- Cal Works
California News: Budget Reductions Affect CalWORKS Program Serving Families
Joy Perrin had been living in a van with her two children for several months when she walked into a welfare office in 2018. She had left an abusive partner and had failed her first semester at Laney College in Oakland. A social worker told Perrin she qualified for the CalWORKS family stabilization program, which provides cash assistance, transitional housing and counseling to families experiencing crises such as domestic violence, substance abuse, or the risk of homelessness. (Robles, 3/29)
- Schools
CalMatters: UC Faces Pressure From Disabled Students to Ensure Emergency Exits are Accessible
While California’s public university systems have robust emergency policies and procedures, not all students who are physically disabled have reliable access to equipment to help them evacuate in an emergency. (Wu, 3/28)
CalMatters: California's Investments in Schools with Vulnerable Students: Successes and Shortcomings
A decade after California revolutionized the way it funds schools, nearly everyone agrees the initiative has done what it was meant to do: improved math and reading scores and brought more resources to students who struggle the most. And nearly everyone also agrees that the Local Control Funding Formula, as it’s known, could use a tune-up. (Jones, 3/24)
Modesto Bee: Unique Challenges Faced by Bilingual Students with Special Needs
Some students grapple with special needs. Others navigate learning English as a second language. And some deal with both, in a time when teacher shortages in special education are exacerbating their plight. Since 2015, the number of special education teacher vacancies in Stanislaus County has increased 42%. (Bisharyan, 3/27)
- Children’s Health
The New York Times: Growing Health Concerns for Migrant Children at Outdoor Holding Sites
To Dr. Theresa Cheng, the scene was “apocalyptic.” She had come to Valley of the Moon, an open-air holding site in San Diego’s rural Mountain Empire, to provide volunteer medical care to asylum seekers who had breached the United States-Mexico border wall and were waiting to be apprehended by American authorities. (Baumgaertner, 3/28)
USA Today: New Study Suggests Secondhand Vaping Could Harm Your Children, Similar to Secondhand Smoke
We all know that secondhand cigarette smoke is a bad thing − the dangers of tobacco smoke exposure to children specifically have long been known to cause ailments from asthma attacks and infections to Sudden Infant Death Syndrome. ... A recent study presented this month at the conference of the National Association of Pediatric Nurse Practitioners found that secondhand "smoke," or vapor from vaping and e-cigarettes may, in fact, impact the children in your life, not unlike traditional cigarettes and tobacco. (Walrath-Holdridge, 3/28)
ScienceAlert: Heightened Toxicity Risk Found in Children with Autism, ADHD
A study revealed there's a difference in how children with autism or ADHD clear the common plastic additive bisphenol A (BPA), compared to neurotypical children. ... Researchers from Rowan University and Rutgers University in the US ... found that kids with ASD and ADHD couldn't clear out BPA and another similar compound called Diethylhexyl Phthalate (DEHP) with as much efficiency as other kids, potentially leading to longer exposure to their toxic effects. (Nield, 3/28)
Why Are Children Not Receiving the Care They Need? Every child in California under 3 is entitled to early intervention services like physical, speech, and occupational therapy if they show signs that they need developmental support. Experts say getting these services early and in-person is critical for babies’ development, and that it can actually reduce the need for special education services later in life. But many families aren’t receiving the care they need. Read more from KQED.
CIDRAP: Research Finds Asymptomatic Children with COVID Play Significant Role in Household Transmission
A study today in Clinical Infectious Diseases conducted across 12 tertiary care pediatric hospitals in Canada and the United States shows that asymptomatic children with COVID-19, especially preschoolers, contribute significantly to household transmission. The researchers discovered that 10.6% of exposed household contacts developed symptomatic illness within 14 days of exposure to asymptomatic test-positive children, a rate higher than expected. (Soucheray, 3/26)
CIDRAP: Survey Reveals Unaddressed Medical Needs of Children During the Initial Two Waves of the US COVID Pandemic
In the first two waves of the COVID-19 pandemic, 16% of children aged 5 to 12 years didn't visit their healthcare provider, 11% went without a well-child visit, and 30% didn't complete a well-child visit in the past year, parent responses to a US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) survey show. (Van Beusekom, 3/26)
- Health Coverage
Covered California Reports Record High Number of Enrollments: A record number of Californians have signed up for health insurance through Covered California, the state insurance marketplace created by the Affordable Care Act, the 2010 federal law also known as Obamacare. Read more from the San Francisco Chronicle. Read more from the San Francisco Chronicle.
