Canada's first child and family policy blog, now in its fifth year, with monthly updates on the latest national and international news, research, and trends related to child and family matters, particularly in the realms of child care, child custody, and child protection. Topics include the evolving roles of fathers and mothers, expanding child care options, family preservation and  support programs, new approaches to child custody determination, and the prevention and treatment of family violence.

The blog will examine ethical dilemmas in child and family practice, discussing some of the complex questions avoided within dominant discourses in child and family policy. Our aim is not to take definitive positions on these contentious issues, but to provide a forum toward a more open and considered debate of matters directly affecting children and families.

One of the aims of this blog is to draw attention to the damaging effects of current child and family policies on children and families themselves.  It is the responsibility of social institutions to support parents in the fulfillment of their parenting responsibilities; yet our social institutions routinely undermine, rather than support, parents through the enthusiastic application of child and family policies that weaken parent-child attachments. It is our contention that children need both parents, children need to know that they matter to and are loved by their families, and we need to let children be children.

Submissions to the child and family policy blog are welcomed and encouraged.

Child and Family Policy Blog - March, 2012

Several institutions in the past operated homes to help unwed mothers with their pregnancies. The Salvation Army and some churches such as the United Church operated such homes for unwed mothers, but what was done there has recently been questioned. Retired judge Herbert Allard, also a former child welfare worker, says that many mothers were coerced into giving up their babies for adoption. Some places looked at these women as fallen and viewed taking the baby as rescuing it from poverty. Some groups did not even let the woman into the shelter unless she promised to give up the baby to them. Some city social workers withheld information to mothers or fathers of the children, not telling them that it was legally possible for them to change their minds and take their child back, or of the option of only temporary wardship. In Prince Edward Island a woman has called for a public inquiry into adoption practices and a similar move in Australia has led to government formally apologizing to the "many parents whose children were forcibly removed." Writer Lori Chambers has researched thousands of children's aid cases between 1921- 1969 in Ontario, looking at unmarried mothers and how they were treated, and has written the book, "Misconceptions." A series of class action lawsuits is pending in Canada. Many mothers are registering with Origins Canada, some accusing government of kidnapping, fraud or coercion, according to lawyer Tony Merchant. Some of those who have come forward are the adopted children themselves. Mary MacDonald was adopted in 1958 and says she was taken by the agency from the hospital even before her mother signed the adoption surrender document. Children adopted in such circumstances are expressing concern about losing their sense of roots, knowing their true identity or their medical background. (ED NOTE: A good friend of mine who became pregnant as a teenager and sought support from Catholic Family Services in Montreal was told that she had a choice: between adoption and abortion.  The option of keeping the baby was not even mentioned.  It took Herculean efforts on her part, and her own parents' support, to keep the baby after the birth.  Her daughter is now a successful family lawyer.)

Though many people live alone by choice, others just end up alone. BMC Public Health reports that one third of people in the US and Britain live alone, and that this number has doubled in the past 30 years. In Canada 26.8% of households have just one occupant, up from 6% in 1941. The trend has been examined by Dr. Laura Pulkki-Taback of Finland who examined health of 3500 working aged adults there. She found that:
-men who live alone often feel they lack social support and many are prone to alcohol abuse
-women who live alone are more likely to have financial disadvantage compared to married women, and are more likely to suffer from depression
-if people are alone due to marital breakup they are more prone to depression than if their being alone is the result of other circumstances
-people who live alone are 80% more likely to have been taking anti-depressant drugs during the study period.

In the US the Civil Rights Data Collection looked at the treatment of black students in 72,000 schools across the country. It found that though black students are only 18% of those enrolled they represent 35% of those suspended, 46% of those suspended more than once, and 39% of those expelled. Arne Duncan, Secretary of Education, has pointed out that 'education is the civil rights of our generation' and is concerned that 'too many students of colour' have their principle of equity violated in the school system. The school report also found other areas of discrimination. Though about 12% of students at school have disabilities, 70% of those who get physically restrained have disabilities. What is happening also, possibly related to schools being funded based on marks, is a pressure (some suspect) to exclude those who do not perform well. Students of colour and students with disabilities are being pushed out of the school system, according to Deborah Vagins of the American Civil Liberties Union. The difference even extends to course selection. Though 55% of schools of diverse populations offer calculus, only 29% of schools with mostly black or Hispanic students even offer it. Though 44% of the students in the study were black or Hispanic, only 26% of the gifted and talented program students were black or Hispanic. The study also found that teachers in school with few black students get paid more than teachers in high minority schools.

In Saint John, New Brunswick, local land use is regulated by city council - rules are made about size of residential property and amount of land a house can occupy on it. Recently Counsellor Donnie Snook had an idea to change these rules, to make housing more affordable and to benefit the environment. He wants to permit very small homes on small parcels of land. The 20 meter wide lot would be able to house a home 4.8 metres wide and 7 metres long with a small front porch. The two storey building would actually be about the size of one and a half car parking stalls. Gary Vincent is a local developer who likes the idea. However, some neighbours argue that the lots would change the character of the neighbourhood, draw too may people and too much traffic. Some parts of the US already permit such homes.

Ipsos Reid has released results of a poll asking parents what professions they trust most and another of what professions they would like their children to enter. The study of trust found that people trust doctors and firefighters highly. However the study of desired professions found that parents usually don't want their children to enter professions that might pose physical risk, such as firefighting. The poll about desired jobs of children went out to 1003 Canadian adults. It found that doctor, pharmacist and nurse were highly ranked but politician, civil servant, union leader and salesperson were less endorsed. Researchers theorize that parents want for their children a stable or high income and job security, with good social values of helping others.

Aquila Tours, a long established tourist agency has recently announced a new program to enable customers to not just visit a place but to do volunteer work in it. The 'voluntouring' experiences available currently are to El Salvador or India and the customer is informed that there is not just a chance to do several days of sightseeing but to stay in the local community, live and eat as the locals do, to help building homes, protecting the natural environment, improving living conditions. There is no upper age limit for clients, and children under 18 are allowed as long as accompanied by adults. There is no experience necessary either. The fee for the 15 day trip to India does not include air fare or visa costs. It is $2900 Canadian per person but includes housing, meals and travel within India.

A New Jersey school has recently banned hugging. Principal Tyler Blackmore has decreed that the 900 students in his school ages 11-14, grades 6-8, will no longer be allowed to engage in "unsuitable physical interactions." The superintendent has said he supports the decision but will not suspend students who hug.

Dr. Colleen Maxwell has released results of a study of 2000 residents in either nursing homes with round the clock care or in supported living care facilities in Alberta. She found that patients in supported living have insufficient staffing for their complex medical needs and is concerned that those lower care facilities may put patients at risk. Those in round the clock care homes during the previous 90 days were 50% more likely to have seen a doctor but less likely to have been taken to ER or to have been hospitalized than those in the supported living residences. That means that in the supported living environment when there is a medical concern, people tend to take the most dramatic action. Her study found that in supported living facilities over half the residents were medically unstable and nearly 60% had dementia. Those in supported living also pay higher fees, have more costs for health related supplies and service and family caregivers are expected to provide some of their care. Maxwell calls this an 'off-loading of costs and care' to family members. Dr. David Swann, health care critic for the Liberal Party, says that the province's plan to build even more supported living beds is a problem when the report might suggest in fact more nursing home beds are needed. (ED NOTE: Care in a private home is not even mentioned though it is a common and often preferred style of care. In the home-based care option there is attention to daily crises by family members, so the arrangement can work well, but little is available in the way of funding. Maybe the answer lies with more funding to that level.)

With new technology enabling women to freeze their embryos for future use, several drawbacks are being studied. Dr. Carl Laskin, former head of the Canadian Fertility and Andrology Society, has found that if a couple splits up, the embryos become part of the custody battle. There are two types of freezing embryos, one for medical reasons, often because the woman is about to undergo cancer treatment and is not sure of fertility after, and the other 'social freezing,' where parents just want to ensure they can still have babies 10-15 years into the future, once their careers are established. Concerns expressed have now included:
-the health of the baby: Dr. Roger Pierson of the University of Saskatchewan argues that embryo freezing technology is still evolving. There was in earlier times a risk that ice crystals would destroy the embryos and sometimes only 80-90% of frozen eggs survived the thaw process. It is not clear how long frozen eggs can be safely stored according to Dr. Jeffrey Roberts of the Pacific Centre for Reproductive Medicine in Vancouver
-the cost: A typical charge for egg freezing is $3,500 to $5,850
-the nature of the eggs at the start: If the procedure is done for a woman up to age 40, it is possible that the egg collected is already chromosomally abnormal according to Dr. Calvin Greene of the Regional Fertility Program in Calgary.

The Centers for Disease Control in the US have found an increase over the past five years in the numbers of preschoolers with dental cavities. Children of all income levels are showing 6-10 cavities or more, a situation that is critical because with that amount of work to be done, many will need to be given general anesthetic since they can't sit still long enough for all those fillings. General anesthetic poses risks for preschoolers. The reason for the increased incidence of cavities seems to be misinformation on the part of parents about the importance of brushing even baby teeth. Some parents admit they give their young a lot of snacks and juice or sweet drinks, and many point out that young children usually don’t like to brush their teeth, and the parents just give in to their refusals. Dr. Rochelle Lindemeyer of the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia says that even affluent families overuse sweet beverages for the children. (ED NOTE: I am also concerned that daycare and kindergarten kids almost never brush their teeth after lunches or snacks.)

Dr. Mark Yudin of the Society of Obstetricians and Gynecologists of Canada has found that about 90% of pregnant women in Canada already have antibodies to chicken pox and are nearly all immune to the infection. However there is a risk to those who are not immune. Though it is only a 2% risk of complications if they contract the illness during pregnancy, he suggests that women all get the vaccine against chicken pox before they conceive. Dozens of women, each year, get chicken pox while pregnant. The risk is that 5-10% of them will develop complications such as lung tissue inflammation or that their offspring will have short limbs, chest wall malformations or brain abnormalities. One key risk factor is when the chicken pox is contracted because it is most dangerous in early stages of the pregnancy.

With a greying population and challenging economy, many seniors find they have to stay at paid work longer since they can't afford to retire. However it is not clear that employers are as open to keeping them on staff. Towers Watson, a consulting firm, found that most Canadians can't contemplate being able to retire until about age 67, but Mike Cuma, human resources expert, says that people younger than that already are at risk of illness. His studies have found that if older workers are high users of medical services, it will be very costly for employers to afford health care plans. A 2010 report found that of those aged 65-79, 15% have one of four chronic illnesses including diabetes or hypertension. Amy D'Aprix, gerontologist, says that those aged 65 and over are at higher risk for dementia and Alzheimer's though those conditions should not be considered a normal part of aging. Though the human rights code bans discrimination by employers on the basis of age of worker, and nationally regulated companies cannot legally impose a retirement age, some observers have expressed concern about how far an employer has to go to accommodate a disability. (ED NOTE: I think this is a little unfair. There is often a huge difference between the health of someone who is 65 and one who is 79 and those fourteen years can be productive years. The reasons we should not force seniors to do paid work are not because the senior is unwell. A better reason is that the senior is needed in other roles, such as caregiving, nurturing, advising and mentoring. We are not automatically useless at age 65, but to prove we are useful does not mean we need to be doing paid career jobs. As a society we have adjusted to the idea that mom or dad may not be available for a child when he or she cries because parents have to work. But it is sad for a child to think that grandma or grandpa are also not available. Is nothing sacred?)

In Alberta there is a legal recognition that parents have the right to decide the religious and ethical traditions for their children. However home-schoolers have become concerned that under the new Education Act they may not be able to exercise those rights. Paul van den Bosch of Alberta Home Education Association is unhappy that if he teaches his children his personal views about heterosexual marriage as an ideal, and teaches pro-life views, authorities will shut down his home school. The new law in section 16 says that all school curricula must be consistent with the Alberta Human Rights Act and the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, both of which promote abortion rights and gay rights. Education Minister Thomas Lukaszuk has tried to accommodate the concerns of the home schoolers, saying that he has no plans to undermine their rights, but he has not removed some of the clauses of concern. He has, however, written a preamble to the legislation, saying that a child's education begins in the home, and that parents play a foundational role in the moral and spiritual formation of their children.

It is illegal to discriminate against a female employee in Canada because she is pregnant. It is considered a form of sex discrimination, and women are not to be denied employment, fired or harassed due to pregnancy. However reports are still being received of such discrimination. In Alberta between April 2009 and February 2012,there were 532 complaints about discrimination due to pregnancy, amounting to nearly 25% of all the types of complaints submitted to the Human Rights Commission. An Ontario centre received over 6000 inquires about sex discrimination in 2010-2011, and most of those were also about pregnancy, according to Jennifer Ramsay of the Human Rights Legal Support Centre. The complaints are of women not hired due to pregnancy, dismissed while on parental leave, or not accommodated during employment due to the special needs they had.

One of the ways that governments try to make budgets balance in tough times is to raise taxes. Another is to reduce services. A third way is to try to keep the taxes low and still give the services, by having the private sector provide them. Human Resources Minister Diane Finley has announced that she is looking at the corporate and not-for-profit sectors to deliver social programs. She is considering a 'pay for performance agreement' with set targets and money paid by government to agencies that meet those targets. She is also considering 'social impact bonds,' contracts between government and private investors to provide money to finance a not for profit centre to deliver a social program. Government would pay the investor a premium if the outcomes were achieved. (ED NOTE: This all sounds good until we consider how it would work. Let's say government wants bottom line savings in the number of people living on welfare. Technically you could reduce that by simply reducing amounts paid. Or you could raise the standard and not pay out if people have savings, causing hardship and greater poverty. Or you could push people to get paid work by giving them free daycare at substandard warehouse-type locations. This might reduce bottom line the number of people getting benefits, but it might also cause huge harm to children and earners who continue to live in dire poverty. A lot depends on what 'programs' are offered but I really think that most of the important things we can do to help those in poverty are not just about bottom line accounting. A child deprived of the nurturing of parent for most of his or her childhood has no accounting column for that, but will have a permanent hurt. Better to let government fund parenting and make that a core social program.)

A program that offers to help doctors in the developing world learn new skills may be backfiring. Many who come to the US to learn medical skills are tempted to not go back home, given the higher standard of living and higher salaries in their new country. The New York Times recently examined situations where foreign doctors were facing such a predicament, finding that the US is a 'powerful magnet' for the world's doctors. 25% of doctors in the US have been trained at medical schools outside the country, and many who were born in the US do not choose to be family care specialists. That leaves a void easy to fill by those who come from elsewhere, wish to stay and don’t move on to specialty areas. The problem is that the nation in poverty that sent fledgling students away for medical training needs them back. In some countries such as Zambia there is anger against those doctors who don't return. Some accuse them of betrayal. In Zambia life expectancy is 46, one million of the 14 million people have H.I.V. or AIDS, 10% of children die before age 5 and hospitals are ill equipped. There is only one doctor for every 23,000 people, while in the US there is one for every 416 people. Doctors who stay in their home country or who train and return to it speak of the strong commitment they have to helping the people there, but they admit they often have to improvise with inadequate tools and equipment. Also, in places that have a new CT scanner or dialysis machine there may not be enough trained doctors to operate them.

In the western world birth rates are dropping, but in the developing world, until recently they were still very high. However the US Census Bureau has found that birth rates in some Arab nations are also now falling. Fertility rates have dropped nearly 60% in Morocco, Syria and Saudi Arabia, and in Iran they are down 70%. Nicholas Eberstadt of the American Enterprise Institute has looked at how economies manage with fewer children to take over as workers and taxpayers. Currently nearly half of the world's nations have birth rates below replacement level. Writer David Brooks of the New York Times has concluded that around the world, "young people are the scarcest resource."

Highly aware of the 99%, many communities are now looking at what they can do for those struggling with poverty. When even dogs recognize that restaurants throw out a lot of good food, some restauranteurs are figuring out ways to avoid such waste. Though it isn't legal or ethical to give away food that was served but not eaten, it is legal and ethical to give away food that was never ordered, that never left the kitchen and that otherwise could go to waste. In Montreal Alain Archambault helped set up an initiative in 2009 called La Table des Chef to have hotels and restaurants distribute such food to local shelters. This program was successful and Didier Luneau, manager of a Montreal Hotel, Le Centre Sheraton at the time, has now taken the same concept to his new job as general manger of the Westin Calgary. In Montreal there are 200,000 portions given per year to the homeless through the program. Now the Calgary Chef Table program already is providing 300-400 meals to the Calgary Drop in Centre each week. The surplus food is frozen during the week and then is delivered by a donated refrigerated truck to the centre to be frozen or reheated as necessary.

Substance and Mental Health Services Administration in the US reports that 10.5% of US children under age 18 have one parent who has an alcohol disorder. In some cases both parents abuse alcohol. (ED NOTE: if we however conclude that parents are unfit, which is a common assumption, I think we ignore why people drink. It may be that the poverty they face, the low level of government help they get for the role is so demoralizing them that drink is their escape. Are we doing enough for parents?)

Common Sense Media recently found that over one third of children aged 8 and younger use iPads, smartphones or other mobile devices and 25% of 5-8 year olds even multitask with several of the devices at the same time. Given this, many toy manufacturers are trying to create a high tech option to old favorites
-Mattel has created a Barbie doll with a lens in her back so children can push a button on her belt, take a picture and download it to a computer.
-Hasbro has changed Laser Tag so that players instead of pointing a toy gun at each other, point a gun with an iPhone in it and a live video displays what is ahead, along with graphics. When kids pull the trigger, lasers appear
-Mattel has put free apps on its brands, in a system called Apptivity, whereby kids can pick a game for the iPad and use plastic toys with sensors around on the iPad.
-In a new version of Monopoly a smartphone will count your accumulated money and landing on Chance starts a short digital game, deciding whether a player goes to jail. The new games are more costly then the older visions. The Barbies with camera cost $50 instead of the usual $25. Lutz Muller of Klosters Trading admits that low income families are unlikely to use the downloaded apps options. Michael Acton Smith of Mind Candy, a toymaker, adds that there will always be a place for real plush toys since 'we don't want a world where kids are just staring at a screen'.

Those who wish to have a baby but can't find a life mate sometimes turn to adoption, or may marry without love because they want family. Some turn to IVF. However another option has surfaced. Modamily is an online matching system where single men and women can match up in a social network to commit to having a child and co-parenting in common. Some media reports have said this is a cross between online dating and a sperm bank but Modamily creators are working to handle the dissenters. Modamily introduces people who match for various factors and says it is helping to provide a financial and emotionally committed set of parents.

Health Canada has found that the painkiller drug OxyContin is highly addictive and is being widely misused in Canada to create euphoric highs. Though obtained by prescription it is being used by some who may crush it or inject it. In response manufacturer Purdue Pharma Canada announced it would stop producing the drug at the end of February 2012 and would replace it with a similar drug OxyNeo, which is harder to crush or to liquefy for injection. Several provincial health ministries have announced they will not fund use of OxyContin any more under their health care plans. Nova Scotia will only fund it for cancer and palliative care patients. Saskatchewan will not even fund the new replacement drug except for cancer or palliative care. Ontario will fund the new drug but under tight controls. Coroners in BC have reported that drug overdose in that province results in 140-180 deaths a year. Ontario's chief coroner has found that deaths related to Oxy Contin opioids rose 240% between 2002-2006. However many groups that help detoxify addicts by slower removal are concerned they will no longer be able to continue that process. At a high school in Thunder Bay Ontario a pilot project has been under way to help 40 students through withdrawal from OxyContin. Nurse Colleen McCreery has told the press that withdrawal symptoms are painful . Many counsellors fear that some of the recovering addicts may now turn to other opiates like heroin.

Though babies can't speak words, they have long been known to communicate with parents through noises, gesture, smiles and cries. However Dr. Jennifer Sumsion of Charles Stuart University in Australia was interested in whether very young babies also communicate with each other. She looked at children aged 6-18 months and attached small cameras to their heads for about 10-15 minutes at a time. The cameras recorded how the little kids looked at and played with each other, finding that they do play games very young, preverbally. They pretend to hand a toy and snatch it back, sit close to each other and switch drink bottles around and laugh. The researchers were amazed at the social skills evident.

Canadian standards for what are common healthy birth weights have created charts that alert doctors to potential problems. However Dr. Joel Ray of the U of Toronto has become concerned that many of those standards err, simply because they assumed Canadian-born parents. He looked at statistics from 760,000 Ontario births and found that those born to mothers from other countries weight up to 250 grams less than those born to Canadian, European or western born mothers. This lower weight may have been tagged as a problem by the charts, but is in fact normal for those from African or Caribbean origin. He found that 67 of 1000 babies born from those demographics were at risk of being mislabelled as underweight. He wants to create modern birth weight curves that recognize specific hereditary and ethnic normal tendencies. Otherwise some have an 'unnecessarily prolonged stay in hospital' and genetic testing that is not needed.

When someone needs an organ transplant, friends and family are often asked to see if they could donate and tests are done to see if they are a match. Sadly often those who are willing are not a good match medically. Rick Ruzzamenti in the US heard about a friend who had given a kidney to someone who was sick and he was thinking about making the same gesture with one of his two kidneys, though he did not know who might need it. When he approached a hospital to offer this altruistic donation of a kidney he was treated with suspicion, even though 400,000 Americans are on dialysis waiting for transplants and fewer than 17,000 get one each year because of lack of donors. Even though 4500 die each year waiting for a donor, hospitals do feel an obligation to check on the psychological health of anyone who suddenly wishes to donate. Getting more people to donate a live kidney has however big advantages and Ruzzamenti wanted to set up a computer system to link those needing organs with those willing to give, and to include the medical match criteria. The idea of an exchange developed so that a person who knew someone needing an organ may not be able to give their own to them but could give their own to someone else and then could arrange for a match to then give to the person they loved. A Domino chain like that was set up in 2005 at Johns Hopkins and other chains have thrived since. Ruzzamenti's chain recently set up a chain that resulted in 30 kidneys being donated.

In an irony that some might find nearly comic, it may be that a very widely available product most people consider a nuisance could successfully treat leukemia. Dr. Caroline Hamm and Dr. Siyaram Pande of the U of Windsor have found leukemia patients who for 3 years drank tea made from dandelion root, had a drop in growth of cancer cells. One patient even has gone into remission though at the time of starting the trial her situation was desperate and even chemotherapy was no longer working. Pande hopes that the cell suicide seen when dandelion tea is consumed may hold hope not just for treatment of leukemia but for bone, pancreatic and colon cancers and for neuroplastoma. Researchers also point out that drinking tea is easy, in contrast to toxic chemo treatments which kill healthy cells.

Just like there are programs now to give addicts methadone to help get them off drugs, there are other programs to give them the drug they are addicted to, in order to reduce harm to themselves or society if otherwise they would commit crimes to get it. The controlled and safe use of drugs and safe injection sites are working well. Another initiative is now being tried, regarding alcohol. Dr. Ron Joe of Vancouver Coastal Health says the Managed Alcohol Program that has been operating in Ontario for 15 years an will soon start in BC. Under it those who are so addicted to alcohol that they have turned to hand sanitizer, rubbing alcohol and Listerine are in dire need of intervention. To help them they are given 12 daily doses of safe alcohol, non poisonous (which the other substances may be) and these 12 daily doses are one every hour from 10:30 AM to 10:20 PM. Eight chronic alcohol users are currently receiving this treatment in B.C.

In Europe the move to have a well educated population but requiring them all to pay high tuition is creating a social fallout of huge proportions. The New York Times has recently reported that many young people cannot afford to attend post-secondary education and yet, without an education are unable to find jobs. The unemployment rate has been part of the economic downturn of Europe in general and a key element of recent riots The number of unemployed between ages 16-24 in the US is 18%, in Britain is 22.3%, in Italy and Portugal is 30%, in Greece is 48% and in Spain is nearly 50%. Statisticians calls this new group the not in education, employment or training group, or NEETs, and they number in Britain alone about 1.3 million people. Loss of job hope is demoralizing an entire generation according to some analysts while the cost of social assistance for them is also very high. In Britain in the most recent fiscal year, government paid out $6.6 billion US for their social assistance and some say this would have been better spent on job training. In addition many companies no longer offer job apprenticeships. Economist Dr. Hilary Steedman of the London School of Economics found that under 10% of employers in Britain give apprenticeships while 25% do so in Austria, Switzerland and Germany.

Lawyer Edgar Cahn has become concerned that we actually have two economies in western society- the one that counts monetary activity private and public, and the second one that involves family, neighborhood, community and civil society actions that do not generate money. He says that that second sector is overlooked in traditional economics and is not only of huge value but is at risk. He says that care of infants, teens, and seniors, and comfort to people in crisis, saves government a lot of money.
-The value of household work in the US in 1998 would have been $1.9 trillion or one quarter of the GDP were it counted. The value of informal care of seniors in 2002 was $253 billion, and the amount government did not have to spend on this care is dramatically displayed since that figure is higher than the entire cost of health care and nursing home care. Economists Gary Becker and Nancy Folbre estimate that 40% of economic activity takes place in this second economy that is not counted officially. Cahn points out that the group doing most of the nation's health care is actually parents and the group that produces a workforce that gets up daily and gets to work on time is parents, yet those roles are usually officially ignored.
-He is concerned that undervaluing the time spent on care roles has pressured people to leave them just to have enough money to live and this has created a gap in services. He says the labor supply for this vital economy has dwindled as grandparents move out, as single parents try to do everything alone and as there are more parents out earning. He created a solution of sorts - a kind of labor exchange registry - called time banking. In this registry people offer an hour of service for free, and agree to get back a free hour of service from someone else, in an area they need. Services exchanged could be babysitting, eldercare, home repair, taxiing people around, helping after hospital discharge, protecting the environment, tutoring. His computer tallies up Time Dollars earned and owed and matches members. He admits that some members have given hundreds of hours and not yet claimed back their due while others have been receivers without yet being able to pay back but he says this is the caring economy trying to still exist.
-The time banking movement has spread. The currency in the US is called a time dollar and in the UK a time credit. Advocates claim that it builds social capacity and helps members gain confidence and social contact. Today 26 countries have TimeBanks and in the UK alone there are 108 time banks while in the US the are 53. Critics have raised concerns that some work that benefits society is not visible. An hour to think and read about how to help a teen in distress has no visible product. Cahn does have a category of work for social justice movement participation, for studying and changing public policy, and for protesting illegal behaviour.

As minority groups get equality rights, there comes a time when preferential treatment, reverse discrimination or affirmative action may no longer be needed. The theory has been that once women or people of colour or the handicapped are viewed for their own merits, without prejudice against them, they can compete on a level playing field. However those who endorse affirmative action are often leery of giving up rules that require it, in case society slips back to discrimination. In the US admission to colleges and universities was legislated to look at race and to make sure minorities were not excluded, and a 2003 Supreme Court ruling confirmed that principle. However a white student, Abigail Fisher, was not admitted to the U of Texas recently and feels it was because of quotas for other races. She has taken her case to court. Several US universities have already dropped the race consideration for people seeking admission.

Child Trends, a research group in Washington has revealed results of its latest study finding that marriage and having babies are tied closely to income, and younger women are more likely now to give birth without having married.
-59% of all new mothers in 2009 were married
-however nearly 67% of new mothers under age 30 were not married
-college graduates tend to marry before they have children
-the poor and racial minorities are more likely to not have married before giving birth; 41% of black children in the US are born outside marriage
-29% of white children, 53% of Latino children and 73% of black children were born outside marriage in another recent study
-Many of the nonmarital births are however to couples living together, just not married
Reasons for these trends have been speculated. Some say that there are some disincentives to marriage:
-single parents can get food stamps and child care benefits that may be lost if they marry
-women's incomes have gone up 8% but men's have gone down 8% in the past 30 years, according to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics. It is possible that women do not feel that men are needed for income.
However sociologist Frank Furstenberg is concerned that children born outside marriage tend to run greater risk of poverty, school failure, and behavioural problems.

Though many nations are seeing a greying of the population and a drop in birth rate, the fast decline in Japan has created international concern. Currently Japan has 127 million people. However there is nearly no immigration and the birth rate has fallen so much that it is experienced a drop in population of 183,000 in 2009. Its Health and Welfare ministry estimates that at this rate it will lose 1 million people a year and by 2060 it may have only 87 million people, with 40% of its population being over 65. The birth rate currently is 1.21 and media has found that many young Japanese are no longer interested in marriage or having children.

Bronnie Ware is an Australian nurse who spent several years working in palliative care, caring for patients in the last 12 weeks of their lives. She recorded their dying epiphanies in a blog called, "Inspiration and Chai," which gathered so much attention that she put her observations into a book called, "The Top Five Regrets of the Dying." Ware writes of the phenomenal clarity of vision that people gain at the end of their lives, and how we might learn from their wisdom. "When questioned about any regrets they had or anything they would do differently," she says, "common themes surfaced again and again." Here are the top five regrets of the dying, as witnessed by Ware:
1. I wish I'd had the courage to live a life true to myself, not the life others expected of me. "This was the most common regret of all. When people realise that their life is almost over and look back clearly on it, it is easy to see how many dreams have gone unfulfilled. Most people had not honoured even a half of their dreams and had to die knowing that it was due to choices they had made, or not made. Health brings a freedom very few realise, until they no longer have it."
2. I wish I hadn't worked so hard. "This came from every male patient that I nursed. They missed their children's youth and their partner's companionship. Women also spoke of this regret, but as most were from an older generation, many of the female patients had not been breadwinners. All of the men I nursed deeply regretted spending so much of their lives on the treadmill of a work existence."
3. I wish I'd had the courage to express my feelings. "Many people suppressed their feelings in order to keep peace with others. As a result, they settled for a mediocre existence and never became who they were truly capable of becoming. Many developed illnesses relating to the bitterness and resentment they carried as a result."
4. I wish I had stayed in touch with my friends. "Often they would not truly realise the full benefits of old friends until their dying weeks and it was not always possible to track them down. Many had become so caught up in their own lives that they had let golden friendships slip by over the years. There were many deep regrets about not giving friendships the time and effort that they deserved. Everyone misses their friends when they are dying."
5. I wish that I had let myself be happier. "This is a surprisingly common one. Many did not realize until the end that happiness is a choice. They had stayed stuck in old patterns and habits. The so-called 'comfort' of familiarity overflowed into their emotions, as well as their physical lives. Fear of change had them pretending to others, and to their selves, that they were content, when deep within, they longed to laugh properly and have silliness in their life again."

February, 2012

The foster care system is being criticized for some of its policies. Thaila is an 18 year old girl in Toronto who feels that current policy making teens leave their foster or group home by age 16 or 18 is not fair. She says the policy puts kids out into the street too young. Though some provinces permit youth to stay slightly longer, some to age 21, the trend still is that most people who 'age out' for the group care system face a life of poverty. Rates of homelessness are high and rates of eventually landing in jail are higher than for the general population of teens. Thaila and a friend, Shanna, also in care, are working with the Child and Youth Advocate of Ontario and speaking at Youth Leaving Care hearings at the Ontario Legislature. CBC radio interviewed some of the 85,000 young people currently placed in the government care in Canada. Often the teens are forced to end their education early and rely on food banks because little is provided for them once they reach the required exit age. In poignant interviews some teens admitted they feel alone, and that it is hard to not even have someone to phone if they want to know how to cook something, since they are both disconnected from their biological parents and their relationships with foster parents was often tenuous and a paid relationship. A common question many ask, given that they are often still in high school and not able to get good jobs or enter post-secondary education, is to ask where the nearest food bank is. (ED NOTE: It is grossly unfair to assume that for some young adults "30 is the new 20," that we allow a long time for middle-class kids to launch, and yet we still force kids in poverty from the foster care system out so young.)

In many countries rights of the parents and rights of the state are at loggerheads. In Australia it is legal to keep your children out of the public school system but you do have to teach them, and to home school them you must register officially and follow a prescribed curriculum. However a recent study has found that many parents are home-schooling but not bothering to register. Bob Osmark of Queensland was prosecuted for not registering to home school his 13 year old daughter and this father of ten said he sees education as his own parental right and responsibility.  He was found guilty in court and fined $300 plus costs. A new school year is just starting in Australia in Feb 2012 and ABC News estimates that about 50,000 children are being home schooled, many of them illegally. Research is however hard to do. Dr. Glenda Jackson of Monash University says it is even hard to find families to research because parents are often suspicious of the motives of researchers. The Tasmanian Home Education Advisory Council asked 600 parents why they home school and 17% said it was for religious reasons, 50% said it was for other philosophical reasons, 27% said it was because they did not like the local school and 7% said it was because they wanted to meet the special needs of their children. Dr. Rob Reich of Stanford University says that some parents also have a deep distrust of authority and government-based curriculua.

Dr. L. Alan Sroufe of the U of Minnesota Institute of Child Development has written in the New York Times of his great concern about the over-diagnosis of children as having attention deficit disorder. As a practicing psychologist for 40 years he says we rely too heavily on Ritalin and Adderal for children and that there has been a 20 fold increase in the consumption of those drugs in the last 30 years. He admits that short term studies show short term effects on the brain of people using such drugs, effects that seem positive, but he says that the stimulants in them, dextroamphetamine and amphetamine actually over the long term have a quite different effect. He says that these stimulants do not improve broader learning. It is true that the initial body reaction of sleeplessness and loss of appetite fades but so does the beneficial effect on behavior as the child simply develops a tolerance for the drug. Cutting off the drug for a few days has effects similar to taking an addicted adult off tobacco or coffee. He says there is no long term benefit of these medications on academic performance or even on behavior problems. He is also concerned that medicating so many children gives them the message that they can't function without drugs, and that there is 'something inherently defective in them'.

The American Psychiatric Association is working on its fifth edition of Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) and several controversies have arisen. Once a condition is labelled an official mental disorder it becomes eligible for medical insurance coverage which some say increases access of sufferers to treatment. However once it is recognized officially, it may also be more diagnosed than ever, risking calling abnormal some things that are actually normal, according to other observers.
-attenuated psychosis syndrome - is a new diagnosis proposed for those who have delusional thinking and hallucinations. Some say treating it early could prevent it becoming full fledged schizophrenia. But others say that the symptoms for it are very poor predictors and 70-80% of those with the vague symptoms never develop schizophrenia anyway. If they were treated with powerful anti-psychotic drugs they may have more problems.
-a new condition called premenstrual dysphoric disorder would be for premenstrual fatigue and blues
-a new diagnoses called binge-eating disorder would name out of control bingeing.
-grief after someone dies is also being considered as a disorder linked to clinical depression. Some feel that those who are bereaved may need drugs for depression. However others say that drugs for depression can produce bad side-effects of sleeping problems and lower sex drive. Dr. Sidney Zisook of the U of California San Diego says that we need to call bereavement in some people depression because otherwise we do them a disservice because they need more attention. On the other hand Dr. Allen Frances of Duke University says he fears we are going to 'medicalize normality' and that millions will "unnecessarily get stuck with psychiatric labels."

As people age they sometimes have declining health that requires changes in care level. At first they may be able to care for themselves and then they may need some help from a family member and they may later need a caregiver coming into the home. They may then need to move to a higher care level. In Alberta seniors have sometimes been forced to move from one building to another, uprooting much of their lives, whenever their care needs changed. There have been buildings for assisted living, supported living, where you have to stay very healthy to be resident and then there are buildings for higher levels of care, long-term care. Health Minister Fred Horne has announced Feb 2012 that he will try to remove the confusing terms of types of care and will focus not on money to each building but on the patient. He wants to let people be in facilities they can stay in even if their needs change and he wants to ensure that simple home care for the rest of one's life is also an option. He is planning to create two demonstration facilities one in Calgary and one in Red Deer by 2014.

The UK Office for National Statistics has found that many women in the United Kingdom now return to paid work very soon after having a baby with a key reason that they have more income earning power than does their spouse. The decision to have one parent at home is still a priority in many families, partly due to preference and partly due to high cost of 3rd party care compared to income of the second earner. The result is a growth in numbers of fathers as primary caregivers of children. The average woman in her twenties now earns more than a man the same age. In 1997 men earned 5.9% more than women at that age but by 2005 for the first time women earned more. In 2012 women earn 3.6% more than men. The new lifestyle, however, has not necessarily been the preference of women or men, financially the best option. 

At the World Economic Forum in Jan 2012 PM Harper has revealed that he plans to address issues of an aging population by making 'major transformations' to the pension plan. The Canada Pension Plan is funded by contributions from paid workers and he has said he intends no changes to it. However it is rumored that he is planning changes to the Old Age Security program, which currently is a payment given to those aged 65 and over. Speculation is that he plans to raise the age of eligibility to age 67. NDP finance critic Peter Juliam is concerned about what he calls the 'ominous' rumors and he would prefer that OAS was more generous. His party and the Liberal party want the OAS increased by reducing spending on prisons and fighter jets. Government documents indicate that currently the OAS output of $36.5 billion would be required to be $108 billion in a few years if the number of seniors increases from the current 4.7 million to 9.3 million by 2030.The OAS amount is $540 a month for those earning under $69,000 in retirement but is reduced for those who earn more and is eliminated for those with retirement income over $112,000. Other groups have reacted to the PM's suggestion differently:
-Some have suggested that MPs should also reduce their own pensions. Derek Fildebrant of the Canadian Taxpayers Federation says that MPS can get a pension after only 6 years of service, and they need contribute only $10,900 a year while regular Canadians have a much different contribution rate. Fildebrandt says that ordinary people pay $23.30 for every $1 MPs contribute to the MP pension and an ordinary person would have to save $129,000 a year for six years to get the big pension MPs get.
-Jane Badets of Statistics Canada found that even with immigration the population does not get younger so adding new taxpayers who are immigrants does not solve the problem. If Canada admitted four times as many immigrants per year the median age of the population would still increase, to 22.3% of all citizens by 2056.
-Tyler Meredith of the Institute for Research on Public Policy says that pushing the age up to 67 for everyone would unequally harm those who do not have the financial means or physical ability to earn two years longer.
-Dr. James MacKinnon of Queen's University says that Harper plan could work well and might be quite simple. He says the plan would be better than just reducing payments to everyone and still letting them get money from age 65.
-other activists have argued for increases to birth benefits so that more people have children, generating income to the pension plan for each generation to come. Licia Corbella, writer at the Calgary Herald says the real solution is what a 2006 Stats Canada study said, to have more babies. Without a substantial increase in fertility Canada's population growth could in twenty years be near zero.
-Canadian pension plans were designed for a birth rate of 2.2 and since the current birth rate is 1.6 there is a problem.

In the US there is a tax break for those with children, called the child tax credit. It is provided for those who file tax returns and all they have to do is provide their Social Security numbers or individual taxpayer ID numbers in the process. But as the US looks for ways to cut expenses and has turned down tax increases for the rich, it may be cutting benefits to the poor. A new proposal would only give the child tax credit to those with a certain type of application form. Unauthorized immigrants are not given Social Security numbers. All they get are taxpayer identification numbers. The IRS makes them pay tax and to date they have been able to apply for the tax credit but the new law could cut them off . On average those who earn $21,000 a year got a benefit of $1800 and they would now lose that. Editors at the New York Times say that denying the very poorest this benefit will also harm the communities they live in, and they will not be able to purchase groceries, utilities, gas or pay rent.

In South Korea a new government plan will subsidize not just use of kindergarten or daycare but also the raising of children at home. South Korea is hoping to raise its low birth rate through support for child birth and President Lee Myung-bank says that child-rearing "is the surest investment in the future". He has announced in February 2012 that
-regardless of parental income level, subsidies will be given to those who put 3-4 year olds in kindergarten or daycare centres. The amounts will be 240,000 won in 2012, and will go up to 300,000 by 2016.
-families with a net income in the bottom 70% bracket will be able to get childrearing payments even if they don't use kindergarten or daycare. It is expected that 640,000 families will access that fund next year. His ministry says, "The support system is expected to add a sense of security for those people planning to have children."

In the US there is a huge housing crisis. 20% of Americans with mortgages are unable to pay them. Many now owe more than their home is worth, even if they could find a buyer, which they usually cannot. Banks have foreclosed on four million American homes, and many people have been evicted by the banks. Many homes have just been abandoned. On average homeowners are underwater $50,000 each, with a total negative equity of $700 billion. Who to blame for this housing crisis is at issue, and mortgage services and banks have been roundly criticized for how they got people to commit to mortgages without full transparency and how they evicted them without full documentation. The second problem though is how to help homeowners in distress. Government has been talking with the nation's five biggest banks not just urging them to make allowances but with the likelihood of legal action against them if they do not. The result has been an agreement that will provide some funding to about half of the homeowners in distress. Under the deal
-one million people will get their mortgage debt reduced or be given lower rates to refinance their homes
-750,000 will get cheques for about $2,000 each to make up for having lost their homes to foreclosure in the last 3 years
-Bank of America, JP Morgan Chase, Wells Fargo, Citigroup and Ally Financial have set aside reserves for these accords
-though only $26 billion is being offered, federal officials say that they hope the amount will reach $39 billion for homeowners.

January, 2012

Barbara Kay, writing in the National Post, made a startling discovery in her background research on late-term abortion;  there was never any animal testing of certain kinds of "suction" abortion methods now routinely used in human populations.  The unintended outcomes of these procedures are only beginning to be identified in research, including a significantly higher rate of spontaneous abortion/miscarriage in women who become pregnant and who previously had undergone late-term abortion procedures, and a higher rate of autism among children born to women who had undergone abortion procedures in previous pregnancies.  Kay has also written on the topic of sex selection abortion.  In a recent decision, the Canadian Medical Association recommends that doctors no longer reveal the sex of unborn children to parents, because of the rapid increase in sex selection abortion, with a high rate of female abortion globally.  The trend is reversed in Canada, with significantly more male sex selection abortions.

