California's Children

San Diego supes seek "less-traditional" families to adopt foster children

May 8, 2013: The San Diego County Board of Supervisors announced  "The Exceptional Families Adoption Campaign" yesterday as an effort to find permanent families for foster children who have been released for adoption. Using existing agencies and services, the campaign is emphasizing that although "nearly 400 children are placed in permanent, adoptive h

omes each year in San Diego County...[there are] approximately 45 children, who at any given time, must stay in foster care even though they are eligible for adoption," according to a story in the 

Union-Tribune. In these cases,  parental

 rights have been terminated and attempts to place children with extended family have been unsuccessful. Age can be a factor. Behavioral, developmental, psychological, or medical disabilities can present difficulties. Siblings do not want to separate. 

 

 

The Exceptional Families Adoption Campaign is reaching out to specifically "less-traditional" adoptive families, according to the county supervisors. 

A subsidy is available for children adopted from the foster care system so that income will not be a barrier. For information

:

www.IADOPTU.org, 1-877-I-Adopt-U (423-6788), and 2-1-1- San Diego. 

 

 

 

 

Date rape: Sac high schools were test ground in coaches training athletes to reduce sexual violence

April 30, 2013:  HealthNews digest is reporting today that Coaching Boys into Men (CBIM), a program that seeks to reduce dating violence and sexual assault, has been proven effective in reducing abusive behaviors among male athletes toward their female partners, according to a study that will appear today in the online version of the American Journal of Preventive Medicine.

The year-long study evaluated a program that began in 2009 with 2,000 male athletes in 16 Sacramento-area high schools; the program has been led and evaluated by Elizabeth Miller, M.D., Ph.D., at left, chief, Division of Adolescent Medicine at Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh of UPMC, and associate professor of pediatrics, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, examined the long-term effectiveness of the program.

... Results:  "At the end of the sports season, boys who participated in the program were significantly more likely to stop abusive behaviors among their peers. Now, one year later, we find that the rates of abuse perpetration actually increased among youth who didn't participate, whereas perpetration did not increase among the male athletes whose coaches delivered the program," according to Dr. Miller.

Created by nonprofit Futures Without Violence (in collaboration with Dr. Miller), the CBIM program works with coaches to teach their male athletes about building healthy relationships and how to intervene when witnessing disrespectful and abusive behaviors among their peers...

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HomeBoy Industries celebrates 25th anniv w/salsa giveaway

March 7, 2013: Here's an ethics test. Do you help publicize a contest that -- if more people enter will lessen your chances to win -- even when it supports Fr. Gregory Boyle's HomeBoy Industries?

HomeBoy is celebrating its 25th anniversary providing "hope, training and support to formerly gang-involved and recently incarcerated young men and women, allowing them to redirect their lives and become contributing members of the community." (And don't think "charity" --  take it from a serious foodie, the HomeGirl Cafe, one of seven job-training programs HomeBoy operates, is one of the best places to eat in downtown Los Angeles.)

The contest: One year's supply of HomeBoy Salsa (12 containers), will be given away between today and March 17 (11:59 p.m. last minute to enter) via a drawing. Enter here on-line. The winner will be notified during the week of March 18. 

Thanks to WitnessLA for the photo.

First 5 LA's Little Green Fingers begins in Koreatown

December 10, 2012: A "crunch and munch" garden with a water-play table are featured at the Mariposa-Nabi Community Garden, the first of its kind in Los Angeles built specifically for children under the age of 5. The garden is located in Koreatown on a plot of vacant land adjacent to St. Mary's Episcopal Church; the plot was donated by church-affiliated Celtic Cross.

The garden is the first effort of the "Little Green Fingers" project that was spearheaded by the nonprofit Los Angeles Conservation Corps and which has received a "generous" five-year grant from First 5 LA to help combat the "obesity epidemic" among children in Los Angeles (20% of LA County kids are obese or overweight; more than 30% of Latino children have medical diorders that can lead to type 2 diabetes and later-life heart conditions.) Eventually, Little Green Fingers will include eight community gardens in "under-served" (i.e., few grocery stores and/or lack of high-quality produce markets serving local population) neighborhoods. The gardens "will provide a minimum of 6,000 pounds of fresh fruits and vegetables each year and will feature...amenities and programs targeting families with children ages 0-5."

According to the Los Angeles Community Garden Council, Dozens of local families, recruited by the LA Neighborhood Land Trust, helped design the garden with the guidance of landscape architect Glen Dake and community planner Miguel Luna...There are more than two dozen garden beds for families and an additional three community plots that will be cultivated by the Mariposa-Nabi Primary Center, the local Headstart pre-school and by the UC Extension Master Gardener program that will teach the community best gardening practices.

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CA kid obesity rate falls; LA County efforts made a difference

Best Community Gardens on the West Coast

LAUSD/UTLA agree to use test scores as 50% of teacher evaluation

UPDATE, December 1, 2012:  Student test scores will be used in the Los Angeles Unified School District as a measurement to evaluate teacher performance. The agreement between the LAUSD and the teachers union was announced yesterday.

The Los Angeles pact proposes to do that using a unique mix of individual and schoolwide testing data – including state standardized test scores, high school exit exams, district assessments, along with rates of attendance, graduation and suspensions.

But the tentative pact leaves unanswered the most controversial question:  how much to count student test scores in measuring teacher effectiveness.  Both sides only agreed that the test scores would count for less than 50% of the teacher’s rating.

As reported in the Los Angeles Times, members of the union, United Teachers Los Angeles, "still need to ratify the agreement, and it was unclear whetherr they would do so. TMany teachers have long opposed using test scores in their evaluations..."

October 31, 2012: Today's required reading in public education reform: John Fensterwald's clear and thorough discussion of San Jose Unified School District's proposed teacher evaluation and compensation plan -- "...if implemented," Fensterwald writes in EdSource, "[this plan] would be significantly dfiferent from any in California....[it] offers hope that a progressive compromise on divisive issues is possible."