Maternal and Child Health Library

This and past issues of the MCH Alert are available at http://www.mchlibrary.info/alert/archives.html.

August 3, 2007

1.TOOLKIT GATHERS RESOURCES ON LEGAL ISSUES ASSOCIATED WITH KINSHIP CAREGIVING

The Kinship Care Legal Resource Center is an online toolkit for navigating existing and emerging legal issues in kinship care, defined as the "full-time care, nurturing, and protection of children by relatives, members of their tribes or clans, or other adults who have a family relationship to a child." The toolkit, developed by the American Bar Association's Center on Children and the Law, links to resources about policies enacted in 28 states that enable relative caregivers to consent to treatment for their relative child's medical, dental, surgical, and psychological needs. Resources on financial assistance for kinship care, statutory preferences for relative placement, kinship navigator programs, educational consent and school enrollment, and licensing policies are also included. The toolkit is intended for use by attorneys, judges, educators, health professionals, and others in serving children within the context of their kinship families. The Web page is available at http://www.abanet.org/child/kinshipcare.shtml.

• Reducing Disparities Beginning in Early Childhood (Short Take No. 4) highlights patterns of disparities in risks, access, and outcomes and provides recommendations for reducing disparities in early childhood. The brief is available at http://www.nccp.org/publications/pdf/text_744.pdf.
• State of the States' ECCS Initiatives (Short Take No. 5) summarizes the results of a review and analysis of state ECCS plans and reports. The brief is available at http://www.nccp.org/publications/pdf/text_748.pdf.

• During 2001-2005, an estimated 207,830 patients with SR-related TBIs were treated in U.S. hospital EDs each year.
• The highest rates of SR-related TBI ED visits for both males and females occurred among those ages 10-14, followed by those ages 15-19.
• During 2001-2005, children and adolescents ages 5-18 accounted for an estimated 2.4 million (59.7%) SR-related ED visits, of which approximately 134,959 (5.6%) were categorized as TBI-related.

• Before controlling for any other factors, the prevalence of daily smoking was 25% lower among women with children from birth to age 4 than among women without children.
• Before controlling for any other factors, single women were 58% more likely than married women to smoke.
• After controlling for other risk factors, women with children from birth to age 4 were 20% less likely to smoke than women without children.
• After considering parenting children and marital status together, the protective association between parenting children from birth to age 4 disappeared for single women but remained strong for married women.
• The effect of parenting children ages 5-17 and both children from birth to age 4 and ages 5-17 also differed between single and married women. While single mothers were more likely to smoke than single women without children, married mothers were less likely to smoke than married women without children.
• The prevalence of smoking increased as income decreased for both single and married women.
• Among both single and married women, there were clear racial and ethnic differences in smoking prevalence, with white women being more likely to smoke than black and Hispanic women.
• Among single women, being the mother of children from birth to age 4 was not protective against smoking among Blacks or Hispanics, and it increased the risk of smoking among whites.
• Among married women, having children was protective against smoking among all racial and ethnic groups. However, having children had a stronger effect against smoking among married black and Hispanic women than among their white counterparts.