The 1997 film Gattaca, set in “the very near future,” depicts a eugenic dystopia created by embryo screening, in which people born naturally suffer in the shadow of those who begin life in a lab. In one scene, a geneticist reassures a couple that “this child is still you, simply the best of you. You could conceive naturally a thousand times and never get such a result.” But the film's protagonist disagrees: “What began as a means to rid society of inheritable diseases has become a way to design your offspring – the line between health and enhancement blurred forever.”  The Globe and Mail, in a feature article this month by Carolyn Abraham, focuses on the issue of "unnatural selection" involving in vitro fertilization and genetic testing. At least one prominent Oxford University scholar supports such “unnatural selection” wholeheartedly, arguing that people who procreate are morally obliged to improve the species: a "survival of the fittest" outlook.  Many in the medical community also take such a positive outlook. Jeffrey Steinberg's Fertility Institutes has branches in Los Angeles, New York and, for those on a budget, Mexico. “The dilemma we've got,” he says, “is that ... there are no rules.”  The lack of regulation in this domain is alarming.  Roger Pierson, a fertility specialist at the University of Saskatchewan, says, “twenty years from now, you have to wonder if all babies will be conceived by IVF.” Steinberg offers IVF with embryos screened for a long list of conditions, and says his clients come from all over the world, including 10 to 15 couples a month from Canada – “a tenfold increase from five years ago, and the bulk of them are fertile.” Because of “an old-line religious stance or new-line political correctness,” Dr. Steinberg says, most of his international clients can't have babies this way in their own countries. Barring people from selecting the sex of a child was one of the few federal regulations the Canadian Supreme Court left intact, and the only restriction there is on embryo screening. Even so, couples face no repercussions for doing it out of country. Clients from certain cultures choose boys, but Dr. Steinberg finds Canadians tend to want girls. “I don't see myself as a rebel,” he contends. “I'm just offering what the science allows.”
The science of embryo testing was born in a small London hospital in 1989. British scientist Alan Handyside, who had trained with test-tube-baby pioneers Patrick Steptoe and Robert Edwards, devised a method to extract a cell from a newly created embryo and amplify enough of its DNA to check for mutations. Doing so would allow doctors to implant in a woman's uterus only those embryos free of the mutation she wished to avoid. Known as preimplantation genetic diagnosis, or PGD, it was billed by critics as a leap toward designer babies from the outset, a form of eugenics. But initially, few balked at its noble aims of eradicating hereditary diseases that can kill a child before kindergarten or result in catastrophic impairments, such as muscular dystrophy, Tay-Sachs and cystic fibrosis. Yet this was before the human genome was mapped, and even Dr. Handyside says that “PGD was born prematurely.” Since then, genetic know-how has grown steadily, as have the uses of PGD, which is now employed to select a child's sex, to create “saviour siblings” genetically equipped with donor tissues to match those of another child in need - one of the more chilling aspects of PGD.
Canadian researcher Jeffrey Nisker was a PGD pioneer helping to push the boundaries of the technology, but, unlike Dr. Steinberg, rather than slow down when ethics became a concern, he stopped altogether. Like Santiago Munné, a PGD pioneer in the United States, he advocates for the disabled, who  understandably oppose the procedure. And to those who believe that life begins at conception – even if it takes place in a petri dish – there is no difference between terminating a pregnancy and terminating human life in a petri dish. In a 2006 submission to Health Canada, the Catholic Organization for Life and Family called for a ban on PGD, saying it “inherently disrespects the dignity and worth of human life, since it is performed in order to select the most genetically perfect embryos while discarding those that are deemed undesirable."
Despite his own fears and 15 years of pushing for regulations, Dr. Nisker laments that universal limits are tough to set, given that PGD is embedded in the freedom of reproductive choice debate. On the other hand, Julian Savulescu, the controversial Oxford University bioethicist, claims parents have a moral obligation to select embryos that are “most likely to have the best life, based on the available genetic information.” That information, he argues, should not be limited to avoiding disease genes, but should include those that might improve intelligence or physical characteristics – even if it maintains or adds to social inequalities. He calls it “procreative beneficence.” Prof. Savulescu, whom Dr. Nisker has often debated, also believes that society should embrace the genetic manipulation of embryos to endow future offspring with superior traits that inheritance has not provided. Until recently, such engineering was only theoretical. But in 2007, researchers at Cornell University quietly created the world's first genetically modified human embryo by adding a fluorescent gene that allowed scientists to watch it develop. The breakthrough did not become public until the following year, when it was roundly condemned as a worrisome step toward designer babies. Nisker and other believe that PGD "reinforces the inequalities we already have in society to a shameful degree and introduces new inequalities where only some people have these traits.” He also worries that parents who go to great lengths to stack the genetic deck of their children ("offspring projection") will place undue expectations on them. And we start to look at our children as we look at remodelling, as when painting the front porch somehow leads to a full home renovation.

Dr. Suzanne Tough of the U of Calgary has released results of a study of fertility in men. finding that not just mothers but also fathers, have a decline in fertility with age. Her study found that babies born to fathers aged 40 or over have a higher risk of developing some medical conditions such as autism or schizophrenia. It has already been known that after age 32 it is harder for women to become pregnant and that women who give birth after age 35 are at a higher risk of ectopic pregnancy, miscarriage, high blood pressure or placental abnormalities. A study of Canadian ages of parents shows that 5% of women were 35 or over in 1987 when they had their first baby but now 11% of first babies are to women over 35.

The mechanism Canadian tax law sets up to provide funds for taking care of a newborn is through the employment insurance plan. This plan is tied to paid labor force activity however so taking care of a baby is funded only if the parent has in the past year done over 600 hours of paid work. The situation has become difficult also not just for mothers at home who did not qualify but for adoptive or foster parents who did not give birth to the child as part of the qualifier. Adoptive parents have now been granted maternity benefits as long as they did the required paid work hours last year. The federal government has announced Jan 2012 that it will also now let foster parents get the benefit, again only if they have done enough paid work. In the past such parents may have eventually qualified but they had to legally adopt the child first. This waiting period will now be waived as long as the prospective parent shows a 'demonstrable commitment' to adopt the foster child.

While some parents want to ensure girls have the right to choose any toy, free of gender bias, others feel strongly that boys should be encouraged to become manly and not be playing with dolls. Toy merchants have in the past created boys' and girls' sections in some toy departments but that is changing. In London England, Hamleys, a 250 year old toy store chain has taken down its pink and blue sections for boys and girls to instead offer a red and white environment that categories its floors and departments no longer by Barbie dolls and action figures but by types - Soft Toys -or interests - Outdoors. The Lego company which from its inception in 1963 advertised its product 'for girls and for boys' is now changing some of its figures. Lego has made a Friends collection after doing anthropological research which found that girls like toys that exude 'harmony' and permit them to tell a story with role-playing. Lego will now have a beauty parlour as part of what kids can build. Peggy Orenstein who wrote "Cinderella Ate My Daughter" a study of what she calls 'girlie-girl culture' says that the new focus of some toys is on princesses. Some toys now have 'girl friendly ' science kits to create a beauty spa lab or a perfume factory. Dr. Lise Eliot who wrote "Pink Brain, Blue Brain' found that preschoolers are easily influenced to prefer toys that match their gender. Recent studies of young children have found:
-boys like cars and balls more than girls
-both genders like books and stuffed animals
-boys play in a more solitary way while girls like to cluster in pairs and trios
-girls talk more than boys do as they play
-girls cooperate with each other more than boys do as they play
-in a study of 5,000 three year olds, girls had better spatial skills if they lived in a home with older brothers than if they did not
-boys from egalitarian homes were more nurturing to babies

Though some nations have a 'fend for yourself' economic policy where the poor are not helped in order to push them to work harder, other nations have adopted policies to try to help the poor. The International Labor Organization and World Health Organization are concerned about the 1.4 billion people trying to live on less than $1.25 a day and think that a key solution is not just to urge them to 'work' harder but to help them. The plan is to set up an international 'social protection ' baseline or floor that all people in the globe are entitled to as a human right. This social protection floor would give universal access to health, education, housing, water and sanitation. It would ensure food security, adequate nutrition, and a guaranteed minimum income. An international petition is being set up to tell UN Secretary General Ban KiMoon that people are in favour of this 'global floor' initiative. The petition reads: "We, members of civil society, strongly support the Social Protection Floor Initiative – a joint UN effort coordinated by the International Labour Organization (ILO) and the World Health Organization (WHO) and supported by UN agencies, international NGOs, development banks and other development partners." About 75 percent of people in the world do not have adequate social security. This lack of protection undermines social cohesion and economic performance and creates political and institutional instability. This floor is a necessary tool for eradicating poverty.

In Belgium a parent who has a severely handicapped child is entitled to parental leave until the child is 12 years old. That limit however has recently been changed and as of March 2012 the parent will be given the parental leave benefit till the handicapped child is 21 years old.

December, 2012

Many who sit idly at computers find the wealth of options amazing and may Google their own names, do map searches to look at former homes, troll Facebook to see what friends are doing, play games online or watch Youtube videos. However the experience of being upset and sitting down at a computer wishing for help is also being noticed. US Surgeon General Regian Benjamin says that 36,035 Americans commit suicide per year, about 100 a day, and the idea of helping them on the Net is spreading. Google and Yahoo provide a phone number for the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline if you search 'suicide' . However Facebook has recently announced a new program to let users instantly connect with a crisis counsellor through the chat messaging system. Lidia Bernik of Lifeline says that key to any intervention is to be there now, right when needed. She says instant messaging has a huge advantage over having to pick up a phone even. There are however risks. Some people who are upset may be concerned that Lifeline, if contacted will then cal police without permission. Facebook is trying to deal with the issues by permitting friends who 'spot a suicidal thought' from someone's page to report it to Facebook, and then Facebook will email the person encouraging them to click on a link to have a confidential chat with a counsellor. (ED NOTE: I think the Internet can be a great resource for sad people. It provides music and humour and distraction, but the idea of also caring connection is useful. Since suicidal people often tend to leave a suicide note, making sure we give them an avenue to call out for help is good.)

If teens are balky to their parents, this may be a good thing long term if they are making their case with reasoned arguments. Dr. Joseph Allen of the U of Virginia has released results of a study of 184 children in grades 7 and 8, looking at their drug and alcohol use, their friends, their friends' behaviors and their relationship with their own parents. The study found that teens who sought autonomy and who were given some trust by parents after discussions, tended to later be able to resist peer pressure. The study found that
-if a teen's friend used drugs or alcohol, the teen was much more likely to also do so, especially if the friend was popular
-teens tended to change their drug or alcohol use to match that of friend.
The authors observed that "We may be in danger of substantially underestimating the importance of peer influence processes"
-teens however who had been given parental attention, trust and some autonomy were better able to resist the peer pressure
-occasionally teens would also imitate a friend for positive behaviors
(ED NOTE: In the absence of parental presence, teens turn to each other. That may become the blind leading the blind, sheep following sheep as the saying goes. I favour parents being there for their kids, for information and wisdom. This however is not achieved without a tax system that enables parents to be there and does not just value them away from home earning.)

Though debate about instituting kindergarten has been with us for years, it is taking a few new turns. The first move to include kindergarten at all in public education was expanded to having it not just for 5 year olds but for 4 year olds. The next move however is to include those 3 years of age and there is talk of having it for 2 year olds. Columnist Bronwyn Eyre of the Saskatoon Star Phoenix wrote that her four year old son finds even a half day experience exhausting, and is leery of full-day kindergarten. She quotes Dr. Aric Sigman, American psychologist-biologist who found that up to 80% of children in daycare have high cortisol levels associated with stress. She says that 'no program can replace a nurturing home'. A British study she quoted found that up to half of five year olds are not getting the traditional games, nursery rhymes and bedtime stories parents used to give and she says the Quebec universal daycare experience has not been as successful as intended. She noted that reading scores in Quebec have plummeted since the daycare experience began and in the Pan- Canadian Assessment Program, Quebec's literacy levels were among the lowest in the country.

Macleans Magazine has featured an editorial in its Dec 19 2011 issue, addressing the recommendation for kindergarten at age 2. Though former Lt Governor of New Brunswick, Margaret Norrie McCain and the late Dr. Fraser Mustard promoted kindergarten that young, a Quebec think tank found those who had not attended kindergarten did better on reading tests than those who had. A 2009 Quebec study found that children who had been in the universal daycare program and now in high school are not reading or doing science at average national levels, but below them. A 2008 study of the daycare system found that 'children are worse off in a variety of behavioral and health dimensions, ranging from aggressive to motor-social skills to illness' if they attend daycare. The Macleans editors observed that the child care debate arguing how good daycare is, is not arguing for children but for parental convenience.

From 1933 to 1977 a North Carolina program was designed to reduce costs of welfare, to stop poverty and to improve the gene pool. The plan was to ensure that some people unlikely to be able to parent well would not become parents. The Eugenics Board of North Carolina ordered state sterilization of several categories of people, some of whom are only now coming forward claiming this violated their rights. Included in the categories were
-uneducated young girls who had been raped by adult men
-teens in poverty who came from large families
-people with epilepsy
-people deemed too 'feeble minded' to raise children
-those whose parents had low IQ scores
-women of racial minorities. They more likely to be sterilized than were white women
-some were told they were having an appendectomy and did not understand the procedure imposed on them So far about 7600 people sterilized under the program have been identified and in 2002 the state issued an official apology to them. Some who were deemed of low IQ went on to hold down several jobs at once, showing that their low IQ was not a barrier. Though some prominent wealthy people endorsed the sterilization boards, including President Woodrow Wilson, Margaret Sanger of Planned Parenthood, Dr. Clarence Gamble of Procter & Gamble and James Hanes, the hosiery CEO, the tide now has been to condemn the practice. (In fact 31 US states had similar eugenics programs.) Governor Perdue now says that state does owe the victims compensation but mental health services are also being offered.The amount of compensation and who gets it are being debated. Charmine Fuller Cooper of the Justice for Sterilization Victims Foundation says it is hard to quantify damage from a choice that was taken away. In about 4600 cases, the person sterilized has died by now and another issue is whether the estate should get benefits. Only 68 have actually been verified in state records as still alive and having had state run procedures but there were also many private doctors who provided the sterilization.  There is also the issue of privacy since some of those sterilized went on to marry and adopt children and may not have ever told the family of their past.

The General Social Survey of Statistics Canada has found that caregiving is a common time use of Canadians. The study looked at care of children, domestic work, volunteer work and care of seniors, all historically unpaid roles. It found that
-3% of Canadians take care of a senior living with them
-14% of women and 9% of men take care of a senior not living with them
-49% of women and 20% of men spend over 10 hours per week providing care of a senior
-40% of women and 36% of men did unpaid volunteer work for an organization in the preceding y ear
-38% of women and 33% of men did such volunteer work 5-15 hours per month.

In the 1980s researchers became concerned that giving children aspirin might be linked to development of Reye's syndrome. Many parents then switched to giving children acetaminophen when the child had a fever. However in 1998 Dr. Arthur Varner of the U of Wisconsin became concerned that use of acetaminophen might be linked to development of asthma. Since then 20 other studies have confirmed that there may be a link between acetaminophen and asthma and some pediatricians are now arguing that ibuprofen be given instead. A 2008 study found that children who were given acetaminophen for a fever before age one year had a 50% greater risk of developing asthma. Not all agree there is a problem though. Dr Mahyar Etminana of the U of British Columbia notes that fevers are usually caused by viral infections and those infections themselves are linked to later development of asthma, regardless of what fever medication was used. He has said "It's hard to tease out whether it's the drug or the viral infection"

The American Academy of Otolaryngology says that noises above 85 decibels can cause hearing loss. Toy manufacturers are urged to keep toy noises down and generally toys are tested to created less than 70 decibels when the toy is on a table or floor. However Dr. Hamid Djalilian of the U of California, Irvine feels that the standard has to be adjusted. He found that small children often put noisy toys right up to their ears and that even holding a toy arm's length away can make it very loud since the child' s arm is so short. He tested 10 popular toys and found that Road Rippers and T-Pan Mic made decibel levels over 100, as loud as a chain saw or subway. Toys like Let's Rock Elmo or Green Lantern Colossal Cannon Blaster went over 90 decibels. Researchers suggest that parents supervise small children playing with noisy toys and that maybe they put tape over the speakers to reduce the sound.

Dr. Mark Ellenbogen of Concordia University has released results of a test of the drug oytocin for students. The drug was administered to some of 100 students, the others getting a placebo, and the means of administering was a nasal spray. The students then completed a psychological questionnaire. Those who had inhaled the hormone have higher feelings of extroversion, feelings of warmth to others and positive emotions. The idea of using a nasal spray to make a person less shy, more open to ideas, less tense on first dates or during a job interview is being discussed. (ED NOTE: This is a mood altering drug. Being high to get through the day is not something I would recommend for any social or job situation.)

Several studies about the age of retirement have been made recently with huge political implications.
-France, Australia, Denmark, Germany, Ireland, Spain , the UK and the US have found their pensions systems are unsustainable at current payout rates
President Sarkozy of France however was met with huge public fury when he suggested extending the retirement age from 65 to 67.
-Roger Martin of the Rotman School of Management in Canada recommends retirement at age 75, phased in over time so that those now 40 would retire at 69 but those now under age 4 would have to wait till age 75.
-In Canada there are several pension plans:
a. Old Age Security goes to citizens and permanent residents starting at age 65. It pays $533 a month. There has been talk of making people wait till age 67 to get the benefit.
b. the Guaranteed Income Supplement GIS goes to low income seniors. This is a federal plan accessible at age 65 but there has also been talk of making people wait till age 67 for it also.
c. the Canada Pension Plan - CPP is a pension based not on age but on paid work. It only goes to those who contributed to the plan via paid work. In 2009 the government announced that though you could start taking the CPP at age 60, you would have to take lower amounts for life, 36% less than if you waited till age 65.And if you waited to claim till age 70, you'd get 42% more than you would have if you started at age 65.
-the Mowat study by Martin Hering and Thomas Klassen suggested that the CPP should start at age 67 not 65 saying that would save the fund money, about $982 billion by 2050.
There are two currents when the topic is mandatory retirement. Some feel that being told you can no longer do the job because of your age is unfair while others feel that freeing up jobs for young people is a good idea. Some argue that forced retirement robs firms of valued expertise and that government could make a lot more tax revenue if it let these people earn longer, and did not have to pay out pensions. However some workers say that they are not physically able to still lift crates and do their job and they are not happy to be told they have to wait to retire longer. Within this debate some issues have surfaced:
-Airline pilots used to have to retire at age 60 but they complained and recently won the right to continue to earn if they choose
-In 1973 New Brunswick made it illegal to force people at age 65 to retire but it permitted an exemption for people in a bona fide pension plan.
-Many provinces followed suit and banned compulsory retirement, Quebec and Manitoba in 1982, Ontario in 2006, BC, Saskatchewan and Newfoundland in 2007 and Alberta and Nova Scotia in 2009.
-A federal Budget Implementation Bill of 2011 has just been passed so that as of Dec 2011 the federal government also will outlaw mandatory retirement rules. This new ruling applies to federal civil servants and 800,000 workers in federally regulated industries like mining, railways, and broadcasting.
Many organizations are trying to find a compromise that will suit all workers. The Canadian Association of Retired Persons says it should be possible to retire gradually, to get some pension while still earning for those who prefer that. Some plans used to cap what a person could get in benefits even if they continued to earn after retirement.

As pension plans come under scrutiny, many observers are finding that a few get very generous provisions and others do not. Pension expert Bill Tufts is concerned about such pension inequities, particularly between the public and private sectors. His research found an inequity between pension plans set up years ago for people now older, and ones for today's young people dealing with pension contributions. Pensions plans for university staff and faculty are a case in point. The U of Guelph has a $344 million shortfall. York University has as $339 million shortfall in its pension plan and the U of Ottawa is lacking $206 million while McMaster's is down $301 million. Dalhousie has a shortfall of $270 million which amounts to nearly $100,000 per plan member. A study of what has gone wrong has revealed
-ten years ago many pension plans were so well funded they had surplus funds
-the plan administrators decided to offer members 'contribution holidays' and they enriched the planned benefits for retirees
-the earliest plans promised set returns, a defined benefit.
-the earliest plans required the employer to contribute twice as much as the worker did to the plan. Today's plans require equal contributions of employer and employee.
-then the markets sank and interest rates for pension investments got very low. Pension funds that used to be healthy were now in crisis.
-retirees also started living longer, needing pensions that lasted
-young people today have little hope of getting the generous pensions some in earlier generations got but are also being asked to pay for those pensions. Statistics Canada has estimated that each student has to pay fees so high just to graduate that on grad day he already has a debt of $18,800.

Recent statistics reveal that in 2009, 231,000 seniors in Canada lived in poverty, meaning about 5.2% of the elderly. Among those aged 18-64 however the poverty rate was nearly double that. In the US in 2000 the rate of poverty among the elderly was nearly 20%. So one might assume that seniors are doing quite well in Canada. The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development found that Canada's poverty rate for seniors is very low comparatively around the world. However the picture in some locations is more bleak. In Toronto the senior poverty rate went from 6.5% in 2005 to 8.4% in 2009. In Vancouver it went from 11.8 to 13.8%. In Calgary it went from 1.6% in 2005 to 4.2%. In fact a TD bank study in the fall of 2011 found that seniors in Canada are accumulating debt faster than younger people are. St. Clair West Services for Seniors has found that once -proud seniors have lately been approaching them for top ups of their pensions or disability payments because all the help they are getting is not enabling them to pay bills. People are living longer and often alone, with extended family sometimes in other cities.

In Alberta the newly elected premier in her first few months in office has prioritized two aspects of caregiving. She restored funding to the schools, ensuring educational care of young children. She also promised to increase funding for the severely handicapped. Currently the handicapped get $1188 a month but she will now give them $1588, a significant increase. 43,500 people receive this government help.

The Canadian Association for Retired Persons wrote an open letter to the nation's finance ministers for their December 18-19 meeting in Victoria BC. The association urged the ministers to
-enhance the Canada Pension Plan
-develop and fund a national home care and caregiver support plan. They want a federal home care transfer grant to ensure a basic level of home care for any Canadian who needs it
-explore setting up stable funding for long term care such as long term care insurance
-support informal caregivers by financial help, especially to those giving 'heavy care'
-giving workplace protection and work leave for those who have to be caregvivers
-giving training and respite care for informal caregivers
(ED NOTE: I am very happy to see any lobby to value caregiving, especially of the neglected family based sector. However the focus on 'training' concerns me because it is often not necessary. Direct financial support is needed.)

In 2010 in the UK David Cameron promised if elected he would make his government 'the most family friendly' ever. In 2011 the Family and Planning Institute has surveyed 1996 pregnant women or new mothers to see if once in power he has succeeded. The survey found that :
-47% of those asked say the policies have not made any difference
-22% say the situation for families has worsened
-6% say the situation for families has improved.
In the 18 months since the government formed its coalition, the child benefit has been frozen and will next year be means-tested. Middle income earners have lost their entitlement to tax credits and many parents at home have been forced to return to paid work. The cost of 3rd party childcare has gone up and cuts to council budgets have closed Sure Start centres, libraries and youth clubs that used to cater to families. Dr. Katherine Rake of the institute says the poll shows 'we must do more to nurture new families'. Surveys of fathers in the UK have produced similar negative assessments of the Cameron government.

In the US the Associated Press has reported Dec 2011 that nearly one in two Americans are at low income or poverty level. The 'middle class is shrinking' for one of the first times in history. The Congressional Budget Office reported that from 1979-2007 the bottom 20% of earners got 18% more money but the top 20% earned 65% more money over the interval. Those at the very top 1% of earners got 275% more income. The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development has confirmed the trend across all OECD countries where the gap between rich and poor is very wide. A Gallup poll in the US found that the public however has not necessarily admitted the shift. In the US most Americans still don't think the country is divided into haves and have-notes. Nearly 60% of Americans still se themselves as 'haves' and only 33% see themselves as have-nots. Another Gallup poll found that most Americans don't think the gap between rich and poor is a problem.

When students do poorly at school, a new trend has been to blame the teacher, teaching ability, classroom situation and peers but rarely the student or the home. Thomas L. Friedman writing in the New York Times Nov 2011 however takes issue with that trend. He observes that when the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development examines 15 year olds around the world for academic skills, students from Singapore, Finland and Shanghai get higher scores than do Americans on math, science, and reading comprehension and he suspects that the teachers are not to blame. He says that a key factor may be the home. Andreas Schleicher of the OECD conducts studies of the home life of 15 year olds who write the tests, and his team went to homes of 500 students by 2009. Dr. Schleicher found that
-marks are higher for students whose parents read to them. This trend was true regardless of household income
-those whose parents asked how their day went scored as high as those who had had private tutoring
-those whose parents had just played with them did not score as high as those whose parents had read to them, discussed books with them and told them stories
-attending parent meetings, school board meetings, and volunteering in classrooms did not raise a student's marks as much as did making sure the kids went to school, monitoring homework, rewarding school success and talking up the idea of going to college. (Bev Smith writes, "With my own kids we celebrated every report card with cake, whatever the marks, to praise what had been good and I nearly never darkened the doorway of their school except on interview day or assemblies. I considered school their job and gave them their space to not butt into it, but provided them with a desk and a lamp at home, time to do homework, rules about no TV and lots of trips to libraries . I am firmly convinced as a current teacher in the school system, that parents are the first teachers for they teach not only some skills but attitude to learning. Schools see kids 6 hours a day, Parents are responsible for them however all the other 18.")

Many parents bend over backwards to make their children happy. Debbie Allison and her husband, though having income only as a chef and a respite care worker, wanted to make sure their daughter Allison did not do without and they got her a borrowed horse when she was 14 because she wanted one. They got her a laptop ,an iPod and paid for her mobile phone when she was a teen, gave her a car when she turned 18 and paid for her gas and car insurance. They supplemented her part time job income with money whenever she needed it. Her mother said that when Allison was growing up they wanted to not burden her with too many chores so the mother did the washing and dishes for her and they paid for her to get ballet, jazz dancing, trampoline and judo lessons. They drove her 20 minutes to college each day to save her the irritation of having to wait for the bus. However their daughter Allison heard of a six week opportunity to live with the rural Amish in Ohio and took the offer. The result has transformed the girl. Charlotte has told the media that from the rural living Amish who do not permit cars or electric light, she learned basic skills, how to make porridge and pecan pies, how to clean and do chores, how to hang clothes on the line and how to dust. She says having children do chores among the Amish solidifies the sense of community and working together and she learned from them to look at inner beauty not just purchased products. Allison also says the experience taught her to appreciate more all the work her mother had done for her all those years and she on returning home now helps with the cooking, cleaning and laundry, voluntarily.

Though it is now possible to read books digitally, downloading them or purchasing them to a Kindle or other tech device, and though 25% of sales of many books now are digital, many parents of young children do not want their kids to learn to read using computers. Even the tech savvy users and business operators are opting to have their kids cuddle up with actual books, learning to turn pages and marvel at sizes of pictures and of colours. Sales of ebooks for children under age 8 remain very slow, less than 5% of sales of all children's books. John Yaged of Macmillan Children's Publishing Group himself reads on Kindle, iPad and iPhone but his young twins are using real books. Parents cite the value of smelling the pages, touching them, getting a sense of a book. Matthew Thomson of the social media site Klout also says that for his son the bells and whistles of a tech device may be distracting and then kids may just want to play games instead of reading.

Do some parents, believing that their teens are going to try smoking, drinking or drugs anyway, enable them to do so? Some justify this practice saying at least the teen is safe. However others question it. The US Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration has revealed that 709,000 American children ages 12-14 drink alcohol and over 200,000 of them said they were given it by a parent or other adult family member. Only 6.6% of children actually figured out a way to purchase alcohol themselves The National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism finds that 5,000 people under age 21 die each year in the US due to underage drinking, including by burns, drowning or from falls while inebriated. Frequently underage binge drinkers engage in other high risk activity such as drug taking and sex and they tend to get failing marks at school. In some US states parents are being offered a solution. Besides advice by some media that letting kids drink because they're going to do it anyway is a spineless parenting style, there is a free no -questions asked alcohol test kit available to parents in Michigan.

If you were told the name of someone in another country and had to contact them through a network of friends, how would you do it? Hungarian author Frigyes Karinthy in a 1929 story called Chains, speculated that if you tell the right friend, that person has a friend, who has a friend who knows someone who can contact a friend of that person, with only 6 steps from start to finish. The idea we are all interconnected and only six degrees of separation from each other has intrigued researchers but The University of Milan has completed a study using algorithms to approximate if that number is even smaller using Facebook. The research group says 99.6% of all pairs of Facebook users are connected by six hops and 92% are connected by only five hops. The average distance to connect with any random other name on Facebook in 2008 was 5.28 hops but is now 4.74. Researchers also estimated that within a single country that number is only four hops.

In movies we often see the typical family living in a very large home. Studies have confirmed that trend in reality. The average size of a new single family home in the US went from 1780 square feet in 1978 to 2479 square feet in 2007. However some people felt the trend was bad and another movement began- the small house movement. Susan Susanka wrote The Not So Big House in 1997. After Hurricane Katrina in 2005 cottages of 308 square feet were designed. In Japan Tezuka designed a home for four of 458 square feet. In Spain Flores made a 300 square foot house dubbed' in a suitcase" and in England Abito made apartments of 353 square feet in Manchester. The trend continues.

The government of Saskatchewan has embarked on an innovative way to fund seniors' care, to cut down on costs of institutional settings and to permit seniors to live in the care location and style they prefer. The "Saskatchewan Direct Client Funding Program' funds the care itself and lets the client choose who provides it. There is in essence the option of a family member being paid to provide care, up to $3000 a month as income replacement. The amount helps match money saved by not having to provide nursing home care and ensures good care because of early enough intervention. The money can be spent on groceries, salary of caregiver or any other care expenses. The system is already in operation as a pilot project and there is less bureaucracy than in earlier funding arrangements. Researchers are fining there is easier transition also from one style of care and back if necessary because money flows with the client. A case manager closely monitors the first month of the care and then watches for later signs of any problems. The goal of enhanced quality of life has already been achieved by some clients who praise the government for setting up a plan that attends to the client's priorities and lets them face end of life issues based on their own values.

The Calgary Herald has recently looked at what it takes to make a community senior-friendly and has surveyed readers. By the criteria listed, communities in the city were ranked, with many in the suburbs ranking very low. What seniors want include
-access to transportation
-good housing
-smooth level nonslip sidewalks
-safe parks
-lots of outdoor seating if you go for a walk
-well-lit pedestrian crossings
-nearby grocery store, pharmacy, medical care
-a high proportion of other seniors in the area
-low crime rate

Pollster Frank Graves has written about an oddity in Nov 2011 in the Ottawa Citizen. He observed that what the public wants by polls has lately not been policy of the winning political party, suggesting a disconnect between public will and voting habits. (He suspects that only a certain sector of the population votes, and that they may have views that differ from those of the general public.) Graves cites several instances lately of that phenomenon:
-climate change
-scrapping the long gun registry
-F-35 jet purchase
-tough on crime legislation
In each of those circumstances, he says "the majority is opposed but the majority is scattered and not tightly alloyed around the issues".

In Canada health care is provided by doctors and nurses, in hospitals, clinics and care facilities but there is also a component where charitable organizations get involved. The Saint Elizabeth group in BC has for 100 years offered not for profit care and continues to do so with a foundation established in 1997 of 5000 nurses, rehabilitation workers and personal support workers making 5 million heath care visits per year. These home visits help people remain in their homes and services can include even companion care, shopping with the elderly. A visit may cost a senior $55 an hour but enables the senior to get into the community and shop for needed products. The program used to be called ElderSafe.

A controversy has erupted about what rules are appropriate for school yard play. In 2010 an Ottawa public school banned balls during the winter. In June 2010 a St. Catharine's Ontario school banned balls after a spectator got injured watching a soccer game. Students themselves started a petition to get those rules reversed and won. This year a Toronto elementary school has warned parents and students to not bring soccer balls, basketballs, baseballs, footballs or volleyballs to school. The only permitted balls are sponge balls. A daycare located at the school had permitted ball play in its playground and a mother picking up her child got hit in the head with a soccer ball two weeks ago, spurring the new rules. One parent, Chris Stateski is however angry at the new rules. He said injuries are normal in life. "I haven't come across an adult or child yet who hasn't had a scrape, bump or a bruise in their lifetime doing activities. It's not about safety. If it was about safety they would put pillows all over the school yard in case a child falls".

It has long been known that some babies start life with less chance of success than do others. If they are pre-term, low birth weight, and the mother did not get adequate medical and nutritional care during the pregnancy, the baby already faces disadvantages. This could be looked at various ways, as a problem for the baby health wise, as a problem for the mother, career or lifestyle wise, or as a problem for the nation, budget wise. An article in the Hamilton Spectator Dec 2011 has looked at a few of those angles
-In 1997 the Ontario health ministry set a goal of helping pregnant mothers so that only 4% of babies were low birth weight. At the time the rate was 5.7% of babies but by 2010 the rate had actually gone up, to 6.5%. The health ministry had increased its provincial budget from $17 billion to $44 billion a year, there are more programs than ever for pregnant mothers on First Nations reserves and still there were many low birth weight babies
-Neil Johnston has been part of BORN project through his work at McMaster University. Areas of Ontario that tend to have clusters of poverty and low birth weights have been identified.
-The health ministry reports that it costs $1,000 to have a healthy newborn stay in hospital but $87,000 per baby for a low -birth weight baby. In Ontario there were 3370 low birth weight babies born, costing the system $293 million more than they would have cost if a healthy weight at birth
-After birth, care of low weight babies also costs a lot.
-Ontario Health Minister Deb Matthews has a doctorate in sociology and she wants to address the problem. However the federal government is the one that funds First Nations Health care while the province only funds health programs per se.
-Health Canada's Gary Holub says that one of the results of native residential schools has been that kids who were taken from their birth family young also did not learn parenting skills and this has had intergenerational impact. Infant mortality among natives is twice that of nonnatives.
- Debbie Sheehan of the Hamilton Health department has found that blaming teen mothers is not helpful. She says even teens need a community around them supporting them.
(ED NOTE: I am concerned that we look at birth weight problems as a money issue for taxpayers. That is very crass. We need to ensure pregnancy itself is valued, not mocked and not just for native women or women in poverty but for all women. I don't like it when pregnancy is by definition seen as a mistake, when raising a child is seen as some sort of drain on society. When nonnative people tell native people how to raise their babies I am not surprised at the lack of desire to cooperate. We need to empower them, respect their elders, their traditions and enable them with per child funding. A universal birth bonus, universal benefits, universal funding per child till age 18 would nicely eliminate child poverty for nonnatives and natives and would also avoid the problem of jurisdiction for natives. If all children and parents get the benefit, end of problem.)

Preventive medicine specialist Valerie Ulene has written in the Los Angeles Times some research results about childhood anxiety. Many doctors have found that it is not just a minor thing kids get over but that it can have big impacts on adult life.
-Dr. John Piacentini of the Semel Institution at UCLA says anxiety can be disabling. Kids with separation anxiety who cry at school or refuse to attend, or teens with social anxiety afraid to take part in class discussions may suffer fatigue, irritability and sleep problems that parents do not associate with the real concern. He has found that there is a genetic component to anxiety and some kids are just more anxious than others, but he also says that environment matters. Parents can teach kids if the world is a scary place or not and if they do, they may add to anxiety

Children who have a troubled childhood seem to have a greater risk of health problems as adults. Dr. Clyde Yancy of Northwestern University School of Medicine studied 67,000 female volunteers about health care in 1989. He found that 11% of those women had been forced into sexual activity of some kind before age 17. The women were then tracked for 18 years and Dr. Yancy found that those who had experienced the negative sexual experience had a 56% higher risk of cardiovascular disease as adults. They also had a higher risk of becoming overweight, which may be closely linked to the heart problems, and higher rates of smoking, drinking, high blood pressure and diabetes. Though traditional risk factors of heart problems explain some of the high numbers, Dr. Nieca Goldberg of Langone Medical Center in New York says that stress raises cortisol, norepinephrine and epinephrine and over time such chronically elevated stress levels are likely also having an effect. (ED NOTE: I find it interesting that though our culture assumes that if someone wants to have sex with you, that is flattering to you, in fact forced sex has the reverse message and women forced feel very low self esteem, sometimes for life.)

A national vision survey in China has found that 85% of university students there are short-sighted. Explanations proposed include a genetic predisposition to myopia in children in Taiwan, Hong Kong and Singapore. However an even bigger factor suggested may be overuse of technology, televisions and computers, and lack of exposure to situations which use distance vision, such as being outdoors. A look at 350,000 children in 31 provinces found that 41% of primary students need eyeglasses, compared to 21% in 2005. Of middle school students 67% need eyeglasses and 85% of university students need them. The Chinese government has now begun trials of sending children outdoors more often.

In theory a baby will thrive best if the mother is happy and well during and after the pregnancy. If a mother becomes seriously depressed after having given birth, the baby may not thrive. Dr. Curt Sandman of the U of California, Irvine, found however that the relationship is a bit more complicated than that. He found that if a woman becomes depressed that is very bad for the baby but if she has all along been kind of depressed, the baby seems to have a coping mechanism. What seems to be hardest on babies is if they get deficient care outside the womb when previously they got sufficient care. He says it is as if a fetus is 'biologically primed' to expect certain treatment. Sandman looked at 221 women during and after their pregnancies, scoring the emotional health of the mothers at several points and also scored the babies on physical and mental development. Babies whose mothers were consistently happy or consistently unhappy scored better on physical tasks at 3 and 6 months than did babies whose mothers' moods had shifted a lot. Other studies found that women who ate poorly during pregnancy had babies with higher rates of diabetes if they were fed well after birth but less so if they also at birth got inadequate nutrition. Dr. Jay Belsky of the U of California, Davis, calls the results surprising and says that genetic makeup of babies may also be a factor. (ED NOTE: Actually I think this does suggest that babies establish a world view based on their surroundings and whatever the world gives them, they accept. If however what the world gives them keeps shifting, they lose stability and a sense of security. That is for instance why I think ensuring babies all have enough to eat, a warm place to sleep, a constant caregiver and a regular income stream all add to the mental and physical health of the baby. We are talking about something very basic here - is sense of security.)

The immune system seems to chiefly be designed to help the body fight disease and invaders. However recent research has suggested that it also has a role in digestion. Dr. Andrey Morgun of Oregon State University in Corvallis found that immune cells help mice digest food and without those cells, mice become malnourished. The study may prove useful in treatment of people with immune system challenges such as HIV for they commonly also become malnourished.

Dr. Wendy Norman has released results of analyzing data about abortions in Canada. Abortion has been legal since 1969. Her study found that at first the numbers were low, at about 70,000 across the country per year but after 1988 when the Supreme Court ruled free standing clinics could offer abortions outside hospitals, that number rose. She notes however that more recently the number of abortions is down, a fact she attributes to wider use of contraceptives. Abortion levels in Canada in 2006 are now about 45,000 a year in hospital and about 53,000 in free-standing clinics. These numbers , are lower than the peak years for abortions 1996 and 1997. The number of abortions however has shifted for different ages of women. The rate is highest for 20-24 year olds not teens and the second highest for women aged 25-29. There is also a category of women who have multiple abortions. 38% of women who seek an abortion already had an earlier one. Dr. Norman suggests that telling women at the time of seeking an abortion more information about birth control would be useful.

Deciding when to retire is a big question for those in their fifties and sixties but several factors may be pulling them opposite ways. Desire to pursue hobbies, health concerns, heavy physical demands of the job, wishes to care for other family members may urge them to leave the paid job while financial need or boredom at home may nudge them to stay on. Wells Fargo & Co asked 1500 middle class Americans through Harris Interactive about their retirement plans. Of those asked 20% had a set age in mind at which they planned to retire but 76% said they had a set amount of life savings in mind before they would retire. Joe Ready of Wells Fargo Institutional Retirement and Trust found that 25% ofAmericans fear they will have to do paid work till age 80 to afford to retire and 75% of those asked expected that they would supplement their pension by some part-time paid work.

