This committee report recommends the passage of the Head Start Improvement Act of 1992, which amends the Head Start Act. The committee's report includes discussions of: (1) the history of legislation affecting the Head Start program; (2) the need for the current legislation; (3) local control of allocated funds; (4) a waiver of the requirement for…

The purpose of this publication is to help the reader understand the problems of child abuse and neglect and become familiar with prevention and intervention efforts. Introductory pages define child abuse and neglect, suggest the scope of the problem, delineate reasons for its occurrence, and explain how to recognize abuse or neglect. This section…

Thousands of children exposed prenatally to drugs are now of school age, presenting schools and educators as well as social service agencies with enormous challenges. This book provides information from education, medical, public health, and social service experts on the degree of damage these children have sustained, whether that damage will be…

This report promotes one-stop shopping for health and social services as an effective strategy for accommodating the needs of pregnant women and their children. Roadblocks to receipt of care by pregnant women include ignorance of prenatal or preventive pediatric services, poverty, weak referral networks, and the fragmentation of programs and…

Iron deficiency anemia impairs cognitive performance, physical capacity, and thermoregulation. Recent evidence suggests that these functional impairments are also evident in subclinical nonanemic iron deficiency. Very little is known about the relevance of the latter to the health of blacks, who have been shown to have the highest prevalence of…

This paper examines the health needs of migrant children entering kindergarten. An extensive literature review discusses Leininger's model of culture congruent care as it relates to health services for migrant children; describes California's growing Latino and migrant populations; and outlines previous studies on the specific health needs of…

A health specialist working in a program providing health, social, and educational services to low-income children and families implemented and evaluated a practicum intervention designed to increase inner-city mothers' knowledge of the importance of ongoing prenatal care throughout pregnancy and to improve the mothers' health. A prenatal…

Americans must accept the notion that each and every American is responsible for each and every child and the United States must develop a national children's policy encompassing concerns that influence children's health. There are at least four fundamental steps that the United States can take to improve children's health in the 1990s. They are:…

Using data from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study, 1998?1999 Kindergarten Cohort, the study examines two research questions: What are the effects of participation in the National School Lunch Program on changes in children?s behavior, test scores, and body weight? Do these effects differ by gender? To address issues of selection, we use…

This document is comprised of two reports: (1) "Science-Based Recommendations to Prevent or Reduce Potential Exposures to Biological, Chemical, and Physical Agents in Schools" by Derek G. Shendell, Claire Barnett, and Stephen Boese (supported by grants from the Rockefeller Foundation, the National Institutes of Environmental Health…

"The Challenge", a publication of the US Department of Education's office of Safe and Drug-Free Schools, provides critical information and resources to assist schools in creating safe and healthy environments for young people. Topics of interest in this issue area: (1) Safe Schools: Academic Success Depends on It; (2) Educating the Whole Child;…

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) developed the Indoor Air Quality Tools for Schools (IAQ TfS) Program to help schools prevent, identify, and resolve their IAQ problems. This publication describes the program and its advantages, explaining that through simple, low-cost measures, schools can: reduce IAQ-related health risks and…

Distributed by the U.S. Departments of Agriculture, Education, and Health and Human Services, this pamphlet provides parents with information and advice about their infants in the tenth month of life. Following a brief description of developmental characteristics at this age, the pamphlet offers advice on a variety of topics, including: guarding…

This study was conducted in a school center in Finland that had been the focus of intense public concern over 2 years because of suspected mold and health problems. Because several attempts to find solutions to the problem within the community were not satisfactory, outside specialists were needed for support in solving the problem. The study…

This brief presents an overview of the well-being of children within the child welfare system using data from the 1997 and 1999 National Survey of America's Families. Both surveys included economic, health, and social characteristics of more over 44,000 households. This analysis used information on children under 18 years of age. Researchers…