “If you’re taking the
kid’s side, you’re trying to maintain a system thatworks,
you can’t separate the parent and the child.”
At Children’s Hospital Oakland, this means 34 so
cial workers on staff to work with parents and children.
The social pathology has
caught up with us.
It means a Child Development Program offering ser
vices for the families of young children who require
special developmental attention and support, a Child
Protection Team that works with victims of child abuse
who come to the hospital, and research for diseaseprevention techniques. It means health clinics for teens.
It means professional “Child Life” staff to educate
children and their families and help them cope with
the stress caused by hospitalization. And it means hos
pital workers who save their Safeway receipts to pur
chase computers for the in-hospital school.
The hospital’s Center for the Vulnerable Child of
fers two comprehensive medical and support-service
programs, one for eligible foster-care children and
Continued on page 15
JANUARY 1993
5
INTERNATIONAL PERSPECTIVES
By Ken Jaffe, founde International Child Resource Institute
Take A Global View of Child Care Resources
Editor’s Note: To kick off our new section offering an international perspective on children’s
issues, this is the first in a series on child care resources around the world.
LEGISLATION: In
Singapore, one can
find some of the best
tax laws designed to en
courage businesses to
start child care pro
grams; and in Austra
lia, a national legisla
tive agenda has been
initiated.
INTERIOR DESIGN:
The Dutch lead the way
in new design ideas,
with colors moving to
ward “ice cream” pas
tels, but new and elabo
rate designs are also
coming from Asia.
.
.
.
As Executive Director
of the International
Child Resource Insti
tute (ICRI) over the last
11 years, my work has
r
taken me around the
Ken Jaffe, founder, International Child Resource Institute
world, helping to cre
ate or improve services
n looking at the latest ti-ends in for children. I have encountered some
child care programs aronnd the
remarkable people who have developed
world, certain parallels can he
outstanding child care programs. They
drawn and certain great differ display a remarkable spirit of enthusi
ences observed. What are the
asm in their efforts to bring the best to
common threads that hold the children and families for whom they
the child care world together? What are care. All have been called upon to be
the unique features that set us apart?
innovative in the use of facilities, materi
AGE: The average age at which chil als or in meeting difficult conditions.
dren are entering child care is de
creasing. Women around the world A Look at Australia
One of the most interesting models is
are returning to the work force more
Gosford Family Day Care Scheme
the
quickly after giving birth. As a result, a
(or
System) that has been replicated
number of countries have embarked
throughout
Australia. The Gosford
upon campaigns to provide better care
Scheme
is
a
family
day care network with
to younger children. In Hong Kong, the
a
number
of
innovative
ingredients. Par
previous approach to infant/toddler care
had been to treat two-year olds in a ents can call a central number and re
substantially similar manner to six-year- ceive infonnation and referral to any of
old children. Now an effort is being the members in the system. The city has
made to make facilities warmer and to provided funding for a central office
help staff to be more nurturing to staff to give support services to about 80
local family day-care providers, includ
younger children.
ing regular training, access to a toy-lend
HANDICAPPED CHILDREN: The Scan
ing library, educational equipment, con
dinavians have found wonderful ways to
ferences, substitutes, and curriculum ma
integrate handicapped children into
terials.
child care programs. Policies in Sweden,
Office staff members, some of them
Norway, and Denmark make a wide ar
former family day care providers, know
ray of options available to them. For
each of the providers very well, the ages
example, in Denmark, two babies are
of the children they serve, whether they
often placed in one crib for increased
are bilingual, whether they take special
physical stimulation. In Sweden and Nor
needs children, their particular strengths.
way, non-handicapped children are in
tegrated into programs for the handi Sweden Changes
capped.
includes paid parental leave (one year at
90 percent of regular pay), child care on
a sliding scale based on ability to pay,
vacation leave (five and a half weeks at
112 percent ofregular pay—because they
know you spend more on vacation), na
tional health care, etc. The new
trend in Sweden is toward privatization
of child care.
The concept of privatization is some
what different than it is in the U.S. In the
past, the vast majority of child care had
previously been provided through the
government. Now, non-profit organiza
tions, corporations, and individuals or
groups can ask the local authorities to
provide money for them to operate a
child care center. A number of
Montessori centers, Waldorf programs
and other innovative services have been
started by private groups and funded by
the government.
The Swedes still lead the way in child-
care staff comforts. In October, I visited
a center with the typical required staff
In Sweden, they have
thought long and
hard about families
and children.
environment. This included a warm liv
ing room/kitchen combination with
comfortable couches, easy chairs, show
ers and changing room, and always flow
ers and candles. This center had a tan
ning salon next to the staff living room.
The Swedes believe that staff who are
nurtured and well supported will pro
vide better services to children.
Ken Jaffe, M.A., J.D., founder of the
International Child Resource Institute, has de
voted over two decades to the research, development
and implementation of children c programs.
J
Its Approach
SUPPORTS: Support systems are becom
ing more and more available to family
day-care providers. Food programs, re
source and referral systems, design assis
tance, and toy-lending libraries are all
examples of support for programs in
England and Holland.
Sweden is a country that has thought
long and hard about families and chil
dren. Child care centers and family day
care homes are part of a continuum of
services that are known as “parent insur
ance.” The parent insurance system pro
vides a true safety net for families that
ON THE TUOLUMNE RIVER NEXT TO YOSEMnE
To All Parents and Campers:
Please come to our slide show at the JCC nearest you and
find out what’s made Camp Tawonga the best loved sleep-
away camp since 1926.
1,, 2,, and 3 Week Sessions for Kids Aged 7-16
For a complete brochure, registration form, and the dates!
times of slide shows callus at (415) 929-1996.
6
JANUARY 1993
le
Barbara Shaw
In for the Long Haul
By Angela Noel
re you guys still there?” was one
grandmother’s plaintive question when
she phoned the main office ofOakland’s
Parent-Child Development Centers,
Inc. (PCDCI).
Barbara Shaw, the executive director, thinks about
that call and smiles. She chuckles a bit, remembering
the woman’s genuine relief to learn yes, PCDCI’s still
around and yes, her grandchild could get into the same
childcare program that helped grandmom and her
daughter more than two decades before.
‘“Those are the moments that let you know you have
made a difference as an agency in this community,”
Shaw says proudly of the program that boasts an esti
mated 3,450 graduates. “When you think about these
days and times, just surviving for 25 years is quite an
accomplishment.”
Longevity is only part of Shaw’s achievement at
PCDCI: The organization is one of the Bay Area’s most
reputable providers of day care for low- and moderateincome families. From its beginnings with 45 kids in
two church-based centers, it’s 52-member staff now
serves 154 children in seven satellite centers in pre
dominantly African-American neighborhoods. Four
centers are housed in facilities owned by the non-profit
corporation; another for infants and toddlers will open
early in 1993.
To understand how the growth and development
have taken place, both parents and staff say one need
only look as far as director Shaw. “She’s the backbone
of that program,” declares Barbara Stingley, one-time
board chairperson and a former program client. “I
think she’s a very strong leader. She works from can’t
see to can’t see, you know, can’t see in the morning to
can’t see at night! She just goes the extra mile, she
really cares.”
Shaw, a native of Guyana, has been around PCDCI
almost as long as the program has existed. A graduate
of San Francisco State University, she started in 1967 in
one of the program’s initial centers doing intake; later
she was promoted to center director. She was named
acting director in 1972 and the next year officially
assumed the post she’s held since.
Having come up through the ranks, Shaw’s perspec
tive on the field is both grounded and pragmatic. She’s
candid about real constraints facing providers when
“needs continue to escalate and resources in the
economy have dwindled.” Mindful of change afoot in
Washington and elsewhere, she still cautions peers to
discard traditional marching orders. “Everybody knows
how to walk that walk and talk that talk, but we have to
be realistic,” Shaw declares. “We can’t do business in
the same way. It takes a collaborative effort.”
Innovative, collaborative programs are, in fact, the
root of Shaw’s success. As one of the agencies that
helped pilot the widely replicated Parents Services
Project in 1980, PCDCI is a leading proponent of
parents as full partners in defining the child care
equation. “It’s allowed us to look at the whole parenting
issue differently,” Shaw says. “Parents [are] the primary
teachers of their children,” she argues, and must “set
their own agenda.”
Over the years, that’s meant going beyond the child
in daycare Io the support of the entire family. From
workshops to respite care, pizza parties to counseling,
PCDCI’s wide-ranging services help parents bolster
each other’s effort and esteem. Shaw’s contribution is
“that she has not only educated the child, but also the
parent,” says former board member Elaine Pannell,
whose daughter is now in graduate school and was
once in the PCDCI program. ‘That’s one of her biggest
assets, keeping the parents involved.”
‘There’s a kind of dignity about Barbara and an
integrity, in terms of how she treats people,” echoes
Continued on page 7
ANALYSIS
Children Pay the Piper: California’s 1992—93 Budget
By Randy Reite PhD, research directoç Children s Advocacy Institute
lready hurt by last year’s draconian cuts,
children’s programs—which constitute
a large part of the state’s budget—have
been further weakened by nearly eight
billion dollars in additional budget cuts
this year. In education, the state fell
further behind the national norm, prior funding levels,
and California’s needs. For the second year in a row the
state made big cuts to Aid to Families with Dependent
Children (AFDC) ,which provides the basic subsistence
incomes for the poorest one-fifth of our children. The
crisis in children’s access to health care continues. Two
million children remain uninsured, and millions more
on Medi-Cal face the possibility of the reduction of
already inadequate services as the state pushes toward
managed care arrangements that may also place at risk
the existing public health and community clinic pro
vider network.
