Read this piece at the Times website

See yesterday’s column by Charles Blow

The Occupy movement has change our public conversation. There is much more coverage of inequality and the need for regulation of banks, more, not less, government.

Support your local Occupy!

Thus begins the BBC News website’s article, entitled “America’s Child Death Shame” Here are a few of the salient facts:

Over the past 10 years, more than 20,000 American children are believed to have been killed in their own homes by family members…. nearly four times the number of US soldiers killed in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The child maltreatment death rate in the US is triple Canada’s and 11 times that of Italy. Millions of children are reported as abused and neglected every year.
One reason is that teen pregnancy, high-school dropout, violent crime, imprisonment, and poverty – factors associated with abuse and neglect – are generally much higher in the US.
Further, other rich nations have social policies that provide child care, universal health insurance, pre-school, parental leave and visiting nurses to virtually all in need.
In the US, when children are born into young families not prepared to receive them, local social safety nets may be frayed, or non-existent. As a result, they are unable to compensate for the household stress the child must endure.
In the most severe situations, there is a predictable downward spiral and a child dies. Some 75% of these children are under four, while nearly half are under one.”
The entire article here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-15193530

We are seeing significant progress.  All around the country, schools, family support organizations, and neighborhoods and communities are starting to adopt these evidence-based preventive interventions. But even as we begin to see effective prevention being adopted, there is a problem growing in this country that threatens to swamp all of these efforts.  The problem is poverty.

I reviewed some of the evidence at the NPN meeting.  Children living in poverty are more likely to have problems developing self-regulatory skills, which are foundational for developing social and academic skills.  They are more likely to have mild developmental delays, to fail in school, to become depressed, to smoke, to become addicted to other drugs, and to engage in crime.

Some might argue that these correlations don’t prove that poverty causes these problems. Maybe people are poor because they have all these problems, which keep them from climbing out of poverty.  But the evidence doesn’t support that idea.

For example, one of the members of our IOM committee, Jane Costello found that when families suddenly get more money, some of these problems go away.  She and her colleagues at Duke University were studying about 1300 children over an eight year period.  Midway through the study an Indian tribe, which had 300 children in the study opened a casino. This led to an increase in income for their families of $5000 per family member. To her surprise, Jane found that the number of children with mental disorders went down significantly.  Just having more money was a balm for these children.

Poverty does not make families more nurturing.  It reduces the time that parents have to be with their children, when parents have to work multiple jobs.  It increases the stress for every family member.  It makes parents more likely to argue with and criticize their children.

So reducing poverty is not just a “nice” thing to do for people; it is a matter of public health.

Unfortunately, poverty is bad and getting worse in this country.  The U.S. has the highest rate of children in poverty of any economically developed country.  The follow figure shows that more children live in poverty than any other age group.  Old people used to be the poorest in society, but thanks to social security and Medicare, they are now the group least like to be poor.  The latest census report showed that the number of children in poverty is even higher than it was when this chart was created.  All told, we have a greater percentage of people living in poverty than at any time in the last fifty years.

There are things that can be done about this problem.  In the coming weeks I will enumerate some of the things that can be done.  Most of them involve changes in public policy.  But achieving those changes will require that we mobilize society to understand the importance of reducing poverty and advocate for these policies.

I hope you will share these posts with as many people as possible.  If we are going to achieve the kind of nurturing society that we all hope for, we will need to mobilize action by millions of people.  It has been done before and it can be done again.

I am mentioned in the book, so I may be biased.  But if you are looking for a book that is a fun read, explains a lot about evolution, and tells you how we might use scientific knowledge to make our communities more nurturing, I highly recommend this book.

Today, as i was feeding my mom at her nursing home, I witnessed an interesting situation play out.  Ming, an elderly Asian gentleman was done with lunch and was meeting his son for an appt.  Ming is a little confused at times. He is a really smiley, friendly man.  One of the aides was helping him “hurry” so he wouldn’t be late for his appt.  The more she rushed, the more panicked he looked.  As I watched him, he kept trying to “use his card” to pay for his lunch (clearly a remnant of his life before…).  She (the aide) just kept saying, “No Ming. You don’t need a card. No Ming. Come on, you don’t want to be late”, over and over and over.  When his son finally arrived.  They wheeled him over to see his son. He glanced and smiled at him, but seemed distracted.  He kept looking at where he had been sitting.  I could see it.  He wanted to go and put his “card” down to pay for his lunch.  While the aide and his son were chatting about his day, he started to try and stand up, he was going to pay for that lunch! Then, “No Ming.  No, no, no…Sit down!  What are you doing?  You silly.”  He tried at least three times.  Each time, no one tried to look in the direction his eyes were focused at to see what he might be thinking.  So very much like what we do.  We get in a hurry. We get focused on an unbending agenda and we miss an opportunity to connect.  Imagine if they would’ve looked at where he was focused and could’ve said, “Ohhhh, you want to pay with your card, don’t you? (he nods) Look, today it’s already been paid for.  It was free today.  How does that sound?” Smile.

