PORTLAND, Maine - Public and private efforts to lift Maine's children out of poverty should take a "two-generation" approach, according to a new Annie E. Casey KIDS COUNT policy report. The report says parents should be given the tools and skills to get on track to better economic opportunities if their children are going to have better outcomes themselves.
In this state, according to Claire Berkowitz, executive director of the Maine Children's Alliance, that applies to a lot of families.
"About half of our young children under the age of eight are living in low-income families," says Berkowitz. "About 40,000 children, to be exact."
She says the report's recommendations call for "breaking down the silos" and bringing together state and federal employment, education and child-care programs to collaborate in creating better opportunities for parents and children, which in turn will strengthen families.
Berkowitz says efforts at improving a family's economic stability can break a cycle that sometimes misplaces blame on parents.
"Somewhere along the line we lose compassion for the adults and feel like we want to take care of the kids who are poor, but the parents were children who were poor once, too," Berkowitz says. "This is kind of getting at that and saying, 'We need to help these people.'"
Berkowitz says the report's policy suggestions include increasing the child tax credit for low-income families and expanding the Earned Income Tax Credit to non-custodial parents.
"Maybe a parent who's not living in the same home with a child, but if you give them the Earned Income Tax Credit they have more money in their wallet to help support their child even more than child support," she says.
The report says nearly half of the nation's young children are growing up in lower-income households.
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October is National Bullying Prevention Month and a recent study showed teens bullied in high school tend to become pessimistic about life prospects.
The study, published in the Journal of Research on Adolescence found students who experienced relational bullying were more likely to develop depressive symptoms and over time became more pessimistic about both academics and career prospects beyond high school. Relational bullying includes things like starting rumors, being deliberately ignored and exclusion from group activities.
Hannah L. Schacter, assistant professor of psychology at Wayne State University in Detroit, said a student's perception of social inadequacy can spread into other parts of life.
"You're receiving a message from your peers that you are someone who doesn't deserve positive treatment, and that may then generalize to these other life domains," Schacter explained. "Now you expect that you're not going to be able to do well academically, or perhaps you won't be able to achieve what you wanted in terms of your work or kind of life plans."
Maryland requires county boards of education to track and report on bullying. This year's report showed there were more than 7,800 incidences of bullying reported during the 2022-23 school year, an increase of 25% over the year prior.
Researchers found students who experienced overt victimization such as direct verbal or physical attacks did not report lower future expectations. Earlier research showed relational victimization had negative effects on elementary students' academic performance and standardized test scores over time. Schacter argued schools need to see the effects of bullying not just as a challenging social issue but also an educational priority.
"As there's been increased recognition of how it can negatively impact teens, more and more schools have, at the very least, adopted anti bullying policies," Schacter acknowledged. "Unfortunately, it's very time intensive, and can be quite costly to implement evidence based large scale school interventions for bullying."
Maryland's State Department of Education adopted a model policy to address bullying, harassment and intimidation in 2009 and has updated it in the years since. Last year the department began offering an online introduction to bullying prevention for educators.
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October is National Bullying Prevention Month and a new study showed teens bullied in high school tend to become pessimistic about their future.
Researchers found adolescents who experienced relational bullying were more likely to develop depressive symptoms and over time became more pessimistic about academics and career prospects beyond high school. Relational bullying includes things like starting rumors, being deliberately ignored and exclusion from group activities.
Hannah L. Schacter, assistant professor of psychology at Wayne State University in Detroit, said a student's perception of social inadequacy can spread into other parts of life.
"You're receiving a message from your peers that you are someone who doesn't deserve positive treatment, and that may then generalize to these other life domains," Schacter explained. "Now you expect that you're not going to be able to do well academically, or perhaps you won't be able to achieve what you wanted in terms of your work or kind of life plans."
The study began with more than 300 9th graders at 38 different high schools across Michigan. Students completed online surveys multiple times per year over three years.
Researchers found students who experienced overt victimization such as direct verbal or physical attacks did not report lower future expectations. Prior research established relational victimization affected elementary students' academic performance and standardized test scores over time. Schacter argued schools need to see the effects of bullying not just as a challenging social issue but also as an educational priority.
"As there's been increased recognition of how it can negatively impact teens, more and more schools have, at the very least, adopted anti-bullying policies," Schacter acknowledged. "Unfortunately, it's very time intensive, and can be quite costly to implement evidence-based large-scale school interventions for bullying."
She added it is important to have strong communication between researchers, policymakers and administrators to address bullying so it is not too burdensome for schools and is backed by what researchers have learned.
Disclosure: Wayne State University contributes to our fund for reporting on Civic Engagement, Education, Environment, and Health Issues. If you would like to help support news in the public interest,
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The biannual Pro-Kid Scorecard from the Children Now Action Fund was released today.
In it, 12 state Assembly members and seven state Senators earned a 100% rating.
Kelly Hardy, senior managing director of health and research at the nonprofit Children Now Action Fund, said the scoring reflects more than how lawmakers vote.
"They voted the right way on health and child welfare, child care, education," Hardy outlined. "They also supported kids in the budget, which is not always an easy thing to do when we've got budget deficits."
The lowest scores hovered around 48%, awarded to lawmakers who voted against certain bills but also voted for proposals like forced outing policies for LGBTQ+ students in schools.
Hardy noted the report is intended to inform voters as they head to the ballot box next month.
"Kids may not vote but we want to elect legislators who do their best to support kids," Hardy explained.
California ranks 35th in the nation for child well-being, according to the latest Annie E. Casey Foundation report and is just above the national average for per-pupil spending on K-12 education.
Disclosure: Children Now/Kids Count contributes to our fund for reporting on Children's Issues, and Youth Issues. If you would like to help support news in the public interest,
click here.
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