A
Beyond Dollar Amounts
Several factors beyond the dollar amounts appropri
ated affect the impact of the new state budget on
children. The last two budget agreements not only
shifted all or part of the fiscal responsibility for many
programs from the state to the counties, but also cut
state support for local government operations. In 1991,
realignment affected a variety of social service, mental
health, and public health programs by shifting fiscal
responsibilities from the states to the counties. But
because of the recession, anticipated revenues to the
counties from motorvehicle license fees and sales tax for
those programs were considerably less than expected.
This year’s budget took away $1.3 bfflion of property
tax revenues previously returned by the state to coun
ties, cities, redevelopment agencies, and special dis
tricts, in order to fund K-12 education. It also relieved
some county mandates. Standards for county provision
The state’s budget squeeze will be
played out at the local level.
ofindigent health care were loosened, and the require
ments that counties give notice and hold public hear
ings before health-care service reductions were relaxed.
Thus, the effects of many aspects of the state’s
budget squeeze, especially in the areas of social ser
vices, health, and mental health for children and their
families, will be played out at the local level, where
counties and cities try to meet greater needs and
responsibilities with reduced resources and less com
munity input.
State budget appropriations must also be consid
ered in terms of their ability to meet the needs for
which they’re intended. Need varies with levels of
population, poverty, the extent of specific problems
(e.g., disabilities, abuse reports), and availability of
alternative services. The two most general indicators of
need, population and poverty, have risen rapidly. The
California Commission on State Finance estimates the
total population aged 17 and younger will number 9
million in 1992-93, a 4.4 percent increase over the prior
year. There has also been a marked increase in both the
number and proportion of children living in poverty in
recent years. In 1991 alone, out of a total increase of 2.1
million in the number of poor in the U.S., nearly a
million were children. An estimated 21 percent of
California children live below the federal poverty line.
Costs have also been rising. The Consumer Price
Index indicates inflation of 4.1 percent in California for
1991-92, with an expected i1c j1 1.0 j’ tuent for 199293. Therefore, programs with the same dollar amount
appropriated in the 1992-93 budget as in 1991-92 have
four percent less purchasing power, in addition to
having to serve a much larger pool of children.
Education
The 1992 budget agreement set K-12 funding at the
1991 level of $4,185 per ADA (average daily atten
dance). This is substantially below both the 1990 figure
of $4,881/ADA and the U.S. average. Because state
general fund (GF) revenues fell, the minimum re
quired by Proposition 98 fell below the 1991 school
appropriation, and the budget agreement reduced the
Prop 98 funding base by $800 million. To keep funding
at the same per capita dollar amount as last year, the
state transferred $1.3 billion in property taxes to the
schools, and lent the schools $732 million, to be repaid
from school appropriations over the next two years.
Many specific education program categories were cut
Cbntinued on page 7
JANUARY 1993
Profile
From page 6
Ethel Seiderman, executive director ofboth the FairfaxSan Ariselmo children’s center and the Parent Services
Project. ‘There’s a magnetism about her because there’s
so much excellence in what she does. There’s an
eloquence about her that makes you want to be around
her.” Seiderman has been around Shaw a lot; since the
late 1980s, the two have traveled the country, giving
workshops to administrators and providers, always stress
ing support of the family as key.
Another emphasis for Shaw, according to her co
workers, is her aggressive support of their professional
Keep on
keepin’ on.
know-how. Center directors have autonomy in manag
ing their staff and young charges, observes Margaret
Jones, head teacher of PCDCI’s School-Age Day Care
Center. Shaw is “fair and she’s strictly about business,”
says Jones, recalling one humorous and telling inci
dent: PCDCI is such a tight ship, Jones said, she once
turned in monies to the central office that were $.01
over and she got a receipt back for the extra penny.
Laudatory reports from staff and parents bespeak
something very right in this operation, but Shaw admits
all hasn’t been smooth sailing; on her watch, the pro
gram has weathered funding cuts and a state audit
along the way. “When you’re the director, it’s a lonely
place,” she says.
Burnout, she admits, is a major on-the-job hazard in
her line ofwork. It’s the simple result of too long hours,
Budget
From page 6
by an average of 2.2 percent, including a 1.4 percent
reduction in child care and development contracts.
The net effect: Over the last two years, per capita
school funding has been cut by 14.3 percent, not
adjusted for inflation; school appropriations are en
cumbered for the next two years by a debt that will have
first claim on any funds available to increase per capita
spending; and California public education falls further
behind the rest of the country.
Income Supports
This year California cut AFDC grants for family
groups and unemployed by 5.8 percent (4.5 percent
cut as of October 1, and another 1.3 percent upon
federal approval). These reductions, following the 4.4
percent cut last year and continuing suspension of costof-living adjustments (COL4s), have produced a drop
of 20 percent in the value of AFDC to a family of three
in California—from an expected $780 to $625, a loss of
$156 a month over just the last four years.
The state’s AFDC grant is only 65 percent of the
federal monthly poverty level of $964. Adding food
stamps brings the grant’s value up to $796, or 83
percent of poverty level. The federal poverty level
represents the minimum income required to meet the
basic needs of a U.S. family of three, and does not
account for California’s higher costs for housing or
other necessities.
California also restricted new residents’ grants to
that of their previous state for 12 months. affecting
about 7 percent of recipients.
AFDC cuts are expected to save about $131 million
this year. Each state and county dollar saved will cost
poor families (and the state’s economy) one dollar in
lost federal matching funds, all of which would have
been spent locally, and an estimated 16 percent in
taxes lost to the state due to this money not being
turned over in the local economy. AFDC caseloads are
closely linked to uncollected child-support payments.
Several improved child-support enforcement efforts
7
too many problems, too few hands. “All of these situa argues convincingly. “I think I’m a strong, black woman.
tions factor into how you provide services,” she ex That’s part of the makeup. We get weary, but we keep
plains ruefully. “Even though your heart is there and going.”
“Nothing comes easy, but when you think about the
you want to give your best, you get weary. Dedicated
people leave the field.” There’s a problem of “self- children,” she says with firm conviction, “that’s the
esteem of your workers,” she continues, “questions reward.”
about feeling good about the business they’re in. You
have to be vigilant, because this business
can swallow you up.”
Evaluating the changes she’s seen in
the field over her 25-year career, Shaw
talks about the benefit and burden of
more stringent credential requirements
The A’o(essnoI OrganaIn Tha’ Gives You...
for staff More rules and regulations re
• S ssues at Yar C1iia,. the Notional p.dcoIion
sult in increasingly sophisticated train
tor educalcxs and paents
ing, she says, but that also means “there
are more barriers to entry” that prevent
• Reduced rates to Notiond, State, Section and l.ocd
good folks from joining the ranks. She
conferences and enIs
wonders aloud about problems day-care
• Reduced rates to the Annud Legislattie Syrrxium.
personnel have in even envisioning a
a day fc you to odocaIe on behalf at yotrg children
career ladder, when changes in the regu
lations seem to keep the rules of the
• State, Section and Local newsletters and pbficofions
game in flux.
o Acce to arc and grants
So much more is demanded of staff
these days, Shaw adds, but their return in
• Local and Section rneet that allow you to network
dollars and perksjust hasn’t kept up. She
with other people wilt-i sirrar terests
laments her difficulties in keeping quali
NAEYC, Seck’n
hi CAEYC h,c*,des ofizlkin
fied employees on board, when compet
membe,shØ
ye 1cm Ocber 1st
AEVC aid Locd AEYC The
ing federal programs like Head Start pay
better and offer more attractive benefits.
bSeptember3L
All told, Shaw has managed to main
• Comprehenswe $75.00 toaaticdiy rece
tain an exceptionally high level of moti
selected pubkations fiom NAFYC)
vation and commitment due to her per
• Regu $40.00
sonal philosophy: “keep on keepin’ on.”
Her’s is a school of thought steeled by
deep religious faith. “It just never stops,
your burden doesnt get lighter. What do
you do? Youjust have to be strong,” Shaw
were enacted this year; if successful, and expanded,
they could cut by hundreds of millions of dollars the
estimated $2.5 billion in uncollected child support
payments in California each year.
Health
In general, children’s health programs were not
specifically cut in this year’s budget. Increased federal
funding and a fairer state allocation formula mean that
the state’s Maternal and Child Health Title V block
grant funding should increase. A new set of vanity
license plate characters is expected to provide a new
revenue source for child care licensing and various
children’s preventive health programs. Legislation re
health services, foster care group-home reimbursement
rates, regional centers for the developmentally dis
abled, and others. Many other programs had scheduled
increases in reimbursement rates postponed, and
COLAs were eliminated or scaled back in most budget
items. Fees were increased for child-care licensing, com
munity.care licensing, and California Children’s Ser
vices families among others. Many state advisory boards,
commissions, and task forces were eliminated, includ
ing the Maternal, Child and Adolescent Health, and
Family Planning boards, the Health Care and Primary
Care Clinics advisory committees, and the STD Advisory
Council, as well as the School Performance Criteria and
Migrant Education task forces, and the Mathematics
Curriculum Framework and Criteria Committee.
