February is National Children's Dental Health Month, giving parents another reason to watch their children's intake of Valentine candy this week.

Pediatric dentists say cavities appear to be on the rise among Georgia kids. Tooth decay is the most common chronic childhood disease in the nation, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Dr. Amr Moursi, president of the American Academy of Pediatric Dentistry, said the pandemic made matters worse. Children were at home and snacking more often, and routine checkups ended for a while.

Morsi noted more than half of children ages six to 11 have cavities, and in the Peach State, there are large disparities and barriers to oral health care, in both rural and urban areas.

"In a state like Georgia with a large rural population, we see this prevalence of cavities that can really be more than just about a toothache in a tooth," Morsi emphasized. "It really affects children's overall health."

Moursi explained dental problems can affect the ways kids eat and sleep, and how well they do in school. He pointed out tooth pain and other dental issues are among the major reasons children are absent from school.

To help prevent cavities and tooth decay, the American Academy of Pediatric Dentistry recommends children see a dentist before their first birthday. Moursi added the sooner they begin regular dental checkups, the healthier a child's mouth will be.

"One of the most important things we do during those dental appointments is, look for problems and try to identify them early," Moursi stressed. "If you don't take your child to the dentist regularly, that small cavity -- that beginning of a cavity that we might be able to identify early -- now grows into a much larger problem."

He advised parents to ensure children have a healthy, balanced diet, and limit sugary foods and drinks to help avoid tooth decay. And as with adults, brushing with a fluoride toothpaste and flossing twice a day will also prevent problems.

A bill in Congress with a Connecticut House sponsor aims to reduce child labor in the United States.

Called the "Children Harmed in Life-Threatening or Dangerous Labor Act," its aim is to strengthen current child labor laws and increase civil penalties for companies violating them. And the bill puts a new wrinkle on protections: It allows the Secretary of Labor to label goods produced with child labor, and to issue a 'stop work' order for any person violating child labor laws.

Rep. Rosa DeLauro, D-Conn., the bill's House sponsor, described its importance.

"This is in response to industry, to have more workers -- more than likely who are underpaid -- and that they can get cheap labor for doing the jobs that they are doing, and taking risks with children," DeLauro explained. "There is a labor shortage, so they're looking to children."

The Economic Policy Institute reported 10 states introduced or passed bills rolling back child labor protections in the last two years.

The Labor Department's Wage and Hour Division concluded almost 1,000 investigations, uncovering child labor violations, an 88% increase since 2019. The bill has been introduced in both chambers of Congress.

Ultimately, the goal is to have stiffer penalties in place for companies that ignore child labor laws. DeLauro acknowledged backers of the bill expect some opposition, most likely from states rolling back protections and industries using underage workers.

"We've got a very strong meat packing industry -- I mention Tyson, JBS, Turkey Valley Farms -- and Packers Sanitation Services provides cleaning services at these meat processing facilities," DeLauro outlined. "I'm going to anticipate that we're going to see industry come out of the woodwork in opposition."

Some companies are already being held accountable with civil penalties. A meatpacking plant owned by Tennessee-based Monogram Meats Snacks was fined a little more than $140,000 for employing children. However, the company made more than $1 billion in 2021.

When a Texas woman began her six-year journey to adopt, she hoped to affect one child's life.

Felicia Lewis, an adoptive parent, is now making a difference in the lives of three young sisters. After considering adoption for years, Lewis and her partner Ruth were introduced to the three girls, all recently displaced from their birth parents.

She encouraged those considering adoption to "get involved to change a life and see how it impacts yours."

"These are children, and it's really important because you're going to be shaping their future, shaping their minds, shaping how they view the world," Lewis pointed out. "It is critical that people are just invested in it."

November is National Adoption Month. Lewis works for Bank of America, ranked among the "Top 100 Best Adoption Friendly Workplaces" by the Dave Thomas Foundation for Adoption. The connection helped pay the adoption legal fees through Bank of America's Family Planning Reimbursement program.

Over several years, Lewis and her partner built a deep connection to the children and finally saw their petition to foster with the intention to adopt granted in 2020. The process was finalized in August. Lewis noted she received an outpouring of support and encouragement from work colleagues to adopt her three daughters, now ages 6, 8 and 9.

"We walked into this thinking that we were helping them," Lewis recounted. "We're going to give them a better life, a better future, a better home, etc. And we certainly did all that, but they gave us such a better perspective on being better human beings."

Lewis added those considering adoption should not take it lightly, because it is an intense process.

"Agencies, the government, etc., they want to make sure the children are going to a safe home; that they're going to a place they can be cared for," Lewis emphasized. "There's a process, so just be patient, and know that it may not happen overnight, and you might have to try, try and try again. But in the end, it is so well worth it."

The average paid leave given to adoptive parents is 9 weeks - up from 8.4 weeks last year.

Lawmakers in Congress are facing mounting pressure from corporate lobbyists to pass business tax breaks before the end of the year but new analysis suggests cuts would be far more costly than promised.

Joe Hughes, federal policy analyst at the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, said reinstating the expanded Child Tax Credit would be a better investment. He pointed out it is unclear whether corporate tax breaks would achieve their stated policy goals, but they would make a lot of very rich people even richer.

"The child tax credit, on the other hand, the beneficiaries and the effects are entirely clear," Hughes asserted. "It's children in low- to middle-income families, middle-class families, people making less than about $86,000 a year."

Reinstating the pandemic-era Child Tax Credit would help nearly 60 million children in Wyoming and across the U.S. Proponents of corporate tax breaks passed in 2017 argue they are essential to economic growth and should be made permanent. Critics of the expanded child tax credit, which expired last year doubling child poverty rates, warned it would discourage people from re-entering the workforce.

Researchers at the University of Chicago and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology found the expanded Child Tax Credit did not affect parents' decisions to enter or leave the workforce. Hughes noted working is not free if you have children. For many parents, it is less expensive to stay home than pay rising child care costs.

"An expanded child tax credit that's available to all low-income families can actually help some families re-enter the workforce," Hughes emphasized. "Because now they can receive child care."

Making corporate tax breaks permanent is projected to cost $500 billion but Hughes stressed making the Child Tax Credit fully refundable, where families get assistance even if they don't earn enough to owe taxes, would have a much lower price tag of between $10 billion and $20 billion.

"The most impactful part of the legislation was what made it available to all families, including very low-income families," Hughes added. "In 2021, as a result of the child tax credit, child poverty was cut in half."


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