[Youth-list] Summary of the National Summit on Children

[JMRab at aol.com]

Hi, folks. I've pasted in below a summary available online at --  
www.nassembly.org/nassembly/ChildrensSummit.htm
 
 
 
Synopsis of the Summit  Panels 
Additional materials are available on the _Speaker's Web site_ 
(http://speaker.gov/issues?id=0032) .  
The first panel, focused on the science of early  child development, provided 
a comprehensive review of research in this arena.  Children’s brains, as 
noted by Charles Nelson of Harvard Medical School, are  constructed over time, 
continuing into the late teens and early 20s. However,  there do exist ‘sensitive 
periods’ of development, with the first three  years in a child’s life 
playing a particularly crucial role. Experts emphasized  that children are the 
product of an interaction between genes and environment;  early deprivation- 
including chronic stress, abuse, neglect, or malnutrition-  may have long-term 
outcomes such as lower academic achievement or increased  difficulty with social 
interactions.  The parent-child relationship was  highlighted as the key source 
of learning for infants, providing a foundation  for emotional learning, 
communication, self-efficacy, sensory knowledge and  education. Based on this 
commentary, panelists offered the following  recommendations:  
    *   assure access to basic healthcare in order to insure healthy 
development,  
    *   increase focus on social and emotional needs (as opposed to solely  
cognitive ones),  
    *   support early intervention programs (e.g. intensive pre and 
post-natal  home visiting) that provide significant outcomes, address the shortage of  
well-trained early childhood personnel, and  
    *   develop policies that affect the entirety of childhood. 
The second panel convened practitioners and business executive in an attempt  
to discuss exemplary implementation of best practices. James Rohr, CEO of the 
 PNC Financial Services Group, stated that PNC's Grow Up Great program  had 
been successful in integrating a $100 million commitment with community  
volunteerism. Financial incentives, he noted, were particularly useful; program  
centers earned more money when their employees volunteered for 40 or more hours.  
Ponder, CEO of North Carolina Partnership for Children, commented that  
businesses should seek to invest in children so as to insure a future workforce  
that would be well-prepared and highly educated. The Chief of Police from Waco,  
Texas highlighted the ties between early intervention and the juvenile 
justice  system, emphasizing the necessity of breaking cycles of violence. All 
panelists  emphasized the need for solutions based at the community level, allowing 
for the  largest degree of flexibility and the development of accountability. 
 
The third panel reflected on the health and mental  health status of 
children, focusing particularly on the rise of chronic disease.  Paul Wise, of 
Stanford University’s School of Medicine, noted that 90 percent of  all non-trauma 
mortality in children was due to chronic illness (e.g. asthma);  in discussing 
this trend, he particularly emphasized the degree to which current  health 
insurance models (developed in the 1960s and 1970s around infectious  disease) 
were ill-equipped to deal with such change. Experts on the child  welfare system 
noted the degree to which emphasis had been placed on safety and  permanence 
rather than child well-being. Based on the above testimony, panelists  called 
for:  
    *   increased ability to identify problems at an earlier dater (e.g. 
ensuring  that Medicaid agencies require use of screening tools),  
    *   extending the reach of family services,  
    *   extending Medicaid eligibility to parents of those children who are  
eligible, and  
    *   revamping the health insurance system to reflect health trends.  
The final panel examined the  extent to which income hardship and material 
hardship influenced outcomes of  child well-being. Low birth weight, an 
indicator of socioeconomic status, was  found to be significantly associated with 
decreased cognitive capacity, higher  high school drop-out rates, and decreased 
earnings in the workforce. Experts  cited numerous studies indicating that 
children’s well-being improves as income  increases. Jody Heymann, the director of 
the Global Working Families Project at  Harvard, cited studies refuting the 
claim that increased parental leave would  hamper America’s ability to compete 
globally. Recommendations arising out of  this panel included:  
    *   expansion of earned income tax credit and the reach of food stamps,  
    *   increasing access to affordable housing, and  
    *   increasing the child tax credit. 

 
Janice M. Gruendel, Ph.D.
Governor's Senior Advisor on Early  Childhood
Co-Chair, CT Early Childhood Education Cabinet
Senior Youth  Consultant
Office for Workforce Competitiveness
Home office:  203-481-9940
Blackberry: 203-824-4766
Mail to: 28 Juniper  Point
Branford, CT 06405

Whatever you can do or dream you can, begin it. Boldness has  genius, power 
and magic in it.   Goethe



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