Conclusion
stilted in savings of an estimated $8.5 million through
bulk purchase of vaccines for Medi-Cal and CHDP
providers; that money is to be used to improve immu
nization services next year.
However, the full impact of the budget on children’s
health services will be felt mainly in the counties,
where increasing poverty, lack of health insurance,
and cuts to county budgets are combining to put the
squeeze on children’s access to services. Additionally,
the medical managed care push raises serious ques
tions about continuity of care.
•
Will new enrollees actually receive needed
preventive and other services?
•
Will services, quality, and outcomes for all
enrollees be regularly monitored?
Other reductions include cuts to programs for child
care, child-abuse prevention, drug and alcohol preven
tion and treatment, gang violence prevention, dropout
prevention, class size reduction, school-based mental
Even as we tabulate the toll from this year’s budget
cuts, analysts are predicting a deficit of more than $7
billion next year. Officials are anticipating the need to
cut programs that were relatively undamaged this time.
Our justice, education, health, and welfare pro
grams have to cope with the ever-costlier results of our
long-term lack of policies to promote or provide for the
healthy development of all children. Considering the
toll taken by policies to date, two needs override next
year’s fight for particular programs. As a state, we must
decide what our commitment to children is; and we
must decide how to meet that commitment—in terms
of both programs and funding sources.
The Children’s Advocacy institute is developing a
more comprehensive analysis of state spending on
children’s programs over the last five years.
CHIWREN’S APVODATE 1993 MULT1CUL
International Year for the
World’s Indigenous People
(United Nations)
January
Ramadhan begins (Muslim holy month)
23 125th anniversary of birth of Dr. W.E.B.
24
National Birth Defects Prevention Month
1 New Year’s Day • Abigail EIio established
2
3
4
6
7
8
V
I
14
17
18
20
22
23
25
27
first U.S. nursery school in 1922
Ancestor’s Day (Haiti)
200th anniversary of birth of Lucretia Mott
(1793-1880), abolitionist and feminist
Economic Opportunity Act of 1974 and
Title XX of the Social Security Act, provid
ing child care for needy families, passed in
1975 • Birthday ofJacob Grimm (17851863), co-author of Grimm’s Fairy Tales
Armenian Christmas
Ethiopian Christmas
Midwife’s or Women’s Day (Greece)—Men
do all the housework and women spend
time in cafes
Kite Festival (India)
World Religion Day (Baha’i)
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s birthday ob
served
Inauguration of U.S. President
U.S. Supreme Court legalized abortion in
1973
Chinese New Year Year of the Rooster
(4691)
First White House Conference on Children
called by President Theodore Roosevelt in
1909 • Sojourner Truth (1797-1883) ad
dressed first African American women’s
rights convention in Akron, Ohio, in 1851
Vietnam Peace Treaty signed in 1973
2
3
6
11
12
14
15
19
21
22
28
Children’s Denial Health Month
meiican History Month
Birthday of Langston Hughes (1902-1967),
writer and poet. National Freedom Day
commemorating the passage in 1865 of the
13th Amendment, which freed slaves • Four
students staged a sit-in at Woolworths in
Greensboro, North Carolina, in 1960 to
protest segregated seating
Groundhog Day
Setsubun Bean Throwing Festival (Japan)
celebrating the last day of winter
Tu B’Shvat (Jewish holiday of trees)
Nelson Mandela released from prison in
1990 • Three hundred Native Americans
began the “Longest Walk” in 1978, com
memorating all forced walks by Indians
National Association for the Advancement
of Colored People (NAACP) established in
1910 • Scott Momaday, a Native American
poet, writer and teacher, won the Pulitzer
Prize in 1969
Valentine’s Day
Presidents’ Day
Japanese American concentration camps
established in U.S.,1 12,000 interred in 1942
• Twenty Norwegian teachers begin success
ful nonviolent strike against Nazification of
schools in 1942 • Frederick Douglass (18171895), orator and abolitionist, died
Malcolm X (1925-1965), civil rights leader,
assassinated
Street Urchin’s Festival (Denmark).
22
25
27
May
March
1
2
3
8
10
-
February
1
25
DuBois (1868-1963), among founders of
NAACP ‘ Mardi Gras (Christian)
Elizabeth Gurley Flynn (1890-1964) led
20,000 women in the Bread & Roses Textile
Strike in Lawrence, Massachusetts in 1912
Fliram Revels (1822-1901) became first
African American U.S. Senator in 1870
Phyllis Wheatley (1753-1784), poet and
freedom fighter, died
of the progressive education movement.
Birthday ofJohn Muir (1838-1914), natu
ralist and conservationist
Earth Day
Big Brother/Big Sister Appreciation Week
begins
Protests against apartheid in South Africa
began in Soweto in 1976
11
12
17
20
21
24
29
Women’s History Month
National Nn1iilion Month
Founding of Peace Corps in 1961
Birthday of Dr. Suess (Theodore Geisel,
1904-1991), children’s book author
Doll Festival (Japan) • First labor law regulat
ing hours of employment for children
passed by Massachusetts legislature in 1824.
Birthday of Gabriel Garcia-Marquez (1928-),
author • National PTA Drug and Alcohol
Awareness Week begins Purim (Jewish)
International Women’s Day • Holi Festival
(India)
Harriet Tubman (1821-1913), leader of the
Underground Railroad and self.liberated
slave, died
Lithuania declared independence from
Soviet Union in 1990
First Girl Scout troop in America organized
byjuliette Gordon Low (1860-1927) in 1912
St. Patrick’s Day
First Day of Spring in Northern Hemisphere
Children’s Hospital Week begins . Inter
national Day for the Elimination of Racial
Discrimination • Noruz: Persian New Year
Id Al-fitr feast marks end of Ramadhan
(Muslim)
Youth Day (Taiwan)
Apill
1
2
4
5
6
National Child Abuse Preventitin Month
Apnl Fools Day
International Children’s Book Day
Birthday of writer Maya Angelou (1928-),
author of I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings
Passover begins at sundown (Jewish)
Ching Ming Festival (China), day of visiting
graves of deceased relatives
World Health Day
U.S. Children’s Bureau established in 1912
Easter Sunday
7
9
11
13 250th anniversary of birth of Thomas
15
19
21
Jefferson (1743-1826), scientist, legislator,
and primary author of the Declaration of
Independence
African Freedom Day was declared at the
All-African People’s Conference in Accra,
Ghana, in 1959 • Student Non-violent Co
ordinating Committee (SNCC) founded
in 1960
50th anniversary of Warsaw Ghetto revolt by
Jews against Nazis
Birthday of Friedrich Froebel (1782-1852),
the father of kindergarten and originator
Menial Health Month
National Physical Fitness and Sports Moinh
1 May Day celebrated around the world to
honor workers
3 Birthday of Golda Meir (1898-1978), the
first woman Prime Minister of Israel.
Thank You School Librarian Day
4 Birthday of Horace Mann (1796-1859),
innovative educator who established public
high school compulsory education and the
popular acceptance of women as teachers
5 Cinco De Mayo (Mexico) • Children’s Day
(Japan) • 20th anniversary of ending of
occupation of Wounded Knee, South Da
kota, by American Indian Movement
6 National Day of Prayer • Birthday of Rabin
dranath Tagore (1861-1941), Hindu poet,
mystic and composer who received Nobel
Prize in 1913
9 Mother’s Day
17 Desegregatipn. in public schools mandated
by U.S. Suj*étne Court in 1954
19 Boys Clubs of America founded in 1906
26 Birthday of Sally Ride (1951- ), first U.S.
woman in space • 175th anniversary of
birth of AmeliaJenks Bloomer (18181894), feminist and inventor of bloomers
28 Birthday ofJim Thorpe (1888-1953), a
Native American Olympic athlete
31 Memorial Day
-
June
1 Birthday of Harriet Tubman (1821-1913),
3
12
17
19
20
21
22
23
African American abolitionist and leader
of the Underground Railroad
Birthday of Hannah Kent Schoff (18531940), who helped found the National
Congress of Mothers, which later became
the National Congress of Parents and
Teachers
Independence Day (Philippines)