KFF Health News: California Expands Insurance Access for Teenagers Seeking Independent Therapy
When she was in ninth grade, Fiona Lu fell into a depression. She had trouble adjusting to her new high school in Orange County, California, and felt so isolated and exhausted that she cried every morning. Lu wanted to get help, but her Medi-Cal plan wouldn’t cover therapy unless she had permission from a parent or guardian. Her mother — a single parent and an immigrant from China — worked long hours to provide for Fiona, her brother, and her grandmother. Finding time to explain to her mom what therapy was, and why she needed it, felt like too much of an obstacle. (Dembosky, 3/28)
California Expands Insurance Access for Teenagers Seeking Independent Therapy
A California law that takes effect this summer will grant minors on public insurance the ability to get mental health treatment without their parents’ consent, a privilege that their peers with private insurance have had for years. But the law has become a flashpoint in the state’s culture wars. (April Dembosky, KQED, 3/26)
San Francisco Chronicle: Medi-Cal Eligibility Checks Result in Health Coverage Loss for California Latinos
Medi-Cal health coverage kicked in for Antonio Abundis just when the custodian needed it most. Shortly after Abundis transitioned from limited to full-scope coverage in 2022 under California’s expansion of Medi-Cal to older residents without legal immigration status, he was diagnosed with leukemia, a cancer affecting the blood cells. The soft-spoken father of three took the news in stride as his doctor said his blood test suggested his cancer wasn’t advanced. His next steps were to get more tests and formulate a treatment plan with a cancer team at Epic Care in Emeryville. But all of that was derailed when he showed up last July for blood work at La Clínica de La Raza in Oakland and was told he was no longer on Medi-Cal. (Aguilera, 3/25)
- Women’s Health
Central Valley Journalism Collaborative: New California Law Aims to Address High Risk of Pregnancy Deaths Among Black Women
For Black women in San Joaquin Valley, doulas are another form of protection in medical spaces. (Aguilar, 3/25)
The Hill: Increasing Number of Black Women Express Fear of Childbirth
Nearly two years after the Supreme Court overturned the constitutional right to an abortion, Black women are increasingly worried about the impact on pregnancy and birth. Nearly 40 percent of Black women of reproductive age said they feel less safe and think about the risk of death if they become pregnant in the new poll from In Our Own Voice: National Black Women’s Reproductive Justice Agenda with PerryUndem, published Monday. Among people living in restrictive states, 1 in 3 said they have thought about the risk of being arrested due to something related to pregnancy. (Daniels, 3/25)
- Mental Health
The New York Times: California's New Court for the Mentally Ill Challenges the State's Liberal Values
To confront the crises of homelessness and mental illness, California has passed new laws that critics say could violate the civil liberties of those suffering on the streets. Some families welcome the new measures. (Arango, 3/24)
PBS NewsHour: California's Prop 1 Homelessness Measure Passes by Narrow Margin - Here's the Debate from Both Sides
California’s transformative Proposition 1, narrowly passed by voters, aims to radically reduce soaring homelessness by changing the way money is spent on housing and mental health services. But critics argue the measure will hamper local health care efforts, ultimately affecting some vulnerable Californians and failing to fully address three intertwined but distinct problems. (Grabenstein, 3/23)
- Measles
The New York Times: CDC Reports US Measles Cases Exceed 2023 Levels
There have now been 64 measles cases in the United States this year, surpassing the total of 58 cases in all of 2023, according to new data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The rise in cases should “alert us, rather than alarm us,” said Dr. Demetre Daskalakis, director of the National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases at the C.D.C. (Blum, 3/22)
Reuters: CDC Reports 62 Measles Cases in the US as of Thursday
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said on Friday the number of measles cases in the United States has increased to 62 as of Thursday, higher than the whole of last year. The CDC issued a health advisory on Monday urging people, particularly children and international travelers, to get vaccinated against measles due to the increase in cases this year. Total cases were at 58 last week. (3/22)