Katherine Marshall of Statistics Canada has released a 2011 analysis of "Generational Change in Paid and Unpaid Work". Using data from the General Social Survey, an ongoing study of citizens since 1985, she looked at diary time use recordings of 20-29 year olds in 3 cohorts, those who were that age in 1986 (the boomers), those who were that age in 1998 (Gen X or the baby bust generation) and those who were that age in 2010 (Gen Y or the echo boom). She found that people are living at home with parents longer, are delaying marriage and having their own children, so that Gen Y actually had few parents in its study. The study found that
-15% of boomers, 18% of Gen X but 19% of Gen Y were in school at that age
-31% of Gen X but 51% of Gen Y were still living with their parents
-29% of boomers, but 19% of Gen Y were parents
Marshall did attempt an analysis of unpaid work which was defined as housework, child care and shopping, but admits she emphasized housework. She looked at paid work which was defined as time spent related to a 'job or business' but included in that category also any unpaid work for the business or farm. She then concluded:
-people do more paid work than unpaid work per day (8.5-compared to 3.1 hours)
-women in Gen Y do less housework than women boomers did at that age
-men do more paid work than women do but the gap is lessening

The new 'tough on crime 'legislation of the Harper government has raised the ire of several observers. Under the new law a 19 year old from a good family and with no criminal record could be sent to compulsory two years in federal jail for using marijuana. Though sharing marijuana with friends, even if no money is exchanged, has always been called trafficking, the penalty now is becoming much more severe and judges will no longer have discretion in sentencing. The Safe Streets and Communities Act with anti-drug measures and 9 pieces of crime legislation will aim at keeping streets safe but commentators say will require a lot more jails, will wreck the career aspirations of a lot of people and will criminalize and brand otherwise unblemished characters, while exposing them to federal penitentiary life and actual dangerous offenders. Dr Anthony Doob of the U of T says "The government has a role to make good laws and this isn't a good law". Joelle Roy of the Quebec Defense Lawyers Association says that having mandatory minimum sentences in this way is an attack on the freedom and independence of the justice system. The Canadian Bar Association, Canadian Association of Crown Counsel, Union of Canadian Correctional Officers, are among many groups opposed to or concerned about the new legislation. However the party has a majority in the House of Commons and the bill passed.

In 1993 Sue Rodriguez, terminally ill with ALS, Lou Gehrig's disease, wanted to choose to legally end her life by physician-assisted suicide but the law would not permit this. She appealed to the Supreme Court of Canada but lost. She has since died but several jurisdictions do permit physician assisted death, including the Netherlands, Belgium, Switzerland, and in the US states of Washington and Oregon. In British Columbia in Canada the case has again gone to court. This time it is about situation of Gloria Taylor, aged 63 who also is dying with ALS and wants a legal recourse to end her life. Five plaintiffs are in the case including Hollis Johnson and his partner Lee Carter whose mother died before trial. The case will look at Section 241 of the Criminal Code prohibiting physician assisted suicide and will attempt once again to declare this unconstitutional as a deprivation of basic freedoms under the Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

In Canada polygamy is against the law. The Criminal Code prohibits it and the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms and The Canadian Bill of Rights while supporting freedom of religion, also do not permit it. However in the BC community of Bountiful, two men, Winston Blackmore and James Oler were accused of polygamy and went to court. Defending them as polygamists were some civil libertarians, some polyamorists and the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of  Latter Day Saints, under which they serve. Those supporting them argued that the criminal code is wrong to make criminal those acts between consenting adults where no harm is done. However against the men were several intervenors. Beyond Justice, the BC Civil Liberties Association, the BC Teachers' Federation the Canadian Coalition for the Rights of Children, the Christian Legal Fellowship, REAL Women of Canada, the West Coast Legal Education and Action Fund also made presentations, some pointing out that when young children were placed in forced marriages with older men, other factors were involved. The Attorney General of BC was represented by a legal team of 6 lawyers and the judge Robert Bauman created a lengthy ruling, looking at legal, historical, religious and other nation's practices. Bauman ruled that polygamy still is illegal in Canada and that adults who break the law are guilty of a criminal infraction. However he excluded children under the age of 18 from criminal prosecution for having been part of such marriages. Bauman said that women in polygamous relationships are at an 'elevated risk of physical and psychological harm' and that placing young girls into forced marriage and early childbearing has negative implications for them and limits their economic development.

The Early Years study has published the third volume of its research which started in 1999.The series has long argued that children are a key resource in the nation, that their care is important and then that government should fund 3rd party care, drop-in centres, family resource workshops, early kindergarten and nursery schools. The series does not recommend what many parents recommend, directly funding the work of parenting. The latest study recommends that two year olds be admitted to school. The case is made that 70 % of mothers work outside the home so they 'need' such care in order to earn money and to benefit the economy by their paid work. The claim is made that 'working mothers' pay taxes (implying mothers at home do not, albeit with the single income tax penalty many accountants have found at home parents pay 45% higher tax than dual earner homes). The case is made that children learn well, that teaching them pays off (not admitting however that they also learn at home and with sitters, grandmas, nannies and parents, and with more adult attention). Kerry McCuaig, author of the study is a longtime daycare advocate. Parent Moira MacDonald, writing in the Toronto Sun reacted that the study undermines parents and she as a work-at-home mother would prefer government set up funding that respects parental choices. Dr. Fraser Mustard, who died this past month, was a key writer of earlier recommendations for funding nonparental care. Dr. Mustard, though identified by some as a childcare expert was actually a medical doctor whose field of study was the relationship of lips, blood coagulation and atherosclerosis.  (ED NOTE: I always think a childcare 'expert' for the theory of it should be one who has spent 15-20 years taking care of kids 18-24 hours a day. On the topic of specifics, though, the expert on your child is you.)

While some people believe the feminist struggle is mainly to get paid jobs like men and pay equity like men, others believe the hurdles are lately to get recognition of unpaid work, which is more often done by women. The Economist magazine recently reflected on issues of women's paid labor force successes.
-In the OECD 83% of men and 64 % of women are in the paid labor force (The Economist reports this as 64% of women working)
-The gap of paid work hours between men and women is reported as the 'employment gap'. The Economists says that this gap is about 33% across the OECD but only 12% in China and 10-15% in the 'big rich ' countries
-the pay gap between men and women is also reported. The gap is about 18% across OECD countries, standing at about 20% in the US.
-women tend to earn less because they choose jobs that pay less, such as in health care, teaching, clerical and social care
-the Institute for Women's Policy Research in Washington says rates of professional choice for women have increased - since the 1970s 30% of dentists are women, 32% of lawyers are women, and nearly 50% of photographers and pharmacists are female
-women in the public sector tend to have higher income and better benefits than in private companies, according to the OECD.
-more women are starting their own business but women tend to get less financial backing to do so, and generate lower turnover with them and employ fewer people

Lobbyists for childcare/daycare services provided by the state have often made the case that all parents need this type of care for their children and that it is as vital to the world as is medical care. Others however disagree. The editorial board of the Montreal Gazette on Dec 2 2011 observed that the Quebec universal daycare system,begun in 1997, has turned out to not be as originally promoted.
-the $5 a day price had to be increased to $7 a day for the program was costlier to run than expected
-the original intention was to help children of the poor who might need the extra early education. In fact the biggest users of the daycare system are the middle class and the wealthy
-many of those who get the low cost daycare could afford to pay but are not required to. Even a family earning $150,000 a year only has to pay $2.87 a day for care of a child under age 5, when all tax breaks are counted.
-the province is staggering under a debt of $195.6 billion and cannot afford to subsidize the rich
-recent problems allocating contracts for daycares have also come under scrutiny for less than honourable practice. Quebec Auditor General Renaud Lachance has criticized the minister of the department saying she lost control of the network. Of 18,000 daycare spaces handed out, 3700 were set up even though the department recommended against them, 35000 were rejected even though the department said they were needed. Nearly a third of daycare permits were renewed without inspection and 75% of projected locations were actually found to be substandard. Spaces were promised as a priority for children of First Nations, the poor, handicapped or immigrant but were not delivered.

Many nations aim to foster 'creativity ' and 'innovation' though how to do that is not always clear. Stephen Gordon writing a blog on the Globe and Mail site has observed that the term innovation has become nearly meaningless and is too often followed by generalized funding for big companies that the government already likes. He is concerned that the criteria for innovation are so vague that some firms just try to guess what government wants and then ask for public funding to provide it. Gordon says that the term 'excellence' as a government goal was equally vague and discredited a generation ago. (ED NOTE: Too often the definition is circular - a centre gets funding as excellent because it is not just funded by parents but gets funding from government. Quality of care is not based on criteria kids may feel intuitively like whether anyone is listening to them, but on ratios of adult to child and number of toys in the room. I am pretty sure that we do not generate innovation by lock-stepping young children to all do the same thing at the same time from age 2 and yet ironically in Canada, we do have people who claim that we will get more innovation if we have all kids in institutional and standardized care from age 2. In my experience with kids, you actually get more innovation and creativity if kids are raised in home-like settings till at least age 5. They need time to play, time to be creative around their house, 'creative leisure' undirected time in the garden, at parks, on outings that match the needs and attention span of the child. You simply can't do that in large groups Large groups actually do the opposite of fostering innovation.)

In the US though racial discrimination is banned, shifts in ethnic background are being studied to see if there is equal treatment and equal access to education for all. The Census Bureau reported that some ethnic groups seem to still be suffering disadvantage, and chief among those are Mexicans. In New York City 41% of Mexican students ages 16-19 have dropped out of high school even though across the city student dropout rate for all races is only 9%. Only 6% of Mexican students aged 19-23 even enrol in college. The number of immigrants from Mexico to New York city has gone from 33,600 in 1990 to over 5 times that, 183,200 by 2011. Yet these young people are not thriving. Dr. Robert Smith of City University New York says these young people are facing a "perfect storm of educational disadvantage." Their parents often work two jobs to make ends meet and have little time with their young. Language barriers make parents also less able to interact with teachers and many parents are in the US illegally and may be afraid of being noticed. Some are not aware that the children of illegal immigrants actually can get into public university free if they graduate high school. (CUNY is trying to help the students by setting up after school tutoring, giving financial aid counselling and setting up college fairs aimed at the Mexican population.)

ED NOTE: Is undermining parental involvement and parental responsibility n children's lives a form of child abuse? Another Christmas season is upon us, and another Christmas when many children are forcefully separated from their parents, or from a parent, such as children alienated from their "non-custodial" parents and one set of grandparents by "custodial" parents.  It is the complete lack of accountability that is most disturbing in these situations.  A major advantage of establishing shared parental responsibility as the legal norm, and ridding ourselves of the "winner-take-all" sole custody system, is the mutual accountability that shared parenting offers, and even, perhaps, leads to peaceful outcomes.

November, 2011

Despite the good intentions of many charitable organizations, scandals have arisen when it became known that a few charities spend a large proportion of their fundraising on themselves, on staff and on the effort to get contributions. To help the public determine what charities are in good standing an online service has been set up called Charity Intelligence Canada. It looks at the state of 100 charities. Bri Trupuc of the organization says there is a big business now in professional fundraising and some charities operate like 'major marketing machines'. There are 85,630 registered charities in Canada but the top 100 get 1/3 of all the donations. When Charity Intelligence asked for disclosure, 19 charities did not comply and the organization had to make an official request for information about them from the Canada Revenue Agency. The group hopes to eventually post information about 1000 charities on its site.

In Germany there are some school programs that involve nature hikes The Waldkindergarten forest preschool in Munich, for instance, lets children walk supervised in the forest regularly for 30 minutes, getting in touch with nature. Enid Elliot of the U of Victoria and Frances Krusekopf, principal in the Sooke School District of British Columbia have been working together to create an official outdoors program for BC schools. Though some non-mainstream programs offer nature experience, the new plan will apply to regular public school children in full day kindergarten. Under the plan as of Sept 2012, 22 kindergarten children will spend 2.5 hours per day regardless of weather, hiking in the Victoria woods. They will be accompanied by a teacher and a full time paid aide. Krusekopf is excited about how the new idea will teach children physical fitness, independence, patience, how to play in nature and how to 'pee outdoors'. Royal Roads University has offered use of its forest, lagoon, beach and stream property adjacent to Sangster Elementary school. There is also a budget for the 2 year pilot project to cove $177 per child for special rain gear, hiking boots and backpacks.
-ED NOTE: 4-5 year olds also need washrooms, water to clean up with, dry clothes, down time and something else to do if they are sick or the weather is very inclement and threatens their health. This idea seems a little simplistic.

Transat Holidays, a travel company, has recently conducted a market survey through Vision Critical. The survey revealed that in 2011
-a family vacation is essential to nourishing family relationships
-85% of Canadians say it is essential or very important to escape the daily grind and spend quality time on a family vacation
-54% of Canadians say the best part of a family vacation is sharing laughs with the ones you love
-80% of those asked say they take family vacation at least once a year
-57% of adults would spend a family vacation with their own parents
-45% would spend a family vacation with their in-laws
-ED NOTE: I recall the sheer delight--and laughter--of my own son Liam on his first family vacation, as he learned to walk and started running on the beach.  Family vacations are so essential to healthy child development.

Dr. Neena Chappell of the Centre on Aging at the U of Victoria has created a report for the Institute for Research on Public Policy. She is concerned that the general public may think that the elderly are the cause of rising health care costs. She found that new drugs and new technologies, plus high wages of medical staff are what really drive up costs. She says that the elderly are not all ill and that 80% of those over age 65 still live independently. She suggests that instead of blaming the elderly and promoting 'fear mongering,'government create practical solutions to rising health care costs. Chief among those is, she says, to recognize the value of the caregiver who helps someone stay in the home. She make the following observations:
-the first level of care is by the family. She notes that 75-85% of care is provided to seniors informally by family, friends and community groups. She wants this care level more valued.
-the second level is professional home care coming into the home. She says it is 40-75% cheaper than institutional care and should be encouraged.
-the third level is institutional level care but she says this can be streamlined and integrated into the other two so people can move into and out of the various care levels depending on their need. -that tying support only to the provision of formal care services, unfairly excludes those from benefit who are 'doing such a good job that the recipient does not need formal care services'.

Though it is commonly agreed that poverty is a sad thing and that a fair government should help the very poor, it has then been argued that some who claim to be poor aren't. The redefinition of poverty is one of the many contentious topics of government debate not only in Canada where we speak of low income cutoffs, market basket definitions or local cost of living and disagree widely about who are the poor. In the US too the redefinitions are taking place. Recently a controversy has arisen about the assumption that the elderly are all rich. There are two elements to this discussion:
1. The official poverty rate in the US in 2010 was 15.2%. and for children was 18.2%. However the Census Bureau in 2011 created recently a new tally that looks at other factors. The Supplemental Poverty Measure or SPM looks at income without current help received such as the earned income tax credit, a refundable tax credit for low earners. If the help is ignored the poverty rate is 16% and for children is 22.4% If the food stamp program is not counted, poverty is about 21.2%. Observers have expressed concern that cutbacks to tax credits would seriously harm a lot of people.
2. the elderly are not all rich at all. By the old standard 14% of young and middle aged people in the US are poor but only 9% of the elderly, given their pension benefits. However under the new measure when food stamps and other helps are adjusted, the poverty ate for the elderly is 14% and of the young and middle aged is 13%. A group called the Very Serious People has found that if the average 'wealth' of households at various ages is tallied, including the value of the home seems logical and yet if their only wealth is their home they can have very little else to live on. In current economic crisis, many seniors actually have a median total wealth that is less than the mortgage. The study shows also that Medicare premiums are increasing and a difficult situation for the elderly is going to get worse.

Sinem Ketenci is working on her PhD at Ryerson University in the department of social work. She wanted to do her research however on a topic that was not permitted. She chose a study of animal rights and in her proposal said that abuse of animals is not unlike abuse of marginalized humans. The university turned down this topic and Ketenci then asked the Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario to rule. She says she is being discriminated against because she is a 'radicalized ethical vegan'. National newspapers however are not all siding with her claim. The editorial board of the Calgary Herald wrote that 'social work is about helping humans not animals' and suggested that if she wanted to do an animal study she should pick another faculty.

When governments face financial crisis their first reaction is often to cut spending and first on the list to cut are services. A common tactic in some US states is to set more stringent criteria for help to the poor, to reduce the number who are eligible. However observers in the New York Times are noticing that some measures to cut spending may cause harm.
-Florida passed a law that those who want temporary assistance for needy families have to submit a urine sample and pass a drug test first. An Orlando judge however ruled that this move violated the Fourth Amendment prohibition against unreasonable searches. Judge Mary Scriven observed in her ruling that the state's research showed that drug use was less common among those wanting assistance than among the general population She also observed that the cost of administering the drug testing was more than the money it aimed to save.
-California, Texas, Arizona and New York City required those wanting food stamps to provide electronic fingerprints to prevent fraud. However after objections, California and Texas removed the requirement. The cost of testing was high and it was found that many needy law-abiding citizens were deterred from asking for help. Once in poverty, those who were poor then had more problems that ended up costing government.

A recent study by Truthout has looked at well-being of women and children in the US and in Afghanistan, noting with concern the problems in both nations.
-United States- One in 2100 women dies in pregnancy. In Italy and Ireland however the rate is less than one in 15,000 and in Greece it's one in 31,800. In the US poverty rates are so high that in the last 12 months the rate of people in poverty in the US has grown 2.6 million. The US used to be the fourth rated country for child well-being in the State of the World's Mothers report but it now is 345th.
-Aghanistan- There are 70,000 children living on the streets in Kabul and they can be seen begging, sleeping in doorways, sifting through trash, doing manual labor. One in five children die before age 5 and 41% of those deaths occur even before age one month. Diarrhea and pneumonia, both treatable, are not treated and many children die. 39% of children are malnourished and this number is actually higher than it was before the US troops arrived. 52% of the children don't have access to clean water and girls are still banned from schools in many areas and are sold to settle debts or married off as young as age 10. Children compose 65% of the population of Aghanistan and one in 11 mothers dies in pregnancy. Save the children founder Eglantyne Jebb, in 1919 noted "All wars, whether just or unjust, disastrous or victorious, are waged against the child". 

October, 2011

The Pew Research Center in the US has released statistics about birth rates, finding that recession there is linked to fewer people having babies. In 48 states births declined and in Arizona they were down 7.2%. In North Dakota, which has a high employment rate, births were however up slightly, about 3%. In 1936 birth rates fell 26% according to Gretchen Livingston of the research centre. In tough economic times it is common for couples to delay having offspring. The only exceptions may be those who cannot wait. In all age groups of mothers birth rates fell, except among mothers aged 40-44 years. Hispanics, who were also hit hard by the recession had a birth rate drop of 5.9% from 2008 to 2009. Among black women the drop was 2.4% and among white women 1.6%.

Statistics Canada has also released birth rate information for 2008, its latest data. It found that in that year there were 377,886 births, only slightly up from the 2002 number of 328,802. The 2002 figure was the all time low since 1921. The study also found that:
-the generational replacement level is 2.2 for total fertility rate but stood in 2008 at 1.68.
-the highest fertility rates were in NWT and Saskatchewan and Nunavut where averages were over 2.0 BC had the lowest rate in the country
-the age of mothers was most commonly 30-34 years (thirty years ago the most common age was 25-29)
-the total population of Canada in Jan 2011 was 34,278,400. There had been 280,000 immigrants the preceding year. However the drop in birth rate is not made up for by immigration.

Roy Romanow of the Canadian Index of Well-being Network, has recently released data about how the nation's GDP compares to other tallies of well-being. Though Canada's GDP has grown by 31.2%, his group also looks at 64 indicators of living standard and the environment. Under this CIW ranking, Canada actually has improved only 11% since 1994. The CIW ranking looks at social justice and environmental sustainability index and is not unlike other tallies that demographers have set up such as the Genuine Progress Index or the Gross National Happiness index, the latter being created in Bhutan 30 years ago. The network found that for CIW ranks, Austria, Switzerland, Ireland and Scandinavian countries score highest. Canada presents an irony. We aimed for more leisure but end up with less time with spouse and children. We have higher incomes in absolute terms but more income inequality, less economic security, less affordable housing and more stress and depression. Though high school graduation is up 6% since 1994, and university graduation is up 47%, and though property and violent crime rates are down, there is much lower 'life satisfaction', and higher depression rates, particularly among children and youth. (ED NOTE: caregiving is the element we sense is lacking. We need to feel loved, not just financially supported. Job creation is not going to fix everything.)

The pros and cons of providing mood- and behaviour-modifying drugs to young children have been widely discussed again lately. Though some people believe little children who fidget and can't sit still are just restless and need more activities and exercise, others think they have a medical problem. If a child has difficulty sitting down and concentrating there are behavioural therapy treatments that can be tried such as behaviour management strategies. However some doctors believe that drugs work well in such circumstance. Former guidelines for the diagnosis of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder were set up ten years ago and it was not recommended to make such a diagnosis till the child was aged 6 and up. However the American Academy of Pediatrics has now updated its guidelines saying that the diagnosis can be made for children aged 4 and up, and that drugs can and should be used. ADHD is now the most frequently diagnosed behavioural disorder in children as 3-7% of children are given this diagnosis. The symptoms are officially listed as ' inattention, hyperactivity or impulsivity' that has lasted for at least 6 months. Dr. Allen Frances, US psychiatrist, says that the new guidelines are not a good idea and will just create a 'feeding frenzy' among drug companies anxious to get more customers. The common pills that are used for ADHD including methylphenidate found in Ritalin, have been associated with rare but significant health risks for the heart, as well as childhood depression.

It is not clear if being depressed makes you forgetful or if being forgetful make you depressed. However recent research on elderly women has found that women are twice as likely as men to suffer from depression. Dr. Nasreen Khatri, clinical psychologist says that having had depression can double the risk of later developing Alzheimer's disease. She found that women get much of their sense of self from their caregiving roles and if there are obstacles in how they can provide care of their children or their own parents, these hurdles create stress. She says women may also be more prone to depression than are men are because of hormonal cycles. Dr. David Conn, psychiatrist found that chronic untreated depression can reduce length of life. Having a negative attitude to life statistically is linked to living seven years less than those who have a positive attitude. Conn suggests that eating well, getting enough sleep, regularly exercising and maintaining close relationships, along with nurturing one's spiritual self, are all part of mood-enhancing.

In Canada if you have a baby you may quality for maternity benefits, depending on your paid work history the previous year. If you are seriously ill you may qualify for employment insurance benefits also, again based on earlier paid work. However recently a situation developed that questioned when those two situations overlap. Jennifer McCrea gave birth to her second child in July 2010 and took a year maternity benefits. Eight months into it she was diagnosed with breast cancer and chose a double mastectomy treatment. Told she would require 6 weeks recovery from the August 2010 surgery she applied for EI sick benefits. She was told that the criterion for such benefits was that she was 'available for work' but ill and she was denied the benefits since she was already on mat leave. That same summer however Natalya Rougas, a Toronto mother in a similar situation was able to win a court appeal to get sick benefits for her cancer treatment while on mat leave. Justice J. R. Main ruled that said a liberal interpretation of the EI Act or legislative change are needed to change the requirement that women asking for sick benefits be otherwise 'available to work". (ED NIOTE: it is very sad that being home with a child is still not recognized as socially useful work. Tying EI earlier paid work is itself unfair. It should be tied to the need of a child for car.)

Recent studies of pension and retirement plans have indicated that there is a demographic shift. Companies are not encouraging early retirement packages as they used to twenty years ago. The cost of living and longer life spans are nudging seniors to stay in the paid labor force longer. Towers Watson has set up a Retirement Age Index finding that 'pension freedom' day will now for most Canadians not happen till age 67. Diane Galarneau of Statistics Canada observed many recent developments:
-in 1976 30% of those aged 55 and over had paid work. That number dropped to 22% in 1981 as companies encouraged early retirement but it now is up to nearly 34%.
-people are living longer so they may still have 15-20 years in retirement even if they retire later TD Bank and the Canadian Payroll Association found that as Canadians enter retirement they are in greater debt than they used to be. Causes of this include: low interest rates on savings; having only defined-contribution not defined-benefit pension plans; supporting family members
-Susan Eng of the Canadian Association of Retired Persons says that many seniors now are still earning not because they prefer to but from economic necessity. Senior's advocate Barb Kirby says that those who wanted to retire at 65 and can't face exhaustion and depression. She found that in terms of income the 'middle class is becoming lower class'.
-Statistics Canada says that staying in the paid labor force has a few advantages. For workers it means more income and sometimes better general health. For employers it means more skilled workers and for government it means more tax revenue.

Under the 2011 tax code there are several items that the federal government permits people to claim as 'nonrefundable tax credits'. These are in essence, amounts that the earner does not have to pay tax on, forgivable costs that the state assumes you have and does not ask you to pay tax on. It has taken many years to set up these categories and get government to recognize some of these costs as required, nondiscretionary or of great social worth.  However a recent look at them suggests significant discrepancies and areas which some may feel need further work.
-basic personal amount - maximum is $10,527 federally. Provincially though it is as high as $16,977 in Alberta and as low as $7708 in PEI.
-spousal or equivalent to spouse - federal is $10,527. It is as high as $16,977 in Alberta and as low as $6546 in PEI. Though some jurisdictions now view the spouses as full equals, and Alberta, the federal government, North West Terrritories, Yukon and Manitoba do that, the other jurisdictions still see the spouse as worth less tax credit. (The assumption one is 'head of house' was removed from some tax codes but clearly some areas still think of the second person as lesser, and 'dependant' and by giving this person lower tax credit they actually create a greater financial dependency.)
-when to start cutting back the tax credit for a spouse - If the spouse has his/her own income, the tax credit for a spouse is reduced but the provinces differ widely on when you start to reduce that credit. Manitoba, Alberta, YT, NT and Nunavut, along with the federal government won't let the spouse earn above zero before their reductions kick in. However in Saskatchewan the spouse can earn up to $1454 before the benefit is reduced
-when to eliminate the spousal credit - if the spouse earns a certain amount, government decides he/ she is no longer entitled to any part of a credit. This amount of top earning allowed also varies. For the federal government it is $10,527 but in Alberta it is $16,977 while in PEI, Newfoundland and Nova Scotia it is under $8,000. This means that you can get more tax credit in some provinces than others for earning for instance $14,000
-age amount- - if you are 65 or over you get a tax credit in all jurisdictions. However the amount varies from $6537 federally to a high in the provinces of $8909 in Nunavut and a low of $3728 in Manitoba. The amount of difference of age credit from highest to lowest is a whopping $5,181 per year.
-disability amount - the federal credit you can claim is $7341. However in the provinces it ranges from $13,095 in Alberta, $11,878 in Nunavut to a low of $5035 in Nova Scotia.
-caregiver amount for in-home care of parent or grandparent aged 65 or more or of an infirm adult relative. the amount federally is $4282 but in the provinces ranges from a high of $9827 in Alberta and $8563 in Saskatchewan to a low of $2537 in Newfoundland and $2446 in PEI.
-the tax credit for dependant child under age 18 is $2131 federally and in the Yukon. It is however $5514 in Saskatchewan and extends to age 19. In all the other provinces the amount for dependent child under age 18 is zero. 
-the tax credit for dependant child under age 6 federally is zero and that is the same for every province except PEI, NS and Nunavut
-the tax credit for medical expenses applies to costs over 3% of net income or this maximum, whichever is lower. The maximum is $2052 federally. It is that amount in SK, YT, NT and NU also, slightly higher at $2194 in Alberta but is as low as $1637 in Nova Scotia
-tax credit for eligible adoption expenses is zero in PEI,NS, NB, SK, NT and NU. The federal government however provides $11,128 and Alberta the credit is slightly higher at $11611
-tax credit for full time education is $400 per month federally, matched by most provinces. However it is only $200 per month in BC, Newfoundland and Nova Scotia. It is $660 in Alberta.

As the two big currents of economic thought confront each other across several nations- whether to have big or small government, lots of social programs or everybody fend for themselves, the media is also charged with comment. Robert Reich. professor of public policy at the U of California, Berkeley has written a list of what he dubs 'The seven biggest economic lies". He wants more Americans to know 'the truth' about the economy and is dismayed that the US president's Jobs Bill does not stand much chance in Congress and that the Occupy Wall Street movement is not a national movement. The seven 'biggest whoppers' he lists are:
-that tax cuts for the rich trickle down to benefit all. He says that tax cuts by Presidents Reagan and George W. Bush led to lower wages for ordinary citizens.
-that high tax levels slow down job growth. He says that from 1945-81 the rich were taxed at 70% of their income, and under Pres. Eisenhower 91% and yet the economy during those intervals grew very fast.
-that small government creates more jobs. He says that many government jobs such as teachers, police officers, fire fighters, social workers, safety inspectors and the military are vital. Mark Zandi, economist for Moody's says that the House GOP plan to cut spending will result in 700,000 lost jobs.
-that we must cut the deficit as top priority. He says that when unemployment is high, the economy shrinks, tax revenue shrinks and the debt to economy ratio actually gets worse.
-that Medicare and Medicaid are to blame for government deficit. He says that these plans actually only address medical needs that exist anyway and as group plans they can use their large bargaining power to get lower drug prices.
-that Social security is not solvent. He says that in fact there are funds in it for the next 26 years and would be fine for 100 years if we just raised the social security payroll tax the wealthy have to pay.
-that the poor should pay income tax too - he says that they do already pay sales tax, user fees and tolls and to tax them more would make them pay a larger share of their income than the rich have to pay.

In Lebanon parents have some freedom to assign to their young who to marry. An Australian girl, aged 16 was so worried her parents from Lebanon would send her there to marry against her will in a forced marriage, that she applied to officials to prevent them from doing so. An Australian court has ruled that her parents cannot remove or attempt to remove her from Australia to marry a young man she has met only once. Magistrate Joe Harman of the Federal Magistrates' Court also ruled that the parents must not molest, harass, threaten or otherwise intimidate the girl or take her out of school since she has expressed clearly that she does not want to go to Lebanon and does not want to marry the person proposed. Harman felt there was a risk posed psychologically to the girl if she was forced to marry.

Statistics Canada has released its latest census results noting that the median age of the nation is now 39.9 years. However it varies across the country with Newfound and Labrador having a media age of 43.8 years and the most seniors. The number of children across the country was also studied finding that only 14.8% of the population in Newfoundland and Labrador are children, while across the country the percent at 16.4% is still low. The population of Canada is now 14.4% seniors, or nearly five million people.

In India, a survey of 400 children under age 12 has found that while 70% of boys who had congenital heart disease got medical treatment for it, only 44% of girls with the same condition got treated. Dr. S. Ramakrishnan of the All India Institute of Medical Sciences says that of 180,000 children in the country born with congenital heart disease, about half need treatment. However Indian parents are less likely to invest money in girls than in boys. Dr. Amal Kumar Banerjee of the Cardiological Society of India says that parents seem to feel boys are a better investment, while surgery on a girl may cause scars interfering with marriage-ability and may not be necessary since the girl will become the responsibility of a husband later anyway. Birth statistics in India also seem to confirm a continued gender bias. For every 1000 boys born there were only 914 girls born in 2011.

The government of Denmark, in a move to reduce obesity, has announced it will now levy a tax on all products that contain saturated fat - including butter, milk, pizza, oils, meats and pre-cooked foods. Reaction has been swift with the Confederation of Industries saying that this will create a bureaucratic nightmare. The public also, anticipating the tax, has begun to hoard butter, meat, milk and pizza before the levy takes effect. The cost of the new tax administratively will be borne by consumers.

In Canada the law prohibits actual purchase or sale of sperm, eggs or surrogacy services to conceive and bear a child. Fines of up to half a million dollars and prison terms of up to ten years are possible consequences. However other nations do permit such sales and purchases. The result has been a trend of Canadians travelling to the US where ads online and in university newspapers have announced offers of $50,000 for egg donations. In Canada the assumption has been that only surrogacy and donations based on altruism are permissible. Dr. Robert Stillman of Shady Grove Fertility Center in Washington DC, however, says that assumption brings about ethical problems including the fact that thousands of infertile couples risk not being able to find anyone to help them. He would rather see universal standards in place for Canada and the US. He'd like regulations to set a limit on the number of times a woman can donate eggs, a standardized informed consent form on how many eggs a doctor can harvest, standardized prices for egg donation and standard pre and post medical and psychological checkups for participants. His solution, however, was challenged by Jennifer Lahl from the US Center for Bioethics and Culture. She feels that in the US many women are exploited, sign up to donate eggs not realizing how many eggs will be harvested from their bodies and not being told health risks such as stroke, organ failure, or ovarian hyperstimulated syndrome. Lahl admits she is against in-vitro fertilization itself saying that donor women usually get poor medical care and society is not better off for creating "babies without sex." Lahl has produced a film called "Eggsploitation."

Though many people believe that human rights laws have been a great protection for the public, a few voices have arisen lately claiming that such laws have a downside. John Carpay, of the Justice Centre for Constitutional Freedoms is concerned that we may have gone too far. He thinks there is a conflict between some of the rights, for instance that freedom of religion sometimes runs up against freedom of speech. In 2001 William Whatcott distributed flyers in two Saskatchewan cities opposing teaching children in public schools about homosexuality. He objected to homosexual behaviour in these pamphlets. Four people complained, feeling personally hurt by the message of the fliers and complaining about their human rights being violated. They won and Whatcott was ordered to pay $17,500 to them and to not distribute such fliers again. The Supreme Court however is now going to hear Whatcott's appeal claiming that he was only expressing free speech. Carpay feels that Canadians need more open debate and discussion on such social issues, and too much suppression of what people think denies them that. MP Brian Storseth is trying to eliminate Section 13 of the Canadian Human Rights Act, a provision that lets the human rights commission hear complaints about hate speech on the Internet. If we suppress hate speech are we also interfering with free speech? The editorial board of the National Post says that protection for vulnerable groups against racism or violence-promoting websites was a good idea but lately the law has been used mostly by minorities to silence those who don't agree with them. At human rights tribunals ordinary court rules do not apply. There is no presumption of innocence, complainants can stay anonymous and still be heard, and third parties with no interest in the case are allowed to filed complaints. Under criminal law the standard for fair comment is whether a statement is true or not but in human rights law that is not the standard. The NP editorial board concluded that when human rights law permits censorship it actually handicaps human rights.

A Prince Edward Island father recently was frustrated that his four year old daughter kept biting her brother. He tried taking her toys, talking to her, giving her time outs but nothing worked so he demonstrated to her on her back what a bite felt like. He left a small bruise and unfortunately the grandmother noticed it and reported the dad to police. The 24 year old father was convicted of abuse and sentenced to five days in jail and probation for one year and was barred from any physical discipline of his child. When the public heard of the judgment however, a backlash ensued. Judy Arnall, writer of Discipline without Distress admits that parents in the past also have shown a child what a bite is like by biting and she feels Judge Jeff Lantz came down a little hard on the dad. Section 43 of the Criminal Code of Canada does allow physical punishment of children ages 2-12 but the definition of 'physical punishment' is not made clear. Nico Trocme of the Centre for Research on Children and Families at McGill University says the vagueness confuses parents and the legal profession since it does not stipulate when force is allowed, what kind or how much. His research found that sometimes children are confused when a parent, while trying to teach to not hit or bite, hits or bites. Mary Ballantyne of the Ontario Association of Children's Aid Societies admits that parents showing a child how it feels is not uncommon. Lawyer Mary Birdsell of Toronto says the standard might be whether a bruise is left, in which case this may seem to be bodily harm.

When people try to raise awareness of what they perceive as a discrimination, one way to do it is to find a discrimination and the other is to oneself discriminate blatantly. In Los Angeles the Campus Republicans at Berkeley hosted a bake sale where they charged for items depending on identity of the purchaser. Whites paid $2, Asians paid $1.50, Hispanics were charged $1, blacks were charged $0.75 and native Americans and women were charged only $0.25. The reaction was swift. The group has been charged with racism and sexism thought their president Shawn Lewis said the Increase Diversity Bake Sale was to raise awareness of a legislative bill to let public universities in California consider race and gender when deciding admissions.

When the laws become harsh for sentencing and when as a result more people are accused and waiting for trial, something odd happens. A recent study in the US has suggested that overcrowded court dockets lead lawyers to start to pressure the accused to plea- bargain, to avoid the cost of a day in court. The pressure to plead guilty to a lesser charge sometimes comes despite the bad record such a plea may create for the accused and may even come with a veiled threat of worse charges unless the accused pleads guilty. A New York Times story has reported that fewer than one in 40 cases now makes it to trial, given the new high rate of plea bargaining. If the laws have made a sentence mandatory for some crimes, much effort is made to avoid getting that penalty, and so a case is made to manipulate the client to admit to a lesser charge. So in the US though there has been a reported steep drop in crime rate for 20 years on the major charges, the number of people in prison has ballooned. Senior Judge John L. Kane Jr. of Denver fears that in some cases prosecutors have now grown more powerful than judges, using a mandatory sentence threat to 'coerce a plea". In 1977 the ratio of guilty please before Judge Kane was four to one. In 2010 that ratio was 32 to one.

Though through history it was often said that 'the middle class is rising', recent moves have suggested that for one of the first times ever, the middle class is falling, its wellbeing is declining and the gap between rich and all the rest is widening. In the US this realization has spurred a new social movement, "Occupy Wall Street". Protesters have been demonstrating for several weeks in the fall of 2011, starting in an encampment in Lower Manhattan, New York City and moving now to Chicago, Boston, Las Vegas, Austin Texas and dozens of other US and Canadian cities. The chief concern is that in tough economic times, while there is high unemployment and job insecurity, the very rich are still getting favoured treatment. Protesters are unhappy that banks still get huge profits and that the $700 billion bailout of Wall Street in 2008 did not help the ordinary citizen. Statistics being cited are that in New York City the top 1% of households get 44% of all income, while the other 99% suffer. The percentage of profit American corporations paid in 1961 was 40.6%;  today it is 10.5%. The theme of the protest has been to acknowledge the needs of the "other 99%". VP Joe Biden says that the protesters compare to the American Tea Party and "in the minds of the vast majority, the middle class is being screwed". The protest so far has included a march past the White House, rallies outside the Chamber of Commerce, blocking traffic on K street where lobbying firms are located, as well as mini rock festivals and drumming circles. Vancouver-based Adbusters set a goal in July 2011 of activists occupying Wall Street and then for 50 million people to rally October 29th to demand a 1% tax on financial transactions. Adbusters founder Kallie Lasn hopes the movement becomes international. Numerous Facebook sites have been set up to spur the public on including Meetup.com, Occupy Together, and Twitter accounts such as occupywallstNYC. The blog WeArethe99Percent on Tumblr is proving popular. However the very diversity of these media outlets may create a lack of focus. In Egypt where an uprising in Jan 2011 protesting police brutality garnered international attention, there had only been one Facebook page for all protesters to consult.

September, 2011

 
In what may be a chicken and egg dilemma, researchers have recently looked at 500 middle school students and their video game habits and then asked them about their relationship with their parents. The study found that those children who spend a lot of time playing video games feel less connected with their parents, and report a negative relationship with the parents. It is unclear however which came first. Dr. Linda Jackson of the U of Michigan says that it is possible that playing a lot of games makes the parents critical and the child feels distanced from them, but also possible that children already dealing poorly with parents escape to the games. Dr. Nancy Lee Heath of McGill University says that video gaming does give children a sense of control, a social connection to other gamers, and helps them escape from situations in the home. Dr. Wendy Craig of Queen's University in Kingston says many parents consider playing video games a type of rebellious behaviour. However Craig says that positive parent-child relationships keep the communication open even about amount of gaming time.

Though in earlier times taking a child out behind the barn for a spanking, or giving a child 'the strap' in school were the norm, the opposite view, of never touching the child for discipline is also being reassessed. In New Brunswick a father was driving with his wife and three children to a Fredericton museum. The 6 year old boy started bickering with his brother, yelling at passing cars and kicking the back of his mother's seat as she drove. The father tried to reason with the boy and when that did not work, they stopped at a parking lot and he took the boy out of the car and spanked him 2 or 3 times on the buttocks. Though no bruises or marks resulted, a person living nearby reported the incident to police and the father was apprehended. He was charged with assault and was convicted. However the case was appealed and a new trial has been ordered by the Court of Appeal. The Criminal Code does say that force may be used to correct a child as long as it does not exceed was is reasonable.

UNICEF, the children's fund of the United Nations, has released Sept 2011 result of its study about children's well-being in member nations. It found that in the UK materialism has come to dominate family life. It says consumer goods are being amassed to create happiness and to try to compensate for the long absence of parents from the home while they are earning. Unicef says this emphasis on consumer goods is a key reason for the riots and looting of last month and it urges the UK government to ban ads aimed at children under age 12, and to encourage parents to be home more. It also warned local authorities that children's playgrounds should be better maintained. The UN report found that in areas where family time is prioritized, such as Spain, there is less consumerism and children register as happier.

In Markham, Ontario drugstore staff noticed a toddler getting his hand stuck in the entrance door and there were two other toddlers nearby but no adult. The children aged 18-24 months were herded together by staff and police were called. A nearby daycare was found to be the site they came from, and though 11 toddlers had been on the playground with 3 staff members, 8 apparently got out. Five of them returned on their own but the 3 at the drugstore were returned to their parents by police. The daycare, Markham Village Childcare Centre, has had its license suspended for non-supervision, for failure to adequately feed the 18 children enrolled, and for not having on staff a qualified supervisor. The centre has however in the past won awards for its care.

With the growing use of sperm banks, women choosing to have babies without a man in the picture, for instance by artificial insemination, a strange thing is happening. A given donor whose traits seem appealing or a clinic wishing to make most use of what it has, has led to creation of dozens sometimes hundreds of children from the same donor father. Cynthia Daily used a sperm donor seven years ago and searched a web-based registry just to see if she might help her baby one day contact siblings. She was surprised to find out that there are 150 children now conceived from his sperm. She contacted some of them and found that many look alike. Medical experts have now expressed concern at the risk of a very small gene pool creating so many babies. Debora Spar, writer of "The Baby Business: How Money, Science and Politics Drive the Commerce of Conception" says that the US lacks rules for the fertility industry. Some sperm banks get huge profits off use of one donor's sperm. In Britain, France, and Sweden a given donor's sperm can only be used a certain number of times. In 1982 Britain set up the Warnock committee to look at the issue and it recommended a maximum of 10. The American Society for Reproductive Medicine has recommended a limit of 25 births per donor for a population of 800,000. Lack of limits risks making undiagnosed genetic defects widespread and poses the risk that unbeknownst to them siblings and half-siblings may marry.

