KIDS COUNT: Significant Decline in Children’s Economic Well Being Over Past Decade

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There has been a significant decline in economic well being for low-income children and families in the last decade, according to the Annie E. Casey Foundation’s annual KIDS COUNT Data Book.

Among the findings, the official child poverty rate, a conservative measure of economic hardship according to the report, increased 18 percent between 2000 and 2009. The increase represents 2.4 million more children now living below the federal poverty line, returning to roughly the same levels as the early 1990’s.

“In 2009, 42 percent of our nation’s children, or 31 million, lived in families with incomes below twice the federal poverty line or $43,512/year for a family of four, a minimum needed for most families to make ends meet,” Laura Speer, associate director for Policy Reform and Data at the Casey Foundation, said in a press release. “The recent recession has wiped out many of the economic gains for children that occurred in the late 1990’s.”

Michelle Barclay and Mary Hermann on A Foster Child Pining for his Mother

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Logan* was five when he entered foster care for the second time. Nine years later, at 14, he’s still in foster care.  This Georgia boy’s long stay in the foster care system started when his mother signed a temporary voluntary relinquishment of her parental rights because of her alcohol and drug abuse. Back then, the plan was to have Logan stay in foster care or placed with relatives while she worked on her rehabilitation.  The goal was to reunify the family and the plan didn’t change. Logan has had seven placements while in foster care.  Today, he lives in a group home and has a close relationship with the director of that home and his court appointed special advocate.  He has also maintained a bond with his mother over all this time. They talk by phone, have weekly family counseling by phone and last summer he spent a week in her home in Texas. Logan’s mother has changed and improved her situation over the last nine years.  She is no longer using drugs and she has had another child whom she is raising in Texas. She is fragile, but has been fairly stable for six years. She expresses affection for Logan, something that has sustained him during all these years of being so alone.

Students Disciplined in Texas Public Schools More Likely to Enter Juvenile Justice System

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Educators are reacting to a recent study of Texas public schools that found students who were disciplined were more likely to be involved in the juvenile justice system and do poorly academically. The study, by the Council of State Governments Justice Center, also found that 60 percent of Texas public school students received some form of punishment at least once between seventh and 12th grades. “Policymakers should be asking if the school discipline system is getting the outcomes they want it to get,” Michael Thompson, director of the center, told The Washington Post. The study was co-authored by Texas A&M University’s Public Policy Research Institute. Researchers collected data from about 1 million public school students who began seventh grade in 2000, 2001 or 2002. Nearly 15 percent were involved in some way with the juvenile justice system.

locker stock photo - Clay Duda, JJIE.org

Texas Educators May Soon Gain Access to Student’s Criminal Records

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A piece of Texas legislation that would provide educators with detailed information about a student’s criminal history is poised to become law. If passed the measure would provide teachers and school officials access to juvenile records that have traditionally been confidential in most states, according to an Associated Press story. Educators and juvenile advocates were at odds about the effectiveness of the new measure. Educators said teacher safety was paramount, but advocates feared revealing students' criminal information would undermine the work of the juvenile corrections system -– a framework that aims to allow youth who’s decision-making skills aren’t fully developed to move beyond early mistakes in life, according to the AP. While current Texas laws allow teachers to be informed verbally about a student’s criminal past, the new legislation would require law enforcement to relinquish “all pertinent details” about a young offender’s history to the school superintendent.