The Adoption Assistance and Child Welfare
Act, encouraging and facilitating the adop
tion of children in foster or institutional
care, passed in 1980 • Cherokees were
forced to begin the 1,200 mile Trail of
Tears to Oklahoma in 1838
Juneteenth: Commemorates the freeing of
slaves in Texas in 1865
Father’s Day
First day of Summer in Northern Hemi
sphere
Eighteen-year-olds receive the right to vote
in 1970
The Elementary Education Act, Title IX,
prohibiting sex discrimination in educa
tion, passed in 1972
URAL CALENPAR 20TH ANNIVERSARY
July
I Canada Day
3 Child laborers struck for an 1 1-hour work
day and a six-day work week in Patterson,
NewJersey, in 1835
4 Independence Day (United States)
12 Birthday of Pablo Neruda (1904-1973),
Chilean poet and diplomat
13 Anniversary of “Live Aid” concerts that
raised $100 million for African famine relief
14 Bastille Day (France)
15 Obon (Japan), the festival of lanterns.
18 Washington Research Project, later known
as the Children’s Defense Fund, founded by
Marian Wright Edelman in 1969
22 Teej Festival in India, celebrating the God
dess Parvati and welcoming the monsoon
25 Constitution Day (Puerto Rico)
28 African American regiments became part of
the U.S. Army in 1866 • Fourteenth Amend
ment ratified in 1868, guaranteeing due
process to all but Native Americans
30 Title X1X of the Social Security Act, estab
lishing Medicaid for needy families and
children, passed in 1965
8
11
15
16
18
22
23
24
25
28
International Literacy Day
Ethiopian New Year (start of 1985)
National Hispanic Heritage Week begins
U.S. Constitution Week begins, celebrating
its signing in 1787 • Rosh Hashana Jewish
New Year (5754)
International Day of Peace as declared by
the United Nations • Harriet Maxwell Con
verse (?-1903), became the first white
woman chief of the Six Nations Tribe in
1891, after being adopted by the Seneca
tribe in 1884
halo Marchiony, the creator of the ice
cream cone, applied for a patent in 1903
• First day of Autumn in Northern Hemi
sphere
Birthday of Mary Church Terrell (18631954), educator and author who repre
sented African American women at the
International Conference of Women in
Berlin in 1904
Desegregation of Central High School in
Little Rock, Arkansas in 1957
Banned Book Week begins, celebrating the
freedom to read • Yom Kippur: Jewish Day
of Atonement
Native American Day • Teacher’s Day
(Taiwan)
9 Cambodia’s Independence Day
11 Veterans Day
14 American education week begins a
15
18
20
22
24
25
29
30
Children’s Day (India) commemorating the
birthday ofJawaharlal Nehru, India’s first
prime minister
Children’s Book Week begins • National
Congress of American Indians is organized
in1944
Children’s Advocate newspaper celebrates its
20th year in publication
Rights of the Child Day
30th anniversary of assassination of President
John F Kennedy • National Stop the Vio
lence Day • The Children’s Charter adopted
by the White House Conference on Children
in 1930 • Shepherd-Towner Act, the first
federal legislation for maternal and infant
care, passed in 1921
National Family Caregivers Day
Thanksgiving
Education for all Handicapped Children Act,
guaranteeing free and equal public educa
tion for all children with disabilities, passed
in 1975
Osceola, a Seminole chief, died in prison in
1838 after being arrested for refusing to
leave his homeland
August
1 International Clown Week begins
2 Birthday ofJames Baldwin (1924-1987)
6
9
12
17
18
19
20
28
29
30
African American author
Peace Day, in remembrance of the atomic
bomb dropped on Hiroshima, Japan, in
1945 killing over 105,000 people and injur
ing over 100,000.
Birthday ofJean Piaget (1896-1980), Swiss
philosopher and psychologist who studied
children’s thought processes • Nagasaki
Memorial Day (Japan)
American Indian Religious Freedom Act,
giving native people the right to exercise
their traditional religions, passed in 1978
Independence Day (Indonesia)
19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution
ratified in 1920 giving women the right to
vote
NAACP Youth Council began sit-ins at segre
gated lunch counters in Oklahoma City in
1963 • Birthday of President Bill Clinton
The Economic Opportunity Act establishing
the Head Start program passed in 1964
Legislation authorizing the school milk
program passed in 1954 a 30th anniversary
of the March on Washington led by Dr.
Martin Luther King, Jr.
Soviet Communist Party suspended in 1991
after a seventy-five year rule of the Soviet
Union
Children’s Day (Afghanistan)
October
AS Aines Montb
National JaNlit liznjdovmesn
Awareness Mnth
NailOflál
5E*1cat1’m Month
’Awarness-Mmt’h
3
IyThsus
2 Birthday of Mahatma Gandhi (1869-1948),
leader of the Indian independence move
ment. Thurgood Marshall, first African
American justice sworn into the Supreme
Court in 1967
3 Reunification of East and West Germany in
1990 • Fire Prevention Week begins
4 Universal Children’s Day, designated by the
U.N. in 1953 • Child Health Day
10 American Somoa White Sunday—
“Children’s Day”: A feast is prepared by
parents and served to children
13 National Children’s Day
14 Lanham Act, providing federal funds for
child care centers for working mothers
during WWII, passed in 1940.
16 United Nations World Food Day
21 Feast Day of St. Ursula, patron of Teachers
and Teens (El Salvador)
23 Chung Yeung Festival (Hong Kong)
25 National Magic Week begins
31 Halloween
November
Ceafive Child and Aault Month
(Iñkl S1ety and ProtenfIon Month
Day of the Dead (Mexico)
Child Protection Act banning hazardous
toys and articles passed in 1966 • U.S. Su
preme Court ruled that Native Americans
were “aliens” and “dependents” in 1883.
Sandwich Day, birthday of sandwich inven
tor John Montague in England, 1718
Discovery of King Tut’s tomb in 1922 in
Luxor, Egypt
Voters in Missoula, Montana, established the
nation’s first nuclear—free zone in 1978
1mriafional
September
1
2
6
Bahy Safety Month
Library (ariI Sign.mp Month
Keating-Owens Act passed in 1916, the
first national child labor law barring the
products of child labor from interstate
commerce
Forgiveness Day (Vietnam)
Labor Day • Birthday ofJane Adams, (18601935), women’s rights and social welfare
activist and founder of Hull House
1
3
4
7
December
Unjw_rsál lirnnn hts Month
1 Arrest of civil rights leader Rosa Parks
3
6
7
9
10
11
13
16
21
25
26
30
31
(1913-) for refusing to sit in the whites-only
section of a bus set off a bus boycott in Mont
gomery, Alabama in 1955 which ended
segregation on buses throughout the South
ern U.S. • United Nations: World AIDS Day
Birthday of Anna Freud (1895-1982), author
ity on mental disorders in children who
warned against the effects of neglect and
harsh discipline
13th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution
abolishing slavery was ratified in 1865
Pearl Harbor Day
Chanukah begins (Jewish)
Birthday of Thomas H. Gallaudet (17871851), pioneer in the education of the deaf
who helped establish the first school for the
deaf in 1817. Human Rights Day
United Nations International Children’s
Emergency Fund (UNICEF) established
in 1946
St. Lucia’s Day (Sweden): Children prepare
breakfast in bed for their parents
Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to
Children founded by Eldridge T. Gerry
in 1874
First day of Winter in Northern Hemisphere
Christmas (Christian)
Kwanzaa, African American harvest festival,
begins
Poison Prevention Packaging Act, mandating
child-proof caps for medicines and other
dangerous substances in the home, passed
in 1970
New Year’s Eve • Annual World Peace
Meditation
Border design l Staci Southwick. Compiled by
Lea Delson and Nancy Cole.
LV)
10
JANUARY 1993
OPEJ\J IN
TH E-DOO1fo LATCH KE’ H I LDgEJ\J
The CkiId,,&ev’s Advoccde C-kId Developnei’if Rotdfa6Ie Sevies, J”Jo.2, J\Jovei’nbev’ 19,,
Participantl:
Daryl Hanson, Latchkey Coordinator
Hayward Unified School District
Kathy Brahms, Regional Child Care
Director, Kids on Kampus/Sacramento
Paula Davis, West County Manager
Contra Costa Child Care Council
Children’s Advocate Modenstors:
Victoria Hudson, Editorial Intern
Marti Keller, Executive Editor
HuDsoN: What is your definition of a latchkey child and
what connotations do you associate with the word “latch
HANSON: A latchkey child to me is a child that has a
key around their neck, does not have a parent or
other adult in the home after school, and goes home
and has to unlock their front door. Connotations are
a child who may be alone, fearful, worried about
being by themselves.
DAvIs: Then latchkey programs, the name we started
calling after-school programs, changed the image. It
was no longer these kids with the key around their
neck, it’s the kids that are in these wonderful enrich
ment programs, preferably on-site where the school
is. I guess where the confusion arises for me is that
there are two connotations and two separate reali
ties: One is the latchkey programs, and the other is
that there are kids whose parents can’t afford latch-
age programs. They can be through either an institu
tion like the
a school district, the city, or through
a non-profit, a large-family day care home, smallfamily day care home with transportation, or in the
neighborhood.
““
BiHMs: We have Kids on Kampus, a school-age
enrichment program. We are on-site at the elemen
tary school so there’s no busing involved. We pick up
the kindergarten children and we deliver them in
the morning before school.
Kvs.ii: What is the age span of the children that you
handle? What do you do with 9-, 10-, and 11-year olds?
HANSON: We have one classroom on each site, but
when we did have a fourth, fifth, and sixth grade
program, we had a separate classroom for that age
group. They need a separate program or separate
dedicated space with a teacher who is able to set up
an appropriate curriculum. They don’t really belong
in with 4- and 5-year olds. The fourth, fifth and sixth
graders rapidly get bored with the younger children’s
program and were problematic to a teacher who
was trying to run a program for K-3. But the
programs provide totally developmentally appro
priate activities for children in that younger age
group.