China has for many years had a one-child policy, to keep down birth rate in an overpopulated nation. However recent studies have found that other countries also are voluntarily moving to a one-child preference. 43% of Canadian families now have only one child and the number in Spain and Portugal is 30%, while in England it is 46% UN figures cite that in 25 developing countries including Cuba, Iran and North Korea, birth rates are also below replacement level. Reasons speculated in the west include lack of money, older age of mothers at first giving birth, paid jobs that make pregnancy for women inconvenient as well as high divorce rate. While some economists and demographers raise warning signals that a low birth rate creates lower income stream for the future and likely longer paid career obligations, lower pensions, higher taxes, others still make the case that having no children or only one is a good choice. Psychologist Susan Newman in 1990 wrote "Parenting an Only Child' defending the choice and arguing against the stereotypes she has found that only children were assumed to be lower achieving or less socially adjusted. In her new book "The Case for the Only Child: Your Essential Guide' she says that though only children may be indulged and spoiled sometimes, that is not because they have no siblings and is more because over-parenting and over-protectiveness are becoming more common throughout the culture. Newman believes that those who have large families also get criticized and feels the resolution to how many children to have is to have the number that makes you happy. (ED NOTE: That is fine except it is not the way the tax department sees it. In most western nations there is a tax penalty for having children, because in essence having a child reduces ability to pay tax and if that is not recognized, the more children you have, the poorer you end up financially. Though some nations like Australia and Singapore have a birth bonus, many still, like Sweden, Norway and Canada, significantly fund only non-parental care of children and strongly urge and reward parents to have paid work instead of rearing the young. This financial and social pressure keeps those who would like more children from being able to have them. So the playing field is not at all level and it's not just yet about 'do what makes you happy'.)

The US State Department has reported that 64,043 Chinese children have been adopted to the US from China between 1999 and 2010, making the US the country receiving the largest number of such adoptees. However since 2005 rumors have surfaced that some of those children were not as originally believed, orphaned or voluntarily given up by parents. In 2005 Chinese and foreign media reported that one orphanage in Hunan had sold children to other orphanages for foreign adoption. Rumours also have spread about children taken by force from their parents, or bought by orphanages that reaped thousands of dollars in 'donations' from American parents. In 2010 the US State Department said there were no reliable estimates of children who had been kidnapped for adoption but one Chinese news outlet estimated the numbers at 20,000 per year. Though in earlier times parents were willing to give up children in poverty for a better life elsewhere, Dr. David Smolin of Samford University in Alabama says since the early 2000s China has had a higher standard of living, adoption within China has been made easier and fewer families abandon their babies. However US parents who adopted are reluctant to now make enquiries or feel torn between wanting the truth and to let their child know their genetic roots, and the desire to keep the child they love. Brian Stuy of Utah has set up a Research-China website to help adoptive families learn about the origins of their Chinese adopted children. In August 2011 however more news is surfacing that some Hunan Province government officials seized babies and sold them to the black market for children. Adoption agencies are reluctant to question if the baby was given up willingly in China since such inquiries can anger government there.

Dr. Mairi Harper of the U of York in the UK has released results of research on 1000 bereaved parents. She found that in the first 15 years after the death of a child, a parent is more than twice as likely to die as are parents who have not suffered bereavement. In some areas the risk was 4 times as high. The stress of the loss may be a factor in weakening an immune system though the study did not examine which deaths were actually suicides. Another factor may be negative lifestyles following bereavement including dependence on drugs, alcohol or unhealthy diets. Harper would like to see more support systems to help people cope. Many interviewed said that societal pressure to get over the death and move on is not necessarily helpful and more appropriate is to incorporate the memory of the deceased into your being.

Sometimes it may seem that if you have a family member to take care of long term, you can either do it at home with nearly no financial help from government, or you can use a government- funded facility and have nearly no input thereafter about the care. In Calgary a new concept has emerged which may solve the dilemma. Sharon Cobb was not happy with the care her daughter Brenda got in institutional settings in Red Deer and Calgary so she brought her home. She was able to fight for support to provide the care she felt her daughter needed, at home. Today a Darrel Cook Managed Support Resource Centre helps those with developmental disabilities have a life in the community. With the help also of the Alberta Association for Community Living, Brenda Cobb, now 48, lives in a bungalow, has staff funded by the centre and can go shopping, swimming and to sports games with help. The new concept lets parents and family employ and direct the staff that support the person needing care.

Statistics Canada has made available to the National Post its current study of suicides and public interest is high given the sudden deaths of five First Nations people and of hockey players like Wade Belak. Though suicide is still not common, it does have its peaks and valleys and the genders and age groups involved starkly differ.
-the suicide rate is 11.0 per 100,000 population - 3611 Canadians in 2007
-the suicide rate of men is 15.7 per 100,000 while for women it is 4.9 per 100,000
-of the women, 4 % use poisons, 40% use drug overdose, 34% use suffocation or hanging, 2% use a firearm, 6% jump from a high place
-of the men -7% use poisons, 12% use drug overdose, 46% use suffocation or hanging, 19% use a firearm, 5% jump from a high place
-of the women, suicide numbers are highest at age 40-49, next highest at 50-59
-of the men, suicide numbers are highest at age 40-49, next highest at 50-59.
-the highest rates of suicide of women are in Nunavut, Northwest Territories, Saskatchewan and Alberta. The highest rates for men are in Nunavut, Northwest Territories, Quebec and Newfoundland
-parental deprivation is highly correlated with child and youth suicide
-the suicide rate is highest among parents not living with their dependent children.

Research has found that while adult melatonin levels peak at 4 AM, teen levels peak at 7AM and don’t even start rising till 11 PM. This means that teens operate on a different clock than do adults and their reason for having trouble waking up has a logic. Dr. Teny Maghakian of the U of California Davis found that of 6100 students over four years, academic performance was strongly linked to how early they were made to attend their first class each day. Not only did the marks of early classes stay low, but those who had to start early had lower marks all day. Changing start times of classes for secondary and college students has been recommended as a way to help enhance their learning though critics argue this leaves less time at the end of the day for clubs and sports. At Eastern Commerce Collegiate Institute in Toronto, moving the first class from 9AM to 10AM resulted in fewer absenses, higher grades and students sleeping 30 minutes more each night. (ED NOTE: For students from grade 7-12, the first class often has a lot of kids yawning while little kids are wide awake. Some school districts not wanting little kids heading to school in the dark however, have the buses pick them up later while the older kids are made to assemble sometimes as early as 7:30 or 8 AM. The problem is this is the exact opposite of how body rhythms work. The earlier classes would work better for the littler kids. A factor key to these decisions of class time though is not about children. Many schools arrange times based on bus availability and many also consider parental schedules and when parents can drop the kids off. Some kids are dropped off at schools before 7 AM and not picked up till after 6 PM.)

The recent youth riots in the UK have led to much discussion of exactly who is rioting. The Centre for Social Justice' s director Gavin Poole says that the social breakdown evident is due to high levels of family breakdown. The number of young people who are not in employment education or training is nearly 20%. PM David Cameron has told parents "You need to get hold of your kids before we have to" and has said that fathers should be more than just a "sperm donor or human ATM," not recognizing the forced removal of many fathers from children's lives after separation and divorce. In a parallel way analysts of US social culture have been looking at violent flash mobs in Philadelphia. Mayor Michael Nutter imposed curfews and harsh police measures recently when roving gangs of teens beat up ordinary citizens. Columnist Margaret Wente of the Globe and Mail, Canada has commented that the solution is not just parents being stricter, and it is not 'more social programs' since those have not worked well in forty years of trying them. She says "the state is totally unable to compensate for broken families" (ED NOTE: I would urge that the state then stop penalizing families that spend time together and that it stop trying to replace families with institutional care. The best solution is to fund and value families and to create policy that gives birth bonuses, maternity and paternity benefits, universal funding for care of a child that flows with the child not just directed only to 3rd party care, encouraging home-based parental care, and pensions for the caregiving years. These are big changes to make but big problems nudge us to dramatic and creative solutions.)

Many people are concerned about the negative effect of advertising on young children and laws have been passed to restrict advertising to that group. However Joel Bakan has written "Childhood Under Siege" outlying even more areas where he feels that children are victims of an 'undeclared war' waged by corporations. He cites several examples:
-video games and online entertainment that manipulate a child's love of excitement and need for company, in order just to sell games
-marketers that sell sex clothing and gadgets, pornography and sex chat to the underaged
-viewing of violence on TV. He estimates that 90% of 4-6 year olds watch TV two hours a day and that tweens watch it 8 hours a day.
-companies manipulating doctors into diagnosing more illnesses of a mental nature and manipulating pharmacists into selling medications to treat them, selling psychotropics to children whose brains are still developing
-corporations using child labor especially in agriculture
-corporations adding strong chemicals and pollutants to products with the result that the leading cause of childhood hospital admissions now is asthma
-charter schools operating at a profit and yet still being subsidized by tax dollars
-corporations advertising to young children urging them to nag parents to make purchases.

Dr. Dacher Keltner of the U of California-Berkeley has released a report studying income and social empathy. He found that though it is often assumed that the wealthy are more generous than the poor because they have more money, in fact the rich tend to hoard their resources and 'trickle-down' economics does not work. He found that the poor tend to have more health problems and difficulties with income but they also tend to develop great empathy, altruism and sensitivity to others. He also found that observers are able to accurately judge education and income level of videotaped strangers after only one minute. If the speaker uses a cellphone, doodles, avoids eye contact they seem rich while those who head -nod, laugh and are more attentive to the speaker are more likely to be middle or lower income. Statistics Canada found that those with household incomes over $100,000 give 0.5% of their income to charities but those with household incomes under $20,00 give 1.6% of their incomes to charities ( I think donations to charity are an interesting but imperfect gauge of this. The very poor often help each other with lodging, food, childcare, elder care while the very wealthy don't have to bail each other out as much if their family is all rich. Such donations of your own time and sweat-labor are not counted in charity donations. So, long story short, I suspect the observations are correct and maybe even understated but of course there are glowing exceptions. It's just that sometimes when the rich give they do get a lot of media attention and buildings named after them - editor)

Those who are concerned about the 'greying' of the population and the 'birth dearth' often use statistics about seniors that assume once you turn 65 you are a net drain on the economy and that those under 65 'support' you. Susan Eng, VP of the CARP seniors group has written in national newspapers her observation that the calculation of a 'dependency ratio' needs to be changed. Just because a person is 65 or over does not mean this person is dependent, she says. People are living longer and healthier so are not necessarily a cost to the health care system. They are less disabled and many are still earning. She says if we get the calculation of dependency wrong we may create 'bad public policy' and says" change is necessary but if we're going to cite science to make policy, then let's start with good science"

In some nations, parents forego having big families and pour all their energy and resources into having only one or two. In India wealthy parents have lately become interested in ensuring the health of their children by paying to stock genetic material in case illness requires it later. The stem cell collection can be made from embryos, fetuses, menstrual blood, from umbilical cord blood or now even from dental pulp of baby teeth. In some cases healthy canine teeth have been removed from a child to enable the family to store the stem cells within the teeth for 'just in case'. Such storage of cells is expensive but there are few laws to monitor collection. The stem cell industry in India offers a lot of therapies to medical tourists and is worth about $500 million a year. Dr. Rakhi Pal of Advanced Neuroscience Allies in Banglore cautions however that even if you do have stem cells, those are not a miracle fix for all children's illnesses. Stem cells have been used in clinical trials to repair heart muscle, regenerate a cornea, treat blood disorders or help regenerate bones. The collection process itself is expensive. It costs $215 to just register then $1100 to process on extracted tooth to get the pulp cells out, and then $130 a year to store them.

Though many people think of life insurance as income replacement when a person dies suddenly, some insurance providers are noticing that what might need to be replaced might be foregone income. If a woman or man is home tending small children and passes away suddenly, to replace their work would cost funds for a full-time childcare provider, housekeeper who cooks, a driver to transport kids to school and medical appointments, according to Lifeinsure.com Some insurance providers are now offering policies for at home parents. A 27 year old mother for instance could get a death benefit of $500,000 for a cost of $19 a month.

With the recent economic collapse of several large financial institutions, and investments of many going into a tailspin, a call has been issued for the financial industry itself to be better regulated and for a program to be set up to alert the general public to better money management and wariness about risks. Though many have advocated for a neutral program not run by financial institutions to provide 'financial literacy' to the public, first to step up to offer such a course tend to be such institutions. In Canada an Investor Education Fund has been set up to provide Ontario school curriculum material from grades 4-12. The organization spends about $3 million annually on programs, videos and an Internet presence though its president Tom Hanza says that the original push was to send out investment information just to those planning for retirement. Hanza says that people have blindly trusted those who handle their money and not having fees up front and transparent has misled many investors. He says that young people now are leaving college or university with an average debt of $19,000 - $25,000 so they face 'minefields' right away. Before the school program his group aimed at those aged 35-50 who were 'in the market' already but lately they have tried to teach a younger demographic. Hanza is 39 years old. His group gets its funds from fines and penalties imposed on financial institutions and individuals by the Ontario Securities Commission. (ED NOTE: I still feel that we really need a focus on schools and daily purchases and mundane things like mortgages, credit, interest rates, rent debt, not investments and the market. I am not sure this group is as concrete about kids and money as it needs to be.)

Supreme Court Justice Beverley McLachlin urged lawyers to make their services more affordable noting that funding for the wealthy corporation or the low income person charged with a serious criminal offence is easy to get but everyone else faces hurdles of affordability. She recommended more free diagnosis of legal problems, expanded legal insurance plans and having lawyers provide more services pro bono.
-The Canadian Bar Association in turn chastised the government of PM Stephen Harper for its tough-on-crime policies. The bar association criticized the huge cost of new prisons, the inappropriate jailing of mentally ill offenders, and the lack of flexibility in imposing mandatory minimum sentences.

From Bev Smith: As elections and leadership talks ramp up this fall, some candidates are turning attention to caregivers. Gary Mar, who wants to head the Progressive Conservative party in Alberta and become premier, has promised that if elected he would provide job protection for family caregivers when someone in the family has serious illness. He would provide unpaid compassionate leave for up to 8 weeks in a 26 week period. He would also give seniors more day programs while their families are away from home earning and would give more respite beds so families who are caregivers could have a break from caregiving. He would also have more family caregiver resource centres and would like seniors ' facilities set up so married couples could live in the same building (ED NOTE: Actually I am irritated that politicians so often value not doing a job instead of doing it. They give you breaks from caregiving but not funding while there. They give you pamphlets but no money. They give you unpaid leave to be a caregiver but not any funding to be a caregiver which still means than that you are poor based on your commitment to tend someone you love. What we need is money, not platitudes, not substitutions for ourselves. The same dilemma happens re care of children. It is easy to get funding if you leave the kids with a stranger but nearly impossible if you stay with them. If funding flows with the person who needs care, we would more fairly fund caregiving itself.)

If you give birth in hospital there are forms to sign to register the birth. Proof of the mother's identity is easy given that the birth itself was in hospital. However a legal glitch has surfaced in Quebec for mothers who have home births. Anyone who gives birth without a doctor or licensed midwife present has to prove the biological link between mother and child when they present the child. The Quebec government through spokesperson Marie Godbout says that the requirement was set in place to prevent child trafficking. However Heather Mattingly was not happy with the rules. She gave birth in March 2011 at home using an unlicensed midwife. As required she contacted the government agency to register the birth certificate. To prove the baby was hers she also send in an ultrasound, a doctor's letter and an attestation of birth but the agency in charge said she would also need to have a vaginal exam. Mattingly was angry and appealed. She says she needs the birth registered because she wants maternity benefits but that the vaginal exam should not be required. Agency spokespeople, after media attention to the issue have waived t he need for the exam.

The rights of schools to search the text messages of students have been called into question recently in Prince Albert, Saskatchewan. It is alleged that a 12 year old student's cell phone rang in class and he started to reply by text and did not stop when asked to do so by the teacher. He was sent to the office and the vice principal questioned him and examined the cell phone. It is alleged that the vice principal read the text message and noticed mention of a stolen vehicle, questioned the youth about this and threatened to contact police. Police were contacted and did come to the school to question the boy. The boys' grandparents are angry at how the situation was handled and have filed a statement of claim against the school division. They claim that their son is now in fear of violent retaliation from those who feel he was an informant and they are angry that they feel they have had to take him out of school and incur costs of driving him out of the city to stay with relatives. They are claiming the school officials had no right to read the text message. and want a $50,000 settlement for breach of the boy's privacy.

When governments try to address deficits they usually consider either raising taxes (money in) or reducing spending (money out). What is often not mentioned is a category of accounts where money could have been brought in and was not, money foregone. This category is called 'tax expenditures' and is all the tax breaks government gives to certain groups, what some call tax loopholes, according to Glen Hodgson of the Conference Board of Canada. Government by allowing such tax breaks is trying to change behavior of individuals, to target some classes of voters to win their support, but the 'cost' is not listed as government spending. The Parliamentary Budget Officer admits that there is about $100 billion per year in foregone tax through this policy, what amounts to 40% of government revenues. There is however no statutory requirement to regularly review and evaluate these tax expenditures. Hodgson would like the system to be more transparent and for the state to place these expenditures under the column of spending. He would prefer a simplified personal tax system with a higher basic exemption, lower tax rates, fewer exceptions and loopholes, and the elimination of many of the tax expenditures. There are currently 189 different tax breaks including a tax free savings account, tax credits for kids' sports, public transit use, use of labourers' tools. (ED NOTE: I agree with Hodgson. For years I noticed that tax breaks for those with children for instance are not at all universal. Targeting benefits only to signing the child up for a sports or arts course for instance benefits mainly the middle class and wealthy and does not recognize that if you buy the child a keyboard or a bike you also encourage sports or arts.)

Though many people complain that they are overtaxed, some do not and recently a few very wealthy people have urged each other to look again at the privilege they have had. Though the law does not require them to pay heavy tax, some are now even urging the laws be changed. Billionaire Warren Buffett has written to his 'mega-rich' friends and in the media outlining the argument for more tax on the rich. He points out
-last year he paid only 17.4% tax on his income while the other 20 people in his office paid 33-41% of their income in tax
-governments get 80% of their income from personal income tax and payroll tax. The mega rich pay nearly nothing in payroll tax though, and only about 15% on personal income tax. The middle class however pay high payroll tax and a personal income tax of 15-25%
-Since 1993 the IRS has tracked returns of the 400 superwealthy. In 1992 they earned $16.9 billion but paid only 29.2% tax. In 2008 with government taxing them less, they earned $90.9 billion but paid only 21.5% tax.
He is aware of policy arguments that say that taxing the rich very little creates jobs, that it encourages investment and that because they have a lot, they will be philanthropic. He criticizes each of those claims
-He has worked with investors for 60 years and even when capital gains tax rates were 39% in 1976 people still invested. He says nobody shies away just because when they get rich from investments they may have to pay tax
-40 million jobs were created between 1980 and 2000 but since then, when tax rates dropped, fewer jobs were created
-Many of the super wealthy have joined his GivingPledge to donate most of their wealth to philanthropy, aware fellow citizens are suffering, but he notes that not all do this. US Congress has assigned 12 members to rearrange America's finances. Buffett recommends that this group in trying to reduce the deficit by $1.5 trillion over 10 years do the following
-pare down promises for spending
-keep the tax rates the same for 99.7% of taxpayers
-reduce the employee contribution of the payroll tax
-increase tax rates for the 236,883 millionaires in the US, taxing also their dividends, capital gains
-further raise taxes on those 8,274 who earned over $10 million a year
In France 16 company executives and business leaders also recently signed a petition that they should have to pay more tax. Christophe de Margerie of Total Oil, Jan-Cyril Spinette of AirFrance KLM and Liliane Bettencourt of L'Oreal, say they are 'conscious of having benefitted,' and want to give back.

In China the cost of living has been skyrocketing. Shanghai property now can cost $8200 per square meter though annual salaries have not kept pace and average $10,000 a year. When some young women marry they are often considering financial stability and by some reports favouring men who already own a house and possibly a car. Such an arrangement, dubbed a 'naked marriage' is not focused on love and in a country where divorce rates are also soaring, government has now stepped in. The Supreme Court has ruled that the avenue of marrying just for money will be blocked because on divorce whoever paid for the family home gets to keep it and the asset will not be shared. Lawyer Hu Jiachu says that he hopes this move will help young women not worship money and will nudge them to themselves become more independent. On the men's side, it is reported that many young Chinese men are distressed if they cannot even rent a lodging, let alone buy one. and because of that, cannot attract any women. Traditionally in China the groom's parents purchase the marital home but the bride's parents furnish and decorate it. The court ruling amends the Marriage Law written 31 years ago and officials have hinted that its goal is to protect the rights of parents. China lacks a social safety net and financial security is often set up only through family assets. Some women do not applaud the new law however saying that the law tells women to earn their own money, buy their own house, get artificial insemination and have a baby alone.
-ED NOTE: Wouldn't it be wiser to address this issue by reducing the cost of living, the high cost of property, and low salaries?

August, 2011

In Los Angeles California there has long been criticism of the love-affair with cars, the smog of the city, the fact that the city sprawls out so much even the subway system and buses do not speed up commutes. A new law has been passed recently to enable cyclists to be better protected from anger of motorists. In July a key section of highway in the LA area was shut down experimentally in what was dubbed 'car-mageddon". Though many anticipated forcing people to not use that road would result in anarchy, for a few days at least the public embraced the slowing down mentality. County supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky said that closing the freeway for a while generated much public discussion about carpooling, scootering, walking, biking and you could hear children playing.

Often you hear of heroic efforts to save lives, some ending in tragedy for the victim as well as the person trying to help them, and others ending up in the survival of the one at risk, but death of the person helping. Occasionally however you hear a truly happy ending where everybody lived. In Langley BC a 44 year old woman was driving westbound on the TransCanada highway around 9AM on a weekday when the driver behind her noticed her car suddenly moving erratically. Her VW Golf ran alongside the highway barrier than back on the road, swerving at 80kmh. Behind her was Courtenay Smith who assessed the situation and realized its huge potential for harm. The driver had slumped over sideways into the passenger seat and Smith raced his car up in front of hers and tried to physically get in its way, to let her bump him and then, as he slowed down, to slow her down. This worked and as soon as both cars stopped and he pulled over, he got out to see how she was. Ron MacLeod was nearby, pulled his truck over and turned on his emergency lights to warn others. Both men used a tire iron to smash open the locked Golf and got the unconscious woman out of the car. Other motorists helped and noticing she had no pulse, started CPR while someone called for help. RCMP arrived, and then an ambulance and the CPR efforts resuscitated the woman. She was taken to hospital and is recovering from a massive heart attack.

A Bolton England fitness club now offers a class that has raised public ire. The class is pole dancing for girls from aged 7. Photos of the girls will be posted on the Internet though JLN Pole Fitness says that parental permission is required. Teacher Jess Norris, aged 18, says nothing rude is going on but Mother's Union spokespeople are upset. One has said children are being targeted 'with an activity that's part of male club culture' and that 'objectifies women'. Local councillor Nick Peel is responsible for children's services in the area but is not taking action against the club. He only warns parents to 'be aware of' the situation they may put their children in once such photos hit the Internet. (ED NOTE: The fact that this has raised public ire is a reflection of how troubled a society the UK is right now. I don't think our decisions regarding children's well-being should be affected by "male club culture."

Governments that believe in care roles nonetheless sometimes disagree on how to show support. Some fund parents and family caregivers directly but many governments instead fund only 3rd party substitutes for parents. This preferential funding for only one style of care has come under fire internationally by many parents' groups and even led to a UN complaint in 1997 from a Canadian delegation. In response to the mounting pressure, some governments have changed funding formulae. Norway now funds parents at home as well as childcare centres. Some cantons of Sweden do the same. Italy provides not only pensions for paid workers but pensions for homemakers whose work is unpaid. Australia and Singapore provide bonuses to all new parents, via a universal birth bonus. Some nations were so deeply mired in the funding of 3rd parties however that they were also funding big unions and advocacy groups for such 3rd party care. In Canada the federal government has announced it will phase out funding for 30 sector councils including the Child Care Human Resources Council that advocated for 3rd party care. Such childcare groups are incensed and lobbying government to restore their funding as a vital service. The Canadian Union of Public Employees is also expressing desire to get the funding back. Many daycare workers are members of CUPE.

New government and community recognition is being given to caregivers. In the past few years caregiver awards in some areas have been restricted to paid care providers, for instance daycare/childcare workers who have this as their career. Recently however the net to value care roles has widened and now encompasses family-caregivers who actually make up the majority of caregivers and who are not paid.
- Manitoba is debating a new law to recognize family caregivers. Minister Jim Rondeau praised those who provide elder care so seniors can live in their own homes as long as possible. The Caregiver Recognition Act names the first Tuesday in April as Caregiver Recognition Day. It sets up principles for government of how to treat caregivers, and sets up a study of how better to support them in what they do. Manitoba is also increasing the Caregiver tax credit to $1275 per person from $1020.
-The VHA gives annually a Home Care Award to someone who has shown remarkable efforts to provide care of a family member or friend and gone 'beyond the call of duty'. 
-ED NOTE: I appreciate the theory of awards and would not turn them down but we need to move past tokenism to concrete tax recognition, re-categorizing of such selflessness as a real role, 'work' that benefits others, and challenging government policies that only value paid work and only nudge adults out of the home.

In city districts plagued with violence, it is common for people to adopt a survival lifestyle, not mixing much with others, turning a blind eye to problems and just taking care of themselves. That approach however does not fix street violence and some theorists want another solution. Apart from beefing up policing, a community -based solution has been considered in Chicago. Dr. Gary Slutkin who worked for a time with the World Health Organization had the idea that violence is actually a public health issue and when he found out about children murdering children in Chicago, he wanted to do something. He set up a project for violence prevention so outreach workers get training in 'CeaseFire' negotiations and then go out into the streets, putting themselves ' in harm's way'. The 'interrupters' have been recognized in a 2008 article in the New York Times Magazine and now in a movie called "The Interrupters". The real life people who take on this task, some of whom have been gang members earlier, or with ties to them through the family. 

In history many people have felt called to try to make a better world, and while some do it through political routes or charitable service, others leave a message often powerful in music or art. In the UK social messages have been appearing on public walls in a style mocked as graffiti by some but viewed by others as a new form of valid art. Though many graffiti writers around the world put hate or pornographic messages on walls and fences, quickly cleaned up by the authorities, a few do no harm, do not seek fame even if it is offered, and present over night stunning works of art and social commentary in playful and thoughtful ways. One such artist of the latter category who still is anonymous and not clearly identified, has been called Banksy. He has stencilled humorous, whimsical anti-war, anti-capitalist, anti-establishment images first in Bristol and London England and then in the US and Palestine. He made nine images on the Israeli West Bank wall in 2005 and held exhibitions of his work at warehouses. Some of his work includes:
-a painting in Detroit with a little boy holding a can of red paint next to the words" I remember when all this was trees"
-a painting in the London Underground with the caption "Forgive us our trespassing"
-a mural next to a conference on global warming where a sign "I don't believe in global warming" was painted as if submerged in water
-inside the penguin enclosure at the London Zoo the words "We're bored of fish"
-inside the elephant enclosure at the Bristol Zoo the words "I want out. This place is too cold. Keeper smells"
-a framed painting sneaked into the British museum depicting a cave- like early painting of a human figure hunting wildlife while pushing a shopping cart
-an image on the Israeli West Bank wall of children digging a hole through the wall, and another of a ladder going up and over the wall
-sneaking an inflatable doll dressed as a Guantanamo Bay prisoner inside the Big Thunder Mountain Ride at Disneyland, California
-The identity of Banksy is still unknown.

Greg Powell enrolled in medicine at university and during his studies did an elective in Australia with a flying doctor service. He also visited a mobile army surgical hospital - MASH unit- during the war in Vietnam. These experiences left an indelible impression on him of the value of urgent air transport care when needed. Back home in Alberta and now director of the emergency medicine department at the Foothills Hospital in Calgary he saw cases of rural trauma where death rates were 50% higher than at other Canadian centres. He again thought of the need for aerial transport of patients. He and two friends borrowed money to start a helicopter medical transport service in 1985, renting time on helicopters. The business got more attention when Calgary hosted the 1988 Winter Olympics and the need for urgent care was noticed. A small town of 400 hosted an event to help raise funds for the service and put together $100,000. Over the years the STARS - Shock Trauma Air Rescue Society - has grown but Powell is adamant that it not be a wing of government. He is funded 25% by government but the rest by the community, including by an annual lottery. He says that by not being a wing of any provincial health care plan his helicopters are easily able to work across borders in many provinces. He estimates that the up front cost to send a helicopter to save someone having a stroke may seem large in the thousands but restoring them to health saves millions downstream.

Researchers continue to look at risks to unborn children of parental activity such as use of cell phone or computers. Dr De-Kun Li of Oakland California Kaiser Permanente Division of Research tracked for 13 years many pregnant mothers and then 626 children they gave birth to, looking at computer use and health outcomes. He found that exposure to magnetic fields was linked to a significant increase in risk of the child later being diagnosed with asthma. In mothers who themselves had asthma, exposure to magnetic fields doubled the risk. Health Canada however disagrees with the premise saying it has found no conclusive evidence of harm of exposure to computers in homes or schools. Magnetic and electric fields radiate around power lines, microwave ovens, hair dryers, vacuum cleaners while higher frequency fields emanate from cell phones.

Dr. Anil Lalwani of New York University school of medicine has released results of a study of children who live in homes where people smoke. He studied 1533 teens aged 12-19 and looked at rates of nicotine exposure evidenced in the blood, and then at the children's hearing. The study found that those with highest smoke exposure have most risk of hearing loss at low and at high frequency sound levels. Lalwani speculates that smoke may reduce the amount of oxygen-rich blood reaching the inner ear and that if students can't hear well, they may do less well in school and be more easily distracted. Smoking in the home has already been associated with behavioral and developmental problems in children. Lalwani found that of those who did have hearing loss, 80% were not even aware of it so he recommends more routine hearing tests.

Doctors know that every year a new kind of flu sweeps the world and they try six to nine months before each new outbreak to see trends, predict which strains are on the rise, and make a vaccine to counter them. Flu vaccines have proven effective if taken annually, if the predictions of strain were accurate, but compliance is low and the vaccine is costly. Dr. Christine Turley of the University of Texas at Galveston found however that within the flu virus is a constant protein, one that has not changed since 1918. She had the idea that fusing this constant protein with another common bacterial protein may be a key way to fight any flu, and to create a 'universal vaccine and one time for life immunization. Turley has released results of studies on animals showing such good effects that trials on humans are already underway. Dr. Anthony Fauci of the National Institute of Allergies and Infectious Diseases in the US says we are now very close to proof of concept. Dr. Francis Collins of the National Institutes of Health says we may have a universal flu vaccine for the general public in about 5 years.

When children are found living in a house where drugs are being cultivated, 'grow-ops', they are often seized by authorities and put into foster care. The thinking usually is that being in such an environment has posed a health risk to the children and that the parents may not be good parents. However Dr. Gideon Koren or Motherisk at the Toronto Hospital for Sick Children says that studies of 75 children removed from grow ups have presented interesting results. Though one third of the children studied did have traces of drugs in their hair follicles, they were not unhealthier than children in the general population. Koren says that there may be reasons to remove a child from a house due to drug trafficking and criminal activity but the physical health risks alone are not be significant enough to outweigh the harm done when children are taken away from a stable family. He says such removals often cause children 'fear, anxiety, confusion and sadness'. In BC child protection policies and practices continue to move in the direction of more child removals.

Dr. Eric Kim of the U of Michigan has announced results of a study of over 6000 adults over aged 50 who had never suffered a stroke. He questioned the adults about attitudes including optimism and then correlated answers with their body fat, saturated fat levels in the blood and over two years with their risk of stroke. He found that those who were more optimistic had a 9% lower risk of stroke for each one of 16 factors of optimism. He confronted popular notions that the optimist is just not concerned about health and does not go to the doctor much, finding that the reverse was true. Optimists were more likely to see a reason to take care of their health, more likely to eat lower fat food, take vitamins and exercise. Dr. Kim says that earlier research has also linked optimism to stronger immune systems.

The link between mind and body has long been studied, with it commonly argued that will to live and will to die are key to how the body heals. Dr. Carsten Wrosch of Concordia University in Montreal has written a book entitled "Embitterment: Societal, Psychological and Clinical Perspectives" looking at the link between attitude and body function. Wrosch found that if people are bitter such negative emotions made the body produce more cortisol and this can affect the immune system. Activating these systems in such a mode reduces ability to fight illness and 'invites woes' upon the sufferer. He says that people who experience failures and tend to blame others, not addressing personal and fixable shortcomings, tend to get sick more. He said however that as we age, we become more realistic about goals and failures and our coping mechanisms may be better.

In 1965 Dr. Jack Geiger, working in a rural Mississippi area realized that many of his young patients were malnourished and this was a key problem to any of the medicine he prescribed working. He started to write down on the prescription form for the children orders for food including meat, vegetables, milk, fruit, orders that could be filled at the grocery store and that the health center would pay. The Office of Economic Opportunity in Washington heard of his practice and objected but he said that food is a standard therapy for malnutrition and he was within good medical practice to prescribe it. David Bornstein, author of "How to Change the World" has praised this approach to child health, saying at the root of much illness is simply poverty and that must be addressed. He has praised Health Leads, a group of 1000 volunteers in 23 US hospitals and clinics who now regularly prescribe food assistance, heating fuel subsidies and even housing improvements. Health Leads will even find summer meal programs and subsidized childcare if needed. Rebecca Onie founded that group in 1996 after noting that low income legal service clients were often ill because they lived in homes with broken windows, mold, rats and cockroaches. Dr. Barry Zuckerman of the Boston Medical Center runs a medical-legal partnership to connect doctors with lawyers for patients whose needs go beyond medical.

Dr. Mark Fenske of the U of Guelph has recently written "The Winner's Brain: 8 Strategies Great Minds Use to Achieve Success". His studies of crying indicate that the moods of happiness and sadness are strangely linked. Crying, for whatever reason happy or sad, involves emotional arousal in the hypothalamus and basal ganglia. Though some may think we cry just when our emotions spill over, he has found that usually tears are relief after crisis has passed. Crying also seems to have a social function. Those who cry when sad are giving a signal they may need comfort while those who cry when happy may be strengthening bonds with others in joy.

Some apartments have rules that no babies under age 2 are allowed in their swimming pools. The concern is safety as well as fear of contamination due to diaper contents. However children now usually wear super absorbent swim diapers and parents may feel that they are themselves adequate monitors of the child's safety. In Toronto Michelle Pantoliano in 2008 took her 10 month old daughter in a swim diaper and swimsuit to the pool of her condo complex. The lifeguard said to leave and she did. She phoned the property manager who did not call back so she tried to go to the pool again two more times. She was again asked to leave and did but was told she could petition the condo board. Instead she lodged an application with the Ontario Human Rights Tribunal claiming discrimination based on family status. A meeting was held by the condo board whose members were told this was a situation of anti-social behaviour and refusal to leave the pool and they voted against changing the rules. However the OHRT ruled that because of the swim diapers there was very low risk caused from having children in diapers in the pool and said the condo board had failed to establish that its rule was reasonable. It ordered the rule changed and compensation paid to the young mother of $10,000 for injury to her 'dignity, feelings and self-respect'.

Studies about time use often focus on which gender 'works' harder. and to tally this, unpaid labor is included as 'work'. Over time however, the definition of such unpaid labor has been left vague, creating great discrepancies about results among experts. Ruth Davis Konigsberg, author of "Chore Wars: Men are now pulling their weight" believes that men
are now doing their share and Dr. John Robinson of the U of Maryland has looked at his own research on couples keeping 24 hour diaries. Dr. Arlie Hochschild of the U of California is also weighing in on the issue, having written a book in 1990 about it called "The Second Shift" where she said women do 15 hours more work than men per week. The US Bureau of Labor Statistics has announced in 2011 that the genders are now nearly equal in 'work', with women doing only 20 minutes more per day than men.

Statistics Canada has just published its Women in Canada analysis July 2011 of data from preceding years for women. The study found that:
-over half of all Canadians are women. In 2006 the total was 16.2 million or 50.4% of the population
-in 1971 only 7% of adult women lived alone but by 2001 that number was 14% of women, or 1.5 million. 38% of all women over aged 65 live alone
-live expectancy of girls born in 2001 was 82 years and of boys was 77 years.
-as people age they have more disabilities, but women, outliving men, have high rates as seniors. In 2001 13.3% of all women had a disability but by age 85 and over 75% of women had some disability.
-though overall cancer death rates for women are unchanged in the last several decades, proportions are shifting with declines in some types of cancer but increases in lung cancer.
-In 1971 3% of women had a university degree but by 2001 15% did so. However of those who go on past one degree, only 27% of those who get doctorates are women.
-though women outnumber men as university students, in 2001 they were still the minority in faculties of math, physical science, engineering and applied science.
-women are more likely than men to take time from paid work to do care roles
-In 2004 11% of men with paid jobs but 27% of women with paid jobs work part-time not full-time.
-over the past ten years the proportion of employed women in traditionally female occupations - teaching nursing, clerical, sales - has not changed and is at 67%.
-in 1987 30% of mangers were women and in 2004 that number was up only slightly, to 37%
-in 2003 35% of all adult women do unpaid work for a volunteer organization and women make up 54% of volunteers there
-full time full year employed adults earn unequally. Women earn about 71% what men earn
-in 2003 28% of men but 31% of women have incomes under the low income cutoff level. 38% of lone parent mothers live below this income level but only 13% of lone parent fathers.
-in 2003 13% of all children live in a home with a single female parent but 43% of them live in poverty
-in 2004 women were charged with having committed a criminal offence in only 17% of all crimes but women were 51% of those who were victims of violent crime
-men are twice as likely as women to be victims or murder

As many European nations' economies are faltering and the US debt load is so high that it owes China in the trillions of dollars, suggestions for solutions address some of the most basic ideas of how to govern. Key among the topics is whether to fund social programs or if they are the problem and we should have every person for himself. Some economists in Canada argue that social programs are a key reason for deficits and in the Alberta election a major source of debate is whether to cut more deeply into education for instance to balance the books while others argue we need to fund social programs better in crisis times. Another area of debate is tax rates. Do nations that tax more heavily get out of debt faster? Should the goal be job creation and productivity above all else or are there other markers even more important for well-being? A recent study by the OECD looked at tax revenue as a per cent of GDP. The study found that 24% of the US GDP comes from taxes, while in New Zealand the number is about 30%. In Canada 31.1% of GDP comes from taxes but in Norway, France ,Australia, Belgium Italy, Sweden, Denmark, a much higher percent of GDP is from tax, nearly 50% in Denmark. While in most OECD countries more and more taxes are being used to create the GDP, and taxes have been rising since 1965, in the US, currently in crisis, taxes have stayed low and the percent they are of GDP is nearly exactly what it was 45 years ago.

The areas involved in caregiving generally are health, education and social services and in Canada those very costly areas are all under provincial not federal jurisdiction. Since the federal government collects most of the taxes and has the most money, provinces struggle to pay the bills for the programs above and all the bills are increasing as the population ages and more knowledge is out there to be taught. The federal government helps fund some of the services via transfer payments back to the provinces but the amounts of these have been areas of dispute. The way the funds are allocated has also been debated recently. The 'have' provinces get less money than the 'have not 'provinces, per capita, to help subsidize those who otherwise could not offer adequate levels of health care and education. The problem is that who is a have province is up for debate, and Alberta has been unhappy if its one time use only oil reserves make it assumed it is wealthy. Provincial and territorial leaders met recently at the Council of the Federations in Vancouver and discussed health transfers. The current 10 year agreement with the federal health department ends in 2014. Right now Alberta gets $558 per capita but every other province gets $805 per person. Alberta legislators have made the case that this means they subsidize every one else, and that money is flowing out of the province though it was earned here and is needed here. The 13 provincial and territorial leaders have called on Ottawa to create a better deal for everyone including
-more funding for mental health
-more maternity and parental support for families

In the third world lack of clean water, extreme poverty, high prices of what food there is, and government corruption have been associated with high infant mortality. When wars and famine are added to the mix, crises have been horrific. In 1984 famine in Ethiopia and Eritrea led to one million deaths. In 1991 civil war in Somalia was linked to 300,000 starvations. In 2011 drought is again hitting the Horn of Africa and the UN has again declared famine in the world for the first time in 20 years. The UN now estimates that 12 million people are at risk of death in Ethiopia, Kenya, Djibouti, Uganda and Somalia. Yet there are problems with proposed solutions. In the past appeals for international aid have not been heard. The UN World Food Program asked for $500 million US from donor nations but did not get even half that in 2010. This year they are asking for $1 billion US and the amount they have been told is on the way is only $200 million US. Dambia Moyo of Oxford University also questions if foreign aid is the right answer. Moyo says that sometimes civil war erupts just to get access to the foreign aid there is and some of the aid goes to prop up tyrannical governments, perpetuating poverty. Moyo says a better solution is to provide more trade options and direct investment. Not all agree with that solution however since it will not address the needs of those currently starving. Bev Oda, Minister in Canada for International Cooperation has pledged $50 million in aid to Kenya to add to the $22.35 million her government already invests there.

