The #B25 Strong Foundations Social Media Campaign.

We want to let you know about an exciting new effort from the birth to five Policy Alliance called the #B25 Strong Foundations Social Media Campaign. To quote the campaign website, "This is an effort to spread research-based messages via Facebook and Twitter to increase awareness about the benefits of early childhood policies and investments." The Alliance is providing sample Tweets and Facebook posts on the site, as well as, "interesting research findings from Early Childhood" in an array of areas including Brain Science, Health Care and Military Families. We think it is a terrific campaign and we hope you will take a look.

Prevent Child Abuse America Letter to the Editor in The New York Times.

The New York Times recently published the Letter to the Editor Prevent Child Abuse America submitted - here - in response to their February 7th article "School Linked to Abuse Claims Will Replace Entire Faculty" - here - regarding the Los Angeles Unified School District's decision to replace the entire teaching staff at the Miramonte Elementary School. We hope you will take a look, but we also want to draw your attention to the below paragraph from the letter.

"We must ensure that all adults receive training to recognize the grooming behavior of perpetrators. We must prevent scenarios that place adults in one-on-one situations with children. We must provide children with developmentally appropriate education about healthy sexuality and encourage them to let adults they trust know when they are in situations they find confusing."

National Movement Weekly Update.

National Movement founding partner CLASP has released a new tool intended to support state advocates and policymakers efforts to develop State Early Childhood Agendas - here. It contains a series of key questions that allow users to better understand the conditions of young children, zero to six, in your state. Questions include "Where are children in daycare and early education" and "How is your state thinking of improving the quality of care for young children?" And links to online data sources are provided where available. It is a wonderful tool and we hope you will take a look. We would also like to hear what you think your states and neighborhoods need in terms of an early childhood agenda and what's already being implemented. So please come to the National Movement for America's Children site - here - to share your thoughts with us and other members from your state, and if you're not sure what is happening, or could be, please let us know so we can talk about that as well. Have a great week.

Prevent Child Abuse America in The Christian Science Monitor.

Prevent Child Abuse America was invited by The Christian Science Monitor to comment on the latest stage in the Jerry Sandusky child sexual abuse case and the decision to allow him to visit with his grandchildren. We hope you will take a look at the interview in its entirety - here - though we specifically want to draw your attention to the below quote from Prevent Child Abuse America's President & CEO James M. Hmurovich.

“Under no condition should children be put in a position to defend themselves,” Hmurovich says. “It is an adult’s responsibility to keep the child safe, not the child’s.” 

Support the Protect Our Kids Act.

While Prevent Child About America remains focused on healthy children and families, engaging neighborhoods and communities and preventing child abuse and neglect before it ever occurs, we are also supporting Every Child Matters' efforts to ensure that the Protect Our Kids Act - more here - is passed. The Act "will create a National Commission on Child Abuse and Neglect Deaths to study and evaluate federal, state, and private child welfare systems and develop a national strategy to prevent and reduce these deaths." And while we look forward to the country ultimately pursuing the development of a national strategy to support the healthy development of all children, we encourage you to support the passing of this Act as well.

Registration for the 2012 Wrigley Start Early 5K/10K Run & Walk is live.

Here.

Canadian study on Corporal Punishment Raises Questions about Long Term Harm.

Prevent Child Abuse America released the below statement today regarding the Canadian study published this week on questions related to the long term harm associated with corporal punishment.

CHICAGO, IL, February 10, 2012 - Corporal punishment may cause cognitive impairment and impact the areas of the brain relevant to intelligence testing, according to a study published this week in the Canadian Medical Association Journal - more here.

In addition, Dr. Joan Durant a co-author of the study said, "What people have realized is that physical punishment doesn't only predict aggression consistently, it also predicts internalizing kinds of difficulties, like depression and substance use…There are no studies that show any long term positive outcomes from physical punishment.”

The study further provides parents and caregivers with information illustrating the importance of a life long bond with their child, a fundamental element of healthy child development and the successful transition to becoming a contributing member of society.

“The results of this study illustrate the importance of intensive home visitation services, such as our signature program, Healthy Families America (HFA),” stated James M. Hmurovich, President & CEO, Prevent Child Abuse America. “HFA services provide parents and caretakers with positive discipline the appropriate developmental information and options for both raising and disciplining their children, such as giving time-outs, explaining rules, or taking away privileges, which have long been shown to be more effective than corporal punishment.”

In an era where budget cuts in the United States are continually under discussion, the analysis is also a reminder that our nation’s ability to develop future generations today is more beneficial than fixing both individuals and society later.

“This study lends tremendous support to the vision of our federal policymakers for funding home visitation funds as contained in the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act,” added Hmurovich. “The benefits that result from thriving children eventually translate to communities that are better equipped to be competitive in a global economy and to the perception that our nation can be seen as one that establishes child and family well-being as a fundamental right of its citizens.”

National Movement Weekly Update.

As you may recall The Movement spent this past summer and fall crossing the country holding Town Hall meetings where we asked participants to answer The Big Question: How can we ensure that every child has an equal opportunity for healthy growth and development? We plan to schedule a new round of meetings soon focused more narrowly on themes that emerged during the first round. We look forward to seeing you there, but in the interim we also want to be sure you know that the notes from these earlier meetings are posted on the Movement blog - here. We hope you will take a look. We would also like to hear what you think about the ideas discussed so far and what you hope we will focus on during the next round of meetings. So please come to the National Movement for America's Children site - here - to share your thoughts with us and other members from your state, and if you're not sure what you would like us to focus on, please let us know so we can talk about that as well. Have a great week.

Children's Leadership Council. And Kids2012.

As the Presidential primaries march on through Florida, across the country and towards the general election we want to take a moment to ask how we can ensure that children and their families are not forgotten during the Town Hall meetings, debates and voting still to come. One effort we encourage you to consider taking a look at is Kids2012 - here - an organizing campaign being sponsored by the Children's Leadership Council one of the Founding Partners of the National Movement for America's Children. Kids2012 offers a variety of resources to participants, such as template Op-eds and Letters to the Editor, but most importantly, it provides you with the opportunity to tell the candidates that kids matter.