BRAHMs: Our break-up depends; it’s usually K-2 or
K-3, and then fourth, fifth and sixth. And we have
that at all our sites. The two sites where we have a
multipurpose room, we try to remove the older
children, but there’s an [age] overlap, so the teacher
-uses the older kids to help with the younger ones. It
makes them feel important—teacher’s helpers.
1992
gram with school-age children for many years, and
when the developmentally appropriate practice for
school-age child care came out through Whirlpool,
we looked at it and our teachers, as a group, adopted
it and put it in the handbook for parents. We de
signed activities to be in different areas, and to build
upon and enhance what was going on in the class
room.
HuDSoN: Is there state licensing that needs to be enforced?
DAvIs: Licensing deals with student-teacher ratios,
health and safety issues, which certainly is better
than nothing, but in terms of actual child devel
opment, I don’t think you’re going to find that
there. The bottom line is health and safety, and
enforcing that. That’s got fiscal implications, which
you have to deal with in terms of programming as
well as enforcement.
HANsoN: And also, state-funded centers are under
exemplary program standards, which we adopted
and use. There’s also the accreditation program
from NAEYC [National Association for the Edu
cation of Young Children] that can be adapted
for school-age programs. Our program is licenseexempt because it’s school-district run on a school
district site. I’ve seen things in licensed centers that
terrif’ me.
HuDsoN: How do you guarantee the standards of the
programs?
DAvIS: One of the things that turns any tide is the
demand of the consumet; and the consumer—the
parent—has to make that a priority. A study at U.C.
Berkeley said that many parents choose appliances
and cars with more consideration
than their child care. I still have
parents who call and say “I need a
babysitter.”
BRAHMS: It’s a known fact that par
ents will go for location and cost, in
that order. There’s also a very active
child care coalition, which through
our resource and referral service is
trying to make the community aware
of quality child care. There are dif
ferences, and parents don’t know
this. I tell them not to look at the
beautiful facility, but to look at the
interaction between the adults and
the children.
KEllER: What typically do you think
parents are lookingfor? What is it that
they want to have happen during those
several hours a day that those kids are
with you during the school year?
BRAhMS: Primarily,theywantan en
vironment that’s going to support
what they cannot be present to do,
which is to make sure that home
work is done. Then offer sports or
arts and crafts.
0
-o
a,
E
E
0
HANSON: With our parents it’s safety
and being right at the school. Low
cost is a major factor where we are.
‘I,
KEllER: What do you do to ensure
Alex Alatva (age 9) passes some time in the Serramonte Mall; Daly City, California.
that there are ways in which kids
can really have some “alone time”
DAvIs: I think it definitely raises the issue of supervi
—private time?
key programs, so the kids go home and the mothers
call from work exactly at that time.
HuDsoN: Is there a unfvingterin encompassing the myriad
ofprograms available to latchkey children?
HuDsoN: What kinds ofguidelines or structures are there
to the programs?
BRAHMs: There is a book area with big bean bags.
Some parents walk in and really would like a library
situation for their [the children’s] supervised home-
DAvis: When we do referrals we talk about school
Biiiisis: We’ve had a strong child development pro-
sion and what’s available for kids.
-
JANUARY 1993
11
From page 10
work time. Well, you have 50 children, and there’s tell mom this.” We don’t have too much tardiness selves, to encourage positive self-esteem, and then
not going to be that level. Most of the children have and we try to get parents to establish clear backup the academic stuffjust falls in. We’re there for their
been in child care since they were born, so they are situations.
socialization, getting along in the world
being
really accustomed to it—but we allow for their own HANSON: It’s confusing just to remember it! We able to ask for things or to wait for a turn.
private space. It’s not structured. We use our teach charge a very high fine for parent tardiness, so DAvIs: There’s enough research that’s been done,
ers mainly as fa
and I think it really doesn’t take a
cilitators of the
rocket scientist or even a Ph.D. in
environment
child development or psychology
and the chil
to figure out what really works.
dren are free to
We know what works. The ques
choose.
tion is do we have the resources,
do we have the support, do we
HANSON: That’s
have that kind of commitment to
basically what
implement what we already know?
happens with
our children.
KnuR: Is there frustration among
They have the
your teachers from working with the
freedom to be
staff ofprograms run on-site by other
wherever they
people? How do you work out ground
want within the
rules, mutual respect, and shared
program.
standards?
HuDsoN: Do you
Bit.Im1s: We’re on-site at all the
mainstreamphysi
elementary schools. The staff
cally and/or men
seems to be treated like stepchil
tally challenged
dren by the regular elementary
children into your
school staff—”Well, they’re the
programs?Do you
day care people.” I, as the re
I
have special kinds
gional director; meet with the
4
of centers, staff or
I
services for them?
BRAHMs: If a
child needs one- L..
on-one care, Hany Abdoun (center, age 13) and Khalil Kaid (age 12) in
sometimes the the children’s room at the libraiy, San Francisco, California.
person to be
with that child is at the center with them. But usually usually they
ours are mainstreamed in, and the other children only do it once;
three times
are really helpful, accepting.
and they get a
HuDsoN: Would there be any limits on the tes ofchildren
warning.
you would take?
HuDsoN: How
HANSoN: We don’t take children who are dangerous
to other children—who will attack other children or do youfind a ra
cial balance be
who are dangerous to themselves.
tween care-givers
Bnwts: We’re seeing more kids who just can’t
and who you’re
handle 50 kids all day long. We tell the parents when
caringfor?
they enroll that it is on a trial basis. We want to find
DAvIs: The is
sue is valid in
terms of trying
to ensure that
a child has posi
tive role mod
Vincent Carmona (center, white sweatshirt) and friends outside the Serramonte MalL Daly City, California.
els that reflect
who they are. You need a staff that’s sensitive enough principals regularly, try to have some basic ground
to bring racial balance to a curriculum, activities, rules—open communication. We try to get involved
books, art works. It’s a valid issue that people have to with the school activities. If there’s a carnival, we
what’s best for the child.
face because it’s directly linked to esteem, especially usually have a booth, and now we’ve been there long
HuDsoN: So what are the unmet needs oflatchkey children? if you’re working with diverse populations. It’s learn- enough that at most sites they invite us. It’s more
ing to deal with differences. We’re living in a diverse difficult on the shared sites, the multipurpose rooms.
HANSON: Affordable child care.
society
in more ways than just race or ethnicity.
Our staff always gets ousted first.
DAvis: The unmet needs can be quantified in some
ways in terms of quality or accessibility or affordability, HANSON: We do have the an tibias curriculum. We HANSON: We are part of the school district, but there
but I think it also comes down to attidudinal things. have personae dolls that represent other groups was that stepchild attitude. Now every year we are
Often, I work with parents who will abdicate their there, and we do some direct activities about race more and more included. We’ve had teachers rec
ommend that the children be placed in the latchkey
expertise to any institution, whether it’s a doctor or and children...
the dentist or the teacher, and I’ll say “How long has HuDsoN: What kinds of research are used to evaluate program after school because the child’s homework
this teacher known your child?”—”Oh, six weeks.” the effectiveness of your program in reducing school fail- was not getting done at home. It’s really been the
“How long have you known your child?” “Seven ure increasing children’s se[-esteem, and building peer personal relationship of the teachers and their abil
years.” Well who’s the expert?
ity to get right in there and act professional and say,
relationships?
ICvx.i.n: What do you do at the beginning and end of the HANsoN: We do a parent-satisfaction survey, but we “Here I am, I’m part of this program.”
day to make parents feel connected and empowered?
do not deal with that kind of self-esteem evaluation HuDsoN: How will the new administration affect the
Biimts: We try to emphasize that our staff greet the
right now—what’s going on with the children. Infor
parents individually if possible, and at pickup time. mally, constantly, we take notes; we have portfolios HANSON: ThefactthatClintonnamedMarian Wright
And we allow for a spring conference, in our ex- on the children, their stories and what they do, when
Edelman as one of the three people in the United
tended day program. Another kind of bonding also there are changes during the year.
States that he admired most has made me extremely
goes on— a lot of our children have been with US Biwis: You know when there are problems. You look hopeful that we’re going to see more of a family
four or five years, and longer,
at the overall makeup, and each year the demo- agenda in this country.
HuDsoN: What about things like parent tardiness,
graphics within your own little group change, and
muitiparentfamilies?
you know how you can fulfill the needs of each child,
pages 10 &‘ 11:
the self-esteem of the individuals in the total group.
Bimis: Multiparent families are difficult. It puts
courtesy of &ott Soinmerdorf
the staff in-between—”Dad tells us well, you need to We are there to make them feel good about them...
I4
It doesn’t take a rocket
scientist to see what
really works.
0
0
t
E
E
0
L0
12
.CHILDREN’S ADVOCATE JANUARY 1993
BOOKBASKET
Multicultural Books: Can
Publishers Deliver?
‘
Every Child’s A Star
By Corinna Pu
By Karen Greene
the next 60 years, people of
Hispanic descent will make up 40
percent of the total population
growth in the United States; the
African American population is
expected to double and the Asian
American population to quadruple. By
the middle of the next century, 82 mil
lion of the projected total population of
383 million will be people who arrived in
the U.S. after 1991—or whose parents
did, a recent New York Times article
reports (12/4/92).
With demographic changes in this
county’s population and— more impor
tant—a grass roots call for enlightened
materials, trade publishers are making
an effort to produce multicultural books.
