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CLIPPINGS AND
NOTES
The Three Faces of Work-Family Conflict from The Center for American Progress and the Center for
WorkLife Law at the UC Hastings College of the Law analyzes the work-family
conflicts that millions of American families face and provides common-sense,
progressive recommendations to solve them... (Jason Rahlan 202.481.8132 jrahlan@americanprogress.org
Download
the full report (pdf) Download
the executive summary (pdf)
Sick Kid? Stay Home! Stop shuffling your
sniffling tots off to school and spreading their germs to the rest of us, by
Beth Teitell, Boston Globe, February 25, 2007
Health Problems
Fuel Achievement Gaps, Study Says A new report urges
federal officials to better coordinate efforts to address health disparities
harming disadvantaged children. Inside
School Research Blog: U.S. Programs for Children Seen as Tangled Web
Swine flu? Many workers can't stay home, Corvallis
Gazette-Times When staying home could mean losing a paycheck,
or worse, losing your job entirely.
Truancy and
Asthma In
Philadelphia, Court Judge Sunny Richman reported that asthma is overwhelmingly
the number one medical reason cited for truancy in her court, one of eight
truancy courts held one week per month across the city. During one of Richman's
recent sessions almost all the truancy cases that day were due to asthma - and
students aren't sent to court unless they have missed 25 days or more of
school... (PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER, March 8, 2004)
Children are
sick not truant... A March, 2000 ABT Associates study on Learnfare, a
program that imposed financial sanctions on parents of truant kids, reported
that "illnesses, not behavior problems, accounted for the overwhelming
majority (four-fifths) of welfare children's additional absences."
In Turnabout, Children Take Caregiver Role Across the country, children
are providing care for sick parents or grandparents lifting frail bodies off
beds or toilets, managing medication, washing, feeding, dressing, talking with
doctors. Schools, social service agencies and health providers are often unaware
of those responsibilities because families members may be too embarrassed, or
stoic...Some children develop maturity and self-esteem. But others grow
anxious, depressed or angry, sacrifice social and extracurricular activities
and miss or quit school...Or dropping out, like Maryangellis
Rodriguez, of Boynton Beach, who quit school at 16 to care for her mother, who
has multiple sclerosis. "I just did it cause that's my mom," she
said. (NYTIMES, Pam Belluck, February 22, 2009)
Workplace
Dilemma: Disclose Child's Special Needs Or Not? To tell the boss or not?
That's a dilemma faced daily by parents of children with special needs who
question whether or not telling their employer about their caregiving
responsibilities is a good idea. Many parents fear discrimination and
maybe for good reason. Nearly a third of parents whose children have emotional
or behavioral issues report being fired because of
work interruptions stemming from their children's issues. And,
parents of children with special needs are likely to be poorer. That, even
though it's estimated that more than 8
percent of employees are responsible for children with special needs,
reports Maggie Jackson, Boston Globe
12/12/08. To read more click here.
"21% of middle school
students have been diagnosed with asthma." The 2008
Massachusetts Health Council's "Common Health for the Commonwealth:
Massachusetts Trends in the Determinants of Health" was released at the
State House by Senator Richard Moore and Representative Peter Koutoujian. The
report tracks the trends of 11 preventable, costly health indicators and
highlights the increasing trends in the areas of asthma, Hepatitis C, high
school drop-out rates, obesity, poor oral health and domestic violence.
The number of kids with chronic health issues is growing. USA Today Nov. 2,
2008. Number of Kids on medication jumps alarmingly
Expert: Cost of absenteeism rivals
health care, Rebecca R. Hastings, Society for Human Resource Management
Website October 2008 http://www.shrm.org/
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