July, 2011
 
Since several currents now place government authority above that of the parent, a few groups are speaking out about ensuring parental rights. The Catholic Civil Rights League has expressed concern about the 'growing trend" towards the state violating 'parental authority and freedom of conscience, belief and religion"The league has set down a Declaration on the Authority of Parents and Guardians in the Education of their Children saying that parents and guardians are the first and most important protectors of children and that the role of state and educational authorities is to assist parents but not to replace them. The league has itemized some laws in this regard which it feels are being violated:
-Convention against Discrimination in Education - 1960 establishes separate educational systems for religious or linguistic reasons and parents are to be respected for choice of such institutions
-Convention on the Rights of the Child 1989 - identifies the family as the fundamental group of society and one worthy of the necessary protection and assistance of the community.  The signatories to the convention agreed that education should be directed to respecting the parental values, language and identity
-Declaration on the Elimination of all Forms of Intolerance and of Discrimination Based on Religion of Belief - 1981 - Signatories agreed that religion or belief are fundamental elements in the person's concept of life and that freedom of religion must be respected and guaranteed. Every child has the right to access education in the religion or belief parents wish
-Declaration on the Rights of the Child - 1959 - declares that responsibility for education and guidance of a child lies in the first place with the parents
-International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights - 19666
Everyone has freedom of thought, conscience and religion and freedom to adopt these beliefs, without coercion that would impair the freedom
-International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights- 1966
Parents have the right  to choose schools for their children other than public schools, as long as these conform to minimum educational standards
-Universal Declaration of Human Rights- 1948
Parents have the right to choose the kind of education that shall be given their children.
 
When people need help it is very tempting for the helper to put strings on money loaned, and to be generous with conditions and advice. A new theory about how to help others is that such an attitude of condescension cramps good ideas and dehumanizes recipients.   Giving them a chance to make their own decisions is believed to be empowering. The Grammeen Bank, a microlender that won a Nobel Prize, has an official policy for staff never to suggest business ideas to borrowers.  Muhammad Yunus who founded the bank says staff is to always reply "The Grameen Bank has lots of money but it has no ideas".  Jerry and Monique Sternin used this same attitude of "Positive Deviance" in the 1990s  when they worked in Vietnam with Save the Children. When many were starving, they did not rush just to help those suffering but they went to those who somehow still had healthy children to see what they were doing right. Noticing the practices they used of washing hands before eating and of collecting nutritious foods not usually given to children was the answer that worked then for others too.  In a similar way a new program is being used in the US to help low income families. Instead of giving them advice, the Family Independence Initiative organization sets up support groups of each other and encourages them to set their own goals. The results have been amazing- more savings, less debt, more training for skills, better grades for children and better health.  FII staff members are not permitted to offer any advice. Maria Perez of San Francisco was mother of seven children managing on an income of $40,000. However she managed to put together scholarships, financial aid and some savings to send six to private Catholic schools and even won the right to send her daughter with cerebral palsy to public school.  Her aggressive and resourceful nature  encouraged by FII membership, lead the organization to now hire her as a spokesperson. The FII does pay out small stipends to participants but the key secret seems to be changing the focus. As Lim Miler pointed out if 50% of children in one community are not graduating high school, figuring out how to keep them in school is best addressed by talking to those who stay in school to see what works.
 
The Tobacco-Free Research Institute of Dublin Ireland has announced results of telephone surveys in 2007-2008 for households of 55000 US children under age 12. The study looked at income, race, smoking habits and other demographics.  It found that 5.9% of children surveyed had attention deficit/ hyperactivity disorder and 3.6% had oppositional defiant or other conduct disorders. However if the child lived in a house where people smoked, chances of having one of those disorders was 50% higher.  In the past second-hand smoke has been linked to asthma, ear problems and low birth weight but the link to neurobehavioral disorders is new.  In the US about 6% of children or 4.8 million children live in homes where someone smokes.

Though advantages of home births have been touted for several years including that it is more peaceful and natural than hospital care, that it is less rushed, and that it pressures women less to have Caesareans, other reasons for home births have been revealed.  The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in the US found in May 2011 that 28,357 births over 4 years were home births in that country, being less than one percent or 0.6% of all births, but that that is a number 20% higher than it used to be. One in 98 white women but one in 500 Hispanics has a baby at home. Years ago home birth was the norm. 95% of births in the year 1900 were at home but by 1955 99% were in hospitals. The American College of  Obstetricians and Gynecologists warns that home births are risky, especially if there is no hospital nearby as backup, in the mother had risk factors in the pregnancy or if the helper is untrained. The study found that many women who have the baby at home nowadays do it to save money. Becca Seitz admits that it costs her $3300 at home but in hospital would have cost $10,000.  The British Medical Journal did a study in 2005 of 5500 home births finding that 88% had positive outcomes but that 12% needed emergency transfer to hospital.
 
Dr. Marie Lynn Miranda of Duke University in North Carolina has announced results of mapping the places of residence of those with varying levels of lead in the blood. The study found that children living within 500-1000 meters that is 6/10 of a mile of an airport have higher lead levels than those who live farther away. At fault may be the fact that small airplanes still are permitted to use a type of gasoline that uses lead.  Aviation  gas or avgas is not as regulated as is gas for larger aircraft. Dr. Miranda admits that the amounts are small and that only 2-4% of blood lead level increases near an airport but she has found that even a small fraction of lead in the blood is linked to lower tests at school.  In adults higher levels of lead are linked to greater risk for heart attacks and strokes.

Dr. Mark Walker of Queen's University is working with the Toronto Rehabilitation Institute to develop ways to help seniors in Canada better cope with cold weather. It has been found that many are afraid to go outside because of the cold and yet lack of exercise is also a health problem.  In the push to help seniors stay in their own homes and live independently instead of being in acute care beds, Mark Rochon of Toronto Rehab wants to find 'alternatives to warehousing' people.  Some of the work being studied involves tests for footwear, wheelchairs and walkers to help them function better on snowy or icy surfaces.  Research has shown that mental and emotional deterioration is linked to lack of mobility and that the daily death rate of seniors in December to March is higher than the daily rate the rest of the year. One development is  a face mask with a small pouch of warm air, created by copper wires. The warmed air makes it easier for a person to breathe in cold weather.
 
In 2011 a massive reassessment is underway about how we deal with psychiatric disorders, mental illness, schizophrenia and those who are suicidal.  Some advocates are now wondering about if there is over diagnosis of behavioral disorders in children and others about the proliferation of psychiatric drugs for sale.  The psychiatric profession is currently revising its diagnostic manual allegedly adding many new categories of illness.  Added now to the discussion is a concern about whether the state should determine what is best for patients or if the patients should be empowered to make some choices.  The Mental Health Commission of Canada has just published a 37 page study recommending that patients be more empowered, that 'self-directed care' be funded so people can 'directly manage part of their social service and health budgets'. It wants to use the expertise of their 'lived experience' as the key focus so that professionals only compliment and add to these insights and do not dominate them. The study suggested the stigma be removed from mental illness, that police criminal record checks do not automatically mention mental health treatment, since to do so may seriously impede ability of those who now are well to volunteer or get jobs. Others however do not endorse self-directed care and say it would only work for those with mild problems.  New York's State Office of Mental Health found that it was very costly to treat people who were mildly suffering only, the 'worried well', and such spending made less available for the seriously ill. The study suggested money be spent to help teachers, clergy and the police recognize warning signs of impending suicide but critics of the study want money directed mostly not to prevention but to treatment.
 
Developmental psychologist Dr. Simon Baron-Cohen has recently published a study of lack of empathy. He found that if a child lives in a situation of parental abuse or neglect, there is greater chance of that child developing low empathy, inability to imagine or respond emotionally to others' thoughts. Inability to be emotionally moved is in some circles, among "resilience" researchers for example, viewed positively.  From a moral point of view, however, it is a tragedy.
 
The International Data Corp has announced that over one billion people now do their paid work remotely. This accounts for one third of the global workforce. Bob Fortier of the Canadian Telework Association says that in Canada there are nearly two million people doing telework now, up from 100,000 in the 1980s.  Cisco Systems for example holds 90% of its internal meetings using virtual software instead of flying people in to meet.  Rose Stanley of World At-Work says that allowing telework results in lower turnover and higher flexibility.  Researchers at Brigham Young University studied nearly 25,000 workers at International Business Machines Corp in 75 countries finding that if people work at a regular office site, after 38 hours of paid work per week they experience conflict between work and home life but if they are able to do their paid work remotely, there is no conflict until the paid work week hits 57 hours. (ED NOTE: This definitely seems excessive; if one has any hope of maintaining a work-life balance, such "working hours creep" should be of concern.)
 
In the summer many parents look forward to spending time more casually with their children, biking, going to the beach, museums, libraries. Other families enrol their children in activities and camps which cost a fee.  The government of Canada has made some tax provisions to help fund out of pocket costs for care of children not with the parent, though it has not addressed costs of parental-offered care and salary sacrifice. Economics advisor Ms. Hamel has looked at the options for parents who enrol a child in for instance hockey camp.  The parent could claim the childcare expense credit or the fitness credit.  If the camp costs $1000, if you use the fitness credit, there is a benefit maximum of $500.  Since it is only a credit not a deduction, it ends up reducing tax by only 15% of its value or $75.  If however the parent claims the hockey camp as a childcare expense, this reduces taxable income.  It ends up being worth $150 in reduced tax, and will also get the parent a provincial tax refund. (ED NOTE: I am concerned that government is so directive about  how to raise kids. It should trust parents and provide us with a $4,000 per child per year benefit and then we could use this for hockey or music or dance or ballet or for parental time at the beach, swimming, learning to play basketball or to bake.  It is very concerning to have government micromanage parenting.)
 
Dr. Sandro Galea in the American Journal of Public Health has looked at 47 studies about poverty and its link to death.  He found that though poverty is already closely associated with poor nutrition, poorer health, less medical care, it is also linked to earlier death in more subtle ways. He found that poverty was linked to low education, and less social support.  Studies have found that in communities where poverty levels are high so are levels of death.  A 2000 study linked 176,000 deaths to living in racially segregated communities and 133,000 to being of low income.
 
Attention to causes and solutions for childhood obesity has filled the media for several years but one more extreme view has again raised public discussion.  Dr. Lindsey Murtagh of the Harvard School of Public Health and Dr. Dr. David Ludwig of the Children's Hospital of Boston have written in a medical journal their opinion that severely obese children who eat over 1000 kilocalories per day are at serious risk of type 2 diabetes and a drop in life expectancy so severe, they want dramatic action taken. They say that if parental counselling does not work, foster care or weight loss surgery may be the best answer. The suggestion that the state might take away a child from the parents simply because the child was obese has infuriated some commentators.  Dr. Maggie Mamen of Ottawa says we need to stand behind parents and not break up families.  Stats Canada estimates that 17% of Canadian children are overweight and 9% are obese. (ED NOTE: I also am not happy with this very top heavy recommendation.  It is like kicking someone when he is down.  Many obese kids actually have hormonal and digestive disorders so there should not be blame attached to a person. Second, if government does not help parents parent, does not tax them fairly so they are valued for their time with the child, it is government that is adding stress. We are keeping kids at home sedentary because nobody is sure they'd be safe outside.)

Though many homeschoolers choose to go without the rigid formality of regular school classes, a trend in the US is for them to return to tradition for one event at least- graduation. 3% of all US students, or about two million children are home-schooled according to the New York Times but the students are not isolated, sharing many field trips, chem labs, sports events, music lessons and now graduations.  Jostens, which supplies to schools has become a 'home school graduation headquarters' for ordering caps, gowns, tassels and class rings and several businesses on the web have created honour cards and even lawn signs reading 'Proud of our HomeSchool Graduate"  The Florida Parent Educator Association hosted a convention recently where one event was a grad ceremony for children of members. The Home Educators Association of Virginia hosted a similar event for 206 grads.  Though the grads often do not know each other, they line up and receive their diplomas from their parents, on stage.  At one event homeschooling parent Gloria Rodriguez of Florida made a speech saying "From this day forward, every decision you make should be a decision to honour your parent".  Reasons for home schooling include religious training, escape from boredom, escape from bullying or failure to thrive in the main stream system, as well as need for flexibility to actively pursue sports.  Some students combine home schooling with parent instructor with online lessons.

Though education funding is provincial, treatment of aboriginals is more of a federal jurisdiction.  Funding for education is not a high priority in most governments. However The National Committee on Inuit Education has recommended that fewer natives would drop out of school if they could be educated not just in English or French but in their native language. The committee report suggests that Inuit children learn Inuktitut in school and that this would help their attachment to school and give them better education outcomes and social and economic options.

Though abuse and neglect are both considered bad care, they are sometimes thought of as separate. Abuse is sometimes considered direct mistreatment, emotional, physical or even financial action that causes harm.  Neglect has been seen as more passive, even as failure to give good care. However in a recent study by Canadians for Justice Canada,  elder abuse was surveyed and neglect was considered a type of abuse.  In that study
-40% of those asked thought neglect is the most common form of elder abuse
-respondents estimated that about 40% of all seniors incur abuse.
-50% thought if there is abuse going on, it is likely by a paid caregiver. 10% thought abuse would likely be by  a stranger. 75% thought that a family member but not a spouse was the likely perpetrator if there is abuse going on.
Statistics however show that the public perception does not match reported incident tallies.  The most common type of reported elder abuse is actually financial.  The number of reported cases of elder abuse is a lot less than for 40% of all the elderly (ED NOTE: I am very heartened to see neglect seen as a type of abuse.  I think that it is a key problem in many group care locations, not just of the elderly but also of the handicapped and young. It is subtle, often not even intentional but those who need care and don't get it efficiently or promptly feel devalued and that is a key problem.)

Though our military takes on risk to do what they believe is a universal good thing, fighting for freedom and justice, what they see and experience is often so shocking that it causes them mental distress. A recent radio feature on CBC outlined the experience of one war vet who admits that he is some days an alcoholic and that for him Jack Daniels whisky was created to help cope with war.  He told of several colleagues who had committed suicide, right on base.  The American experience is not that different from that in Canada according to recent studies. Veterans Affairs and Statistics Canada looked at mortality among 188,000 personally who enrolled between 1972 and 2006 in the regular force. The study found that
-those who served between 1972- 1986 had a greater risk of committing suicide
-men aged 16-44 who had been released from military service had a higher risk of suicide than did those who had not served
-female personnel were more than twice as likely to commit suicide as were males
-women in the military aged 20-24 were twice as likely to die from unintentional injury than were women who had not served in the military
Dr. Rakesh Jetly has suggested that in earlier times, no services were available to vets and there was no mental health help, no advice about finding a job. He said nowadays there is more case management and more help with jobs and further education.  Col. Colin MacKay has however expressed particularly concern that more needs to be done. In Canada there were 37 suicides after having served.

75% of native teens drop out of high school in Canada, a statistic that troubles a lot of educators.  In addition, many native teens lead troubled lives. In the past ten years seven teens from remote reserves and attending high school in Thunder Bay Ontario, have been found dead.  Aboriginal Affairs minister John Duncan says that  First Nations education is a priority but a new report about current situations finds there are real problems. The "Our Dreams Matter Too" report was created from the First Nationals Child and Family Caring Society of Canada and Irwin Elman, the Ontario Provincial Advocate for Children and Youth.  Letters from First Nations children were submitted and became part of the report to the United Nations.  Complaints ranged from lack of playgrounds, books, gyms or school supplies to enduring schools filled with mice.  The study found that on average First Nations children are funded per child $2,000 to $3,000 less than are non-native children.  Many children are unable to access schooling in their own community and have to relocate hundreds of kilometres away, uprooting their family ties and cultural contacts too.

Dr. Gregory Barns of Emory University has announced results of a study of teenage brains and their reaction to music. In 2006 MRI brain scans he did while  playing 120 songs of 6 different genres to 30 people aged 12-17 years indicated whether the song was enjoyed or not.  The songs he chose were often new to the teens. He re-examined his 2006 data in 2011 noticing that some of the songs he had used in the experiment had gone on to fame while others had not.  He discovered that teen brains tended to show more activity in the pleasure centre of those songs that later became popular. Even if the teen had said he liked a song, it was the MRI scan of pleasure that best correlated with ultimate popularity of a song, not the verbal endorsement.

PM David Cameron of the UK lost his father Ian Cameron in September 2011 at age 77. His dad had a stroke and heart problems. Son David has publicly praised his late father, who died just two weeks after PM Cameron's fourth child Florence was born.  Cameron says that from his father he learned about responsibility, hard work and about optimism.  Cameron has three children now- Nancy, aged 7, Ellen 5 and Florence aged 10 months.  He and his wife had a son Ivan born with cerebral palsy and epilepsy who died at age 6 in 2009.  Given this intense feeling and experience with parenting Cameron has also gone public with  claims that fathers who are not diligent are responsible for today's 'broken' society.  In a Father's Day article in the Sunday Times he praised fathers who stand by the family and lashed out at 'runaway fathers'. He said that society should stigmatize those who abandon their families, comparing such parents to 'drunk drivers'. Unfortunately, within such a parent-blaming regime, the UK has the most regressive child custody laws in the world, which promote fatherlessness after divorce.

Dr. Maria Kefalas of Saint Joseph's University, Philadelphia has released results of a study of marriage attitudes of 424 people aged 21-38 in 3 major US cities and in rural Iowa. The study found that in rural areas young people see marriage as an inevitable next step in a relationship. However urban young adults who also aspire to marriage, tend to think more about preparing for marriage, setting high expectations of the spouse to be, and saving for the ceremony.  Dr. Kefalas found that interest in marriage has not fallen off despite high numbers of common law unions. Her research indicates simply that many couples find it hard to afford the dream ceremony while they are still paying off education and setting up career and housing.  Dr. Reginald Bibby of the U of Lethbridge in 2008 surveyed over 5500 teens finding that most also aspired to marriage eventually. 90% of girls and 89% of boys expected to marry and  88% expected to stay with the same partner for life.

After many young people rioted and destroyed stores and public property when Vancouver lost the Stanley Cup hockey final to Boston, crowds were taking pictures of the rioters on their cell phones and Blackberries.  Many of the photos got posted on the Internet and police and the public have been able to identify many of the rioters. Some have been arrested and charged.  Constable Jana McGuinness of the Vancouver police says that her department's web server crashed for a while when nearly 2000 videos and tips poured in.  Some of the young people, seeing their photos on Youtube or Facebook have turned themselves in and a few have been encouraged to do so by their parents who became aware of the incident.  The ethics of a parent turning in a child have been examined by some commentators.  Dr. Rima Wilkes of the U of British Columbia says parents should be applauded for questioning their offspring about what went on and suggests that the long-term lessons of taking responsibility for what you did are vital.  Lawyer Marko Vesely pointed out that in BC, Ontario and Manitoba, since 2004, if a minor commits a crime and someone suffers a loss, parents of that minor can be found liable if it can be proven they knew their child has a' propensity for violence or destruction of property". Dr. Wanda Cassidy of Simon Fraser University also says that if rioters come forward and admit their misdeeds before they get arrested, sentences may be more lenient. However many commentators admitted that the 'heavy conversations' concerning children in families were likely the core of the issue.  Where are the parents in children's lives today?

The US Census results from 2009 have just been published, finding a significant shift in household patterns.  In 1991 4.7 million children in the US lived in a home with at least one grandparent. That number is now 7.8 million, an increase of 64%.  Donna Butts of Generations United says the recession has accelerated the trend of parents to move back in with the grandparents.  She says "if there's anything good that 's come out of this economic time, it's that we realize we need each other".  The census also found that
-76% of children in a house with a grandparent present also had at least one parent present
-69% of children in the US live with two parents
-59% of children who do not live with a parent, live with a grandparent

Though the public is getting used to the idea of in vitro fertilization, of implantation of eggs, surrogate parenting, even extending the ability of older women to have children, medical technology has now advanced to the point where an ironic medical procedure is now in the works.  Eva Ottosson had a daughter Sara years ago. The daughter is now adult, married, works in Stockholm and would like a baby. She is however unable to have one. She has a rare condition called Mayer Rotansky Kuster Hauser syndrome,  meaning she was born without a uterus and never did have menstrual cycles.  She is a biology teacher and was intrigued when her mother expressed willingness to donate to her daughter her own womb. The mother, now aged 56,  is willing to have her womb transplanted into Sara. Sara will then have her own eggs fertilized by her partner's sperm and then they will be  implanted into the womb that bore her.

In the never-ending focus on childhood weight gain and obesity, various observers blame fast food, parental absence, computer or TV time, lack of exercise, food product contents or even childhood sadness.  Ways to address the problem also vary, from school lunch restrictions, closer government monitoring of the food industry, to diets, pills or exercise regimes. A particularly controversial treatment is again being discussed in Ontario.  Toronto's Hospital for Sick Children now offers weight-loss surgery to 12-17 year olds.  The surgery seals off much of a child's stomach making it impossible to eat as much. However critics have expressed concern at the risk of such surgery for later bleeding or intestinal leakage.  Dr. Maggie Mamen treats some overweight and obese patients in her psychology practice and she says sometimes the extra weight is due to parents not asserting their authority and pampering the child. - I feel this is not a child's fault and blaming the child is unkind. I also feel that it is not directly a parent's fault though. We have created a society and tax system that devalues time parents spend with a child, nudging them to be away. This tears at their heart, and makes the child sad too, so they both may console themselves with food. In our society we teach people to mistrust strangers, possibly wisely, but then we discourage children from going to the park on their own and actually encourage them to only do indoor activities which we feel are 'safer ' in our absence. I think if we funded parenting better, we'd see parents spending more time with the kids, more outings, more food adventures for gardening and salads, and less throwing food into a lunch kit or a snack bowl in front of a computer. We'd see  a decline in obesity- editor.

The Centre for Addiction and Mental Health in Toronto has released results of a survey finding that Canadian adults are drinking and smoking more than five years ago.  The study found that
-in 2002 5.3% of adults reported drinking alcohol daily but that number rose to 2009 was 9%
-in 2005 under 8% of 18-29 year olds reported driving within two hours of having two drinks but that number rose to 13% in 2009
-in 1996 18% of those aged 18-29 smoked but that number rose to 36% in 2009
-15% of adults in Ontario reprove having elevated psychological stress and 6% say they have poor mental health
The study found some good news according to Dr. Robert Mann of the CAMH.
-for some age groups drinking rates have dropped
-the number of adult smokers in general is down from 20% in 2008 to 18.6% in 2009
Dr. Mann theorizes that the economic downturn and job loss or financial problems may be at the root of some of the increases but adds an irony that government is actually making it easier to drink. The Ontario government has passed new rules allowing the public to drink at events and festivals outside of beer tents, and to wait till 2Am not just 1AM for last call at weddings and events.

The US Department of Agriculture has released its 2010 tally of the cost to raise a child from birth to age 18.  The tally for a middle income two-child family is about $12,000-$14,000 a year per child.  The study found that all families have about the same costs for food, clothing basics but that household income makes huge variation in what is spent for other items like haircuts, DVD players, computers, and the choices of child care or schooling.  The household earning $100,000 a year or more may spent $377,040 to age 18 or $20,940 a year.  Janice d'Arcy writing at the Washington Post commented that the study has its potential flaws however. Though it looks at cost  of 'childcare' for instance, what it counts may be a problem.  She says that some of the most expensive items are not counted at all, such as the salary loss or career opportunities missed because of taking care of a child at home.

Canada's low income cutoff is $18.373.  If a senior has no company pension plan or personal savings, the most that senior can get with Canada Pension and Old Age Security is $18,000 a year, so less than the low income cutoff.  Barbara Yaffe, columnist at the Vancouver Sun, notes that seniors who are at such a low income level are often women. With pension plan changes over the years, dire poverty of seniors was for a while addressed.  In 1971 36.8% seniors lived in poverty but with legislation by 1995, only 2.9% did.  However the current rate is back up, to 6%.  The Office of the Superintendent of Bankruptcy reported in 2010 that one fifth of those who filed for bankruptcy that year were over age 55.  The financial meltdown of 2008 is being blamed for the rise in poverty among seniors, many of whom lost their life savings.  NDP delegates at their annual convention this past month discussed public pension changes and other parties are also being approached to address the issues.On June 14, 2011 Finance Minister Jim Flaherty summarized measures his government is undertaking for 'vulnerable seniors.
These include
-increasing the Guaranteed Income Supplement for those in poverty by $600 a year for singles ( $1.64 a day) or by $840 a year for couples ($1.15 per person per day)
-letting the Royal Canadian Legion not have to pay the GST when it buys poppies for Remembrance Day

In the US legislation about care giving is going through the House.  The Direct Care Job Equality Improvement Act is being endorsed by the Direct Care Alliance Inc, a national advocacy group for caregivers and longtime promoter of better wages, respect, working conditions.  75% of long term care in the US is financed by federal funds so lobbying government is deemed vital to recognizing the caregiver role.  The new act proposes
-wage and overtime protections for home care workers
-monitoring the compensation levels, turnover rates and vacancies in care organizations
-providing grants to states that recruit and train an adequate supply of direct care workers
Rep. Linda Sanchez and Sen. Robert P Casey Jr. are reintroducing this legislation shortly.

Though the issue of right to an abortion is a long-fought feminist battle, it has other complexities, some of which have been recently discussed in international media. Though well intentioned groups may lobby for women's right to choose, a subtle pressure is developing in some countries to ensure there is an abortion, particularly if the child fetus is female.   Economist Amartya Sen wrote in 1990 in the New York Review of Books that internationally over 100 million women were missing, particularly in India, China and the developing world.  He pointed out gaps in health care, nutrition and education of women in the third world.  However Mara Hvistendahl, journalist has just published "Unnatural Selection: Choosing Boys Over Girls and the Consequences of a World Full of Men" outlining her research that the 160 million women missing today aren't  actually missing but are dead.  Hvistendahl presents information about the unfortunate interpretation some have made of female empowerment to enable abortion which led to sex selection, preferring males.  She argues that if a society ends up mostly male, its birth rates does fall, and some demographers think that's a good thing, but that the society tends to be come more violent and unstable, with increased prostitution and sex trafficking.

In the US the right to freedom of speech is highly protected but has always been closely examined where children are concerned.  The First Amendment protects freedom of religion, freedom of speech, freedom of assembly and freedom of the press but whether it applies where the young are concerned has been hotly debated. In 1968 the Supreme Court limited distribution of sexual material s to minors saying the First Amendment did not apply.  However recent decisions by the court have upheld the depiction of dog fighting videos as protected by the First Amendment and therefore allowed. California banned the sale of violent video games to children  imposing a $1000 fine for stores that sell them to anyone under age 18.  The California law said any game where the object is to kill, maim, dismember or sexually assault an image of a human being is a violent game and offensive, and that it appeals to minor's deviant or morbid interests and lacks literary or artistic value.  However video game manufacturers and vendors felt the games should not be banned, but be left a matter of parental choice.  The Supreme Court listened to the arguments and ruled June 2011 to allow sale of such games.  In a 7 to 2 decision the court said that the First Amendment protects such video games since they communicate ideas and social messages through literary devices. Justice Antonin Scalia noted that many classical fairy tales and Saturday morning cartoons have violence in them already. Senator Leland Yee of California is unhappy with the Supreme Court decision saying it is wrong to put the interests of company profits over the rights of parents and the well-being of children.  John Riccitiello of the video game industry however says it is a good decision letting adults choose what they think is right for their children.  Justices Clarence Thomas and Stephen G. Breyer were in the minority, not wanting to permit the sale of the games to children. They said that freedom of speech does not include the right to speak to minors without going through their parents and that research shoes violent games are linked with real-life aggressive behaviour.

Discussions around the world abound about how much input ordinary citizens can or should have in how they are ruled, now that the general level of education of the public is high and they often have access to media and technology.  In Canada the suggestion has been made that senators be elected not appointed, and that they be given a fixed term of 9 years not an appointment for life.  Empowering the public is also being tried by the Liberal party of Alberta which is welcoming all adult Albertans to vote for its new leader, even if they are not party members. In Iceland where 67% of the population is on Facebook and where constitutional council meetings of government are actually streamed live on Face book, a new idea is also being proposed.  All citizens are being invited to make suggestions about a revision for the national constitution . Facebook and an official government website have listed the draft of the new document and are inviting public comment before the final draft is written.

Jonas Himmelstrand of Sweden has spoken to the Iona Institute of Ireland recently outlining how childcare policies differ even in Nordic countries. He notes that Norway and Finland fund both 3rd party care and care at home, while Sweden has no national homecare allowance.  He says many women in Sweden would prefer to be home with their young but that is not a funded option in that country.  Himmelstrand also revealed that though his government claims to promote gender equality and empowerment of mothers to have paid careers, most women are in low paid public service jobs not highly desirable and fulfilling careers.  Dr Catherine Hakim of the London School of Economics also found that it is still more common to find men not women in the higher paid jobs in Sweden and the gender pay gap still exists there.  Dr. Magnus Henrekson of the Stockholm School of Economics made such an observation though his research was considered 'heresy' by some.  The International Labor Organization released a 20 year study finding that in many nations occupational segregation by gender is still very common, notably in Egypt, China, Hong Kong, Japan, Malaysia, India.   He also found that women who work in the childcare field have the highest levels of illness and sick leave.

Finance Minister Jim Flaherty has announced several budget changes including a push to give more people an 'incentive to work'.  One of the proposals is to have fewer tax brackets. Flaherty says that if people find out their hard work may get them a raise just enough to get them taxed more heavily, that is a disincentive to hard work.  Currently there are 4 tax brackets.

In Ireland if you say something nice about mothers at home, other mothers might be offended.  Broadcaster Miriam O'Callaghan is a married woman with 8 children. She has two nannies to help take care of her children while she hosts a summertime show Saturday Night with Miriam. She has however admitted that she feels guilty sometimes leaving her kids. She said in one interview that little children always cry when the mother leaves and that even her older children would prefer she be home with them.  She said "Women like me who work outside the home, are fooling themselves and pretending that the kids are just as happy when we're working but that's a fallacy'". Her words created quite a stir.  The Equality Authority said her remarks were 'unfair' and she has had to quickly retract or clarify. She told the national newspaper the Herald that she was 'praising all women, those who stay at home and those who go to work". She has now said it is important that women make the choice that is best for them and that women should stick by each other.

In Australia government passed legislation in 2006 to provide subsidies for daycare fees. The fees were reduced 30% in 2006 and then 50% in 2008.  The result has been a social phenomenon, of many women having children, taking parental leave, and then returning to paid work without high penalty.  The Household, Income and Labor Dynamics in Australia Survey - HILDA _ has recently surveyed 7000  households finding that many new mothers take one year home and no more.  In 2001 40% of mothers with partners were back at the paid job when the child turned two but in 2008 52% of such mothers return to paid work by that point.  Australia also put in place a universal birth bonus and a universal child-rearing benefit- maternity leave.  Many employers also offer mothers flex hours.

June, 2011

June 2 was International Children's Day.  In some countries this day is ignored but in China it is still a day for parents to give small gifts to children.  The World Conference for the Well-being of Children began on this day in 1925 in Geneva. In Canada the day is ignored. It think it would be a great day to announce a few major things for children: a children's commissioner,a universal birth benefit, a universal funding program for children to age 18. We can dream…

In Syria many protests have been raged against the rule of President Bashar-Assad.  Mark Toner of the US State Department has heard reports of human rights abuses carried out by the Assad forces.  Some groups claim 1000 civilians have been killed and 10,000 have been arrested as government cracks down on protests since March 2011.  UNICEF reported that live ammunition has been used against demonstrators and at least 30 children were killed. Other children were captured on video enduring torture.  One video in particular has captured the world's attention. Hamza al-Khatib, aged 13 is shown online in a video, allegedly  having been arrested in an April protest, then tortured, mutilated and killed, His body was returned to his distraught family in May and activists have set up a Facebook site in protest.  State TV has responded saying an investigation will be launched into the boy's death.

Though some people think the earlier you start a child on learning formally, the better, US experience is finding that children who are very young on entering kindergarten do not thrive there.  At issue is how old a child should be to enter the program and Connecticut is considering revising its cutoff dates so you have to be older.  For a time it allowed four year olds to enter as long as they would be five by Jan 1 of the next year. Now they will have to be five by October 1.  Keeping a child back at home for an extra year to help him mature has become a practice of the wealthy who feel, by some studies that the maturity advantage will serve the child  well competitively each year. In fact the only ones who now send the very young to kindergarten tend to be people in poverty, often blacks or Hispanics who otherwise would have to pay for childcare. Sara Mead of Bellwether Education Partners says that letting kids into kindergarten too early 'may actually be harming them'. Once they are in, and the tasks seem too hard and the day too long, they may turn off school. In Connecticut 24% of the 39,000 who start kindergarten each year are four at the time but in poor districts that figure  is 29% while in wealthy ones the figure is only 18%.  Too early entry has not been found to give long term academic advantage and some studies have linked it to higher dropout rates and lower lifetime earnings. If we give kids a more leisurely childhood, they like school better.

New Quebec guidelines for state-funded childcare centres have some parents up in ire. The new rules, in an apparent effort to ensure equal rights for all citizens, have banned promotion of any particular  religious belief at the centres. Under the Quebec daycare system the $40 a day cost is covered $33 by the state while parents only pay $7. To qualify for this subsidy however, daycares must meet provincial guidelines.  When the system was set up in 1997 religious-based daycares were wondering if they should take part and were encouraged to do so, being told they would be permitted to retain their idenity.  However the new directives  suggest that Jewish,  Catholic or Muslim focused centres may not now teach children about their faith base.  Sandy Jession whose daughter attends a Jewish daycare in Montreal has joined other parents challenging the  new law at the Quebec Superior Court.  One Catholic daycare director says even a children's song like 'Au clair de la lune' could now be banned because of its last line' Pour l'amour de Dieu' -for the love of God- and that the Biblical story of Moses, or any manger at a Christmas pageant would also be banned. Parents are claiming that the new law interferes with their rights under the Charter to instruct their own children in the values, culture and traditions the parents choose to endorse. Yolande James, Minister of The Family has said however that since religion is not permitted in the public school system, it should also be taboo in daycares and that if parents deeply want to teach religion they can use a childcare style that gets no subsidy.-When charters defend religious freedom but that does not mean freedom from religion but freedom to follow the religion you choose. If an institution clearly invites all of Lithuanian heritage for instance to study that culture, it is not discriminatory to permit that business or focus. It is not a bias but an option. In the same way a childcare centre that clearly advertises its religious focus is selecting clients who endorse it and in my view also funding it is actually part of religious freedom. The most efficient funding however would remove the red tape qualifiers and would fund parents directly. Then parents could choose what style of care they wanted, even parental.

Though some proponents claim that the earlier you can put a child into a formal education setter the better for learning, Dr. Rachel Heydon of the U of Western Ontario has released results of a study which suggest differently.  Her study of full day kindergarten  in two Ontario classrooms found that the push to reach academic goals and meet standardized test criteria younger and younger was removing from young kids the freedom to play and ability of teachers to just notice and respond to student interests.  Government moves in Ontario, BC, PEi and Ontario have been pushing towards more and more full-day kindergarten in recent years.

Though some people may cynically believe self-centredness is our basic human nature, several recent studies and publications have suggested that we are also wired to help others.
-Martin Nowak wrote "Super - Cooperators" finding that even if we are selfish, we have evolved to see that being kind often leads others to be kind back, and that if we want people to work with us, being nice to them works. Since cohesive groups thrive better than people on their own, we have learned to cooperate with others.
-Michael Tomasello wrote "Why We Cooperate" finding that very young children naturally help each other, pointing at things of interest and even helping adults struggling to open a door. He says chimpanzees are not as mutually helpful.
-Dacher Keltner wrote "Born to be Good" outlining his research that even smiling and laughter create an interconnection so profound that separate laughs of people merge to become intertwined sounds.
-Dr. James Rilling of Emory University found that within the brain when someone helps someone else, the pleasure centre of his own brain is activated, the anterior cingulate cortex and caudate nucleus.
-Jonathan Haidt wrote "The Righteous Mind", soon to be published, finding that natural selection may be working in the world but it is not selection simply of more fit individuals. He says that groups develop their own camaraderie which empowers then to excel over other groups. There is therefore a kind of natural selection to favour such groups.

The Official Languages Act and the Canadian Multiculturalism Act say that Canada should encourage the preservation of foreign languages here and enhance their status. However Dr. Rene Houle of Statistics Canada has released a report June 2011  based on census data, finding that immigrant languages are not in fact being transmitted to youth in high percentage. His study found that between 1981 and 2006  only 20% of parents speaking Dutch, Italian, Creole or Tagalog transmitted their language to their children.  70% however of parents who speak Armenian, Punjabi, Chinese, Persian, Turkish, Bengali or Urdu did so.  Reasons for the decline of European language transmission were suggested including the increase in immigration from the other nations.  higher education in recent generations of young mothers, lack of exposure to others who speak the language and intermarriage with someone who does not speak it. - I also suspect that the childcare funding policy of government to only subsidize regulated spaces in mostly English or French daycares, is a key factor. I believe parents should be subsidized directly, because that would help them create childcare arrangements that do maintain the culture, values and language they have a right to maintain under the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child.

Sometimes the caregiver is the person himself though others may have helped them along.  In the issue of end of life suffering, two developments have happened recently
-The Sundance Film Festival has presented a film "How to Die in Oregon" that  stimulated much discussion and some discomfort for viewers.  The film by 31 year old producer Peter Richardson follows the life of a 54 year old mother, Cody Curtis, who for years suffered with liver cancer.  She chose to use the opportunity available in her state of Oregon, to get two doctors to officially admit she was near her own death, and then to provide her with  medication that she at her own discretion could then administer.  She chose to share her decision and her dying on film.  Her son Thomas aged 30, said at first the family was reluctant to have such a movie made saying "In the beginning none of us wanted to do it except Mom". However she wanted to make her own decisions and not be a burden to the family and she wanted to share her story about this right. Over time her family agreed. Her husband Stan Curtis now says "It seems like a story about dying but actually it is very much a story about living"  Oregon and Washington are the only US states that permit such self-administered deaths.
-Dr. Jack Kevorkian has passed away at age 83. In 1990 he told a New York Times reporter that he had helped Janet Adkins end her own life in an 'assisted suicide'.  He said his goal was to 'knock the medical profession into accepting its responsibilities' and in so doing he raised the public debate about length of life and quality of life.  Many were openly hostile to him as he was skirting the law.  In 1995 the American Medical Association called him a 'reckless instrument of death' who posed a great threat to the public.  He was charged with murder four times but was acquitted the first three of them. Ultimately he did in 1998 get convicted and served 7 years in jail but he never expressed regret. He continued to claim he had helped 130 people die and that this was the right thing to have done.  Kervorkian was released from jail in 2007 on condition he not take part in any more assisted suicides.  Kevorkian himself has passed away this past month, dying with no artificial attempts to keep him alive, but without intervention apparently to end his life.

The town of Slave Lake was recently devastated by a nearby forest fire that swept into town.  Thousands had to flee their homes for weeks and many homes were destroyed.  To put out the fire posed a huge problem given  the very dry weather and strong winds.  However in such circumstance many individuals rush to help, including firefighters from near and far.  Jean-Luc Deba learned to fly a helicopter in France and flew for the military there for a decade. At age 54 he accepted the position of being on call to fight forest fires in Canada and his job was to drop water onto the flames from a large container under his helicopter. His ability to balance the water weight, the helicopter even during the wind became very skilled.  His flying itself was so trusted that Bill Gates and Warren Buffett have been his passengers.  However on Friday May 20th 2011 his Bell 212 helicopter encountered difficulties that caused it to crash into the water, killing the pilot. Deba was able to save lives of thousands and was in fact the only casualty of Slave Lake. Life is slowly returning to normal in the community which is rebuilding, but they are thanking a hero who gave his life to help make it so.

Sylvia Rempel was an immigrant to Canada whose families farmed sugar beets in southern Alberta. She took a course in sewing pattern and design and was asked to teach sewing at the Southern Alberta Institute of Technology. A few years later, home raising four kids,  used many of her sewing skills.  As they grew up she had an idea to create winter wear that was well made and eventually formed a company called Sun Ice.  It became very successful and was official supplier to an Olympic team at one point. When she sold the company she had another dream, to use the money to help give women in the third world sewing skills to lift them out of poverty. She created Sewing Seeds International and has visited and presented sewing courses to women in  Sierra Leone Africa in 2001 and later in the Ukraine and most recently in Peru. Her two daughters Tammy and Angela and their husbands have also become active in her outreach work and so have some of her granddaughters.

Dr. Vicky Scott of the U of British Columbia feels that one of the key health risks for seniors is falling. Falls can lead to a quick downward spiral in health, from fractured hips, head injuries, femur and wrist fractures to back and knee problems that are slow to heal, reducing mobility, independence and possibly the option of living at home. In some cases hip fractures are linked to later infections and pneumonia. In 2008-2009 nearly 75,000 Canadians aged 65 and older were hospitalized after a fall according to the Public Health Agency of Canada. Costs to the health care system are high, about $2.8 billion a year and with lost productivity maybe over $6 billion. As a person ages problems with vision, reduced muscle strength, arthritis and dizziness or other side-effects of medication may also put a senior at greater risk of falling.  Dr. Scott would like to see doctors more regularly ask  their senior patients questions about fall prevention.

