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The needs of children don’t stop when
legislators leave the state capitol - “The Child
Advocate Insider” is a bi-weekly update during
the summer and fall months to keep you informed on new
children’s policy research, federal updates from Capitol
Hill, interesting media articles, as well as local events and
advocacy opportunities in Kansas & Missouri.
Read on!
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PFC Disappointed by
State Rep’s Remarks on Child
Hunger
Partnership for Children is disappointed by
comments made
recently by State Rep. Cynthia Davis (R-O’Fallon)
in opposition to a federally-funded program that provides summer
meals for low-income children now that the school year is over.
In a newsletter to her constituents, Rep. Davis decried the
government’s role in helping children access nutritious
food, stating that “hunger can be a positive
motivator.” On the growing problem of childhood obesity,
Rep. Davis commented that “people who are struggling with
lack of food usually do not have an obesity
problem.”
Nearly 1 in 5 Missouri children live in
poverty. As unemployment in Missouri continues to rise
during this recession, even more families are struggling to
provide for their basic needs, including putting food on the
table. When children are hungry, it’s harder to
concentrate in class and to succeed in school. Over
360,000 Missouri children get
nutritious meals every day through the Free & Reduced School
Lunch Program during the school year. Continuing to address
child hunger during the summer months helps keep our children on
a path towards a bright and healthy
future.
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June 30,
2009
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News from Missouri
· PFC Disappointed by State
Rep’s Remarks on Child Hunger
· MO Health Care Advocates
Meet to Discuss Priorities
· MO Joins Call for National
Education Standards
· MO Children’s Division
Closes in on Accreditation
· Small Business Owner Advocates
for Child Care Assistance
News from Washington
· Take Action! Contact
Congress About Children & National Health
Reform
· Timeline for Health
Reform
· Home-Visiting
Included in Health Reform Draft
New
Resources
· Families USA –
Health Policy Briefs
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More news on this
issue:
Editorial - St. Louis Post-Dispatch.
“Oblivious to
children’s hunger.”
Rep. Davis Response – Springfield News
Leader. “Program Circumvents Parents’ Provider
Role.”
Op-ed – Springfield News
Leader. “Hunger Wrong Way to Motivate
Children.”
MO Health Care Advocates
Meet to Discuss Priorities
The Missouri Health Advocacy Alliance pulled
together health advocates from across the state for a meeting in
Columbia,
MO last week to
discuss state and federal priorities. Partnership for Children attended to ensure
children’s voices were heard and made a priority as debate
over national health care reform picks up.
PFC is glad that we were able to provide some
recommendations for federal reform while focusing our attention
on the nearly 150,000 uninsured children in the state. The advocacy community
remains united around the need for health care for all children,
while the focus of our attention is moving towards covering the
estimated 100,000 children who qualify for state coverage but
are not enrolled. Partnership for Children will continue to work
on this issue throughout the summer and fall, so stay tuned for
upcoming activities related to children’s health
outreach.
Missouri is 47th State to Agree to New
National Curriculum Standards
Springfield News
Leader. “Late last week, Gov. Jay Nixon got on board
with the new ‘state-led nationwide effort’ to
determine core curriculum standards for K-12th grade language
arts and math. Missouri was the
47th state to sign on, leaving Texas, South
Carolina and Alaska as the three remaining
holdouts.” Read the full story >>
MO Children’s Division Closes in on
Accreditation
Toddler's legacy is review of Missouri's foster care system.
St. Louis Post-Dispatch.
“Seven
years after a toddler was killed in a Missouri
foster home, his legacy lives in a final push to gain
accreditation for the state agency that failed him. Missouri
has spent nearly $17 million reorganizing and upgrading its
Children's Division to gain the New York-based Council on
Accreditation's stamp of approval. That designation is expected
as early as this fall, making Missouri one of a handful of
state child welfare agencies to be fully accredited.”
Read the full story
>>
Small Business Owner Advocates for Child Care
Assistance
You want some cold facts about child care
with that coffee? Kansas City Star.
“Audrey Johanns is the
owner of Cafe Via Roma, conveniently located across from the
state Capitol. She’s a recent graduate of
Rockhurst’s Executive MBA program. Her studies piqued an
interest in the paltry way Missouri addresses child care
for low-income working families. Depending on how the numbers
are crunched, Missouri ranks 47th, 49th or
dead last of all states for its low eligibility limits for child
care assistance.” Read the full story
>>
Take Action!
Contact Congress About Children
& National Health Reform
Congress is in recess
until July 6th, so this is the perfect time to contact your
federal representatives about making health care reform work for
children and families. Voices for America’s
Children just launched its “Healthy Kids,
Healthy Nation” campaign to ensure that the
health needs of children are heard. With 9 million children
uninsured and millions more underinsured, health reform provides
an opportunity to ensure that all children have affordable,
accessible, continuous and comprehensive health care
coverage.
Take Action Today:
http://action.voiceshub.org/campaign/healthychildren
Timeline for
Health Reform
There continues to be a lot of
discussion surrounding national health care reform and possible
timelines are emerging daily. The latest timeline for reform Partnership
for Children has seen looks like
this:
July: Senate Finance Committee and
House Committees will begin to edit the bills. As of today, these bills
have not been released. Toward the end of the month, the bills
will likely be debated in both the House and the
Senate.
August: Anticipated vote on health
care legislation in both the House and the Senate. The bills will likely be
different from one another, as often happens with large issues
like this. Congress will go on break in late
August.
September: Congress will return
from break on the 8th. Two Scenarios are emerging
after the September break:
1) Bipartisan agreement is reached in
August. Conference Committee meets to work out the differences
between the House and Senate Bills. Possible vote on the
compromise bill.
2) Bipartisan agreement is not reached
and the bills fail to advance.
October: If Bipartisan bills fail
to pass both chambers, a “reconciliation” option may
be used to pass health care reform. This is basically a procedural move in the
Senate where they would only need 51 votes to pass the bill
instead of the normal 60 that is needed to end
debate.
Home Visiting
Included in House Draft of Health
Reform
Following a June
9th House panel reviewing
evidence-based home visitation programs, the House draft
legislation for health care reform also advances President
Obama’s proposal to provide 450,000 low-income families
with voluntary home visiting services by the end of the
decade.
Included in the draft
health bill is a significant portion of the Early Support for Families Act (H.R.
2667), legislation offered by Congressmen Jim
McDermott (D-WA), Danny Davis (D-IL) and Todd Russell Platts
(R-PA). The health reform draft bill would provide $1.75
billion of mandatory spending over the next five years to
support states in “establishment and expansion of quality
programs providing voluntary home visitation services for
families with young children and families expecting
children.”
Families USA – Health Policy
Briefs
This month Families USA has released two new
issue briefs in a series on implementation of the Children's
Health Insurance Program Reauthorization Act of 2009 (CHIPRA).
· More Funding for CHIP, Different Rules: How Does
CHIPRA Change CHIP Funding? summarizes the new federal financing rules
for CHIP, as well as the improvements to the financing system
that will help ensure that states have the funding they need to
get more children covered.
· The Children's Health Insurance Program
Reauthorization Act (CHIPRA): Addressing Racial and Ethnic
Health Disparities examines four key provisions in the new law:
investing in outreach, increasing access for legal immigrant
children and pregnant women, increased funding for
interpretation and translation services, and establishing new
quality of care measures. It also includes action steps for
advocates.
That's it for this
week!
Carrie
Shapton & Jeremy
LaFaver
Policy & Outreach
Coordinators
Partnership for Children
infopfc@pfc.org ~
816-531-9200
www.pfc.org
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