Many Children Are Without Health Insurance, but There Is Help
A Los Angeles mother whose son was uninsured found her family was not alone. More »
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NCS to Evaluate Environmental Impacts on Children
It's National Children's Study Week in Los Angeles County. More »
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National Infant Mortality Awareness Month
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National Infant Mortality Awareness Month: Campaign Warns of Co-Sleeping, Unsafe Sleeping Danger
More children in L.A. County die from co-sleeping and other unsafe sleeping practices than by accident or abuse and neglect. More »
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Strategic Plan Four Goals
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Moving Forward, Goal Areas: Children are Born a Healthy Weight
In our Best Start communities and countywide, First 5 LA aims
to help women ensure that their babies are born at a healthy weight.
Learn about some of our strategies and why this goal is important. More »
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Policy Update: Five Early Childhood Bills Await Governor's Action
First 5 LA-supported bills, including ones that provide mandatory
maternity care and tobacco smoking cessation services, still await the
governor's action. More »
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Evie's Desk: Decreases Reported in Child Abuse Cases
I read some encouraging news late last month that child abuse cases
continue to decline nationwide. That surprised me since, as the University of New Hampshire's Crimes Against Children Research Center report
noted, abuse tends to increase during economic recessions. The
researchers focused on substantiated child maltreatment cases from 2008,
the latest data available, and found, overall, abuse cases declined 3
percent from 2007, with a 6 percent decrease in child sexual abuse.
However, the number of child abuse fatalities stayed the same."This
is good news, but we need to be very cautious," said lead author David
Finkelhor, director of the center and professor of sociology. "It could
be that discouragement and despair in families about their deteriorating
economic situation take longer than a year to show their effects." The
study and Finkelhor both note that the recent trend follows a longer
one that began around 2003 - a time when the country was fairing well
economically and more attention and resources were being directed toward
the field. The First 5 LA Board of Commissioners and staff
recognize that not enough can be done to protect children from abuse and
neglect. We are ever mindful that one of our new Strategic Plan's
four goals is to keep children safe from abuse and neglect. We look
forward to working with community leaders and our partners to stop the
cycle of abuse, violence and neglect across the county. To learn more about First 5 LA's programs aimed at keeping children safe, please visit our website. For even more information and services, call the First 5 LA Parent Helpline at 1-888-FIRST5-LA (1-888-347-7855).
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