Nebraska ranks first in the nation when it comes to promoting children's economic well-being, a significant indicator under the spotlight in the Annie E. Casey Foundation's latest report on child wellness.

Just 12% of Nebraska children lived in poverty between 2016 and 2020, one of the lowest percentages in the nation, down from 17% between 2008 and 2012.

Juliet Summers, executive director of Voices for Children in Nebraska, said it is not a moment for the state to rest on its laurels.

"We really hope our policymakers take home the message that these policies supporting child well-being are good for Nebraska," Summers emphasized. "We have this great opportunity to ensure that every child in every community in our state gets to experience that Nebraska good life."

Economic stability is not shared by all of Nebraska's children. Summers pointed to separate census data, which showed more than 30% of Black children, 29% of American Indian or Alaska Native children, and 23% of Latino children are growing up in poverty. By contrast, the poverty rate among white children is just 7%.

In the last session, state lawmakers designated $336 million from the American Rescue Plan Act to qualified census tracts. Summers noted much of the funding will be allotted to North and South Omaha, neighborhoods with a long history of disinvestment and discriminatory practices including redlining, which blocked families of color from building wealth through homeownership.

"We know that we need to continue to invest directly in Black and brown neighborhoods and communities," Summers pointed out. "They've historically borne the brunt of systemic racism and loss of opportunity that flows from that, and our state's kids deserve no less."

Summers added Nebraskans should have an opportunity at the polls in November to help keep the state's child poverty rate low. If the Raise the Wage initiative makes the ballot and Nebraskans vote "yes," the minimum wage would rise to $10.50 an hour next January and to $15 an hour by 2026.

"And raising that minimum wage allows families to spend more time at home with their kids, to be better able to afford groceries, and really just leads to general family economic stability that kids benefit from," Summers asserted.

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The Arizona New Parent Guide is a resource that is intended to help new parents meet the challenges of having a baby and support their baby's health and development within the first year of life. The guide is available fully online and in Spanish, and was put together by Arizona's early childhood agency First Things First, which saw a need for it to be digitized.

Kat Willard, senior director of family support and literacy for First Things First, said parents in Arizona need a centralized place to go for a wide-variety of information that is quick and reliable.

"Today's new parents are including Generation Z, which has never known a world without the internet or the cell phone. And First Things First did some field studies, and they realized that most knew parents are gathering information from the internet or from friends or family members, Willard said.

Willard said with so much information out there, new parents can struggle in determining what information is valid. Along with providing reputable information from area experts, the guide also provides Arizona parents with a diverse set of resources and support. From knowing who to call if someone needs help installing a car seat to inquiring about child care to meet their needs.

Willard said the resources in the guide are available statewide so it is applicable to all Arizona families. While the guide's target audience is first-time parents, she said it also is great for second- or third-time parents who may have forgotten some of the newborn or infancy phases. First Things First has prioritized having materials available in Spanish and understands that for a state like Arizona, it is key.

"It is so important for information to be available in Spanish. If we aren't including information in Spanish, we are missing so much of our population," she said.

Willard encourages soon-to-be parents to prepare as much as they can before their baby arrives, and hopes parents will use this resource to do just that.


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Russell County teachers, staff, counselors, and bus drivers have received intensive training on the effects of childhood trauma on kids' mental and physical health since 2019.

Today, elementary school suspensions have decreased by 50%, and more kids report feeling safe, cared for, and feel they "belong" at school.

Amalia Mendoza, senior policy and advocacy officer at the Foundation for a Healthy Kentucky, which provided grant funding for the Bounce Rural Adverse Childhood Experiences Project, said rural communities face different challenges in reducing behavioral issues stemming from adverse childhood experiences.

"We're talking about toxic stress, we're not talking about just any adversity," Mendoza pointed out. "There's really that kind of stress that is ongoing, and that can produce changes even in the brain and in the immune system."

According to the Child and Adolescent Health Measurement Initiative, nearly 40% of kids in the U.S. have been exposed to at least one adverse childhood experience, such as neglect or abuse, living with someone with a drug, alcohol or serious mental-health problem, the death of a parent, or exposure to violence or discrimination in the home or community.

Tracy Aaron, director of health education for the Lake Cumberland District Health Department, explained adverse childhood experiences have been linked to heart disease, stroke, diabetes, cancer and mental-health problems; all conditions prevalent in the region and across Kentucky.

"In the Lake Cumberland district, if you look at the data that backs up ACEs," Aaron observed, "we have a very high rate of poverty, we have teen pregnancy. Substance use is an issue."

Michael Ford, superintendent of Russell County Schools, said schools cannot fix family problems, but they can work to remove barriers affecting academic performance and provide spaces where students see de-escalation, self-care and effective problem-solving techniques, and healthy relationships.

"We want our kids to be resilient, right?" Ford stated. "Number one, we want to prevent anything that we can help prevent. Kids, regardless, are going to have ACEs, but ACEs do not have to hold them back."

Ford added successful strategies in the district include parent and grandparent training on how to build kids' resilience, increasing support for school counselors, and changing discipline policies.

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CLARIFICATION: The Harris Poll survey was commissioned by the Dave Thomas Foundation for Adoption. (4:25 PM EST 11/22/2022)

November is National Adoption Month, and survey results suggest attitudes about adoption are changing. A recent Harris Poll survey commissioned by the Dave Thomas Foundation for Adoption found that 37% of Americans are considering adoption, which is the highest rate since the survey began in 2007.

More than 1,500 children in Indiana currently are in need of an adoptive home.

Michelle Savieo, adoption program manager for the Indiana Department of Child Services, said some of the myths around adoption include the idea that some children aren't adoptable or that you have to be a perfect person.

"People believe that you have to have this perfect persona to be an adoptive parent, I think anybody can do it if they have a desire to parent and are willing to make a commitment," Savieo said. "Anybody can parent and all children are adoptable, and you don't have to be perfect to do it."

She said other myths include that you have to be married, or young, or that it's expensive to adopt.

Adoption is a life-altering event, and Savieo said all children they work with have had some type of trauma in their lives. This often results in traumatic behaviors or challenges that make parenting more difficult.

Savieo said in 2023 adoptive parents will be required to undergo annual training similar to that required of foster parents.

"In the past, Indiana has not licensed adoptive families, I believe that effective in 2023 we are going to require the same ongoing training for adoptive families that we do for foster families," she said.

She said the agency has learned that ongoing training gives parents skills to identify trauma behaviors as they are happening and avoid perceiving them as an attack.

"With adoptive families, it's really important for them to be able to recognize trauma behaviors, because what we often see is that when the children are demonstrating behaviors, parents become challenged, and when they can reframe that and recognize that it's not an attack on them as a parent, it allows them to kind of take a step back and parent the children differently," Savieo said.


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