But critics warn against Eurocentric in
terpretations of the “multicultural” and
suggest that lack of economic impetus
may be part of the problem. The issue is
addressed by three questions: Who is
defining multicultural, Who buys
multicultural books, and Who profits?
“Nearly every publisher that I know of
has been making some effort to respond
to the need for multicultural materials,”
says Shannon Maughan, children’s book
editor at Publisher /eekly, but trade book
publishers report they can’t always find
authors with an insider’s view of ethnic
communities. “If they find a Caucasian
author who writes something as authen
tic as can be, that rings true...”
But “rings true” to whom?
As Anthony Snowden editorial assis
tant at Black Butterfly Children’s Books
points out, “Every Publisher has a differ
ent interpretation of ‘multicultural.’”
Beverly Slapin, co-author of Through
IndianEyes: TheNative Experience and Books
for Children (Oyate, 1992), referring spe
cifically to books about Native Ameri
cans, asserts: “White publishers would
rather buy from White people who think
the same way they do. [They’re] buying
from white authors for a basically white
audience.
‘To take a legend or a story or a piece
of it and change its shape, color it from
your own perspective, impose on it your
own values. is cultural thievery. That’s
what’s being done in the name of
multicukuralism.”
Rennie Mau of the Multicultural Ex:
change, a cooperative ofsmall press pub
lishers of multicultural children’s books,
called this phenomenon a “bleaching
process.” It allows Euro/Anglo Ameri
can authors and publishers to capitalize
on the mukicultural market without a
. .
true understanding of (or commitment
to) a multicultural perspective.
A true multicultural perspective, crit
ics of the “bleaching process” are saying,
not only seeks out commonalities, it ap
preciates differences—including funda
mental differences in values and in in
terpretations of history and contempo
rary experience. And, it acknowledges
that even the prettiest picture book is
conceptualized, written, produced and
marketed within a complex historical
context—with social and economic con
sequences.
—
Though when push comes to shove,
not even the most severe critics insist
authors should only write about commu
nities to which they belong, they are
quick to point out that small presses like
Black Butterfly Children’s Books and
Lee/Low Books in New York and
Children’s Book Press in Berkeley, Cali
fornia are able to find authors-of-color
through concerted searches for comrnu
nity artists.
Black Butterfly Children’s Books pub
lishes specifically for an African Ameri
can audience, Lee/Low Books special
izes in books for children-of-color, by
authors-of-color and Children’s Book
Press publishes a wide variety of
multicultural children’s literature by
authors of all backgrounds from the U.S.
Quality Books for Children
B
Multicultural & Bilingual
from the begflin1n
Please call or write for a
copy of our free catalog.
THE BRESEE COMPANY
1-(800) 982-5712
C
hildren should be able to
see images of themselves
reflected in the literature
they read. The books re
viewed below star children
of many ethnicities in sto
ries of contemporary life that all chil
dren can relate to.
+ First Pink Light written by Eloise
Greenfield and illustrated by Jan Spivey
Gilchrist, Black Butterfly Children’s
Books, New York, 1991, $13.95, ages 612.
Special Needs/Concerns
General Interest
885 41st Avenue
Santa Cruz, CA 95062
I
School Budgets Thin for
Multicultural Books
Although as a group schools and
libraries represent $124.9 million
to the hook publishing industry
(Book Industry Study Group,
1991), individual institutions can’t
afford to buy the hooks they need.
Pat Berglund has been a school
resource librarian for the S.F.
Unifed School District Office of
Text, Media and Library Services
and worked in elementary school
libraries for more than 27 years.
She reported that two dollars and
15 cents are allocated per pupil in
the S.F. district. The average pic
ture hook costs $15. Ifa school has
300 children, there isn’t enough
money to replace books lost, dam
aged, or worn out, never mind
buy new books. And, though
multicultural hooks are a priority,
the $2.15 must also buy books to
support science and other curricu
lum subjects..
Greenfield’s realistic text and
Gilchnst’s gouache and pastel illustra
tions celebrate family life and youthful
emotions. Tyree, an African American
youth, feels everything from overwhelm
ing excitement to wrought up agitation
and boredom as he awaits his father’s
return from a one-month trip.
+ Indigo and Moonlight Gold written
and illustrated by Jan Spivey Gilchrist,
Black Butterfly Children’s Books, 1992,
$13.95, ages 9 and up.
If the title is not enough to intrigue
children, the exquisite illustrations will,
and if that still is not enough to stay
etched in their memory, then the rap
turous story ofAfrican American Autrie’s
attempt to hold onto a fleeting child
hood will.
+ Abuela, written by Arthur Dorros
and illustrated by Elisa Kleven, Dutton
Children’s Books, New York, 1991, $14,
ages 6-12.
Vivid and festive illustrations coupled
with a simple and lyrical text, mixing
Spanish and English, depict a charming
relationship between a young Mexican
American girl and her abuel.a (grand
mother).
+ The Sea and 1 written and illus
trated by Haruta Nakawatori, translated
by Susan Matsui; Farrar, Straus and
Giroux, New York, 1992, $13.95, ages 8
and up.
This book will take children to an
other place—to a serene and breathtak
ing unnamed island that comes to rep
resent anyone’s memory of childhood
and home. The story of ajapanese boy’s
admiration for his father and love of his
surroundings is told through magnifi
cent illustrations and moving text.
+ HoangBreakc the Luthy TeapoI, writ
ten by Rosemary K. Breckler and illus
trated by Adrian Frankel, Houghton Mif
fin Co., Boston, 1992, $13.95, ages 6-12.
Breckler introduces her story with a
briefhistory ofVietnamese in the United
States and the significance of a frnily’s
gia truyen (lucky teapot). Children of all
ages and backgrounds will be able to
relate to this tale of the endless possibili
ties of a child’s vivid imagination that
can make lifeless objects into animated
creatures and ordinary days into endless
adventures.
FOR Mo INFORMATION_______
Rennie Mau
Multicultural Exchange
(707) 823-7072
Martha Jackson
North. Calif. Children’s Book Assoc.
(415) 461-0171
PhIlip Lee
Lee/Low Books
(212) 867-6155
Anthony Snowden
Black Butterfly Children’s Books
(212) 982-3158
Harriet Rohmer
Children’s Book Press
(510) 655-3395
-
JANUARY 1993
13
Litigating for Preventive Dental Care
By Laurie Soman, Centerfor the Vulnerable Child
n the past few decades, the oral health of the
nation’s children has improved greatly. The
recent National Caries Prevalence Survey found
that 50 percent of children aged 5 to 17 had no
tooth decay, leading some in the public health
field to call dental decay a “disease of the past.”
Unfortunately, dental disease is still with us; according
to the same national Prevalence Survey, although
younger children suffer less from dental disease, by the
time they reach age 17, 84 percent of them experience
tooth decay. Periodontal disease is also prevalent among
children; 97 percent of children aged 5 to 17 have mild
to moderate gingivitis. And, like many other public
health problems, tooth decay is not an equal opportu
nity disease, but strikes low-income children harder
and more frequently.
The National Preventive Dentistry Demonstration
Project found children of color more likely to have
cavities and less likely to have had them filled. Twenty
J
Tooth decay strikes
low-income children harder.
percent of white children had cavities, and 80 percent
received fillings. Among African American children,
50 percent had caries, but only half had received fillings.
While there are few statistics on the extent of baby bottle
tooth decay, it is known that some children of color have
extremely high prevalence rates; the rate among
Native American children is estimated at 70 percent;
and among Pacific Islanders it is approximately 30
percent.
One of the best tools for preventing dental decay,
fluoridated water, is unavailable to many children in
California. Our state ranks 48th in the country in access
to fluoridated water, with only 17 percent of the popu
lation living in areas with fluoridation. Eighty-two of
the 150 largest U.S. cities without fluoridation are in
California, including Los Angeles, San Diego, SanJose,
and Sacramento. Yet researchers estimate the benefitto-cost ratio of fluoridation as anywhere from 20:1 to
80:1. Dental sealants, the application of plastic coatings
to the grooves of the back teeth to seal out the decay,
are also an effective prevention measure, bitt only nine
percent of school-age children have had them.
Medi-Cal Coverage of Dental Services
Dental services for low income adults are an op
tional service under Medicaid. Federal Medicaid legis
lation OBRA 89 codified
the provision ofdental ser
vices to children eligible
for the Early and Periodic
Screening, Diagnosis, and
Program
Treatment
(EPSDT). Still, many lowincome children face bar
riers to dental care for both
examinations and treat
ment. Medi-Cal pays for
treatment of eligible
children’s dental prob
lems, but will pay for only
one dental examination,
the initial exam, per child
per lifetime per individual
provider. So in order to
receive regular dental ex
ams, an eligible child
would have to locate a new
Medi-Cal dental provider
each time, or find a pro
vider willing to do free fol
low-up exams. This policy,
inefficient and incapable
offulfillment, directly con
tradicts the Child Health
and Disability Prevention
Program (CHDP) regula
tion that requires annual
dental referrals for neces
sary treatment for children
from the age of three. In a
further blow to preven
tion, Medi-Cal does not
cover dental sealants.