Dennis Embry and I joined Chaundrissa Smith, Emilie Smith (no relation), and Will Aldridge in meeting with Yolonda and Cornelia to see if we could help them make their effort a success.  Emilie is an expert on how to use the Good Behavior Game in after-school programs. Dennis and I were particularly interested in seeing if we could help develop youth activities that could build youth skill and cooperation at the same time that the increased social cohesion in neighborhoods.

But when Yolanda described one of the activities she has already done with youth teams, I realized that I was more likely to learn something new than to provide them with new ideas.

She handed out a beautifully illustrated, spiral bound book titled, Bridging the Gap: Skills of the Elderly Rediscovered and Retold by the Youth of Butts County. It gives 60 recipes, as well as skills for work around the house, in the yard, in the garage, for life, and just for fun. You can learn to bake cornbread, wash clothes, plant a garden, prune fruit trees, get over depression (“Get out of the house to get out of your misery”), fish, make a quilt, swing a golf club, change the oil in a car, or change windshield wipers.

The book was produced by the students of the class of 2013 of Henderson Middle School. One hundred and fifteen students worked on it. Most interviewed an older person about a specific recipe or skill and wrote up instructions for it. Others designed the layout and the artwork for the book. The project was guided by Yolanda, Angela Johnson, Sherrie Gray, and Sheryl George.

How many ways does this build the community?  Elderly people, many of whom are alone and isolated, get a pleasant visit from a young person.  Many young people make a new friend. Young people learn new skills. Youth and adults work together, thus undercutting fear and suspicion that many adults may have about young people. The whole community gets to see what their youth can do. And the book becomes a resource for hundreds of homes in the community.

Efforts like this are budding all over the country thanks to the skills and concepts being disseminated by the National Service-Learning Clearinghouse. This is just one example of the many ways that our society is evolving to nurture the wellbeing of young people.

Did you know that 75% of American’s young people 17 to 24 are unfit for military service?1 When I grew up in archconservative Wichita, Kansas, going to school with the ultra-rightwing Koch brothers, data like these showing our American kids were unfit for military service would be proof positive of a left-wing, communist, or socialist conspiracy.

But who is really surrendering America to our enemies? You be the judge.

First, look at some facts in a report by a bunch of retired 4-star generals.1

FACT: Thirty-five (35) percent of young Americans are ineligible for military service because medical or physical problems. All across America, radical “conservatives” are slashing programs to prevent medical and physical problems for young Americans? So is that going to increase or decrease medical or physical problems of our young people for military service?

Question: If elected officials vote to stop, reduce or impair programs documented to assure the health and physical abilities of American young people to be in the United States military, are those extremist elected officials betraying the United States?

FACT: Eighteen (18) percent of young Americans are ineligible for military service because of the use and abuse of illegal drugs. All across America, radical “conservatives” are defunding and dismantling programs proven to prevent drug addictions, and our rates of serious addictions are increasing young people. It is our young people’s addictions fueling the border violence that has the Tea Party, AZ ranchers and international travelers in an uproar. It is heroin trafficking for the s America’s youth and young adults loading the weapons of the Taliban killing our soldiers.

Question: If the actions of these elected officials are increasing the addictions of American youth, are they not aiding and abetting the America’s sworn enemies and giving the financial resources to harm America?

FACT: Nine percent (9%) of America’s potential recruits are illegible to serve because of poor intellectual functioning. Again, radical “conservatives” are dumping every program or proven effort to prevent poor intellectual performance from prenatal through adolescent years. Most of the rich democracies have better academic outcomes compared to the United States in virtually every domain—even when those other countries are experiencing influxes of immigrants.

Question: If newly elected officials are causing more and more children and teens to be intellectually impaired, is this not allowing our enemies to overwhelm America economically and militarily?

FACT: Six percent (6%) of the young people cannot enlist in the military, because they have too many dependents under age 18. Radical “conservatives” have done everything the can to make sure young people have no access to contraceptives, and they support FOX network that shows the most programs showing teen sexual promiscuity.

Question: If the radical conservatives are promoting increased teen pregnancies that impair America’s readiness, is this allowing our enemies to claim moral superiority over decadence caused by our elected officials and right-wing media.

FACT: Five percent (5%) of young adults in America are ineligible to be in the military because of criminal record as juveniles. Radical right-wing elected officials have stripped delinquency and crime prevention programs from local and state governments while relaxing any restraints on those very persons having access to deadly weapons.