When patients are discharged from hospital or a doctor's office but need considerable follow-up care, the options of returning to the clinic regularly are often costly and inconvenient.  Over the past few years new technology has been used to help patients take an active part in monitoring and reporting their own condition at home.  Patients with ongoing conditions can take their own weight, blood pressure, blood sugar levels or air flow meter readings and can record these, reporting them in new ways back to clinics. An automated phone call to the patient every two weeks invites patients to answer questions by pressing numbers and then doctors are alerted only if readings are abnormal.  A second option is an Internet-based program. The patient uses a home health monitor and then using the software on a regular basis responds to questions about his current fatigue level and other symptoms. If the results indicate he needs attention the program alerts a nurse to phone the patient immediately.  The new services, called 'telehealth' have been increasing in use for the past five years according to Canada Health Infoway, a government funded group.  Nurses can now make 'virtual house calls' using remote patient monitoring systems.  Dr. Scott Lear of Simon Fraser University says the service is particularly time-saving and useful for those suffering from two or more chronic diseases such as diabetes, kidney disease and chronic obstructive lung disease.  He finds that patients feel empowered by the technology in most cases and become partners in their own health.  Home monitors help catch problems at early stages and reduce hospital admissions.

When women are trying to become pregnant, sometimes every month brings a reminder of failure. However Dr. Sean Ward of the U of Nevada School of Medicine has found that one problem may simply be intake of too much coffee.  His study found that women who drink over two cups of coffee a day - about 500 ml - have a 27% lower change of getting pregnant in a given cycle than women who don't drink coffee.  He found that caffeine has a profound effect on muscle activity in the Fallopian tubes.

In  2002 Saskatchewan legislated that any withdrawals from prescribed registered retirement income funds would have no restrictions, freeing up seniors to manage their own money in retirement.  However the government of Ontario is resisting making a similar move.  In Ontario the law only unlocks the money at the death of the holder of a defined contribution pension, a move some find illogical.  The Progressive Conservative leader says that he would allow such pension holders to get 100% access to their money at retirement. NDP head Andrea Horwath told the press she is also personally in favour but her party has rejected the idea.  The Liberal government has said it will review the situation but makes no promises. Concerns of the debate include
-It costs a lot of money to investigate those cases where seniors apply to have their money freed up, claiming financial hardship.  From 2005 to 2009 53,000 such applications were received but only 8 were accepted, and the investigations cost $16 million
-it is only possible to withdraw funds early if you can p;rove you have a shortened life expectancy or financial hardship
-Ontario Superintendent of Pensions Dave Wild says he is concerned that some people would use the money unwisely. He has heard of cases where people spent $20,000 or $30,000 so they could then be poor enough to get the Guaranteed Income Supplement though some say that is a wise use of the system
- Pension lawyer Sheryl Smolkin wrote in the Toronto Star that she is in favour of letting people unlock their money. "There is no good reason for them to police how or when I access my money"
_Other financial experts including Jack Mintz, Gordon Pape and Malcolm Hamilton also have said it was time to eliminate this 'nanny-state paternalism'.

In Ontario if you have a disability you may be able to get a job still, at least part time. You also may qualify for some financial help from the province through the Ontario Disability Support Program.  However the two possibilities do not always function in sync and recent research has found that the criteria for the disability support discourage the disabled from having part-time jobs or they will lose benefits. This has put them in a Catch-22 according to some observers. 49% of Ontarians with disabilities are employed but only 11% are able to also get disability support.  Those who rely on the welfare system are 11 times more likely to be unemployed according to a study entitled "What Stops us from Working?". The report was sponsored by The Dream Team, a group of ex-psychiatric patients, and the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health.  The ODSP program provinces $1053 per month or $12,636 a year of benefits to a single person in a province where the poverty level for such a person is $19,478. To make up the shortfall many disabled want part-time jobs but if they get them they may lose 50cents on every dollar they earn. The report recommends changes including
-increase monthly work-related benefits to $150 from $100
-exempt the first $300 per month of earnings from the 50% clawback

It used to be that the very poor lived mostly in the third world, and their situation was nearly hopeless.  To raise awareness and provide some help, wealthy nations were urged to give foreign aid, though some did not keep their promises to do so. This pattern however has now shifted according to  a recent Brooking Report " Poverty in Numbers". Dr. Laurence Chandy found that an amazing number of people are now being lifted out of poverty due not just to government foreign aid but also to international awareness through music concerts like Live 8, and to 26 million people signing online petitions and 250,000 protesters marching around the world to make poverty history.  The researchers did find however that the face of poverty is changing and that it is appearing in wealthy nations in circumstances difficult to address.
-In 2005 2/3 of the world's poor lived in India, China and Bangladesh, Tanzania, Ethiopia, Vietnam, Uganda, Mozambique and Uzbekistan.
-However China and India economies are thriving and many of the poor there are lifted out of poverty. When those two nations abandoned central planning, and globalized their economies, when they permitted well educated low-wage workforces and industrialization, per capita income has soared. In China economist Dr. Robert Fogel of the U of Chicago estimates per capita income will hit US $85,000 and that exceeds that of the European Union. Growth in India is slower but still significant
-In middle income countries many of the largest percents of poverty are now appearing. The need for financial aid to the entire country is less appealing to observers and there is no consensus on how to help citizens in semi- fragile states.
-the study noted a growing promotion of a basic right to live above absolute poverty.

Cory Booker was born to the first African American executives at IBM, and attended Yale law school. He  was drawn to the challenge of problems of Newark New Jersey, 10 km from New York City. The area had a huge high school dropout rate, cash strapped budgets, an absence of big industry and a high crime rate. He ran for city council in 1998, becoming an alderman and he set out to fix things. He attracted big business, including Panasonic and Pitney Bowes to locate in his area. He went to a media conference and was able to get a loan form Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg totalling $100 million to reform the school system.  He  ran for mayor unsuccessfully in 2006 but successfully in 2010 and since then has become an American phenomenon. He has 3 smart phones, one of which is devoted to social media. He has one million followers on Facebook, 20% of them constituents and the rest not. People send him tweets about potholes, broken streetlights and water mains and he responds fast with 'On it". He joins the police on some night patrols and during the recent New York snow storm  went around with a shovel personally shovelling out some residents in distress. He has created a program for ex-offenders to get free legal services and in March 2010 the city had its first murder-free month in 44 years.

It has been commonly believed that when early humans lived in small groups women stayed home to tend the fire and nurture the young while men were hunter gatherers, wandering from the 'home'. These assumptions have been questioned lately in two ways. Several researchers now have noted that women actually created a lot of food from their own gardening and cooking so if men did not always find food, the family still did not starve. The second assumption however, about where they spent most of their time has also been questioned.  Dr. Michael Richards of the U of British Columbia has done a study of the teeth of two types of early hominids that are 1.7-2.4 million years old.  Laser analysis of the teeth indicates that 90% of the males were born, raised and died in the vicinity they were found in but over 50% of the smaller, probably female teeth, showed evidence of having been from another community. Researchers have speculated that men were not wandering as far as was thought and stayed mostly in grasslands and woodlands - actually this is not different from expectation as far as I am concerned. Women often marry into another non-family related tribe and move to live with the male but then may well set up housekeeping in a restricted area there.

In Egypt government under President Hosni Mubarak was toppled in February and a military council now rules. The new council has been enduring protests by the public including by human rights groups. On March 9 rights groups claim at least 18 women were arrested when army officers cleared Cairo's Tahrir Square.  The women thus detained now claim their rights were infringed on, and that some of them were beaten, strip searched or subjected to electric shocks.  An Egyptian general admitted to CNN that tests were done of the women to ensure they did not claim they were raped or sexually assaulted. He wanted to prove they were not virgins so that evidence of that fact would not be used to claim rape.  The women have expressed outrage at the assumption the general was making that non-virgins are therefore guilty and at his assertion the women protesting were in tents with men and drugs. Amnesty International also has expressed outrage, saying the theory that only virgins can be victims of rape is a long-discredited sex attitude.

Liane Beam- Wansbrough is a Toronto mother of a new baby who with her husband took their baby to  a family wedding and to visit in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. She has written in the Globe and Mail about her culture shock there, her surprise at strangers scooping the baby out of her arms to give the mother a rest. She was surprised that people did not understand baby carriers and realized they thought she hoed the fields wearing one. She was amazed when custom agents wanted to hug the baby, when women rushed to help her boil water before a feeding and when strangers kept the baby amused on long flights by making funny faces. She realized however that the saying "It takes a village to raise a child 'was very true in that country and that many strangers were actually helping her with the demanding role of being a new parent. The column was entitled "IT takes a village to raise a mother".

In the US President Obama's medicare program has been widely praised by some but roundly criticized by others who feel it is too costly.  Under his Democrat plan government pays up to 80% of some costs.  Paul Ryan, Republican congressman has another proposal however, a voucher system.  He would give seniors a lump sum based on their income and they could use it towards buying private health care coverage.  However the public has done the tallying and noticed that the Ryan plan benefits insurance companies and that out of pocket expenses would also likely rise.  New Gingrich has even said the Ryan Medicare Plan is 'right wing social engineering".

An international study by the OECD ranked Canada second, just behind Australia in terms of quality of life. UNICEF Canada president David Morley however took exception to the news summary of the study that suggested 'Canadians Can't Complain'. He observed in a letter to a national paper that children are being ignored in these tallies and if counted, Canadian children's health and development would rank much lower on the scale. He said that though children are one quarter of our population in Canada they are  'virtually invisible in our public policy debates'. He wants a national children's commissioner to see how federal laws affect children and he wants  more transparent budgeting of children's programs and services - I second that motion. For too long we have let governments claim they value children without providing any birth benefit, any universal per child benefit for all of childhood, or any tax recognition that raising a child reduces ability to pay tax. We have had programs for 'children' that end up being only for children in one care location -regulated daycare- and, writes Bev Smith, we have had work for too long defined as excluding any care of children.

May, 2011

When children are unable to live in the parental home, the state will sometimes provide a temporary placement in a foster home. However this situation often ends up one of a series of placements and the child is often in transit, without stability until placed ideally back in the parental home if safe, or in permanent adoption. The instability of emotional base however is not the only problem of children in foster care. It has recently been revealed that there is often a legal and financial risk also. In the US at any given moment more than 460,000 children are in foster care. In Colorado authorities started to notice that people at ages 16-18 leaving foster care were discovering their name, ID and credit rating were already tainted. What had often happened was that someone had stolen their ID at one of their several foster placement locations and had then run up bad credit. When they turn 18 they find they are saddled with bills they did not take on, mortgages and car loans they did not actually contract for and their bad credit rating stands in the way of them renting apartments or opening bank accounts. A new law has been passed in Colorado to protect such youth. It directs local courts to conduct annual credit reviews of children in foster care, trying to find and resolve any credit problems that appear on the books. US Rep Jim Langevin wants such a law to go national. Melanie Delgado of the Children's Advocacy Institute of the U of San Diego says that in her research rates of identity theft from foster children are as high as 50%.

Jonah Simmelstrang of the Mireja Institute of Sweden has presented a paper at an Ottawa conference, outlining what he consider to be downsides of the universal daycare policy in his country. He points out that the comprehensive system of huge subsidies for use of daycare since1 975 has had several highly advertised consequences that sound good. The nation is wealthy, there is little child poverty, social security is well funded, life expectancy is good and there is low infant mortality. Parental leave at 16 months is one of the longest anywhere and yet he say many less advertised problems have emerged:
-there is nearly no funding for parents who don't use daycare. The financial pressure to use it is huge and the 92% of usership is likely due to this pressure
-polls show that most parents would prefer to be funded optionally to be home with the child for 3 -4 years. In 2006 a national upset in the election was traced partly to the promise by the winning centre-right coalition to provide such funding. However so far the allowance for at-home parenting has only been very small.
-medical records show since the universal daycare uptake an increase in psychosomatic problems of children and youth, a tripling of such disorders in the last 25 years particularly in girls
-The European Union found that when parents only spend 16 months with the child, they have become less experienced than were earlier generations at parenting, and have lost skills and confidence in understanding the needs of their own children
-the cost of the daycare has been so high that Swedish taxes are among the highest in the world. Each child costs the state $20,000 per year to keep in daycare
-Despite this funding level, to keep costs affordable, daycares have gradually shifted their adult child ratios and group sizes upwards. In 1989 very young children had a ratio of 10 kids to 4 adults or 2.5 children per adult. That ratio is now 17 kids for 3 adults or 5.6 very young children per adult. For older children the ratio was 5 children per adult but it is now 10 children per adult. He says this new ratio challenges the idea that attentive 'quality ' care is being provided.

When parents enrol their young in a childcare centre, they look at the facility and study the staffing, examining training and adult-child ratios. A factor less often noticed is group size itself. Whether there are ten children cared for by 2 adults, or thirty children cared for by 6 adults, the adult-child ratio is the same, but the noise level in the room is significantly different. Another factor is the population of the centre itself. When group activities are planned or children are simply vying for places in the playground, group size becomes key, regardless of adult-child ratio. Dr. Tom Langford of the U of Calgary has released a study of corporate day care centres, noting that some are huge, with over 200 children at one location. In 2006 the Alberta government established a cap on size of daycare, but in 2007 it removed that 80 child cap.
Some parents feel that if their teens are going to smoke or drink anyway, the parent may as well permit them to do it at home, so at least they don't go out on the street. The idea of harm minimization is in contrast to the 'zero tolerance' policy of other parents and schools. A recent study of 1900 grade 7 students in Australia and Washington State found that by grade eight 67% of youth in Australia and 35% of youth in Washington had drunk alcohol with an adult present. By grade nine 36% of Australians and 21% of Americans said they now had trouble stopping drinking, got into fights after drinking or had alcohol induced blackouts. Dr. Barbara Morris of the U of Minnesota says that letting the teen drink at home and even letting the teen drink at a family meal was not effective in discouraging drinking or enabling teens to control drinking. (ED NOTE: It is an age-old dilemma. I have heard the same debate about use of marijuana and even of sexual activity of 16 year olds. Some parents indulge the teen's whim saying the teen is going to do it anyway so the parent will just provide the venue. I feel that parents might wish to be tough on these issues because caving in looks like an attempt to buy popularity at the expense of the well-being of the teen. I have found that teens want and expect us to be consistent in our values and actually test us to see if we are. I do know of some teens who felt enormously relieved and accepted when the adult, often their father or the father of the girl they were dating, let them smoke or drink. It may seem then a right of passage, a token of acceptance, but though extending acceptance of the person also endorses the bad habit. Worst of all is when government policy enables teens to engage in the activity without parental knowledge, as in sales of birth control.)

Though the two camps of women - 'working outside the home' and 'stay-at-home' have long been recognized as inaccurate stereotypes, a recent study has shown that most women who have children are tired of the divisions anyway. The World Movement of Mothers conducted a survey of 11,000 mothers in 16 European countries and has announced the results May 2011. The study found that 76 % of mothers of all types feel their mothering role is not being recognized adequately by government. They want social policies for parents and ones that benefit children. Included in their priority lists were:
-government enable mothers to spend time with any children still living at home
-government provide more flexible paid work schedules to match school hours and holidays
-government provide more part-time paid work opportunities
-government official recognize mothers who are at home full or part time with more benefits and economically feasible policies
-government better recognize 'family care' and notice how parents are a resource of society and a source of social cohesion
-governments count family work as part of the GNP

The line between childcare and education is blurred since many centres now claim their staff are 'educators' and 'teachers' though lacking certification with teaching colleges. The line is further challenged when 'childcare' is claimed as the monopoly of 3rd party caregivers outside the family, despite the fact family members also often believe that they provide care of their children themselves. Adding to the confusion lately is a request in Edmonton Alberta for a private daycare to lease a space within a public school. Currently many schools have a room where they lease space to a not for profit 'before and after school care ' facility but the Edmonton move is one step farther. The request in that case was made by a large for profit childcare corporation, Education Learning Universal or Edleun. It is currently the only publicly traded childcare corporation in Canada. When founded in 2010 it set out its goal of owning 10% of all childcare spaces in Canada by 2018. On May 10, 2011 the Edmonton public school board voted to not permit Edleun to rent the space in four public schools. Public Interest Alberta made a presentation in April against the daycare being in the schools, wanting clarification of many issues including
-should publicly funded schools support private for profit daycare?
-should a business be allowed to earn a profit, housed on taxpayer funded public property?
-does having such a for profit daycare give 'educational credibility' to the daycare, and subtly encourage use of non-certified staff?
-will having such a facility put out of business not for profit daycares in the area?
-will parents have to pay higher costs to operate schools used those extra hours?
-will the corporate logo of the daycare be shown prominently in or outside the school?

Though pediatric societies around the world often recommend breastfeeding for 1-2 years, a recent study by Dr. Kristen Copeland of the Cincinnati Children's Hospital has found that 3rd party childcare facilities by their very design tend to make it difficult to meet the breastfeeding standard. Dr. Copeland surveyed 167 childcare centres in Ohio and found that though mothers may pump and provide breast milk for the baby during the day when they are away, many centres cannot store this milk overnight. Only 26% of the centres had any facility for such storage. Copeland also found that middle income mothers may be able to pump at work during breaks but lower income mothers often were not able to do so, for instance if working at a fast food outlet. Lower income mothers tended to be people of colour so the discouragement of breastfeeding had a racial as well as an income element. Dr. Alison Stuebe of the U of North Carolina suggested that centres could provide more overnight storage of pumped milk and they could also provide a place were mothers might in privacy breast feed the baby at lunch or at end of day, right at the centre.

In about 1980 the first case of AIDS was diagnosed and since then over 60 million people have become infected with HIV and 25 million have died . The Stephen Lewis Foundation that works to help those with the HIV/AIDS illnesses has revealed that the rate of new infections is about 7000 a day, and that 1000 of those are children. In Africa, where infection rates are high, adolescent girls seem particularly at risk and one factor may be that sexual experiences for them are often coerced. In sub Saharan Africa many parents have died of AIDS, leaving behind 14.8 million orphans. Many of those children are cared for by grandmothers if available or by humanitarian groups.. Antiretroviral drugs have been found to be effective but only 37% of those who could benefit from such treatment are getting it, according to the foundation.

Dr. Bessel A. van der Kolk is an American psychiatrist who has worked with combat vets from Vietnam, Iraq and Afghanistan, handling their post traumatic stress disorder. In the New York Times van der Kolk says he has found that many children now show similar symptoms of depression or PTSD if they have been exposed to neglect, assault, family violence or abuse. In 2001 Congress established a National Child Traumatic Stress Network with a budget currently at $40 million. However the 2012 US budget has proposed that the funding to that program be reduced by 70% . Van der Kolk says the reduction would be 'devastating' for the children. He estimates that 322,000 children have been treated from July 2002-to Sept 2009 and is concerned that without good programs, children showing such troubling symptoms may be 'numbed by powerful drugs' without giving them adequate mental health help.

When people decide to adopt a child, they commonly prefer a newborn of their own race. Once a child is older, or if the child is handicapped or another race, it is harder for fine a 'forever home'. If the child is part of a family, adoption of all siblings together may be best for the children but becomes a huge commitment for any adoptive parent. In Ontario there has been a suggestion to subsidize some costs of adoption in special circumstance to ensure more children find homes. Of the 53 children's aid societies in that province though, some subsidize and some do not. In 2009 David Johnston, now governor general of Canada, completed a study recommending that use of subsidies could raise adoption rates and save the state ultimately $36 million a year. However Children's minister Laurel Broten is still studying having a standardized subsidy plan for the province. The editorial board of the Toronto Star endorses subsidies saying an ongoing financial help would still cost less than it costs government to have the child in state care.

Dr. Oriel Sullivan of the U of Oxford has released results of a study of time use from 16 countries over more than 4 decades. The study did not look at Canadian statistics but speculation is that US, UK and Australia numbers are similar to here. The study found that
-in 1960 men spent 105 minutes on housework but now spend 173 minutes per day
-in 1960 men spent 90 minutes per day tending children but now spend 148 minutes per day
-in 1960 women spent 360 minutes per day on domestic work but now spend about 272 minutes

Professor Arthur Schafer of the U of Manitoba has commented on a recent dispute in legal circles about medical care of the very ill. It is not about whether a person can refuse treatment to save his life but on whether he can insist on it, even when doctors say there is little hope. Hassan Rasouli had a benign brain tumour and surgery on it in October 2010. He developed meningitis and ventriculitis and went into a coma. He continues to be in a coma and is kept alive with a ventilator and feeding tube. Discussion ensued about taking him off life support. Doctors felt it may be advisable but his wife Patrichehr, a doctor in Iran, said her husband should be kept alive as long as possible, partly out of respect for their Muslim beliefs. Madame Justice Susan Himel of the Ontario Superior Court said the doctors could not remove life support unless they got approval from the Consent and Capacity Board. Though the patient is in a 'persistent vegetative state' and has irreversibly lost consciousness, Judge Himel said that the patient has the right to refuse to have services withdrawn. Drs. Brian Cuthbertson and Gordon Rubenfeld have consulted lawyers who will now appeal to the Court of Appeal. They make the case that giving treatment without permission is covered by the law in question but this issue is about withdrawing treatment. Professor Schafer says it is like another situation- since a patient can't insist on antibiotics when doctors think they are not needed, the same could be said for insisting on life support which doctors feel is futile.

Former Calgary alderman Joe Ceci is lobbying the federal government to increase its attack on poverty. In Alberta 8.5% of residents are low income, and nationally the number was 9.4% in 2008 and is estimated at 12.5% currently. The battle against poverty is not being won and recent statistics indicate that the gap between rich and poor is widening. Ceci feels that reducing poverty would have spin off benefits in savings for costs of health, welfare, justice, policing and even education safety nets. University of Manitoba professor Evelyn Forget is recommending renewed consideration of a guaranteed annual income. Some researchers claim that when people become homeless they become very costly to the state. The Red Deer Advocate estimates that though it would only cost $34,000 annually to support a person and find subsidized housing for him, it costs $134,000 annually per homeless person to beef up emergency shelters, provide emergency hospital visits and law enforcement and social services. 

April, 2011

What types of households are best for children? The controversial topic has taken some odd turns as complexities of the decision are surfacing. Though having single parents, gay parents, separated or divorced parents works in many cases, it does not work in all. Though cohabiting parents may offer a stable home, some do not. At issue then is how far governments should go when looking at legalities of types of arrangements and adoptions in the best interests of children. In Arizona Governor Jan Brewer in April 2011 approved a law to prefer married couples over nonmarried ones when an adoption is being considered. Mississippi, Utah and Virginia already have such laws. In Arkansas the Supreme Court is hearing testimony about whether cohabiting couples should be allowed to foster or adopt children at all. Currently they cannot and the debate to change the law is intense. Several studies have been cited statistically that for outcomes, the formally married couple offers the most stable home.
-The National Incidence Study of Child Abuse and Neglect found that if a child is living with the mother and her boyfriend, that child is 11 times more likely to be abused and 6 times more likely to be neglected than a child in a family of two parents married to each other. The biggest threat is when the boyfriend is the sole caregiver of the child.
-The same study found that a child in a home where the parents are not formally married but only cohabiting is 4 times more likely to be abused and 3 times more likely to be neglected than a child in a legally married household.
-The Urban Institute found that among 6-11 year olds in homes with nonmarried parents, 15.7% had depression, feelings of inferiority or other serious emotional problems while only 3.5% had such problems if living in homes with married parents.
-ED NOTE: The odds of the committed marriage offering a more stable home base for children are definitely higher, but married couples also have a high divorce rate. It is not for government to play a lottery and just bet on the 'winner' since people deserve a chance and love should be the key determiner of whether the parent is going to stand by the child. I don't think a single parent is by definition 'high risk.' It is offensive to prejudge them based on marital status alone.

Though the Convention on the Rights of the Child defends the right of the child to the presence of the parent whenever possible and the right of the parent to be the key decider in the care of the child, some movements are aiming to disrupt that automatic trust of the parent-child interaction. In Chicago one elementary school principal was concerned that many of her students were not eating a healthy lunch, even though the school was preparing healthy offerings in the cafeteria. The consumption of potato chips, soda or other things brought from home concerned her and she passed a new rule. Parents would not be allowed to send homemade lunches to school at all. The child MUST use the cafeteria at the school. The only exceptions would be children with allergies or other documented medical conditions. Reaction to the new policy was swift. Many students were unhappy with the new rules. Dr. J. Justin Wilson of the Center for Consumer Freedom was concerned that parents were being bypassed and not trusted. He raised the logical extreme situation of "What if a parent wanted to provide a lunch that was even healthier than the school offering?" Other objections also surfaced, one being that this did guarantee customers for the school lunch and may have another agenda to keep the cafeteria in business. Some parents pointed out that since the school charges $2.25 per day for lunch, those who do not qualify for low income subsidies may find the new policy daunting. Others pointed out as did Matt Gurney of the National Post that parents may be offended if they are not even allowed to add an extra touch of a loving note or a heart-shaped sandwich cutout. However the concern for obesity avoidance seems to still have been the major factor in the decision. 34% of Americans are now classified as obese and 32% more are medically overweight.
-ED NOTE: I am not sure that we should assume parents are bad at parenting or incapable of teaching kids healthy eating habits. Forcing a lifetyle on kids, regardless of parental wishes seems to me a basic rights violation. The ousting of parents as not competent is a very troubling trend alongside an agenda that seems fraught with commercializing and selling all aspects of parenting and outsourcing to strangers, including school personnel.

During in-vitro fertilization doctors often take several eggs from a woman, fertilize them with sperm outside the womb and then inject two, three or more embryos back into the uterus. Some doctors inject as many as six embryos. However at the Royal Victoria Hospital in Montreal studies have found that the babies thus conceived sometimes have health problems. Nearly 20% of babies admitted to the neonatal intensive care unit over two years of study were the result of such artificial reproductive techniques and multiple births. The large majority of such readmitted babies were twins or triplets, and some had been very premature. Changes are being proposed to regulate the IVF procedure more closely to reduce risk of such problems. The U of Montreal research recommended that it should be mandatory to only transfer a single embryo, and that this rule would prevent 30-40 infant deaths across the nation each year and would reduce the count of babies with intracranial hemorrhage, or those needing intensive care.

Small children experiment widely and are at a stage parents commonly find dangerous, safety-wise. They need constant monitoring. In Australia, The Victorian Injury Surveillance Unit has released studies of emergency room visits for children and found that about 4000 aged 4 and under were in emergency, having experienced a problem at their childcare, kindergarten or creche from 2006-2010. Though only about 10% needed hospital admission for more treatment, Melanie Water of Kidsafe Victoria says more should be done by childminders to protect children. The injuries ranged from scrapes and swallowing marbles to objects being put up noses, sprains, fractures, a child's legs being split apart on monkey bars, and the majority of injuries were from falls. Lucian Roncon who speaks for the Australian Childcare Alliance defended the care providers, saying that the centres took every precaution and that children are 'accident-prone'. Water would however like to see softer fall material under playground equipment and more supervision.
-ED NOTE: This is is a serious dilemma. Childcare facilities that claim to offer top quality care, and that get funding by government, sometimes to save money put large groups of small kids under care of very few adults. What starts out as theoretically attentive care quickly can become inattentive. Again my argument has always been to fund children not childcare facilities and then money flows per child to wherever the child is, even if that child is at home. This would ensure closer attention.

In Canada where there is universal free health care coverage for most basic procedures, costs of operating the system have been increasing, with corresponding long wait times for seeing any doctor, emergency care or specialist consultation. In Alberta a Conservative party leadership candidate Alison Redford has proposed a new approach. Under a government run by her there would be family care clinics for 'one stop' consultations. She recommends that such clinics would house doctors, registered nurses, nurse practitioners who do some formerly physician -only roles, mental health professionals, physiotherapists and that all the clinics would be open 7 AM to 9PM. The idea is that those who need medical advice but not necessarily a doctor would be able to access care without using up doctor time for minor concerns. Under such a system funding would 'follow the patient', directed to any centre where the patient went. Alberta Medical Association President Dr. P.J. White supports this plan and United Nurses of Alberta is in discussions about it also.

In the UK, Work and Pensions minister Steve Webb has announced a flat rate pension of 140 pounds a week, saying it would be a simpler system than at present and would make it easier for people to save money. He found that means-tested benefits had created problems since they left insecurity about ability to save. He says that women, low paid workers and the self-employed will benefit most from the change. Opposition MP Rachel Reeves says her Labour Party welcomes the intent of the new plan.

Amid promises by many politicians to help the family with taxes and life expenses, a recent Statistics Canada Survey during the election campaign has actually proved the need for such help. The study found in April 2011 that:
-inflation is at its highest level in 2.5 years
-consumer prices are 3.3% higher than a year ago
-30% of those asked do not have enough cash for basic expenses
-12% cannot afford to pay all their bills each month
-38% have no savings
-54% said they find it impossible or nearly impossible to save.

Economists often study issues of productivity, labor and paid work but criticisms have been leveled at the profession recently for ignoring parameters of happiness, natural resources, pristine forests and clean air. The rights of people have been defined in some conventions but have not always included rights to such intangibles. In Bolivia President Evo Morales has passed a law in January 2011 that takes a big step other nations have not taken. The Rights of Mother Earth law aims to have the United Nations recognize earth as a living entity. The law says that humans have tried to dominate and exploit earth so much that they have threatened the well being and existence of other beings and the law will now give special protections and rights to life, water and clean air, the right to repair livelihoods affected by human activities and the right to be free from pollution. The law sets up a ministry of Mother Earth to hear 'nature's complaints' as voiced by an activist. Bolivia is a nation rich in natural gas and lithium but is in dire poverty. The Bolivian ambassador to the UN, Pablo Salon says that his nation is just trying to seek harmony with nature and it will look at how industry is affecting those newly defined rights. The new laws say Mother Earth has the right to exist, to continue the processes that sustain humans.

Dr. Larry Schulz of MIT has released results of a study of how four year olds learn when presented with a new toy. In the study half of the children were shown the toy while a teacher demonstrated its functions. The other half were shown the toy and not directed about things it could do but only allowed to play with it. The groups that were more directed played less time with the toy and were slowest to discover its many functions. In another study researcher Alison Gopnik showed half of a group of four yeas olds a sequence of things they could do with a toy while the other half were only shown the toy enthusiastically and allowed to experiment with it. Again the group that was directly taught showed less interest in the toy and made fewer discoveries about it. The research suggests that direct teaching is not an optimal way for babies to learn and that preschool should not be like a school but should allow for creative spontaneous play.

In the UK the Understanding Society has released results of a study of youngsters aged 10-15 years in 40,000 families. The children were asked about their own levels of happiness and that of their parents. The study found that nearly 75% of children are happy when their mothers are happy. If their mothers are unhappy only 55% of children report being happy. The happiness of fathers however did not seem to impact children's happiness as much. Fewer than 30% of children who argued with their parents more than once a week reported being happy at home. Dr. Maria Iacovou of the Institute for Social and Economic Research said the findings indicate the importance of family relationships to the happiness of children - actually there is a saying "When momma ain't happy, ain't nobody happy; when papa ain't happy, ain't nobody cares." It could be that mothers' moods are made more apparent to children, while fathers are less demonstrative of their feelings.

Though sometimes big cities are seen as cold impersonal places with segregation of ethnic groups, there are moves to change that. One is to set up a high end ping pong table in a public park and let anyone who passes by play the very ordinary household game. Alan Good created a table of polished concrete terrazzo and imbedded in it chips of dark glass. The net is not made of netting of but steel lattice and the base is a modern sculpture, very solid. He set the table up as a gift in Tompkins Square Park and others have been placed in Gulick Park and Bryant Park, all in New York City. Though the city already has 54 public ping pong tables indoors at rec centres, Commissioner Adrian Benepe says the outdoors park tables add something. Passersby slow down, people stop and watch, strangers talk to each other. The paddles and balls are free though you may have to ask for them at a nearby cafe. The tables are becoming places not just for recreation but for mingling, for happy exchanges between people who speak many languages, who share the love of a sport. Commissioner Benepe is looking at enlarging the initiative to other parks. After all, he says, a ping pong table doesn't take up much space.

Dr. Craig Earle of Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre in Toronto has released results of a study March 2011 about care of the dying. He says that heroic attempts to save lives when the likelihood of recovery is slim are becoming very common. He says that even if odds are low, it is human nature to buy lottery tickets and hope' but believes it wiser to not have false hope. He would like more recognition of impending and likely death and more attention paid to spending the last few days in comfort not in surgery. He would like more funding for palliative care to lessen pain and to help patients address their psychological and spiritual concerns. Dr. Larry Librach of Mount Sinai Hospital notes that some oncologists never accept the idea of palliative care and instil in even their sickest patients the 'never say die' attitude. A Manitoba study of 2004 found that $28 billion annually is spent on treating people aggressively during their final six months and says this is not necessarily money well spent. Dr. Librach says he wants patients to be told the truth, how long a round of chemotherapy will likely extend their lives, side effects to expect and the options of other care styles including palliative care. He points out that patients given one more month of life with chemo may not want to spend it just being sick from the chemo. Professor Fassbender of the U of Alberta agrees that sometimes poking and prodding patients with needles just before they die is not appropriate. He wants money spent to encourage family doctors to visit dying patients at home and he wants more hospice beds and more palliative care facilities.

It is now not only possible to read a bedtime story to your children via long distance phone or to sing to them over a cell phone while they are in a car absent from you, but a new app has been developed for absentee parents. Chris Stevens of Atomic Antelope created an app called Nursery Rhymes with Storytime to be used on iPad and iPhone. Users can read common nursery rhymes, sing a song or tell a story to their children in real time from the office or anywhere in the world. Parents sing onto the Apple online gaming portal, Game Center and can watch and guide their children through the pages of books.
-ED NOTE: Surely this is a half-best solution. Technology can add a wonderful 'cool' dimension for parents but I still think what kids want is not really the story at bedtime but the companionship. They don't want the day to end and the story is an excuse to still talk together. When parents have to be away, sure, some way to 'be there' is cute but to make a business of it is sad…children need real, not virtual, parents, with whom to interact.

Any baby born on US soil is legally eligible for American citizenship and this right is part of the 14th Amendment. The right has however been questioned recently regarding children of illegal immigrant workers from Latin America. Since citizens have rights to social services and education, a few legislators have not wanted illegal immigrants' children to get their bills paid free. The debate has now taken another turn in view of what has been called "maternity tourism." The New York Times has uncovered businesses in China, Mexico, South Korea that advertise for expectant mothers to visit the US close to when their babies are due, to then give birth here and return home with their new American baby. Immigration officials have discovered some high end hotel-like settings where month long 'baby stays' have been arranged including doctors, insurance and postpartum care. A house in San Gabriel California was recently found to have such an operation. Ten new mothers there were sent to nearby motels when officials discovered the operation and shut it down, but only for housing code violations. The Center for Health Care Statistics says about 7462 births occurred to foreign residents while in the US in 2008. Children born in the US, wherever they live later, once they turn 21 are not only citizens of the US but could petition for their parents to become US citizens.

Though many people celebrate parenthood and the joys of babies, there is sometimes condemnation for a certain style of it- that of the teenage mother. Opinions differ widely on whether the rate of teen pregnancies is a fact or a problem and whether society should assist such girls or subtly discourage them. A recent study in Manitoba found that in 2007, 1357 teens aged 15-19 had babies. Some have pointed out that teenage mothers often have not completed school and have few financial means to provide for a baby, and that they may not be physically ready to bear healthy young. Babies of very young teens tend to be born prematurely and have low birth rate and developmental problems. Young mothers risk anemia, hypertension and eclampsia. However, policies to ensure the babies' well-being and helping their parents to spend time nurturing them are not common. What are common are moves to set up alternate care for the babies, and to have mothers go back to finish their education. Linda Taylor, who runs a program for adolescent parents, argues that the real way to address teen pregnancies is:
-to address the issue of sexual abuse. She says that 70% of teen moms were sexually molested as children
-to teach boys that "no means no"
-to raise awareness that males over 20 should not be dating younger teenage girls for fear of exploitation
-to encourage girls stay in school
-to make birth control more easily available. She argues that teens are going to have sex anyway and that sexuality is big part of their lives, so we owe teens easily accessible birth control.
-ED NOTE: Saying early sexual encounters are normal and to be even enabled and assisted is like saying that kids will drink anyway so give them free liquor or they will take drugs anyway so give them free drugs. I think the real answer is more parental presence, better funding of households, more stable homes with encouragement for school and sports and clubs. Most girls do not want to be parents young but they are desperate sometimes for affection. For me it comes down to a tax question of valuing children's upbringing, including the teen before she becomes a mother. And if she becomes pregnant that is not a tragedy, a shame or a disaster and she has not failed. To treat her as "lesser than" is to complete a very vicious anti-female cycle of devaluing the procreation role. We should value all mothers and fathers, including teen mothers and fathers.

When feeding a newborn the alternatives usually are breast milk, formula or milk from cows or goats. There are proponents of each style and some inconveniences and disadvantages. Though many scientists says breast milk is the best to boost the immune system and provides needed nutrients, not all women choose to or are able to be there for the baby's feedings. Some children are allergic to ingredients of formula, for instance soy, and other research has found formula inferior to breast milk in content. Cow's milk can also be a source of allergies in some children. Professor Ning Li of China Agricultural University however has created what for some may be a good option. He introduced human genes into 200 dairy cows, creating a genetically modified dairy product, very much like human breast milk. He says it will be as safe as pasteurized cow's milk but critics of genetically modified foods have already objected to the development because it is not natural.

Though some jobs provide mothers with maternity benefits fewer provide dads with paternity benefits. And although many governments provide time away from the paid job without job penalty for new mothers, this is not always of significant duration or paid. When it is paid it is often paid minimally. Most western nations are now looking at the inequalities of the system, some hoping to put in place more universal benefits for new moms and dads. In the UK the right to paternity leave is now being extended. For parents of children born after April 3 2011, and adoptive parents who match for a child on or after that date, fathers will be able to take not just 1-2 consecutive weeks from their paid job but up to 26 weeks of leave within the first year. The condition however is that the mother or primary adopter must have returned to her paid job- Obviously the standard is twofold. One is that the baby only needs one parent and second, that one of the two parents must have been earning and one must go back to earning, so a condition of valuing time with a baby is still linked to earning money. I feel that benefits for time with a baby should be based only on one thing- the need of a baby for loving parents - and parental leave should be paid.

It has commonly been believed that wealth inequality in the US continues when the wealthy pass along their wealth as inheritances. Recent studies have confirmed that the more one earns, the more one passes along to one's young, perpetuating the wealth gap. However Dr. Edward Wolff of New York State University has released results of studies suggesting that inheritance actually may help level the playing field. His study found that for the poor who inherit, the money is seen more as a windfall since it makes such a significant difference in their lives. For those making under $15,000 a year the average increase in net worth after inheriting increased by 66%. For those already earning $250,000 or more a year, inheritance tended to increase their net worth by only 16%. The research also found that since inheritance usually happens when the adult offspring are already in their 50s or 60s the effect of a lifestyle change on the wealthy is not much while on the poor it can be. The arguments for and against an inheritance tax include correcting imbalance by forcing the wealthy to share some of their windfall with the state. However Dr. Wolff also noted that if there is a big tax on inheritance, many people might not save their money and if they do not, the nation's capital stock and productivity based on savings might decline.

A federal budget in Canada was proposed March 21 2011 but was defeated by a motion of nonconfidence from the majority opposition parties. The government now is headed to a federal election slated for May 2. In preparation for this vote all parties have announced their stances on caregiving issues. To date these include:
--Conservative Party:
-income splitting as a tax option for those households with children under age 18, and only for the first $50,000 of household income. This plan is set to come into place, however, in 4-5 years. The plan has been endorsed by several groups which have for a long time wanted the current pension splitting option extended to nonpensioners. Dave Quist of the Institute of Marriage and Family Canada has approved the move, quoting economist Jack Mintz that unequal taxation of equally earning households currently creates a tax penalty of at least 37% on some lifestyles. Other groups have praised the move but not its timing, saying it should be given immediately.
-not to change the Canada Pension Plan though many groups have argued to have benefits increased; instead, to create a new pension plan to be administered by banks and insurance companies for voluntary contributions.
-increase the Guaranteed Income Supplement for low income seniors. At present the Old Age Security plus GIS for a single person can be at most $14,231 and the top up would make that $14,831 or $1.65 a day more. The current maximum of Old Age Security and GIS for a couple is $23,069 and with the topup would be $23,909 or $2.30 per day for the two people together (Commentator Jonathan Chevreau in the National Post pointed out that150,000 seniors currently eligible for the GIS do not even get it because it is not automatically given and they may not be aware they could apply.)
-parents enrolling children in sports get a tax credit. Parents enrolling children in arts get a tax credit of up to 15% on an amount up to $500 totalling a credit of $75.
-a nonrefundable credit of up to $2000 is given to caregivers of infirm dependents, including spouses, common law relatives or minor children if the care receiver is infirm.
-assets can be shared between siblings for registered education savings plans. Under these plans families that have money to save get some matching funds from government.
-remove the cap of $10,000 on tax credit for medical expenses.
-remove mandatory retirement for federally regulated workers.
--Liberal Party:
-$500 million to create more daycare/childcare spaces in a deal to be negotiated with the provinces. Some critics of the daycare move say funding should flow to parents directly so they could choose whether to use it for daycare or not. The CBC radio/TV network is surveying the public about their views on this issue with a question worded to ask not if funding should go to 'early education' or 'childcare' as was the former way of phrasing the question by some surveys, but with the wording of 'choice,' asking if the respondent agrees with the statement "The government should fund daycare instead of sending money directly to parents."
-continue the $100 a month universal benefit for children to age 6
-those providing at home care of elderly family members will get some financial compensation
-students in post secondary education would get $1000 per year or $1500 if in financial need, in order to pursue their studies. The Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives said that it would have been better to cut tuition fees directly. John Ivison of the National Post said the Liberal plan would wipe out two current plans, the Textbook Tax Credit and the Education Tax Credit so its largesse is not as generous as it may first seem
-create a voluntary supplement to the public pension plan whereby employees could top up their retirement savings and have this top up administered by the Canada Pension Board. The retirement fund would be tax deductible and one's limit of contribution would still have to be consistent with the RRSP limit. Employers could also voluntarily contribute.
-increase the Guaranteed Income Supplement by more than what the Conservatives are promising (the Conservatives offer $300 million more and the Liberals $700 million more)
--New Democratic Party
-$1.5 billion for setting up daycare spaces.
-improve the Canada Pension Plan
-provide benefits for those who provide care of the elderly by making changes to Employment Insurance
--Green Party:
-income splitting
On the issue of child custody, only the Conservative and Green Parties have committed to family law reform in the direction of an equal parenting presumption.  No party has discussed the need for a federal child and family policy.

