ParentingTeensOnline is a free monthly e-magazine for parents of teens ages 12-19. It offers practical, expert-guided advice and support on teen health, media and technology, drugs/alcohol, education, volunteering, sports, social issues, babysitting, sexuality ... and more. Parents can learn what's happening before they need to know it's happening. The site has a variety of interactive features, including as Ask An Expert (advisory board members respond to parent questions) and polls.

Finding quality, affordable child care can be difficult for any parent. For those with a special needs child, it can also be a very confusing and emotional experience. Rebecca Freshour looks at what the law says, and what parents need to know to find care for their children.

Congress recently allocated $750 million over five years to promote marriage and fatherhood initiatives among low-income groups. As a result, federally-funded marriage promotion programs are springing up around the country, including in Washington, DC. Roshin Mathew, an Emerson Hunger Fellow working with Connect for Kids this year, wondered about the connection between marriage promotion and better lives for low-income children. Here are her findings, and her thoughts.

The Federal Interagency Forum on Child and Family Statistics released its latest annual report, America's Children in Brief: Key National Indicators of Well-being 2006 on July 14th. The report is a compendium of statistics from 21 federal agencies with the latest available data on 26 key indicators related to children's economic security, health, behavior and social environment, and education and on 9 background measures related to population and family characteristics. The 2006 Brief highlights selected information displayed in previous reports, reflects improvements to the summary list, and fills an important data gap in children’s mental health. View, download, and order a copy of the report from the Forum's website. The web site includes detailed data tables and figures (not in the Brief), previous reports and their related links, other Forum reports, and information about the overall structure of the Forum.

CFK Reports From: Violent and Explicit Video Games: Informing Parents and Protecting Children
Event: Hearing
Organized By: Subcommittee on Commerce, Trade, and Consumer Protection
Where/When: June 14, 2006; 2123 Rayburn House Office Building

When it was revealed last year that a popular video game "Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas" contained a hidden graphic sex scene unlocked by downloadable software, members of Congress waged a war against graphic content in video games.

By many measures, girls are on a roll. In terms of academic achievement, college attendance and completion, and the opportunities that are open to them, girls are poised for success. But some experts see worrying signs that girls are also facing new pressures—and responding with violent behavior usually associated with boys. Andrea Grazzini Walstrom takes a look at the issue.

White picket fences, brownstones, housing projects; racially diverse or isolated—:what impact does a family's neighborhood really have on the well-being and opportunities for young people? How much is correlated, and how much is causal? According to this report "rigorous research indicates that neighborhood isolation and distress can contribute to or exacerbate individual and family distress." This report examines what's known about poverty, economic security, access to services, and child and family well-being to better understand the neighborhood-family connection. In general, the analysis suggests that neighborhood poverty has a broader influence than racial/ethnic composition but that both affect family and child outcomes.

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: 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.

It’s a perennial struggle for military families, but one that is hitting home for more and more of them as soldiers rotate back to the home front from Iraq and Afghanistan: the sometimes painful adjustments that come with the return of a long-absent parent. Rebecca Freshour looks at some of the issues.