Finding a dentist who
accepts Medi-Cal is a ma
jor hurdle. In 1989 a state
Medi-Cal survey found
only 34 percent of dentists
willing to accept new Medi Dr. Aubuchon shows Raelon
Cal patients. And 40 per
cent of those who accepted Medi-Cal saw fewer than
seven Medi-Cal patients per year. Twenty-one counties
in the state had either no Medi-Cal dentist or only one.
Lack of providers means children wait up to six months
for exams and treatment. Low reimbursement fees, the
high rejection rate of Medi-Cal claims (thus, reduced
reimbursement to providers), and requirements for
prior authorization for service all conspire to discour
age providers from partici
pating in Medi-Cal.
-
Role of Litigation
Recently, children’s
advocates have turned to liti
gation to increase access to
dental care. The Children’s
Defense Fund sued the
Texas Department of Hu
man Resources to halt cut
backs in preventive dental
services and successfully es
tablished access to preven
tion services for children.
Three cases, in Connecti
cut, Maine, and Pennsylva
nia, established that state
medical programs must
cover medically necessary
orthodontic services. This
principle was upheld in the
California Brown v. Kizer
ruling that Medi-Cal must
Lanicford tools of the frade.
cover medically necessary orthodontic services for chil
dren. This suit created an absolute entitlement to these
services under the Medi-Cal program.
Another California case, Cla,* v. Coye (formerly Clath
Kizer) brought on behalf of both children and adults,
sought to establish that the state had violated federal
law by failing to provide equal access to dental care. The
1990 summaryjudgment in the lawsuit found the state
to be out of compliance with the federal Medi-Cal
statutes. In 1991, in response to thejudgment, the state
Finding a doctor who accepts
Medicare is a hurdle.
revised its reimbursement rates for some procedures.
The rates, which vary by procedure and are based on
usual and customary rates in the field, were increased
to amounts that ranged to 45 percent of the usual
charge. Upon review of the state’s actions, the judge in
the case then ordered an increase in reimbursement
up to 80 percent of the usual and customary fees.
(California appealed the ruling, and although the
appeal was denied, thejudge agreed to revisit thestatus
of reimbursement rates and access to dental re in
September, 1992, one year after the state’s actiods. The
order to increase the rates to 80 percent has now been
upheld.) By April of 1992, following the rate cbanges,
the number of dentists treating Medi-Cal patients in
14
CHILDREN’S ADVOCATE JANUARY 1993
CONFERENCE CALENDER
February 3-6, 1993. The Best of Both
Worlds: 18th Annual Conference. Spon
sored by the California Association for
Bilingual Education (CABE). Anaheim
Hilton and Towers, Anaheim, Caiifor
nia. Contact: CABE, (909) 984-6201.
February 4-6, 1993. Achieving National
Education Reform: Arts Education as
Catalyst: Fourth National Invitational
Conference. Sponsored by the Getty
Center for Education in the Arts. San
Francisco Hilton and Towers, San Fran
cisco. Exploring the role of arts educa
tion in the national education reform
movement. Contact: Valsin Marmillion,
Rachel Rosenthal, Pacific Visions Com
munications, Inc., (310) 274-8787.
February 13-17, 1993. The Region IX
Head Start Association of Directors, As
sociates and Parents Together, Inc. Train
ing Conference. Sacramento. Contact:
Norma Johnson, Sacramento Employ
ment and Training Agency, (916) 6468705.
February 24-27,1993. The Learning Dis
abilities Association of America Annual
Conference. San Francisco. Contact:
Conference Coordinator, (412) 3411515.
February 25-27, 1993: The National As
sociation of Child Care Resource and
Referral Agencies Fifth Annual Sympo
sium. Washington, D.C. Contact:
NACCRRA, (507) 287-2220.
DENTAL
From page 13
the 21 counties least served by Medi-Cal
had more than doubled. However, in
real terms, while this number of dentists
increased from 10 to 23, the number of
Medi-Cal eligibles grew by almost 8,000
over the same year.
Advocates subsequently decided to
tackle Medi-Cal’s lack of coverage of
dental sealants. California is one of only
three states that do not cover dental
sealants, despite their known signfficant
cost-benefit results. (A cost-benefit study
by the State Department of Health Ser
vices [DHS] several years ago identified
potential savings of$1 20,000 a year from
sealants.)
Accordingly, DHS was sent a formal
FUNDERS
From page 3
years, there is, she learned, a clear trend
towards more collaboration “or at least
cooperation” among foundations and
increased emphasis on launching family
support services, school restructuring,
and other multi-agency, school-linked
services projects.
The exception in the shift from help
for individual children to families is in
the area ofyouth development, she notes.
‘°T’here has been a realization by funders
that they can’t serve only high-risk youth,
and must reach beyond school and fam
ily settings, by providing employment
and community service programs that
develop citizenship and responsibility.
Shao sees the increasingly mandatory
but almost always implicit requirement
March 1-3, 1993. A System of Care for
Children’s Mental Health: Expanding the
Research Base: 6th Annual Research
Conference. Sponsored by the Research
and Training Center for Children’s Men
tal Health, Tampa, FL. Contact: Dan
Cassella, (813) 974-4433.
March 12-14, 1993. National Child Care
Association’s Annual Conference. Ft.
Worth, TX. Contact: (800) 543-7161 for
information.
March 19-20, 1993. Generations United
Fourth National Conference on
Intergenerational Issues and Programs.
Sponsored by Generations United. Wash
ington, DC. Contact: (202) 638-2952
March 20-24, 1993. American Academy
of Pediatrics, Spring Session. Chicago,
IL. Contact: AAP, 141 Northwest Point
Boulevard, P.O. Box 927, Elk Grove Vil
lage, IL, 60009.
March 30-31, 1993 in San Diego and
April 28-29, l993inNewYork City. Work
and Family, Redefining the Business
Case: Fourth Annual Conference. Spon
sored by the Conference Board and the
Families and Work Institute. Participants
will be provided with customized strate
gies for practical application. Contact:
registrar, (212) 339-0290.
April 7-10, 1993. Creating a Caring Cul
ture in a World of Differences Annual
International Study Conference. Spon
sored by the Association for Childhood
“demand” letter, advising the depart
ment that advocates would file a lawsuit
if the Department did not provide Medi
Cal coverage of dental sealants. DHS
replied that itwould “consider” covering
dental sealants. However, because nego
tiations did not result in a satisfactory
policy on Medi-Cal coverage of sealants,
on October 29, 1992, the National Cen
ter for Youth Law and the Youth Law
Center filed a class action suit in US
District Court to enforce the right of
low-income children in the state to pre
ventive dental care.
Policy Recommendations
1. Include oral health goals in state
and local child health plans, as well as
in individual children’s health care
for interagency collaboration as a way
for even the smallest organizations “to
look at their position in the community.
Agencies can not function in isolation.
They need to know what’s going on, to
share resources.”
However, having started her career
running youth centers, she is worried
that the tendency is for funders to “hop
on bandwagons: AIDS, homelessness,
child care, and now collaboration and
school-linked seces.”She feels it is not
always cost-efficient or necessary to link
up or start new initiatives.
“Small organizations need to do their
own things and they need some sup
port,” she maintains.
Can funders be convinced to help
agencies continue what they already do
well? Shao believes that foundations are
in the position to be lobbied and to
Education Interna
tional (ACEI). Hyatt
Regency
Hotel,
Phoenix, AZ. For reg
istration and exhibit
information, contact:
Marilyn Gardner or
Theresa Watts, (800)
423-3563.
Attention profes
sionals in JOBS, ma
ternal and child
health programs:
February 10-12,
March 17-19 and
April 15-16, 1993.
The eight-day train
ing program for the
Family Development
Specialist Certifica
tion. Des Moines,
Iowa. Refresher
classes focusing on
rebuilding skills in
areas of child abuse,
chemical depen
dency and group fa
cilitation will also be
offered on May 1921. The cost for cer
tification is $700.
Contact: Sarah Nash,
National Center on
Family Based Ser
vices, (319) 335-2202.
Subscribe
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plans.
2. Expandwater fluoridation through
out the state.
3. Increase dental provider participa
tion in Medi-Cal through mechanisms
such as increased reimbursement rates
and reduced red tape.
4. Encourage preventive dental exams
in children by eliminating “one exam
per child per provider” rule.
5. Establish prevention-based cover
age of dental sealants under Medi-Cal.
6. Establish and expand school-based
programs of oral health, including screen
ing and treatment, for school children.
7. Conduct community education on
children’s oral health issues, including
baby bottle tooth decay, the need for
FOR MORE’ INFORMATION______
Robert Isman, DDS
Department of Health Services
(916) 322-4933
Alice Bussiere, JD
National Center for Youth Law
(415) 543-3307
Sue Burrell,Jl)
Youth Law Center
(415) 543-3379
Laurie Soman
Bay Area Child and Family Policy
Forum
Center for the Vulnerable Child
Children’s Hospital
747 52nd Street
Oakland, CA 94609
early and regular dental screening, and
other topics.
change. “Ten years ago program officers
did not come from the field. Program
officers now have experience in the pub
lic and not-for-profit sector, and they’re
willing to be educated.”
“Be persistent,” she advises. “Don’t
give up. You might not get heard the
first, second, or even the third time.”
