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Mandatory reporting laws meant to protect children get another look

More than 60 years ago, policymakers in Colorado embraced the idea that early intervention could prevent child abuse and save lives.

25 Apr 2024

Modest effects on child development from COVID-19, Johns Hopkins study shows

Infants and children 5 years old and younger experienced only "modest" delays in developmental milestones due to the COVID-19 pandemic disruptions and restrictions, a study led by Johns Hopkins Children's Center finds.

22 Apr 2024

Study highlights COVID-19 challenges for perinatal women in Latino communities

Public policies blocked many families of Mexican descent living in the U.S. from accessing vital services such as food and mental health care during the COVID-19 pandemic, even though these communities experienced some of the highest infection and mortality rates.

5 Apr 2024

Researchers call for policy changes to address perinatal mental health disparities

A team of researchers is calling for comprehensive changes to U.S. health care and social policies to improve diagnosis and treatment of perinatal mental health conditions and mitigate the dramatic disparities that put women of color at significantly greater risks of morbidity and mortality compared with white women.

3 Apr 2024

The state of the union is … busy

President Joe Biden is working to lay out his health agenda for a second term, even as Congress races to finish its overdue spending bills for the fiscal year that began last October.

7 Mar 2024

American survey reveals growing demand for public elder care support

Prior to the pandemic, the majority of American adults thought that families should be responsible for the daily care of older adults—and that families should cover the cost of this care.

29 Jan 2024

Study confirms safety of COVID-19 vaccination during pregnancy for infant neurodevelopment

A large cohort study in "JAMA Pediatrics" found no significant differences in neurodevelopmental rates between infants exposed to COVID-19 vaccines in-utero and those who were not, affirming the safety of maternal COVID-19 vaccination.

24 Jan 2024

Montana’s effort to expand religious exemptions to vaccines prompts political standoff

Montana lawmakers are in a standoff with the state's health department over a package of sweeping changes to child care licensing rules that includes a disputed provision to allow religious exemptions to routine vaccinations for children and workers.

19 Jan 2024

Child care gaps in rural America threaten to undercut small communities

Candy Murnion remembers vividly the event that pushed her to open her first day care business in Jordan, a town of fewer than 400 residents in a sea of grassland in eastern Montana.

2 Jan 2024

Navigating post-pandemic school reintegration: A comprehensive assessment of mental health in children with special educational needs

Researchers examine changes in mental health among children and adolescents with special educational needs after COVID-19-related school closures.

12 Dec 2023

Study finds link between child care subsidy requirements and child abuse rates

Young children in low-income households could be at risk for abuse and neglect if their parents are unable to receive adequate child care subsidies, a new University of Michigan study found.

7 Dec 2023

Children in daycare not significant spreaders of COVID-19, study shows

Parents who send their children to child care can breathe a little easier – research published in JAMA Network Open from experts at Michigan Medicine, the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, and UPMC Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh shows that children in daycare were not significant spreaders of COVID-19.

27 Nov 2023

Study: Nursing homes most adversely affected by employment declines since the pandemic

Among health care job sectors, nursing homes have been the most adversely affected by declines in employment growth since the pandemic—a rate more than triple that of hospitals or physician offices, says a University of Michigan researcher.

3 Nov 2023

States reconsider religious exemptions for vaccinations in child care

More than half the children who attend Munchkin Land Daycare near Billings, Montana, have special needs or compromised immune systems.

3 Nov 2023

Dads drive growth in California’s paid family leave program

In a sign of growing domestic equality, more new dads are claiming paid family leave to bond with their babies and support their partners during the first weeks of parenthood.

30 Oct 2023

Kids not the culprits: Low COVID-19 spread in U.S. child-care centers challenges closure norms

The study found that both children and care providers in U.S. child-care centers showed low rates of COVID-19 transmission, challenging the notion that these settings are high-risk environments for the virus. The results could have implications for revising guidelines on school and child-care center closures.

25 Oct 2023

Breastfeeding policies may come at a steep cost for mothers

Breast is best, or so the campaign launched by the World Health Organization and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says.

4 Oct 2023

Parental job stress linked to children's socioemotional development

Family mealtimes are important for parents and children as a space to communicate, socialize, and build attachment relationships.

28 Sep 2023

A decades-long drop in teen births is slowing, and advocates worry a reversal is coming

Cicely Wilson's work doesn't end when she leaves her day job as a lactation consultant, doula, and child care expert.

26 Sep 2023

Child care feeding programs linked to better child and family health

Very young children who attend child care and receive onsite meals and snacks were more likely to be food secure and in good health, and less likely to be admitted after a hospital emergency department visit than children in child care whose meals and snacks were provided from home, according to a new study in the Journal of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, published by Elsevier.

18 Sep 2023