EVERETT, Washington – After the community shrinks, Everett Community College has suspended plans to close its Early Learning Center, which provides child care and nutritional counseling to many low-income families in the north. from Seattle for 29 years.
Parents and employees were informed last week by a letter from the college, which said a review of income and expenses showed the program was “not financially sustainable.”
Ahead of a board meeting on Tuesday night, the college sent a letter to the community saying the board would work with state and local leaders to find permanent funding.
Michelle Doran, whose three-year-old daughter attends the center, said the program had been a lifesaver in recent months while she was homeless.
“I can’t tell you how phenomenal this program has been,” Doran noted. “The support I received from the Early Learning Center allowed me to be successful, so I didn’t hit rock bottom, I was able to keep a full-time job and have quality child care. “
Everett officials said the center racked up a net loss of $ 700,000 over a five-year period. In its original letter to staff, the college said it planned to close the center on June 30 and that 14 employees would be made redundant.
Everett Community College has said it is interested in handing over the lease on the building to the Snohomish County YMCA to run a child care program.
Amie Waters, deputy director of the Everett Community College Early Learning Center, said she was encouraged to have a chance to fight for the future of the program as she didn’t think the YMCA would be able to provide the same high quality education.
“The YMCA starts their head teachers at $ 13 an hour, and they cap at just over $ 17, so their end pay is less than our starting pay,” Waters explained. “For the Young Men’s Christian Association to take charge of our wonderful, diverse program is very insulting. “
The Early Learning Center has been accredited by the National Association for the Education of Young Children. Less than 10% of daycares and preschool education centers in the United States receive accreditation.
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CARSON CITY, Nevada – Health advocates are pushing the US Senate to approve the Build Back Better Act because it would improve Medicaid and CHIP – the children’s health insurance program.
The bill, which has already passed the House, would provide 12 months of continuous coverage to children eligible for Medicaid.
A new memoir co-authored by Joan Alker – research professor at the McCourt School of Public Policy at Georgetown University and executive director of its Center for Children and Families – found that during Trump’s early years, a child in ten experienced a gap in coverage during the 12 month course.
“After seeing this disturbing reverse in the progress we had made as a country in reducing the number of uninsured children, which stopped in 2017 and started to go in the wrong direction,” said Alker , “The Build Back Better bill would really turn things around and start moving the country forward in the right direction.”
In Nevada, children in families of three who earn about $ 45,000 a year or less are eligible for affordable health coverage through Medicaid or Nevada Checkup. Opponents say the $ 2,000 billion Build Back Better Act is too costly.
The bill would also fund CHIP on a permanent basis, so it does not need to be renewed every few years. It is also much easier for all states to extend eligibility for children.
Kendall Lyons, director of health policy for the Children’s Advocacy Alliance in Nevada, said the bill would also reduce maternal mortality by extending postpartum Medicaid coverage by one year.
“Extending postpartum coverage from 60 days, which it is currently in Nevada, to 12 months,” Lyons said, “would be huge in providing essential postpartum care to people.
Last year, a Nevada state maternal mortality report found that there were 129 pregnancy-related deaths in Silver state between 2015 and 2019.
Disclosure: The Georgetown University Center for Children & Families contributes to our children’s and health issues reporting fund. If you would like to help support the news in the public interest, click here.
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CAMP HILL, Pa .– Pennsylvania’s child welfare and behavioral health services are in crisis, with a shortage of workers exacerbated by the pandemic, a new report reveals.
Between low wages and emotionally demanding work, advocates say real solutions are needed to ensure these agencies are able to help children at risk.
The Pennsylvania Council of Children, Youth & Family Services report includes a survey of the challenges faced by many providers of behavioral health services for children.
Of the 51 agencies that responded, one in four said they had more than 30 vacancies. Board Chairman and CEO Terry Clark said the shortage was having a ripple effect.
“Whether it is individual therapy, whether it is a child entering a particular residential treatment facility and there is no staff, he is waiting somewhere,” Clark said. “As a result, we are seeing children whose needs are not being met. They are not able to begin to address some of the underlying causes of their trauma.”
More than half of those surveyed said they were forced to delay program expansion due to understaffing. The report recommends allowing providers to receive the state’s maximum allowable reimbursement rate for their services.
Nancy Kukovich is the CEO of Adelphoi, which provides behavioral health care for children and adolescents, including 14 group homes in the state.
She said the company currently has 30 to 40 job openings, even after increasing the starting salary to $ 18 an hour. Kukovich said that a recommendation in the report that she sees as essential is the cancellation of the student loan.
“It kills me to hire people to work in Adelphoi, I expect them to have a university education,” Kukovich said. “And yet, I don’t pay them enough to send their kids to college. I mean, that’s wrong at first glance.”
The report also recommends that providers compile data from exit interviews to learn more about the reasons for staff leaving and develop results-based plans for recruiting and retaining employees.
Disclosure: The Pennsylvania Council of Children, Youth, and Family Services contributes to our reporting fund on budget policy and priorities, children’s issues, education, and social justice. If you would like to help support the news in the public interest, click here.
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ALBUQUERQUE, NM – The 800 children living in foster care near Albuquerque are among the first to receive a new therapy kit designed to help them manage change, uncertainty and trauma.
The city has deployed “EcoCare kits” as a tool to connect foster children to the healing qualities of nature.
Austin Adderholt, community outreach and recruitment manager for New Mexico Kids Matter, said the agency is always looking for new approaches in the foster care system to benefit children in the long term.
“What we’re trying to do is make sure that we introduce our adopted children to mindfulness and connection with nature, to help them cope with the trauma they’ve been through,” Adderholt explained. .
New Mexico has been one of the hardest-hit states for children who have lost a primary caregiver to COVID-19, according to a Journal of Pediatrics report. The report says that along the US-Mexico border, up to 67% of all children who have lost a helping parent or grandparent identify as Hispanic.
Adderholt pointed out that New Mexico Kids Matter is also working to see if kits of a therapeutic nature have a positive impact for children working in the justice system.
“We’re going to give them to our court-appointed special advocates, who are our CASAs, who are foster child advocates in court,” Adderholt noted.
Three hundred kits were initially created. They contain a magnifying glass for studying insects; a bandana that serves as a board game; and an award-winning children’s book, “Everybody Needs a Rock,” located in the Southwest.
Dave Simon, director of the Albuquerque Parks and Recreation Department, wants New Mexico’s children to discover that nature is a gift for life.
“What stands out from the kit is that we designed it so that it can be used in natural environments,” said Simon. “But this kit can also be used in a child’s garden. We know that nature’s immense healing powers can help no matter where the child is.”
Simon plans to bring the kit created in New Mexico to national conferences and hopes it becomes a national model for working with foster children.
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