CFK Reports From: The Impact of Meth on Foster Care, Children, and Families
Event: Panel Discussion
Organized By: Generations United
Where/When: June 8, 2006; Dirksen Senate Office Building, Washington, DC

The discussion at this congressional briefing on the impact of methamphetamine abuse on foster care, children, and families paid special attention to the role being played by grandparents who step forward to become legal guardians for children who are removed from their homes due to a parent's methamphetamine abuse.

CFK Reports From: Child Welfare and Well-Being: Building a 21st-Century System for Kids
Event: Panel discussion
Organized By: The Urban Institute and Chapin Hall Center for Children
Where/When: June 8, 2006; Urban Institute, Washington, DC

This event, the last in a series, was a useful discussion of one of the central tensions within the child welfare field: between the imperative to keep children physically safe from harm and the understanding that removing children from their parents, homes and neighborhoods damages them.

CFK Reports From: Electronic Media in the Lives of Infants, Toddlers, Preschoolers and Their Parents
Event: Panel
Organized By: Kaiser Family Foundation-Program for the Study of Entertainment and Health
Where/When: May 24, 2006; Barbara Jordan Conference Center

The debate on the impact of electronic media—television, computers, DVD, etc.—on children and their development was the focus of this panel and the subject of a new Kaiser report that showed how parents use children's media to help them cope.

CFK Reports From: Oversight Hearing on Suicide Prevention Programs and their Application in Indian Country
Event: Hearing
Organized By: Senate Committee on Indian Affairs
Where/When: 485 Russell Senate Office Building; May 17, 2006

The statistics are grim: American Indian youth have the highest suicide rate among all ethnic groups, a rate that is almost twice the national average, according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. To address this issue, youth suicide prevention programs have been created to better serve the community. Two panels presented written testimony about their experiences, findings, and goals on suicide prevention programs to the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs.

CFK Reports From: Parental Power: TV Indecency, the FCC, and the Media's Response
Event: Policy forum
Organized By: Cato Institute Center for Constitutional Studies
Where/When: Cato Institute, Washington, DC, Wednesday, May 10, 2006

Jack Valenti, one of the key architects of the much-maligned but much-relied-on movie rating system, argued at this Cato Institute event that despite concerns about violence, language, sex and general crudeness on broadcast, cable and satellite TV programs, technology already gives parents near-total control of the TV content that comes into their homes.

CFK Reports From: Dads and Husbands: Promoting Child Well-Being through Father Involvement and Marriage Programs
Event: Panel
Organized By: Chapin Hall Center for Children and the Urban Institute
Where/When: Urban Institute, Washington DC., May 11, 2006

This panel, one of the "Thursday’s Child" series organized by Chapin Hall and the Urban Institute, looked at issues surrounding two approaches to improving children’s lives by strengthening families: the fatherhood initiatives aimed at increasing the involvement of low-income fathers in the lives of their children, even outside of marriage, and the more recent policy initiatives aimed at encouraging marriage as a way to increase the stability and resources available to children.

CFK Reports From: Assessing the Effectiveness of Public Education Campaigns
Event: Panel
Organized By: Kaiser Family Foundation – Program for the Study of Entertainment Media and Health
Where/When: Barbara Jordan Conference Center; April 27, 2006

Efforts to encourage kids to lead healthy lives, avoid risky behaviors, and stay away from drugs, alcohol and tobacco often are connected to government-financed public media campaigns.

CFK Reports From: Help at Any Cost: How the Troubled-Teen Industry Cons Parents and Hurts Kids
Event: Author presentation and discussion
Organized By: Cato Institute
Where/When: Cato Institute, Washington DC, April 20, 2006

Maia Szalavitz, the author of Help at Any Cost (Riverhead, 2006), spoke about what she learned in the process of researching and writing her book, which looks at the continued reliance by some states and parents on a "tough love" form of addiction treatment for adolescents that relies on physical intimidation, humiliation and isolation.

CFK Reports From: Release of the Ten Point Plan To End Childhood Hunger In The Nation's Capital
Event: Press Conference
Organized By: DC Hunger Solutions, The Food Research and Action Center, and Share Our Strength
Where/When: Kennedy Recreational Center; April 18, 2006

Hunger advocates, politicians, students, teachers, parents and bureaucrats from Washington D.C. gathered to witness the public presentation of the city's plan to end childhood hunger in the nation's capital. Kim Perry, founding Director of D.C. Hunger Solutions, kicked of the event by questioning the crowd, "Guess what?" She answered her own question, "We are going to end childhood hunger in D.C."

CFK Reports From: Summer Food Service Program Food Tasting Fair
Event: Food Tasting Fair
Organized By: DC State Education Office
Where/When: Beacon House, March 30, 2006

As summer approaches, many parents are asking themselves this question: "Will my child have enough healthy food to eat this summer?"