A long term view of federal budgets in the National Post March 2011 has shown trends from the 1940s to 2010. These include -defense used to be 80% of the budget and is now under 8% -Interest on public debt was about 12% of the budget and is now about the same but in 2001 was around 22%
-Old age security, unemployment and family and child support were under 3% of the budget and are now about 25% -civil salaries and wages were under1% and are now 14% -health care and social services were under 5% and are now 14%. -personal income tax used to be about 10% of the revenue source but is now 48% -corporate income tax used to be about 15% of the revenue source and is still only about 14%
-sales tax used to be about 17% of the budget and is now about 12% -custom taxation has decreased from about 14% to about 2% -other excise tax has decreased from about 15% to about 2%.
-ED NOTE: We are no longer at war as we were in 1940. We have set up social programs for universal health care and universal pension and EI benefits as needed. These are big shifts in how money is spent. However the taxes used to fund these have also dramatically shifted, now focusing more on individuals and less on corporations or business tax. This marks a philosophical shift, not necessarily a good one. The idea we have to entice, bribe, and lure business but penalize ordinary workers seems unfair. During the latest election it seems that the Conservative Party is promising to reduce corporate tax even more, and the Liberals and NDP are urging that we stop giving such big tax breaks to business. It is a philosophical difference that directly affects how much money the ordinary citizen has after tax.

In the UK the divorce rate is high and in the last three years alone the number of children affected by such breakups and care proceedings is up 25%. David Norgrove, a former civil servant has published a review of the family justice system with some suggestions that have generated quick reaction
-as soon as parents register a new birth they should also be given a pamphlet about the impact divorce would have on their child -grandparents would be given legal and more certain access to grandchildren -parents would be required to seek mediation before they get a divorce -the law would enshrine that regardless of parental marital status the child would have the right to a 'meaningful' relationship with each parent.
-all family court disputes should be resolved within 6 months.

March, 2011

A recently published evaluation of a New York state home visiting program has found that home visiting produces significant outcomes in reducing child abuse and neglect. Healthy Families New York is a home visiting program targeting expectant parents and those with children under 3 months who are considered to be at high risk for child abuse or neglect. The evaluation used a sample of 1173 at-risk moms. Approximately half were assigned to a control group, while the other half participated in the home visiting program. Interviews were conducted with the mothers after years 1, 2, 3 and 7.
-Among the Year 1 findings: Mothers receiving home visits were only about half as likely as control group mothers to deliver low birth weight babies. Compared with mothers in the control group, home visiting participants reported committing fewer acts of severe physical abuse, minor physical aggression, harsh parenting, and psychological aggression against their children
-After 2 years: The average number of reported acts of serious abuse in the past year was lower among mothers in the home visiting program than mothers not participating in the program. Among mothers who were "psychologically vulnerable" (mothers who had a low sense of mastery and high levels of depressive symptoms), mothers receiving home visits were less likely to report acts of serious abuse or neglect. Among psychologically vulnerable mothers, the average number of self-reported incidents of serious abuse and neglect in Year 2 was significantly lower for the home visiting group.
-After 7 years: Mothers in the home visiting group reported using non-violent discipline strategies more frequently than mothers in the control group and reported higher rates of non-violent discipline; Children in the home visiting group were less likely to report that their mothers engaged in minor physical aggression against them than children in the control group; Mothers in the home visiting group reported using serious physical abuse less frequently in the past year than mothers in the control group
The researchers concluded that, "the current study presents timely evidence to suggest that involving families in home visiting services early on promotes positive experiences within the home during the initial years of life, for both the mother and the child."

In developing countries major health challenges to fight disease are often hampered because the population cannot read pamphlets and the advisers do not speak the language of those they are trying to help. Dr. Barry Pittendrigh of the U of Illinois had an idea. Many in Africa and Haiti, in Central and South American and Asia have cell phones. It occurred to him to create short animated videos of health advice and he has been working with Scientific Animation Without Borders to do this. Several videos have now been created, one about cholera prevention, one about using cowpea plants as a natural insecticide and these are being shown to many people in developing countries downloaded on their cell phones. Most of the productions last under 3 minutes.

With a high demand among some infertile women to have babies, a few nations have become sites of illegal baby farming. In Argentina two former dictators have been charged with kidnapping hundreds of babies who were seized from their mothers shortly after birth. Jorge Videla and Reynaldo Bignone are to be tried for abducting women, interning them in torture centres, keeping them alive during pregnancies and in some cases killing them after birth. About 500 babies were reported stolen during the dictatorship according to Grandmothers of the Plaza de Mayo. Some of the witnesses in the case are in their 30s, children of the alleged activities, now anxious to correct the wrongs. Leonard Fossati's parents were high school students but were abducted in 1977 when the mother was pregnant. Fossati was adopted by a good family and is one of the rare people who was able to later discover his true identity. Estimates are that during 1976-1983 about 5000 people were detained and tortured and about 30,000 were killed.

When the homeless are given free places to sleep, there has been discussion about whether segregating genders is a good idea, since though it may separate married couples unfairly it may also protected vulnerable singles especially women, from assault. At First United Church in Vancouver, there are overnight rooms for homeless people and about 250-300 sleep on beds there, or on the floor or on pews every night. The church accepts marginalized people and does not turn away the intoxicated or those high on drugs, while smaller shelters often do exclude people in that condition. There have however been a number of reported sexual assaults in some shelters and police have recommended separating men and women here. At First United there have been six sexual assaults since Oct 30 2010. Rev. Sandra Sevra, one of the ministers at First United says there is a special room for women only, staffed by women there, and there is a separate sleeping area for couples but that many woman do not want to sleep separately and prefer to be in the main area.

It is illegal to pay someone to have a baby for you, often with the assumption that such pay might be used to coerce women or to use them as baby makers without regard for their own rights. In Canada the Supreme Court passed the 2010 Assisted Human Reproduction Act to ban the purchase of eggs, sperm, embryos or services of a surrogate. However many in the fertility industry now claim that the supply of donor sperm for assisted reproduction has fallen dangerously low. Sperm banks in the US by contrast can operate for profit and many Canadian patients may be using donated sperm from such US centres, without clear approval from the Canadian government. Dr. Edward Hughes was commissioned to do a study and has released a report suggesting that men should now be paid for sperm donation. He says the alternative, though workable, would be a very costly public education campaign.

Though doctors, nurses, nurses' aides, unit clerks, lab techs and many other professionals deal with medical care, there is now another layer also- the 'patient navigator'. In BC, Quebec and Nova Scotia some hospitals have assigned a nurse to help patients' navigate' their way through the health care system. A study in 2009 found that patients with head and neck cancer had higher satisfaction, shorter hospital says, fewer cancer-related symptoms and felt better informed if they had been assigned such a patient navigator. Shawna Bond, who navigates at Victoria General Hospital says that newly diagnosed patients are often vulnerable and helpless. Patient Leanne Whitfield says that Bond spoke to her in plain language about her condition, helped advocate for her and steered her to community resources and was available to listen.

The Project for an Ontario Women's Health Evidence-Based Report has recently surveyed rate of teens giving birth in that province. The study found that:
-among those aged 15-19 there were 100 live births for every 150 abortions
-once women were in their twenties there were 100 live births for every 37 abortions, indicating that young women are more likely to abort and women in their twenties are more likely not to
-the abortion rate also was linked to income of the neighborhood and urban areas, with abortion being higher in urban areas.

A 47 year old Toronto woman in dire medical condition was able to get a new lease on life due to a double lung transplant donated from a 12 year old boy. However within months she had four severe anaphylactic attacks, a situation doctors now trace to the peanut allergy that her donor had during his life. Dr. Susan Tarlo of the U of Toronto found that when a transplant takes place, included in it are likely antibodies the donor had . Health Canada says that in some cases of transplant, the donor had even died during an allergy-caused event but a screening of the recipient and full information about the donor's allergies may have been lacking. Health Canada has now proposed new standards for transplants. Though in some cases the recipient gets a new allergy which may last several years before the antibodies die off, there have been cases where the recipient lost an allergy. Dr. Tarlo found situations where after a bone marrow transplant from a donor not allergic to peanuts, the transplant receiver was no longer allergic to peanuts. Another transplant recipient was no longer asthmatic.

A federal government committee was struck 3 years ago to look at poverty in Canada and after hearing from 260 witnesses at 63 meetings it has tabled its report. The committee made 58 recommendations to combat poverty including increasing money from the federal to provincial government transfer payments to enhance provincial anti -poverty programs, and a national housing strategy. Given the report, Human Resources minister Diane Finley however rejected the recommendations saying that the Conservative government is already doing enough. She said that the key focus should be to 'grow our economy and get Canadians working', to give Canadians 'skills they need to be self-sufficient'. Liberal MP Mike Savage reacted with anger however saying to not follow any of the committees recommendations from public consultation was an 'abdication of responsibility.'

Hoyes, Michalos & Associates have released a study of bankruptcy in Canada finding that in 2010 16% of those who filed for bankruptcy were seniors, up from 12.5% in 2008. The increase in the 'grandpa debtor' has alarmed some observers and Douglas Hoeys, chartered accountant says that the causes may be many. Some seniors enter retirement already in debt, or take on new debt shortly after. The average Canadian owes on average of about $60,000, the average grandpa debtor owes about $74,000. 47% of such grand debtors live on their own, 9% are widowed, 30% are divorced or separated and nearly 37% still have a dependent at home. 20% said illness or other health problem caused their financial problems while 33% still did have some RRSP savings averaging about $30,000. Many were forced to retire earlier than they had planned. Some had more than $37,000 in credit card debt while the average insolvent adult has $24,400 in credit card debt. A few said that their loneliness had led them to gambling or excess shopping but many said that the problem was they were still providing help to adult children, some of them also parents but unable to find paid work.

It costs about $180,000 to raise a child to age 18 according to recent estimates both in Canada and the US. However governments are reluctant to allow many of those costs to be claimed as tax deductions. In Canada it is only possible to deduct specifics including some care of a child by a third party if that person is not a family member, and if the care was provided so the parent could earn or study to earn, and if the parent is the lower earner of two parents. This policy excludes parents who use a school lunch program or summer camp but who are in a single income household. It will allow the deduction for care by a sitter so a 'working' employed parent can go to the spa or to a movie but not if the parent at home wants to go to the spa or a movie. Many therefore have criticized the inconsistency and inequality of this deduction
-In Canada a parent can deduct costs of saving for the education of a child, if the parent has enough money already to significantly contribute annual to a registered savings plan, though not all do.
-In Canada a parent can deduct costs of registration in some sports activities but not for costs of purchase of sports equipment for use just in the community.
-Canada used to permit a universal deduction for costs of raising a child but eliminated that in the 1990s.

The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development has released its latest study of unpaid work in 2011. The study found that the tasks of household cleaning, cooking, caring for children or the elderly, and volunteer work are not counted in the gross domestic product. However if they were counted they would account for 1/3 to 1/2 of the tally of 'valuable economic activity'. The authors noted that 'household production constitutes an important aspect of economic activity and ignoring it may led to incorrect inferences about levels and changes in well being". The study of 26 OECD countries also found that
-most people in all nations spend about 3.4 hours per day in unpaid work -most people spend about 14% of their time therefore in unpaid work -women spend 4.7 hours per day while men spend 2.2 hours per day doing unpaid work
-saying we all do some work for free ignores the situation of those whose entire day is spent working for free. It is condescending to ignore the difference.

February, 2011

Birth certificates usually require that the parents both be named and though controversy has arisen when there are surrogates, egg donors and IVF, controversy also can arise when the baby was conceived normally. Dr. Mark Bellis of the Center for Public Health at John Moores University in Liverpool has researched paternity and found that about 4% of UK children were sired by someone other than the father they think they had. During child custody and support disputes, some couples use DNA testing to determine true paternity, and fathers often seek to establish paternity to gain access to and a relationship with their children. A new technology is on the market that can provide that information more informally without the court attention. Boots, a drugstore chain, has announced that it will soon stock a $50 paternity test for use in your own home. Its ad suggests that knowing will provide 'peace of mind' but some commentators have suggested it may do the reverse. Dr. David Jones of the Roman Catholic Anscombe Bioethics Centre says such revelations could tear families apart and leave children without a father figure. He also is concerned that the profit motive is involved and someone will make money off such revelations.
-ED NOTE: Children need to know who their biological parents are.  Genetics are not only important to people's physical health, but to their emotional, psychological and (most importantly) to their spiritual well-being, as the need for roots is the most neglected need in contemporary Western societies.  Privileging social over biological parenthood runs counter to the deep-seated need and desire of children in adoptive families and children of sperm donor fathers, for example, to know their natural parents.  We need to be clear about the moral importance of the fact of natural parenthood for both parents and children.  Blood ties matter. It seems to me fundamentally dishonest and highly paternalistic to deny children and their parents knowledge about their biological heritage and ties.  Children need and deserve to know the truth about their origins.

In 2010 the Vanier Institute of the Family surveyed parents in two parent families about what was their preferred way to raise a child. 90% preferred parental care at home, with the second choice being a grandparent, third another relative, fourth a home daycare provider and fifth, institutional daycare. This ranking has been completely ignored, according to a National Post editorial which notes that the federal Liberal party is still pushing its preference for funding only the institutional daycare option. The study also found that 33% of those asked said having daycare available for parents who want that was important, while 32% felt that direct financial support to parents at home was a higher priority.

Governments often express the desire to help with the costs or care of children but two main approaches continue to divide the nation. In the National Post newspaper, longtime daycare advocates Laurel Rothman and Martha Friendly wrote a guest column arguing that the state should mostly fund a third party daycare program though they do endorse a year long flexible parental leave for care of newborns. Rothman and Friendly argue that third party care of children should be nationally supported in a way 'analogous to Medicare' and claim that since most mothers work outside the home, early education is good for kids and that such a plan would provide 'hefty economic stimulus benefits'. Tasha Kheiridden however argued that the best role of government would be to fund all parents directly, so they could use the money for whatever care style they choose. She says early education can then be provided in ways parents actually prefer. Kheiriddin quotes the CIRANO think tank in Montreal that found in 2010 that school readiness and early literacy are not enhanced by 3rd party care over parental and family based care. She also cites the study by the Vanier Institute on the Family that found parental preferences are for parental care and that third party daycare is lowest on the list. Kheiriddin recommends tax breaks to companies that offer flex time and work from home options, classes so parents are taught how to enhance childhood learning, and a 3 year guaranteed return to the paid job for mothers at home tending a baby. She also recommends income splitting so the at-home care option is affordable to all who may wish it.

When young people ask for advice from people outside their families and are in a position of uncertainty, they are vulnerable. Groups that claim to only want to help, to have no agenda outside the will of the young person, should adhere to a stringent code of ethics in that regard. Planned Parenthood gives health screening and gynaecological care in about 800 clinics across the US. It offers contraception and abortion services to its 3 million customers but in theory does not provide pressure to access these, only the option. Live Action is a pro-life group in the US that questions the lack of bias of Planned Parenthood however and it taped a video of some Planned Parenthood staff telling an owner of an escort service how to counsel and get abortions for underage prostitutes. In another tape that Live Action revealed to the public, an office manager of New Jersey Planned Parenthood clinic was seen encouraging a presumed sex trafficker to have 14 year old girls lie about their ages to get abortions. Live Action wants federal funding to Planned Parenthood cut by over $75 million in the wake of these revelations. The resolution, however, is not the one Live Action wanted. Planned Parenthood will continue to provide confidential treatment and contraception to 14 year old girls without parental consent. It has, however, fired some of its staff and has vowed to retrain thousands of its counsellors about the importance of reporting suspected sexual abuse of underage girls and refraining from coercive tactics with respect to abortion counselling.

KAIROS is a church run organization that unites many faiths to fund initiatives around the world for social benefit. For instance it funds a women's legal clinic in the Congo, a commission about victims of violence, a human rights group in Indonesia, a women's group for education and health in Colombia. On Nov 30 2009 the organization was informed that it would no longer get the funding it had received federally in the past. Controversy about the defunding has arisen nationally on two levels. One is the merit of the organization and if it should be funded. The other was how it got the notice. On the first topic, KAIROS maintains that its member churches, including the Anglican, Lutheran, Presbyterian, United, Mennonite Central Committee and the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops, are doing good work. However its research and stance on some issues has raised hackles, notably in Israel, and from the oil and gas industry in Canada. The minister responsible for extending funding, the Honorable Bev Oda, has come under fire for issuing a letter granting funding and then having in it a hand-written amendment to 'not' fund.     Members of KAIROS are now appealing to government for a clarification of the reasons they were defunded and for a restoration of funding once these matters are cleared up. Meanwhile some of the general public and opposition MPs are calling for the resignation of the minister for having misrepresented to a House of Commons committee the origin of the amended note.

Dr. Clive Friedman, pediatric dentist in London Ontario has told the media that the public perception that high grain food is good must be reexamined. He found that a granola bar actually sticks around on the teeth a long time and risks developing cavities while even chocolate passes from lips to stomach more quickly. In terms of pediatric health, concern has been raised recently about very high rates of early childhood tooth decay. Dr. Ian McConnachie of the Ontario Dental Association says decay has reached 'epidemic proportions' in Canada. He suspects recent ending of water fluoridation is one factor in the increase but so is the overuse of convenience foods and snacks.  Dr. Sarah Hulland says many people are not paying enough attention to oral hygiene, are not brushing teeth, are kissing babies on the mouth which may share bacteria, and are not wiping the gums of babies even before they have teeth
-ED NOTE: I am very concerned when I see little kids in daycare or kindergarten eat 2 or 3 meals and snacks without brushing. I suspect they only brush their teeth, that is cleanse the bacteria off them once a day. I am a big fan of more parental care partly because parents stay on top of these things.

As people develop Alzheimer's disease they often have problems with social interactions, others feel awkward around others and they tend to stay home most of the time with their caregivers. This social isolation however may exacerbate their mental decline. In the Netherlands in about 1997 the idea was suggested of a safe place, a cafe, for caregivers and people with Alzheimer's so they could meet socially without awkwardness or stigma. The Alzheimer's cafe idea has now spread across Europe and to the US and is now in Canada. Canada's first Alzheimer's Cafe has opened recently north of Halifax.  Dr. Elizabeth McGibbon of St. Francis Xavier University organized the meetings which, unlike other support groups for information, have a significant social dimension.

Dr. John Sloan treats the elderly and is concerned that the general focus for care of this group is out of sync with their real needs. He has recently written, 'How the Medical System is Failing the Elderly,' arguing that treatment for the young is being used inappropriately on seniors in the last years of their lives. He says:
-putting the frail elderly in hospital is usually a bad idea.
-having a variety of specialists treat them creates uncoordinated care, conflicting medicines and interacting negative side effects
-focusing on prevention is illogical.
-attention to high blood pressure is misplaced since the real problem for the elderly is often low blood pressure
-reducing cholesterol, fat, salt may be good for the young but for the elderly it often takes the appeal out of food and many resist eating enough at all.
-On the Telegraph Journal website, one writer, a nursing home worker for 18 years, expressed huge endorsement for the views of Dr. Sloan. Gary Cox said that what matters in treating the elderly is letting them enjoy their remaining days. He does not want the emphasis to be on administrative convenience like waking the elderly at 5 AM or stretching tight clothing over them. He wants to let them eat whatever they enjoy.

New devices continue to be developed for the elderly who are alone but who need some care. Seniors in Grande Prairie and Medicine Hat Alberta will soon be testing new technologies for a year:
-a bed mat with pressure sensors to alert caregivers if the senior is in bed
-a stove guard that turns off automatically after a while of being untended, with a sensor to alert a call centre when this has happened
-a sensor and camera for medication distribution so family is informed if the senior did not take medicine
-a magnetic door sensor that alerts family via email or phone if a senior in the night goes out the door
-ED NOTE: I am sure that some seniors will resent the intrusion while others may sigh and accept it as better than not being at home.

Katherine Scott of the Vanier Institute of the Family has released results of recent studies finding that though in 1990 the average household debt was $56,800 but by 2010 it had reached $100,000. This increase in debt has not been matched by an increase in income, so that for every $1000 people earn in after tax income, they now owe $1500, a debt to income ratio of 150%. This high rate parallels the rate of the US. The study also found that savings have decreased. In 1990 families put away about 13% of income but in 2010 the rate was only about 4.2%. Certified financial planner Kurt Rosentreter of Toronto says that most people marry, have children, buy houses and then only at about age 50 stop to take stock of their overall financial picture.  He says at that age they are like 'deer in the headlights' suddenly surprised at how much post-secondary schooling will cost for their children and at how little they have saved for retirement.
-ED NOTE: It's easy for government to fault us for lack of financial literacy or for financial planners to urge us to use their services, but it may well be that at root of the problem is within government control. If we for instance had free education instead of school fees, low cost or free post-secondary as in France and Ireland instead of exorbitant costs, low student debt and affordable housing, and if we had a birth bonus and funding for care of children to age 18 as in many European countries, people we might well have more money to save.

In the UK all 3 major parties promised before the last election to address the problem of the costs of eldercare. It is estimated that 17 million people in Britain currently alive will live to age 100 and that by 2026 eldercare will cost so much that there will be a 6 billion pound funding shortfall. If people have to move out of their own homes, nursing home relocation costs about 36,000 pounds per year. There is financial help available from government for those whose income is under 23,250 pounds but at issue is whether their current assets should be considered. If they are, many will be forced to sell the family home in order to pay for eldercare of one of its members. Labor peer, Lord Warner thinks the baby boom generation 'has done pretty well for itself' in assets and should have to pay for their own old age care. The independent commission he is part of will consider how to exploit' the big chunk of potential' currently locked up in housing. Other proposals have been suggested:
-allowing state support for child benefit, student fee reduction and national insurance for the middle class not just the poor so that the middle class is less 'squeezed.' This will encourage them to save for their own retirement and help them provide for the elderly in their family
-letting financial institutions set up programs where seniors can live at home but get a loan on their home, in an 'equity release' scheme, whereby in some cases the loan company then owns the home
-encouraging seniors to save more
-though economist Patrick Nolan points out this advise comes too late for those aged 65-85
-imposing a death tax so that funds generated to the state in turn go to fund elder care of others
-provide universal funding of elder care.

In Canada on divorce, couples are legally expected to split property and assets acquired during the marriage. However common law couples could not do so. In Ottawa, Michele Vanasset moved in with David Seguin and had two children together, cohabiting for 12 years but not marrying. Vanasset gave up her full time job to tend the family while Seguin became a successful businessman and eventually sold his business for about $11 million. On separation she felt entitled to some of the assets. Margaret Kerr and Nelson Baranow in BC lived together for 25 years without marrying. She on separation sought compensation for her share of the home and other assets but he filed a counterclaim to get compensation for the housekeeping and personal assistance services he gave her when she suffered a stroke. The Supreme Court of Canada has ruled in both cases that the person who makes a sacrifice, such as giving up a paid career to support a partner, is engaged in a 'joint venture' with the other and is entitled to compensation. The court ruled that where both parties 'have worked together for the common good, with each making extensive but different contributions to the welfare of the other" and have accumulated assets, a money remedy should reflect that reality. At issue is whether the financial success of the one partner came at a cost to the other and was 'unjust enrichment.'

Two quite different pictures are being painted of crime rates in Canada, possibly due to two different ways of reporting. Julie McAuley of Juristat, the Canadian Centre for Justice Statistics, works with Statistics Canada and says that her group has data from over 30 years back and the only intention is to report accurately. She says that when studies show declines in crime rate they are accurate and that there is no attempt to conceal any other trends. Scott Newark of the Macdonald -Laurier Institute for Public Policy, however, says that the way Stats Canada data is reported gives an incomplete picture, and is 'badly distorted'. His studies show that crime is actually increasing. He reports that:
-homicide rates are down as Stats Canada claims. But many events that would have led to death are now being treated medically in a more effective manner, and what should be reported are lethal violence acts that include both homicide and attempted murder. By that category, deadly crime is up 10% between 1999 and 2009.
-when youth are arrested there is a greater trend now to divert them from criminal proceedings. He says that if we actually counted who was arrested and guilty, we'd find youth crime has doubled in the last ten years.
-When a person who is suspected of many offences commits a crime, the recording system for Stats Canada does not require that every offence be recorded, and often that only the latest one is, or the most serious. This leads to underreporting. Also, lesser crimes like violating bail are often not reported but if they were, 'administration of justice violations' are actually up 50% since 1999.
-he says annual crime rates don't usually tell how many crimes were committed by people already out on bail or parole but this would be useful to know.
-over the decades Stats Canada has added more categories to crimes it counts and has divided up others. Newark says this makes misleading comparisons of tallies.

In Canada people who commit serious crimes and are in jail have a chance of being released early if a parole board determines they have felt remorse, changed their direction, served enough time or met other conditions. There have always been two currents about such offenders, one advocacy group wanting long incarceration as a penalty and the other arguing that the 'faint hope' of earlier release actually motivates prisoners to change. This discussion has again surfaced in Canada. The House of Commona and Senate have passed Bill S-6 to end the faint hope clause for those serving terms for first and second degree murder. Under the new ruling those who commit first degree murder will have to serve at least 25 years in jail and those who commit second degree murder may have to also wait that long.

 January, 2011

Although there has been a lot of discussion about the decline of traditional gender roles and the emergent trend of men becoming more active in caring for children, Dr. Sarah Schoppe-Sullivan of Ohio State University has released research that suggests that traditional gender roles are still in place for a significant proportion of families -- despite fathers' desires to be more actively involved as caregivers of their children. Dr. Schoppe-Sullivan interviewed 112 middle class couples that had a 4 year old and watched how they interacted when the child was drawing pictures or building a toy structure. She found that if the mother was the main caregiver and the father was the person who played more with the kids, the couple seemed to get along better, with fewer comments undermining each other's parenting. She theorized that many mothers tend to set up 'maternal gatekeeping' and unconsciously resent men who do care roles for children. (She also theorized that gender of the child may be a factor, where fathers tend to assume mothers know how to raise girls while women assume fathers know how to raise boys.) The issue of maternal gatekeeping often surfaces post-divorce, as fathers who were previously highly involved in children's upbringing suddenly find themselves the victims of parental alienation by mothers who want them disengaged from active involvement in children's lives but to maintain their traditional breadwinning role.  The fathers in these cases seek a more egalitarian relationship where financial support and child caregiving are equally shared responsibilities.

Statistics Canada has studied death certificates in Canada noticing differences between rates and causes between 1967 and 2007. The results merit incomplete comparison only, they warn, because some diagnostic methods have changed, some ways of recording have changed such as calling hypertension a cause of death when today it might be listed as heart attack that resulted from hypertension. Stats Canada now itemizes types of falls that led to death rather than just having a general category of falls. The statistics however are still useful. Legislation against drunk driving, for airbags and for seatbelts is suspected as key to the drop in rates of deaths from car accidents. The study also found:
-death rate in 1976 was 7.36 per 1000. In 2007 it was 7.14 per 1000
-deaths from suicide in 1976 were 1.3% of all deaths but in 2007 were 2.5%
-deaths from crime were 0.8% of all deaths in 1967 but only 0.22% in 2007
-cancer deaths were 18.6% of all deaths in 1967 but 30% of deaths in 2007. Experts theorize that smoking of earlier decades may be now showing its effects.
-deaths from cardiovascular disease were 40% in 1967 but 30% in 2007
-deaths from auto or bicycle accidents, falls, drowning, poisoning or choking were 7.7% in 1967 but 4.4% in 2007
-deaths from non-cancerous diseases such as ones of the liver, stomach, appendix and pancreas were 16.4% in 1967 but 20.8% in 2007.
In total, Stats Canada tracked 999 causes of death.

When advertisers want to sell products they often find the public varies in its cynicism about the ad process itself. The Institute of Communication Agencies has found however that young Canadians are more receptive to ads than are older generations. The institute found that those aged 18-34 vary significantly from those aged 45-54 -36% of young adults but only 24% of middle aged adults share ads they like.
-20% of young adults but only 10% of middle aged adults have searched online for a favourite commercial
-25% of young adults but only 11% of middle aged adults look forward to watching ads for brands they like
-As ads become more high tech, young people's filter of cynicism is reduced.

A debate has waged about whether for profit hospitals serve the public better than public ones do, whether for profit childcare centres surpass public ones and whether for profit seniors' facilities outperform the public version. Key to the discussion are economic theories about whether the profit motive enhances the desire to create a top notch service the public will seek out, or whether the desire to profit will lead companies to cut corners in service to keep profits high. The for profit sector claims that it can offer advantages of keeping costs down, and that it is attentive to consumer demand because otherwise it would go out of business. The not for profits claim by contrast that they can offer stability of service and with guaranteed government funding can operate more cheaply for the customer. In Ontario in July 2008 the provincial ombudsman led an investigation into seniors' care after getting over 500 complaints. Dr. Margaret McGregor of UBC has commented in the Globe and Mail that for profits, according to the report, have problems. The study found delays, inconsistent monitoring and lack of transparency. It also found
-for profits have lower nursing staff levels -rates of pressure ulcers or bed sores were higher in the for profits -more inspection deficiencies were found in the for profits In Ontario nearly 2/3 of all new long term beds in the past 13 years have been for profits and that sector appears to be growing. Dr. McGregor says that long term care, unlike hospital care, is not covered under the Canada Health Act and she would like to see a stringent set of minimum standards, minimum staffing and adequate funding. She notes that the not for profits are often able to save money by mobilizing volunteers and can raise funds for capital equipment because of their tax status for donors.

In China the one child policy has been in place long enough that the single child is often now a middle aged adult with aging parents. This has put pressure on the culture to ensure respect for the elderly is a daily thing, even if the adult child lives far away. As government budgets shrink and it is costly for the state to provide elder care, government officials have landed on an idea to make family-based care mandatory. In 1996 a law was passed about such care and in 2011 an amendment is being proposed so that if an adult child does not visit the senior often enough, that adult child can be fined or jailed. (The new law would also put in place better pensions and free medical service for those aged 80 and more.)

When governments put in place policies to recognize costs within a family, they often do this in a bureaucratic way so benefits are not automatic but must be applied for. The fact that applications must be made has been mentioned as a reason for low uptake of some new programs designed to help the poor. Bill Curry in a recent study has outlined his analysis after the Department of Finance issued a report.

-the children's fitness tax credit set up in 2006 was expected to cost $160 million a year. Last year it cost $115 million
-the tax credit for first time home buyers set up in 2009 was expected to cost $180 million a year but last year only cost $145 million
-the public transit tax credit set up in 2006 was expected to cost $220 million but last year cost only $145 million
-there is a free start of $5000 available as a Canada Learning Bond for those low income households earning under $40,970 that want to save for post secondary for their children. This money however must be applied for. It is available to those whose children were born Jan 1 2004 or after, who are receiving the National Child Benefit supplement already.

In Canada those without employment sometimes access federal employment insurance. Recent studies have revealed however that the funding provided and the amount of time you have to have done paid work to qualify vary widely from province to province. The EI benefit is determined based on employment rates in the area and if the region often has only seasonal work available, benefits are usually easier to get. The Moat Centre for Policy Innovation has found that by this system, young people, new immigrants, part-time workers and residents of big cities tend to get less. The issue came to a head recently when workers laid off from Daimler AG's factory in St. Thomas Ontario found that if they lived near the factory they got 50 weeks of benefits but if they lived just a few km farther down the road they got only 40 weeks. Plans to equalize benefits and make them more uniform have been suggested but there have been objections raised too. The study found
-unemployment in Canada is 8.3%. It is highest in Newfoundland and Labrador at 15.5% and low in the prairies, at 4.8% in Saskatchewan.
-of those who are unemployed 48.3% get EI benefits across Canada. However among the unemployed, only 49% are covered in Saskatchewan while 100% are covered in Newfoundland and Labrador
-Professor Keith Banting of Queen's University has called the system a 'postal code lottery'
-Millions of unemployed in Toronto, Calgary or Vancouver pay to get EI benefits but if they lose their jobs are unlikely to be able to collect
-those who work part-time often don't amass the hours to collect even though they paid into they system
-anyone new to the labor market has to put in 910 hours of paid work while those already in the country often need only put in 700 hours to qualify.

Now that child-raising theorists feel a rich background of information is useful and now that computers can amass much detail, some researchers are compiling superlists about children. In British Columbia, a program run by the Human Early Learning Partnership at UBC has been working with kindergarten operators to create an Early Development Instrument. Without specific parental written consent, material is being collected and linked about the medical, education, pharmaceutical background, mental health, perinatal and birth information about children and sometimes about their parents including marital status through the census. Dr. Clyde Hertzman who operates HELP also has indicated he would like to add income tax records to the data base. The new program was reviewed by the UBC Behavioral Research Ethics Board and was given permission to collect the data but the BC Civil Liberties Association has expressed concern at the use of only passive or assumed consent to collect it. Kids First Parent Association of Canada has argued that the data should only be collected if parents give informed consent. Otherwise, Kids First says there is a violation of privacy.

Now that the Harper government has embarked on a 'get tough with criminals' plan for harsher sentencing and more stay in jail, estimates are coming in of the costs, both financial and human, of the new plan. Laws in place to end conditional sentencing, to impose mandatory minimum prison terms for nonviolent offenses have met with objection from the Church Council on Justice and Corrections, a coalition of 11 faiths. Lorraine Berzins of the CCJC says in the publication "Prison Facts' that it will actually cost more to incarcerate and will not make the streets safer. The Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops also says there is a problem. Laurent Champagne of the CCJC says offenders who are poor, disadvantaged and marginalized really need education, health service, employment and treatment not incarceration. Kim Pate of the Canadian Association of Elizabeth Fry Societies is particularly concerned that women in need of psychiatric care will be particularly poorly served if just placed into maximum security. Kelly Hannah-Moffat of the U of Toronto says that nearly all female offenders have some mental health issue and some suffer from clinical depression, schizophrenia or psychosis. She is concerned that tough laws and tough sentences will not give such women the care they need.

From "Embrace the Chaos"...

-Makeup for 8 year olds: a good idea?:  Wal-Mart will soon be stocking makeup for 8-year olds.  But who really wants their young kids wearing makeup? Evidently, Wal-Mart thinks their customers do. They are launching a new make-up line for eight - twelve year olds in March. The new Geo Girl line has 69 products in it, is easy to apply and even contains some anti-aging properties, to maintain that healthy 8-year old glow. This is not the make-up of toddlers and tiaras, this is sheer, subtly-packaged, eco-friendly, parent-friendly training make-up for junior fashionistas. The vice-president of Pacific World, the Geo-girl's manufacturer says: "These are real cosmetics with natural ingredients that will create return purchases and create a true beauty consumer." Perhaps to minimize parental guilt the makeup will not have any parabens, phalates and will come in recyclable packaging. This is not Wal-Mart's first foray into tween makeup. Geo Girl Beauty is replacing the past-its-day makeup line of MaryKate and Ashley Olsen which was predominantly washable glitter. Women wear makeup for many reasons: to look more attractive, accentuate positive attributes, hide blemishes, look younger and more polished. But does a young girl ever need blush to make their cheeks rosier?  Perhaps, as some suggest, girly-girl culture is creating little consumers. It seems a shame that at a vulnerable age when we should be encouraging girls to define themselves in terms beyond their appearance; there is an increased marketing focus on getting them to stare into the mirror.

-Are the tiger mother's rules superior or just different?:  This month the Wall Street Journal ran an article entitled, "Why Chinese Mothers Are Superior," by Amy Chua. In it, she extols the "all work, no play" regime of her teenage daughters and the lengths that she'll go to ensure their success.  Her controversial ideas have struck a nerve and the book, "The Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother" has become the talk of the blogosphere.  Chua wrote that Chinese parenting methods are superior to Western methods because the focus on excellence produces superior kids.  Her definition of superior is a child that produces high grades, works hard and is talented on either the violin or the piano. Her definition has little to do with attributes like kindness, humility, humour and compassion. There is no recognition that emotional intelligence also contributes to success.  Chua proudly runs her family with an iron hand, she calls it the Chinese method of parenting, but acknowledges that families of other heritages may parent this way, especially minority or new immigrant families. Some of the rules her two daughters live by include: no playmates; not allowed to be less than the number one student in all subjects except gym and drama; must study violin or piano, and practice for two to three hours a day; no sleepovers; no TV or computers. The girls have no choice or say over their extracurriculars or their time. They are expected to excel in everything that has been chosen from them. They are pushed until they succeed, nothing less than perfect is accepted. Many bloggers of Asian descent have written about how Chua's methods have reminded them of their own strict upbringing. Betty Ming Lui writes: "Parents like Amy Chua are the reason why Asian-Americans like me are in therapy." Christine Lu writes about her perfect sister, who later committed suicide. Others have written that this explosion of interest in Chinese methods of parenting is an opportunity for the community to expand their definition of achievement. Chua writes: “... as a parent, one of the worst things you can do for your child’s self-esteem is to let them give up. On the flip side, there’s nothing better for building confidence than learning you can do something you thought you couldn’t.”  Chua's is the opposite of attachment parenting and free range kids -- she is completely in control and her kids are subject to her bidding. It is no surprise really that this type of parenting is garnering attention at this point in time. She is being widely marketed as the opposite of touchy-feely parenting. She is the antidote to kids that are so tuned in to texting, Facebook and video games that their grades and their possibilities have fallen to the wayside. "Parent knows best" feels a little safer in these unsure times; her kids seem accomplished, studious and polite. We would all like kids like that. But is there only one road? Can parents who allow their kids to pick up extracurriculars and then drop them, or who give kids a night off from homework to go to drama club still have successful kids?

-'Teen Mom': Exploitation or Instructive?:  What would you do to become famous? Would you get pregnant just to get on MTV's 'Teen Mom?' Would you allow your daughter on the show? There has been some murmurings in the media that this is what's happening in the U.S. That teens are getting pregnant on purpose to be on season 2 of the reality show. The show is a gripping and depressing look at what happens when a baby interrupts a teenagers life. The sideshow around the reality stars is also a depressing statement of what happens when someone becomes famous or infamous. The show is the second-most popular show on MTV, and has landed the stars quite a few magazine covers and their very own segments on TMZ -- the pinnacle of fame right now in the U.S. The show itself is an advertisement for birth control and how the abstinance message fails miserably. But the appeal of being on television lives in the same part of the brain that believes the pulling out method is foolproof. As long as we hold up fame as a pinnacle of success then we can expect more and more people doing whatever it takes to get famous. The teen moms made their mistakes and now they have to live with them. But the culture of fame becomes addictive and who knows what these young girls will do next to maintain their fame?
In the end it is their babies that suffer the most -- born to mothers who weren't quite ready and then thrust into America's reality star making/breaking machine. Part of me thinks that MTV has a role to play in ensuring these kids turn out all right. But that won't happen. A few years from now, no one will remember the teen moms, and their kids will be left trying to figure out how to make a life out of the spotlight.