Question: If the radical cutbacks by right-wing zealots are encouraging more and more young people to become violent and criminal, is this inciting domestic disturbance and rebellion?

Now, my fellow citizens, this essay will engender a hue and cry from the paid agitators of the radical right. They will say this is essay is un-American. They will say the problems are the fault of the decline in morals, the lack of prayer in schools, two-working parents, single parents, unionized teachers and gays in America. So if that is true, why on earth do all those other rich democracies have fewer of these problems like Canada, Norway, Sweden or the Netherlands? Aren’t they the heathen lands?

Maybe those “bad” countries actually apply and implement the proven strategies that prevent all the above problems. Even more ironic, the proven strategies that those “bad” countries use were invented and proven in American—thanks for all our incredible scientific excellence that they use and the hired bounty hunter radical right decry.

If you detect more than a bit of outrange and righteous anger, you would be correct. Why would these newly elected, over-the-top so-called “patriots” consciously surrender America’s youth and future to our sworn enemies? Perhaps, for the same reason that Judas gave up Jesus—for pieces of silver, a few moments of fame, and the solicitations of the rich and powerful who flatter others for their own purposes.

Every other rich democracy seeks to assure their young adults are healthy, clean or sober, think and learn well, avoid having children when children themselves, and do not engaged in crime—but not our newly elected Radical Republicans. No, they truly want to plunge American children and youth into some sort of Hell.

The new radicals are NOT the conservatives I grew up with and admired in Western Kansas like Bob Dole. These are not the conservatives like Gerry Ford or Everett Dirksen who were Republican leaders when I worked as a page in Congress. Dole, Ford and Dirksen were good people who wanted good for all—not just financial patrons. When I went to see Bob Dole in his retirement, he talked with pride about taking on the food giants who were selling soda and junk food in schools—and that meant even going against Big Agriculture.

No, the new rightwing, radicals are more like Judas. They will sell your children, my children and America’s safety and security for a few pieces of silver. The really rich who pass out the thirty pieces of silver will be fine; they will hire private armies like the Mexican drug lords to protect themselves and fly above the chaos in the helicopters. You and I will simply tremble for ourselves, for our children, and for our futures—because America won’t be safe or secure in any way.

PS. If you think it is impossible to prevent all these nasty problems, then please go on line to read the Institute of Medicine Report on the Prevention of Mental, Emotional and Behavioral Disorders.2

1. McMichael WH. Most U.S. youths unfit to serve, data show. Army Times 2009 Nov. 5, 2009.
2. O’Connell ME, Boat T, Warner KE, editors. Preventing Mental, Emotional, and Behavioral Disorders Among Young People: Progress and Possibilities. . Washington, DC: Institute of Medicine; National Research Council, 2009.

The answer is NO!

When any and every parent in whole counties can access brief parenting supports almost anywhere in their community, great things happen—quickly. This was discovered by major study funded by the US Centers for Disease Control. It is the first study in the world to show that child maltreatment can be prevented at a community or county level. Other studies had already shown that the strategy prevented ADHD, oppositional defiant disorder and conduct disorders.

Offering parenting supports to any and all families—as little or as much as they want—does prevent child maltreatment at a population level (i.e., for whole communities, counties or states). This is not making every parent attend an 18-week parenting course; rather its offering mostly brief parenting supports (15 to 30 minutes, typically) to parents to resolve common problems like getting your child to bed, to do their chores, to get ready for school, to do their homework, not have melt-downs in Walmart or the grocery store, etc. These are basically kernels of support, with each brief intervention strategy with a robust body of scientific research.

You can see a 10-minute professional produced video about this population level study funded by the US Centers for Disease Control at http://slidesha.re/triplepvideo . The video has interviews and easy to understand results.

Since this is a population level study, it is easy to calculate what it might do for your state. The estimator shown in the video can be downloaded here http://bit.ly/triplepest . Remember to use (it’s in flash), you must open the file directly from your Web Browser (e.g., Firefox, Explorer or Safari) AFTER you have downloaded the file.

Just 10 days ago, I came back from an international conference where this parenting support system was the focus of attention. More than 28 countries were represented, and some countries have this universally accessible to all their parents. Their economies and kids are doing better than ours.

Do you suppose that if we nurtured parents for the approximate cost of $15 per child that they would in turn nurture their children better? Do you suppose if children were more nurtured in America that our health-care system, our prisons, and our schools wouldn’t be so broken and costly? You’d be right. That’s what all the data show.

If we don’t nurture all our children’s futures, then there will be no future we hope for.

Everybody benefits when parents have access to simple suports