Shao believes that the role of private,
charitable foundations should be clear:
“to find the best people out there and
support them.”
FOR MoRE INFORMATION________
The Foundation Directory—provides
financial data, statements of purpose,
and contact information about the
largest private and community grant
making foundations. Foundation Cen
ter, 79 Fifth Ave., Dept. LE, New York,
N.Y. 10003-3076, (212) 620-4230
Foundation Center Libraries, operated
by the Foundation Center in 170 lo
cations, offer information on foun
dations and training on other fund-
raising fundamentals. Check the
phone book for the center near you.
In the Bay Area:
The Foundation Center, 312 Sutter
St., S.F. (415) 397-0920
Available at the S.F. location:
Guide toFundingfor Children, Youth and
Families, 1990
Grant Guidefor Children and Youth, 1992
JANUARY1993
FYI
15
For Your In formation
he presumptive eligibility bill,
AR 501 (Margolin-D), was signed
by the governor in late Septem
ber. Providing temporary Medi-Cal eligi
bility to pregnant women whose cover
age is pending, this bill enables more
women to receive immediate prenatal
care, which in turn means fewer babies
born with medical complications.
The governor also signed into law a
bill that requires all California health
insurance policies for children under 18
to cover preventive care costs. The cost
ofpreventive care for children from birth
to 16 years old is $1,100 per child, per
year, as opposed to $1,250 per child,
each day of a hospital stay.
T
Subscribe to the
Multicultural Books
From page 12
and abroad.
If, as critics of “bleached” interpreta
tions imply, trade publishers aren’t
searching hard enough, time and cold
hard dollars may have something to do
with it. Those who are demanding books
with a multicultural perspective have,
relatively speaking, only just begun to
make their voices heard. According to
Snowden, “There’s a whole history of
publishers who believed that people of
color just do not read.” For a long time,
the only “multicultural” books available
were folktales. Publishers may be only
now waking up to the possibilities— and
the needs—of the multicultural market.
According to the Book Industry Study
Group in New York City, consumer
(bookstores), library and school expen
ditures for children’s books topped 2
billion in 1991 and are expected to in
crease by $1.5 billion in the next five
The National Center for Children in
Poverty has a new book, Child Care
Choices, Consumer Education, and Low
Income Families, by Anne Mitchell. This
book examines a family’s child care
choices, how state and local agencies
educate consumers about child care and
a report on mothers leaving welfare for
work through theJOBS program. $11.00.
Make checks payable to Columbia Uni
versity, and order through NCCP at 154
Haven Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10032.
Now available: From Head Start: The
Inside Story of America’s Most Success
ful Educational Experiment, by Edward
Zigler and Susan Muenchow, 1992 N.Y.:
Harper Collins.
Children and Televison.
Children, particularly girls
and boys under seven, are
especially vulnerable to the
illusion that the events por
trayed on television are real.
According to developmental theory, it’s
not until about the second grade that
children develop the intellectual ability
to tell the difference between what is
real and what is imaginary. Parents who
learn to casually provide information
about laugh tracks and mashed potatoes
masquerading as ice cream have all made
progress in breaking the video spell and
persuading their children to be skepti
cal about what they see. To find out
more about how families handle the role
that media plays in their lives, see “Chil
dren and Television: Growing up in a
Media World” in the #52-53 issue of
Media&Values Magazine or in the Media
Literacy Workshop Kit by Parenting in a
TV Age. Available from Center for Me
dia Values, 1962 5. Shenandoah, Los
Angeles, CA 90034, (213) 559-2944.
Generations Together, along with sev
eral other groups of child care, labor,
and adult education experts have pro-
years. But Harriet Rohmer of Children’s
Book Press noted, “bookstores aren’t nec
essarily serving a wide spectrum of the
community.” The demand for children’s
books that take multiculturalism beyond
the rewritten folktale genre which pro
liferated in the 1960s comes from schools
and libraries.
Maugham at Publisher’s Weekly con
firmed that schools and libraries are
strong sales areas for multicultural pic
ture books serving ages 0 to 9. However,
while the bookstore market represents
$1.95 billion in sales, schools and librar
ies count for only $124.9 million of the
overall figure (1991).
According to Rohmer, the demand
has increased—over the past three years
in particular. .She cites two reasons in
addition to demographic changes: first,
because graduates of 1960s university
programs have assumed positions of
power in related areas; and second, in
part a result of the other trends, because
of the move toward culturally relevant,
literature-based language arts pro
grams—such as the one in California.
While she defended the effort of trade
book publishers to be responsive, Martha
Jackson, vice president of the Northern
California Children’s Bookseller Asso
ciation (NCCBA) noted that some mis
conceptions persist. Publishers tend to
confuse multicultural books (books
about contemporary experience in the
United States) with international books
(about cultures in other lands). They
frequently lump cultures from the same
part of the world under a generalized
label of ethnicity as if they were inter
changeable. However, books about Ja
pan are no substitute for books about
Khmer Americans; nor do books about
Puerto Ricans substitute for books about
Mexican Americans.
Nola Hadley, a research assistant at
the American Indian Historian Press and
board member of Oyate, a native advocacy and education group working on
children’s book issues, emphasized an-
Highly skilled Executive Director,
credentialed in early childhood
education.
Submit application letter
and resume to:
Search Committee
Phoebe Hearst
Preschool Learning Center
1315 Ellis Street
San Francisco, CA 94115
duced the field-tested Guidelines for the
Productive Employment of Older Adults
in Child Care. Endorsed by the National
Association for the Education of Young
Children [NAEYCI. Contact: Janet Wil
son, Generations Together-Publications,
University of Pittsburgh, 121 University
Place, Suite 300, Pittsburgh, PA 152605907, (412) 648-2209.
other related point. “People are missing
the fact that these are living cultures with
lots of people from lots of very different
backgrounds,” she said.
As one bookseller pointed out, not all
Latinos live in the barrio; not all African
Americans live in the ghetto; not all fami
lies have a mother and a father and 2.5
children.
“Children need to see themselves in
the books they read,” Karen Johnson,
manager of what she called the “Black
children’s heaven,” Marcus Bookstore, in
Oaldand, California. They need positive,
nonstereotyped images.
Trade publishers are paying attention,
Maughan says. “The goal is to create as
many readers as possible. That can only
be good for the industry.”
Interviews with Black Butteifly Children cBooks
and Lee/Low Books were conducted by Corinna
Pu.
Hospitals
From page 4
their families and another for drug-exposed children
and their families (CARE). The center conducts re
search and analysis of state programs (e.g. medical and
foster care) and holds monthly policy forums on a
broadly-defined range of health-related topics.
At the state level, says Tony Paap, chief executive
officer at Oakland, lobbyists for pediatric hospitals like
this one don’tjust lobby for the hospital, they lobby for
the whole child.
During the campaign for the recent elections, coali
tion members held a televised forum with Clinton and
a Bush representative on children’s issues. The
Children’s Hospital of San Diego worked with the
district PTA, the county department of education and
the American Academy of Pediatrics to compile and
distribute more than 400,000 election guides including
candidates platforms on children’s issues. Many coali
tion members including Children’s Hospitals of San
Diego, Houston and Dallas held their own televised
forums with candidates at all levels of government.
Non-medical coalition members such as the Black
Child Development Institute adapted publicity materi
als created by the coalition for targeted audiences. The
Los Angeles Children’s Hospital provided counseling
in schools after the violence that followed the trial of
the police officers accused of beating Rodney King.
There is no single blueprint for action. Each area
has unique challenges and resources, CCHA executive
director Hoffman notes. Spiritual beliefs among
Fresno’s concentration of Hmong refugees present
special challenges in immunization procedures, for
example. Communities with access to community tele
vision have special opportunities. That’s why
NACCHRI’s coalition works closely with and shares
members with state coalitions, which in turn encour
age coalitions in local communities.
The “whole child” approach is not new to the
pediatrics arena. “We’ve always treated the whole fam
ily. It couldn’t work any other way,” says 76-year-old
retired pediatrician Richards Lyon, who practiced for
more than 20 years at Children’s Hospital Oakland.
“They talk about whole care these days. It’s a laugh.
Nowwe’ve come to the days of specialization, but in the
‘50s there wasn’t a family practitioner who wasn’t prac
ticing whole care.”
If specialization within the medical profession has
made treatment of the whole child problematic, it’s
had a similar effect on child advocacy, according to
NACHRI’s Susan Bales. “The children’s movement has
had many opportunities to work cooperatively, but
advocates have persistently said, ‘We don’t do that
aspect of the job, we do this.” Turf conflicts can be an
obstacle to coalition work, she says.
Eager to make their advocacy as efficient as pos
sible, NACHRI called in political strategists from both
the Republican and Democratic parties as advisors.
One advisor told them, “You guys had better be either
very rich or very smart,” reports Bales, “We represent
6million non-voting people. We figured we weren’t
going to get rich very quickly, so we better get smart.”
They got organized.
:1
photogmphy © 1992 by Tom Levy
We know why we’re here.
We’re here for the children.
Children’s Hospital Oakland
The pediatric medical center
for Northern California
Clinics:
Fairfield
Fremont
Pleasanton
Santa Rosa
Walnut Creek

the Door for Latchkey Children

Transcription

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