Practice-relevant information in the areas of Mental Health, Education, Child Welfare, Juvenile Justice, Family Involvement, Youth Development, and Cultural Competence

National Center for Children in Poverty Launches LIFT

On March 26, 2003, NCCP introduced the Let’s Invest in Families Today (LIFT) project and the new LIFT web site, www.lift.nccp.org. This web-based research tool promises to become an important resource for everyone working on behalf of low-income children and families. LIFT is a collaborative project with a network of state and regional advocacy organizations that endeavors to protect and increase public investments for low-income children and their families.

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Child Maltreatment 2000

The Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention announces the availability of “Child Maltreatment 2000,” published by the Administration on Children, Youth and Families. The eleventh annual publication of information collected by the National Child Abuse and Neglect Data System, “Child Maltreatment 2000” provides comprehensive data about child maltreatment known to U.S. child protective services agencies in calendar year 2000. You may access “Child Maltreatment 2000” at http://www.acf.hhs.gov/programs/cb/publications/cmreports.htm

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The “First Annual Addiction Treatment Professional Career and Salary Survey”

Counselor: The Magazine for Addiction Professionals has published the First Annual Addiction Treatment Professional Career and Salary Survey. With our distressed economy coupled with budget cutbacks, this survey, the first of its kind, is an essential tool for professionals in the addiction treatment field. For more information, visit http://www.jointogether.org/sa/news/alerts/reader/0,1854,556560,00.html.

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Kentucky Treatment Bill Allows Parents to Commit Adult Children

A bill under consideration in the Kentucky legislature would allow parents to compel their adult children to get addiction treatment. The bill was inspired by Charlotte Wethington, whose son, Casey, signed himself out of treatment and later died from a drug overdose. The legislation would add a new category of people who can be involuntary committed. For more information, visit http://www.jointogether.org/sa/news/summaries/reader/0,1854,562143,00.html.

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CEC Calls for Revamped IEPs and Measures to Reduce the Over-Identification of Children from Diverse Backgrounds to Improve IDEA

To dig special education teachers out from the mountains of paperwork that keep them from teaching and planning lessons for their students, the Council for Exceptional Children (CEC) is calling for major revisions to the Individualized Educational Programs (IEPs) mandated by the federal government. For more information, visit http://www.cec.sped.org/spotlight/cec_response/idea_rec_2003.html.

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Recognizing and Treating Depression in Young Children

Recent debate about the use of medication in very young children has sparked even more discussion about the ability to correctly diagnose psychiatric disorders in this age group. Helen L. Eggers, M.D., from Duke University Medical Center recently presented information on depression in preschoolers. For more information, visit http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/449715 (Medscape is a free service provided by WebMD; registration is required).

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Depressed Preschoolers Exhibit Typical Symptoms

According to the results of a comparative trial reported in the March issue of the Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, preschool children with depression, like older children, predominately exhibit typical symptoms such as sadness and anhedonia. Although masked symptoms are much less common, they may be the presenting symptoms. For more information, visit http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/450623 (Medscape is a free service provided by WebMD; registration is required).