-Are Vaccinations Really So Scary?:  Andrew Wakefield is the doctor that kickstarted the anti-vaccine movement by claiming a link between the MMR (measles, mumps, rubella) vaccine and autism. Except that his study was faked. The findings were retracted by the Lancet, the journal that first published them. Besides his "study" on 12 children in 1998, no link has been found; in fact the link has been refuted again and again. Wakefield (who's medical license has been revoked in Great Britain) and his supporters claim that the current wave of media attention discrediting him is all a giant conspiracy by Big Pharma. But what does the empirical evidence show?  We know that vaccines have virtually eradicated polio and smallpox. Because of vaccines, we don't have to fear our kids becoming paralyzed by sharing a snack at school. We also know that because of the Andrew Wakefield's "study" there has been a decline in vaccinations and there have been outbreaks of measles, mumps and rubella in England. It seems that the autism panic that Wakefield and his funders started cannot be abated. As Paul Offit, an infectious disease expert at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia and the author of books criticizing the anti-vaccine movement said, "This scared people and it's extremely hard to unscare them." Fear and guilt are powerful motivators, and these are feelings that parents carry around in excess. We don't always make rational decisions when it comes to our kids, in fact we constantly make irrational ones, we are terrible at risk assessment. As Christie Barnes, author of “The Paranoid Parents Guide.” says in the New York Times: “We are constantly overestimating rare dangers while underestimating common ones.” We are innundated with scary stories all the time. Since I have had kids I have been told to fear: plastic, peanut butter, cribs, strollers, leafy greens, not-enough leafy greens, red paint, TV, computer games, cell phones, antiseptic soaps, and the flu amongst others. How do I choose what to take seriously and what not to? In the end, I can only make my decision based on what scares me less according to the information, the experts and my instincts. As the Washington Post says: "life just is sometimes. We can't always explain why our kids may have allergies or asthma or autism or cancer or colic just as we can't explain why some kids are mellow and some are hyper, why some are clumsy and others are athletic. And we can't -- and shouldn't -- feel guilty for not preventing all the bad stuff." I understand why parents worry about vaccines, it is scary to jab your child's arm and inject something into them. What if your decision causes them long-term pain? Whereas if you don't do it, the likelihood of your child getting sick is very low. And why is it low? Because of herd immunity. Translation: your un-vaccinated kid won't get sick, others got their kids vaccinated. I don't think Big Pharma is altruistic, they do sometimes cover-up findings and pursue profits at the expense of public health. But all the evidence shows the MMR/vaccination link is a red herring. We should be focusing our resources on other possible causes and treatments of autism as well as eradicating the diseases that we have the power and knowlege to deal with today, thanks to a needle.

-How Do You Talk to Your Kids About God?:  A typical dinner conversation...
-Son Number 1: I don't believe in God, why would I?
-Mother: Some people believe in a higher power without labelling it God...
-Son Number 1: Do you?
-Mother: No, I don't, at least I think I don't. I think this is it.
-Father: I believe that there is something greater than us, I wouldn't say it in a monotheistic way. I just think there is an energy that surrounds us. There are just so many unanswered questions.
-Son Number One: Like why the monkeys stayed monkeys and we didn't. You know they just discovered a planet 12-million light years away that could support life. Maybe there are aliens out there.
-Son Number Two: I don't know about God but aliens would be cool. But I do believe in Santa.
-Son Number One: We're Jewish, genius.
When you aren't religious, it is hard to talk to your kids about God. We don't want to tell them what to believe -- that has caused enough trouble in history. But we also want them to develop critical thinking tools and understand that there is more than one way to express spiritual belief, or a lack of spiritual belief.
These conversations are hard ones to have, but important. They give us opportunities to show our values (religious, spiritual, cultural or otherwise) such as: tolerance for different points of view; using questions as a springboard for further research; practicing critical thinking skills; and learning to trust that some questions are unanswerable.

December, 2010

The phenomenon of "Hikikomori," affecting 1.6 Japanese youth and young adults, has been the subject of recent research and media attention. Dr. Mariko Kimura, Visiting Professor of Social Welfare at the University of British Columbia, presented on the topic this month at that university. Essentially a matter of extreme social isolation, to the point of closeting oneself within the confines of a small space, Hikikomori has many theoretical explanations, but relatively little empirical research into aetiology. Postulated theories include a combination of high expectations, the experience of school bullying and a highly competitive school environment, and limited career prospects. ED NOTE: Disengaged fathers and enmeshed mothers are also implicated, according to some commentators. As all such behaviours, Hikikomori is likely to be a mix of physical, psychological, social and spiritual elements. According to current practice, a typical Canadian social welfare response would be psychiatric medication; Japanese social welfare policy specific to Hikikomori is yet to be developed. Quick fixes such as medication, however, are likely to be superficial only; such behaviour is likely to have a mix of physical, psychological, social and spiritual dimensions.

A recent study found that being a caregiver is not only helpful to the patient but may help the caregiver, particularly regarding care of the dying. Dr Shane Sinclair of the U of Calgary talked to care providers of the dying and found that those who deal with death daily learn better how to process their own fears about death. He also found that contrary to the belief that letting a dying person open up about fears will hasten death, those who are listened to actually become less depressed and less fearful. The study found that to be a caregiver of someone dying is a vital service. Even though the dying person knows you can’t provide a cure the listening is appreciated. ED NOTE: Family caregiving of someone dying is also a vital responsibility, and support for the involvement of children and grandchildren of a dying elder is vital.

Though a playground for kids aims to give good care and fun, recent studies suggest current playgrounds are so sterile little kids rarely use the equipment there. Professor Susan Herrington of the U of British Columbia videotaped children aged 2-5 at 16 different outdoor play centres and found that kids used the traditional swings, slides and climbers only 13% of the time. When they did use them they used them the traditional way only 3% of the time, urging her to notice that kids like to be creative and messy. She interviewed early childhood workers and 57% of them said that the equipment should be more challenging for kids. David Low, a grade 12 English teacher took his five year old son to over 50 playgrounds over one summer and noticed that the boy really liked bridges, ropes, things with which he could create imaginary scenes. Herrington says designers often prioritize making a play area safe, even trying to keep it always clean so nearby property values stay high. However kids like to be messy. Jeff Cutler, a Vancouver landscape architect, designed Garden City Park with a bridge, pond, arboretum and a wood, rock and sand playground with a creek bed and water play area.

Yolande James, Quebec’s Minister of Families has announced Dec 2010 that from now on public funds will not be used at any childcare facility that has the object of teaching a ‘belief, a dogma or the practice of a specific religion.’ Any current daycares that have a religious component will have to drop that aspect of their curriculum. Christmas carols or crafts with a religious connotation will be banned though a daycare will be allowed to display a crèche. James says the line will be drawn if there is teaching about the religion. In the spring of 2010 media reported that a few Quebec daycares has Muslim or Jewish affiliations and a movement began in reaction, to remove all religion from early childhood centres. Dr. Daniel Weinstock of the U of Montreal says daycares and schools can serve as a counterweight to the way that the family, the church, the mosque and the synagogue 'hold sway' over children. However, many have criticized the new move. The Parti Quebecois says the policy is not enforceable and will be easy to evade. The Globe and Mail newspaper points out that the policy is inconsistent since the Quebec government already provides 30% of funding to private schools, some of which are religious; and the Catholic Board of education is fully funded. The Muslim Council of Montreal says it may mount a legal challenge against the policy as explicit discrimination against the rights of religious communities to educate their children in their own values. ED NOTE: I concur with both the Muslim Council and with Beverley Smith that we should question whether it is actually possible to ban a 'belief.' Surely any ethical principle about sharing, taking turns, and being kind is a belief. What we end up with in schools that ban any particular religion is the message that no religion matters. The irony then creeps in that kids often have ethical dilemmas and the state then creates a rather heavy curriculum of moral principles teachers have to teach, which end up being their own ‘religion.’ We claim to respect diversity as a country, but this policy runs counter to the principle.

"Kangeroo care" is a new trend in infant care, particularly n developing countries. In these countries, when babies born prematurely there are often no facilities to help them. There are few incubators to keep the baby warm, fed and getting enough oxygen and there are not enough hospital supplies. Dr. Edgar Rey of the Mother and Child Institute in Bogota, Colombia had to put three newborns in each incubator and infections spread quickly, and the death rate was high. He could have lobbied for more money but that would not necessarily have resulted in a winning or quick answer. He did however have another one: kangaroo care. In this system the mother of the baby lies on a bed and nestles the preemie on her chest, the baby dressed only in a diaper and cap but attached to the mother with a scarf. The baby’s skin touches that of the mother and the baby responds to the breathing and heartbeat of the mother. The babies treated with such care sleep better, are breastfed at will, and the mothers produce more milk because of the skin contact. The babies gain weight better than if not in such care and their respiration and heart rates stabilize. Emotional closeness and acceptance between mother and baby also are enhanced and mothers are less afraid of bonding with a very tiny baby. Kangaroo care is being used now in Zimbabwe and the move to use it is spreading in Africa nd South America.

It used to be believed that whatever a last will and testament said, you had to respect it. If it were not legal, that would be the one disqualifier but how a person disposed of his or her assets was up to that person alone. However in recent years that theory has been questioned in the courts. In 1975 the Canadian Supreme Court rewrote a divorce settlement to ensure that the ethical obligation was meant to reward the ‘substantial contribution’ made by spouses and children to the operation of homes, farms, business and families. The contribution the person made need not have been a paid one and the property need never have been official in their names for them to get the right to inherit some of it, even if they were not named in the will. This same principle has been examined in a 2008 case when William Werbenuk aged 86 died. Though he had four daughters and a son, he left his entire estate to the son, including a farm, investment properties and a house and violin collection. Judge Randall Wong of the BC Supreme Court examined evidence that Werbenuk had been controlling and abusive toward his daughters and the judge ruled that ‘it would not be in keeping with contemporary moral standards’ to honour his wishes about how to distribute his wealth. The judge awarded all four children equal portions of the estate. In Alberta however the courts have not taken the same route. In Alberta the only obligation is that all those under age 18 related to the deceased are ‘adequately cared for,’ but judges are reluctant to actually adjust any of the amounts in the will.

Though having women get more paid labor jobs was deemed a goal of the 1960s women’s movement, to ensure financial independence and self-esteem, some consequences of this push may not have been anticipated. The Family Change and Time Allocation in American Families study, by Dr. Suzanne Bianchi of the U of California at Los Angeles found that women who forge ahead into careers are sometimes in a difficult bind and suffer other problems. These include increased stress and a pivotal delay in marriage and childbearing. The study found that despite technology, the paid work field is requiring more not fewer hours of commitment. Hours parents provide care of a child may not be time sitting with the child and playing but are often counted if just taxiing children to other locations for care. Many parents are sad they are able to spend so little time with their young. The study found
-in 1985 mothers did 18.8 hours paid work but in 2008 they did 22.6 hours per week
-to meet increased time demands mothers were cutting back on personal grooming time from 12.2 hours to 8.4 hours per week and on housework from 20.4 hours to 17.4 hours
-44% of mothers with paid work, with a full-time employed spouse say they have too little time with their youngest children.
-73% of mothers with paid work with a full time earning spouse say they have too little time with their spouse and 74% say they have too little time for themselves
-Dr. Barbara Schneider of Michigan State University found that though many mothers feel they must be multitasking, doing so leaves women frustrated, irritated and stressed. Schneider’s study found that school year lengths and paid work timing are not in sync and that there are at least 81 week days when kids are not in school that parents nonetheless have to do paid work. Even if parents take a two week vacation there are still 55 days a year when parents have to try to juggle paid work obligations with obligations to provide care of their young. Schneider found that many women are in paid work for the money, some for the status but many just to get the benefits like health insurance and retirement plan coverage.

From the current Harper's Index: Medium income of U.S. urban, single, childless, aged 20-30 men: $26,000. Of women in this category: $28,000.

November 2010

Could divorce in childhood be a new risk factor for stroke? A new study based on more than 13,000 adults living in Manitoba and Saskatchewan has found that those whose parents divorced when they were children had twice the odds of having a stroke at some time in their lives, a finding that held after researchers controlled for a litany of known risk factors for stroke. The study — believed the first to show a parent divorce-stroke link — doesn't prove cause and effect, merely an association, and the researchers stressed their finding needs to be replicated by others. But it adds to emerging research suggesting early life stressors such as divorce might somehow become "biologically embedded" in children and change the way they physiologically respond to the stressors they face throughout their lives. The study, by University of Toronto social work researcher Esme Fuller-Thomson, used data from Statistic Canada's 2005 Canadian Community Health Survey. Of the 13,134 total study respondents, 10.4 per cent reported their parents divorced when they were children; 1.9 per cent reported that they had been diagnosed with a stroke at some point in their lives. The odds of stroke were approximately two-fold higher for adult children of divorce. After taking smoking and drinking into account, as well as obesity, physical activity, diabetes, mood and anxiety disorders, socioeconomic status, age, race and gender, the increased stroke risk "didn't disappear at all," Fuller-Thompson stated. It's not clear what might be going on. One hypothesis is that exposure to stress early in life affects the development of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis, which controls how the body responds to stress. That can alter regulation of cortisol — the "fight or flight" stress hormone, making people vulnerable to stress-related diseases later on.

A concern has arisen among consumers that children are often used as pawns in commercial enterprise, with ads targeting them to then ask the parents to buy things, or with ads bombarding children in places where they should be able to be free of commercialism such as in the schools. A recent focus has been the commercial practice of giving away free toys or prizes with purchased food. The city of San Francisco has become the first major US city to pass a law forbidding restaurants from passing out free toys along with unhealthy meals for children. The National Restaurant Association and McDonald’s Corporation opposed the law, the popular Happy Meal at McDonald’s being then under threat. Danya Proud of McDonald’s says that getting a toy with a meal is ‘just one part of a family dining experience’. The new law however says toys can only be given away with a meal if the meal has under 600 calories, has fruit and vegetables and has a beverage that does not contain excess fat or sugar.

Romeo Dallaire was a military general and headed a UN peacekeeping mission Rwanda in 1994. At that site he saw genocide on a huge scale and was shocked to notice that children were being raped, drugged, abducted, and used as killers. In retirement he helped set up Engineers without Borders and is alerting the world to the abuse of children. He says children make the perfect weapons system since they are ‘plentiful, can be easily indoctrinated, drugged and lured away by the excitement of belonging to a group’. He says they are inexpensive to maintain, loyal and have the capacity to be barbaric, and that is why it is particularly heinous to recruit them as soldiers. He has set up a website, zeroforce.org to ask youth to connect with their peers around the world and get to know them, by Facebook, Skype or even in person. He has also recently published a book, “They Fight Like Soldiers, They Die Like Children’ following the life of an African child who gets recruited into a rebel army.

In earlier generations there was a curfew after which kids had to go to bed and could not watch TV. Some would read but some households also had a lights out policy by a certain hour. In today’s world many teens are able to go to their rooms, and have lights out, but still stay up and use electronic media. Dr. Peter Polos of JFK Medical Centre in Edison New Jersey has released results of a study of teens finding that they are often using their text messaging devices intensely in the hours before they sleep. He found that teens receive on average 3404 texts or emails per month which is over 113 a day. During their presleep boys are more likely to surf the net and play online games while girls are more likely to text and use cell phones. Polos is concerned that by such intense evening use of technology teens are becoming overstimulated, for instance playing video games, and are losing sleep. He wants parents to have rules about technology use and to also be good examples themselves of not using such devices late into the night.

Dr. Maria Olivia-Hernker of Johns Hopkins Children’s Centre has released results of a study of young children finding that there has been a 30% increase in cases of serious and chronic constipation. She suspects this problem is linked to lack of physical activity, low fiber diets and inadequate consumption of water. She says that constipation is easily overlooked at first in young children and symptoms then get worse. She urges parents to react quickly to situations of abdominal bloating, straining with bowel movements, lumpy or hard stool or a feeling of incompletely emptying of the bowels – I think that anthropologically we are designed to not ‘go’ if we are under stress and may soon have to flee or fight. Our language even contains references to this, ‘scared shitless’ for instance. Constipation in young children may be related to them being in environments where they are under constant stress, pressure to perform or compete for attention as can happen in large childcare facilities.

A study of time use by Mark Ellwood of Pace Productivity Ltd. has revealed that on the paid work front, time use may not be as expected. It turns out that despite technology, paid work hours are increasing and the higher a person ranks in the firm, the longer hours that person puts in. He found
-the 40 hour work week is now about 48.4 hours for knowledge workers
-while municipal workers put in 42.5 hours per week, receptionists 44.6, and sales reps 48.5, presidents put in 59.7 hours
-more overtime is done in the morning than in the evening with 10% of work done before 8AM and only 5% after 6PM
-during overtime, people do 50% of their email work, 41% of their planning and 37% of their paperwork
-57% of team meetings are held outside the 9-5 interval
-most weekdays people spend 25 minutes a day on email but on Sunday they spend 60 minutes.
-Ellwood said that men do 48.2 hours per week while women only do 44.5 hours. He said that 38% of men but only 18% of women work outside the home over 50 hours per week.

In Ontario when courts order separated or divorced parents to pay child or spousal support, tracking is sometimes done to see if those payments are being made. When a parent has continually missed payments the Family Responsibility Office can ask the ministry of transportation to suspend driving licenses and 3965 suspensions were issued during a 12 month period ending March 2010. Frank Klees MPP and transport critic says that some people are not aware their licenses have been suspended because the office has had administration problems in sending notification by mail. The government has ruled that its policy will not only continue but will become more severe. As of Dec 1 2010, not only will licenses be suspended but drivers will also have their cars confiscated. Transportation Minister Kathleen Wynne says this new move will impress upon the public ‘how critical it is’ that family support be paid. However Carl Zwibel of the Canadian Civil Liberties Association is not sure if failure to make support payments could be related to road safety and questions if the cost of impounding a vehicle is reasonable. Lloyd Gorling of the advocacy group Ex-fathers says that depriving a parent of ability to go to work to earn money is not logical as an effort to entice payment.

In Quebec a 35 year old woman has won a major legal victory in a suit against her former common law spouse from who she has separated. The two had three children together and were a couple for 3 years but split up in 2002. The Civil Code provides child support for children when parents are not legally married but there has up to now not been a provision for common law spousal support or alimony. The Quebec Superior Court ruled in 2009 that the woman had no right to alimony. Justice Carole Hallee said the choice to not legally marry must be respected along with its inherent lack of legal responsibilities of marriage. However the Quebec Court of Appeal has awarded the alimony saying that the other law discriminated unfairly against common law spouses creating a prejudice that such relationships are less serious or durable. The woman in question was seeking a $50 million lump sum payment and monthly payments of $56,000 a month. She was already getting $411,000 a year in child support and her ex let her live in the $2.5 million family home though he remained the property owner.

Debate about who is the ‘real ‘ parent of adopted children or children born of sperm donation has taken a new turn. Olivia Pratten age 28 was raised by an adoptive father but is in court to try to find out who is the genetic sperm donor who fathered her biologically. She claims that she has the right to know her genetic heritage. Right now sperm donors are allowed to remain anonymous. In the UK anonymous donations were ended and the supply of donor sperm plummeted immediately. Dr. Robert Leckey and Dr. Angela Campbell who teach law at McGill University have written in the Globe and Mail their view that enabling Pratt to find her biological sperm donor could set a dangerous precedent. They claim that all humans have 99% of their DNA in common anyway and that parents and children biologically share 99.5%, so only slightly more DNA in common. They say that social bonds between parents and children have deep importance and finding the biological bond as key implies wrongly that identity comes from genetics.
-ED NOTE: The dangerous part of the argument for me is the assumption that there is little link between biological parent and child. Yes there is only a small DNA link but it is what gives eye and hair color, height, skin color, predisposition to some health conditions good or less good. Children's need for roots is not to be ignored. If we deny the innate bond between parent and child we might risk going down the road to devaluing parenting and having government take over with "conditioning centres for the very young," the Brave New World scenario.

In 1995 the birth rate in Sweden was dropping despite its widely advertised national daycare program. Even when parental leave was set up as an option dads could take, few dads took it. The European Union has extended mandatory paternity leave October 2010 across all member nations. In Sweden a new policy is also emerging to not quite force dads to be home with the children but to provide generous benefits that are otherwise lost if they do not do so. The new government policy involves a flexible workday, a bonus of cash for men who take time home with the baby, and two additional ‘daddy months’ only fathers can use. The average length of paternity leave is now 3 months. One father in five does a 50-50 split with the mother and gets an equality bonus of $2.050. Swedes already get 480 days paid leave some time before each child turns 8. The state on those days pays 55% of annual salary no higher than $43,200. Swedish work days are also very flexible. Part-time can be days, half-days even quarter days.

October 2010

Those who do research about care of children often find that just telling factual results of studies may provoke anger directed at them. Dr. Jay Belsky in 1986 wrote “Infant Daycare: A Cause for Concern?” and public outcry was so intense in the US that he felt he must leave the country. He has relocated to the Institute for the Study of Children , Families and Social Issues at Birkbecki in London. He now feels that the discussion of 3rd party care of children has become politicized and inflammatory especially regarding care of those under age 2. Belsky had found that children who were in such care had higher levels of aggression and disobedience later in life. Many mothers were uncomfortable reading this research and insulted him as misogynist or against women’s rights. A study in the 1990s of US children however confirmed some of Belsky’s findings. It looked at 1000 children from birth to age 15 to see impact of early 3rd party childcare on later life. That study by the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development found that though children in 3rd party care can have some gains in language or cognitive development, those who were in such centres very young, tend to have higher rates of disobedience, aggression, poorer relations with teachers, and more susceptibility to use of alcohol and drugs and sexual involvement and impulsivity at age 15. Belsky is concerned that the public (fuelled by the neoliberal agenda and the World Bank) chooses sometimes to blame the messenger. Dr. Kathy Sylva of the UK found in studying 3000 children that the higher aggressiveness of children aged 5-7 was true, if they had been in early nursery care, but that it did tend to disappear by age 11. She does admit the issue is not cut and dried. For those under age 2 there are she says ‘serious and valid concerns’ about long term effects. In 2006 a Dutch study looked at cortisol levels at daycare and found that children in such settings had more of the stress hormone than did children in the home setting. Dr. Oliver Games, child psychologist says in his book “How not to F*** Them UP” that if children are in care too young or if the care is not good care, there are higher levels of cortisol, aggression, disobedience and emotional insecurity. He summaries the findings as follows in assessing care other than care by the mother. “Daddy is better than Granny is better than a Nanny, is better than Minder is better than daycare.”

When a person is ill, doctors often treat the symptom directly or the whole patient and they may look at the environment and attitude of the patient. Another approach however includes treating the family, or using the family as part of the treatment. With alcoholics, intervention may include having the entire family sit down with the drinker and talk about how much they value the person and how concerned they are. Dr. Daniell Le Grange of the U of Chicago has revealed that when anorexia is being treated there have similarly been two approaches. One is individual therapy while the other is the Maudsley method working with the family of the sufferer. In the Maudsley method the parents of an anorexic teen are empowered to play a main role, with one parent be available around the clock for two weeks to supervise all meals and snacks and to monitor the child between meals. Some parents even go to the school of the teen and supervise meals there in a private room. Parents are encouraged to think of taking over and requiring the child to eat as a vital role, akin to requiring your sick child to take all of their medicine. Dr. Le Grange has revealed research evidence Oct 2010 that the family treatment method is more effective than individual therapy in recent tests. After 121 anorexic patients were randomly assigned to individual or family therapy, 49% of those in family therapy were in remission after a year while only 23% of those in individual therapy were in remission. In later tests 40% of those in individual therapy had relapsed but only 10% of those in family therapy had done so. Dr. Michael Strober of the U of California Los Angeles says that the girls tested were aged 12-18 and only had been ill for a year or less, and were at 75% of ideal body weight. He says that for more seriously ill patients this family approach may have not been as successful. Strober says that some families are so ‘mired in conflict’ that they can’t meet the requirements of the family based treatment.

Studies of how long people live have found that the US falls behind many other nations. Dr. Peter Muennig of Columbia University found that in 1950 the US was fifth among the industrialized nations for life expectancy of women but by 2010 the US was 49th. Theories of why it has fallen behind have looked at smoking, obesity, traffic accidents, and the US murder rate. However Muennig found that the largest factor seems to be the high cost of health care of the US. The Democrats have begun better access to affordable health care but many Republicans are vowing to repeal the reforms.

Statistics Canada has revealed that in 2005 around 49% of women who gave birth were over age 30. This number is significantly higher than the 15% in 1974. Delaying having babies has become a common trend but Professor Judith Daniluk of the U of British Columbia is concerned about it. She says many women have an ‘exaggerated belief’ that their fertility will still be high in mid age. She says that most people do not realize that fertility drops a lot at age 34, and then is barely 1% at age 46. She says that many women also do not realize that IVF is not only expensive hut it also cannot fully compensate for age related fertility decline. Dr. Roger Pierson of the Canadian Fertility and Andrology Society says that many women seem to focus on celebrities who give birth in their forties and fears women are ‘bombarded with misinformation’. In a survey of 1000 women this spring Dr. Daniluk found that 86% said the ideal age to have a first child was between ages 20-30. However 44% expected that they themselves would be between 31-35 for that child and 28% said they would be over 36. Other areas of disconnect included
-most women felt that overall fitness could increase fertility, which is not technically accurate
-64% said that IVF could help women get pregnant any time before menopause at about age 51. In fact its usefulness for older women is highly in question.
-Daniluk hopes that employers will change attitudes so women who want babies can have them when their bodies permit it, younger.

Laurie Ching, PhD candidate at the U of Calgary has found that over the course of a life one in four Canadians suffers from depression. She is interested in the reason for these episodes and in particular in understanding why those who have one episode are at higher risk of having another. In 2010 the National Survey on Depression, conducted by Leger Marketing found that workers tend to wait on average 6 months before discussing their mental health with a doctor. The cost of depression to the economy is felt in absenteeism, lower productivity for those on the job, increased disability and sick time, plus high drug costs. The estimate of annual cost to the Canadian economy is $51 billion. 67% of those surveyed say depression impacts relationships with co workers. 30% of those diagnosed with depression said their employers made no accommodations for them on return from medical leave.

Michael Ignatieff, leader of the opposition Liberal party, has announced a new program for caregivers of family members. The promise has several parts and they will be significant in any upcoming election campaign according to officials.
-6 months family care employment insurance benefit – to let family members care for someone dying or seriously ill for not just six weeks but for up to 6 months. This benefit is still tied to paid work criteria, however.
-a family care tax benefit for low and middle income family caregivers to get a tax free monthly payment up to $1350 per year. This program is income based but would be accessible in full to those earning under $41,000 and would not be eliminated until the family income was $106,000 a year. Reaction to the proposals to recognize unpaid family-based care has been swift by government members. Human Resources Minister Diane Finely says that employers already provide enough compassionate care programs. Lucy Barylak is a Montreal social worker who says the Finley statement is ridiculous. Ariela Cotler, long-term caregiver advocate is also angry at what she feels is a cynical government attitude. Ignatieff says the new plans will solve many caregiver frustrations and he will fund them by freezing the corporate tax rate at 18% instead of dropping it to 16.5% as government plans to do. The editorial board of the Toronto Star has endorsed the plan and calls it ‘long overdue recognition of the work of unpaid caregivers’.

In the UK October 2010 the Chancellor has just announced that current child benefits that are universal will be changed. Under the new plan the benefits will be tied to income and only those with low incomes will get them fully. The calculation will look at individual income however, not combined income, so dual income families will be able to get the benefit easily still, while single income families may not. George Osborne defends the plan saying having a means tests based on family would involve too much administrative cost. The result according to press reports will be a reduction in benefits to the middle class, but government looks on this as a ‘savings’ of billions of pounds.

In many countries it is possible to take ‘leave’ from your paid career to tend a newborn baby and in some countries this leave is paid or partly paid by the employer or by government or both. The intent of such ‘leave’ is often to ensure women are not disadvantaged in their career or financially by giving birth and being home for a few months with the baby. However a recent study by TD Economics has found that the system is not necessarily meeting those goals. Beata Caranci of TD Economics found that even though women go back to their paid job after having a baby, their long term income is still less than it would have been had they not taken the maternity leave. The consistent wage gap is about 4% for ever year of absence and if women have taken maternity leave several times, the wage penalty can be up to 9% over the course of career. Women’s wages are 20% less than men’s overall, according to the research but those who took time from the paid job for care roles suffer the most financially. A woman earning $60,000 a year for instance would incur lifetime penalties of $325,000 less income even if she is only home with the children for 3 years. Caranci theorizes that some employers may think women who take time from the paid job to have babies are not strongly enough ‘attached’ to the job. - There are several answers to this dilemma. One is for women to either have no children, which would destroy the tax base, or for women to not be home with their children at all but go straight back to paid work. That would however risk children’s mental and physical wellbeing. The other answer then is to have government not employers responsible for valuing the care role. If we ask employers to do it and cover up time not on the paid job that is actually not fair to employers. The boss does not benefit from the woman being home with the baby. However it is fair to ask government to fund care roles at home for a while since the tax base does benefit.

A BC couple arranged with a woman to carry a baby for them. The surrogate mother in the course of the pregnancy had medical tests and found the baby she was carrying was likely to be born with Down syndrome. The couple who planned to adopt the baby wanted her to abort the fetus and did not want to continue their contract with her but she was not in favour of abortion. Eventually however the surrogate mother, who already had her own two children, did have the abortion partly due to her family obligations and problems if she had to raise the child herself. However the issue has raised many legal and ethical considerations:
-No surrogacy contract has yet been contested in Canadian court.
-Should rules of commerce and contract law prevail over ethical considerations when a human life is involved?
-One cannot legally force a woman to have an abortion. However, is a surrogate mother facing a moral decision about abortion, when pressured or coerced to abort, really able to make a free choice?
Dr. Sally Rhoads of Surrogacy in Canada says that in the US parents can sue a surrogate to recoup payments if the woman continues a pregnancy against their wishes. However in one US case the pregnancy was of twins and the commissioning couple wanted the surrogate mother to reduce the number of fetuses to one. During that procedure both inadvertently were lost. In 3 Canadian cases commissioning couples got divorced or backed out and the surrogate ended up raising the baby herself.

A worker in border services at Toronto Pearson Airport had a full time position but was told that her job was now changed to be 34 hours part time per week, spread over four days. As a mother having to arrange childcare, she refused the flexible and unpredictable hours asking instead to get a static 3 days work schedule of 13 hours a shift. The employer refused her this request. She then filed a complaint with the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal claiming that she had been discriminated against, violating the employers’ obligation to recognize her childcare obligations. She has won her case. Canada Border Service has been ordered to stop discriminating against employees with childcare obligations. The employer had accommodated people who had special hours requests based on their religion or medical needs so not granting her request was deemed unfair. The employer was also ordered to pay $15,000 for her pain and suffering and $20,000 for its willful and reckless conduct.

Canadian National Railway had three female workers in Jasper Alberta and officials decided that the company could use their service better elsewhere. It proposed transferring them to Vancouver in 2005. The three women however, Kasia Whyte, Denise Seeley and Cindy Richards refused the transfer, pointing out the hardship it would cause to their current family situation, school and childcare arrangements. They were dismissed from their jobs. They appealed to the Canadian Human Rights commission claiming unfair discrimination based on their family status. Suzanne Sauve-Hiron of the commission, has announced the findings of the commission agreeing with the plaintiffs. Chairman Michel Doucet ruled CNR’s actions were reckless and willful and has ordered the company to pay damages for recklessness and anguish.

Angela MacDougall of Battered Women’s Support Service in Vancouver has called on the police there to put an end to violence against women. On September 15 a 22 year old woman living in the downtown East Side, Ashley Machjiskinic fell to her death from a 5th storey window. MacDougall and others believe that the six recent deaths of women in the area are not random and are associated with rapes and beatings over drug deals with women being thrown out of windows sometimes resulting in death. She says that punishment inflicted on women by drug dealers have recently escalated to severe violence.

Karina Schumann is a doctoral student at the U of Waterloo. She has recently studied 33 male and female students and their perception of insult. She had them record for 12 days all interactions they had with others in which they felt an offence had been committed and an apology was required.
-women apologized 35% more than men did
-women received an apology 25% more than men did
-women reported having committed an offense 30% more than men did
-women reported having been offended 50% more than men did
The study suggests that men have a higher 'threshold of offence' and take a lot fewer things seriously than do women according to Schumann.

Maternity benefits historically are given to women since only women give birth or breastfeed. However not all mothers give birth, some adopting the baby, and not all breastfeed, some using the bottle. Moves have been made around the world to be less gender- focused on benefits for children and to recognize the value of fathers. Paternity leave has historically been given to new fathers but of less duration and often without financial benefits. The government of Spain, however, announced October 2010 leave for new dads to parallel the ‘breastfeeding leave’ mothers get. The break is designed to enable men to be close to newborns without paid job pressures for a while. One hour of paid work leave will be permitted per day for such dads. Allowing only mothers to take such a break was deemed by the court as unfair discrimination based on sex.

September 2010

An important new study has just been published by Dr. Paul Millar, in the Canadian Journal of Law and Society. Millar describes the emergence of imprisonment as part of the collection of child-support debt in Alberta. This approach to child poverty arose in the context of political conservatism, a shift in the feminist movement, and changes in the legal environment. Findings indicate that incarceration for support debt is increasing and that Blacks, Aboriginals, the unemployed, and those without post-secondary education are over-represented among those imprisoned for support debt. Millar concludes that child-support enforcement as an implement of social policy has limits, especially among low-income payors.

Divorce usually results in many costs, for two places to live, two sets of furniture, two modes of transportation where before they may have been one. Those practicalities are added to by legal obligations such as child or spousal support. A large cost being noticed recently is the cost of the divorce process itself, the court fees. The Law Commission of Ontario has recently published a report finding that the system drains bank accounts and often drives people to the poorhouse. Trials can cost around $100,000 and the authors of the report even said that sometimes one partner will be overly litigious and use a ‘legal bullying’ delaying process, calling in various costly experts to testify. The study found that trying to keep issues out of court, with mandatory mediation, often did not work, because mediators were just another stage that had a cost, and many mediators were untrained and not well regulated. The study also found that children were rarely given a say in issues that concern them. The report suggested more flexible systems to pay court fees over time and a sliding scale so that those in poverty can better afford the process. Writing for the Calgary Sun, reporter Alan Shanoff suggests, "It's time to blow up divorce court."
-ED NOTE: I would agree. "Dramatic" changes such and those suggested by the many family law reviews written by judges and family law practitioners avoid the "elephant in the room" so obvious to the many victims of the family law "industry": as Shanoff writes, "Our adversarial system of justice is costly and time-consuming. Spouses become adversaries even if they don’t start out that way. It encourages acrimony. It works best when both sides have equal resources, but that is often not the case. The search for justice, fairness or the truth is often subsumed in gamesmanship, with a win-at-all-costs attitude. Extreme positions are taken. It doesn’t have to be that way, but human nature seems to make it so. In many cases litigants can ill afford their lawyers. Money that could be used to better support children or a deserving spouse is wasted on lawyers. Many litigants become self-represented and that creates its own set of problems. Instead of tinkering with the status quo, why not blow up the current system and design a new system, a non-adversarial system that limits the role of lawyers?" Many have a vested financial interest in retaining the current adversarial system, and change will not be easy, but it will happen.

Many small children have a literal sense of reality and our words. The idea of joking and kidding around is sometimes a surprise to them, partly because it seems similar to lying, which parents discourage. The age at which nonliteral statements, ironies, sarcasm, exaggeration, understatement and rhetorical questions are understood has been open to question. When the parent says ‘How many times do I have to tell you do pick up your toys?” the child only slowly realizes a number answer is not required. Dr. Holly Recchia of the University of Montreal has released results of a study of 4-6 year olds in 39 families, and found that many did understand the use of irony somewhat. Sarcasm was not understood about 70% of the time but many four year olds did have a flicker of recognition about teasing. The study suggested that lighthearted use of irony is humorous and can be a good way to cement parent-child bonds
-ED NOTE: There is good and bad teasing. Sarcasm that is demeaning is not at all a good thing. I think humour is a great way to relate to children but they have to be in on the joke and also feel it is funny. Otherwise it seems kind of mean.

Many parents fear their new baby will succumb to sudden infant death syndrome and some companies have tried to help them prevent it. Advice about not using stuffed animals or pillows in cribs has been longstanding and some parents discuss which sleep positions are safest. Several companies have marketed ‘infant sleep positioners’ to prevent babies from rolling onto their stomachs and being unable to lift their heads to breathe. However recent research has shown that these products do not always work. The flat mats with side bolsters or the wedge mats with side bolsters have been associated with babies nonetheless rolling into hazardous positions at night and over 13 years about 12 have died according to the Consumer Product Safety Commission and the Food and Drug Administration of the US. Inez Tenenbaum of the CPSC advises parents to stop using these sleep positioners.

The magazine Mother Warriors Voice in the US has published a survey of family allowance amounts in Europe 2010. Many nations provide funding based on age and on family size.
-Austria: For each child in Austria under 3 years the monthly payment is $134.50, for age 3-9 it is $143.80, for age 10-19 it is $167.03 and for each child 19-26 years if still in studies it is $194.85 The amounts increase as the child ages even into young adulthood. The amount is also adjusted per household so that if there is more than one child each child gets more money. For a family with two children under age 3, each child gets $150.82, if 3 are under age 3 each gets $179.15 and if each of four is under age 3, each gets $198.29 These amounts also increase with age. If the family has four young adult offspring all attending post-secondary the amount is $158.65 per child. There are special increases of up to $176.47 per month for disabled children and there is also a tax reduction for having children.
-Hungary: There is a monthly allowance until the child reaches age 18.
If the mother was previously employed in paid work there is a $337 per month bonus for two years. If the mother was not previously in paid work or is currently in paid work there is a baby care allowance of $112 per month till the child is 3. The basic amounts per child continue per month till age 18 and the per child allotment increases if there are more children in the family. If there is one child the payment is $53.50 per month, if two, $58.30 per child per month, if 3 ore more children $70 per child per month. There are increases per child if there is only a single parent. The bonus makes the payment for singleton children with one parent $60 a month, for two children with a single parent $65 per child per month and for 3 or more children with a single parent $74.50 per child per month. There are also funds for children with disabilities.
-Slovakia: There is a universal birth bonus of $193.57 and for each child there is a monthly payment of $27.12 until studies end. Families get a tax bonus of $301 per year. During the first 6 months after giving birth the mother can get 55% of the average salary from her former job. From child’s age 6 months to 3 years the father or mother can get paid parental leave of $212.10 to $326.66 per month.
-Spain: There is a birth bonus of $2552.. The benefit for a child till age 3 is $67.84 per month. For each child under age 6 years there is also a benefit per child of $79.21 per month.
-ED NOTE: Canada has a long way to go. Its universal bonus of $100 a month sounds more generous than that of some nations but it ends completely at age 6. The universal child benefit does extend longer but depends on household income and is cut back severely for even middle income earners. The more generous childcare funding is only for nonparental childcare, receipted and only if the parent is earning or studying. It ends at about age 14. There are no benefits in Canada that are universal and available to young adults to the age of 24, and clearly that is a hardship for many. The fact household size is not seen as a reason to increase benefits is problematic since most countries admit that if you have more children it costs more per child because of greater housing, food and transportation costs. It is true that there is a disability benefit in Canada but again the preference is given to funding nonparental care of disabled children. Canada also seems to assume that it is less costly to raise children the older they get whereas most other nations recognize that it actually costs more as kids age and they increase benefits accordingly.

Rich nations theoretically will produce well educated, productive citizens. However the province of Quebec has become concerned that despite the money it poured into early childhood education, the dropout rate is high, especially among boys. The Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development found that 40% of teenage boys in Quebec drop out of high school. Over 20% of dropouts end up jobless and many are functionally illiterate. Other provinces have high drop out rates too and some cope by forcing mandatory school attendance for a longer period. Ontario now requires it to age 18. Officials are not sure why Quebec boys are dropping out. Dr. Michel Perron of the U of Quebec at Chicoutimi looked at the phenomenon finding that teenage girls usually report more emotional distress and low self-esteem than boys, but it is boys who then drop out.
-ED NOTE: There are doubtless many reasons, including large classes, a feeling of detachment from school, maybe a sense of hopelessness about the future. I suspect many are just tired of school, however.The universal daycare program gets them into ‘the system’ at a very young age, and when they have been there 15 years, that may seem like plenty, even though the child is still only in high school. By rushing kids into formal learning situations at a very young age, we may be robbing them of both freedom and individual attention. Sadly Quebec mostly only funds nonparental care in large group settings. We should fund kids via direct payments to parents, and give parents more care options--rather than pouring money into only one style of early childhood education.

Orit Morse of the New Realities Eating Disorders Recovery Centre in Thornhill, Ontario has recently released results of her study of aversions to some foods. She found that when there are no actual allergies, aversion is often based on a negative experience with the food from childhood, often the child being forced to eat it when full, disliking someone who ate it or smelled like it, or mistakenly eating something disliked and now confusing which food is the disliked one. Morse says that experiences between infancy and age 6 are pivotal to our associations with food. Karen Cook, a Vancouver clinical therapist, agrees, saying negative associations can last decades. Cook says it is possible to talk oneself out of such aversions logically over time but best, according to Morse, is to not have parents force children to eat certain foods in the first place.

Dr. Timothy Jay of Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts has released results of a study of children and adult culture finding that profanity is appearing in younger and younger children. His study found that adults also are swearing more but that swearing really ‘takes off ‘between ages 3 and 4 years.
-ED NOTE: Radio and TV have relaxed their profanity rules in recent years and children are hearing more adults around them, not just parents but also radio announcers and occasionally even teachers sometimes swear. I am always intrigued by the fact that children seem magnetically drawn to what people say when dealing with strong emotion and they imitate it faster than any other aspect of language.

The Canadian Association of Retired Persons, CARP, has released results of two surveys of its 3,200 members and their plans for their senior years and health care. The first study found that:
-one third expect to stay in their own homes with some help if they can’t live independently without it
-most prefer home care to care in an institution
-2/3 want to die at home
-only 28% actually expect they will be allowed to die at home
-most expect to die in a nursing home or hospital
In a second poll, CARP found that seniors actually are not against physician assisted suicide. The survey found
-71% support physician assisted suicide at the end of life
-52% think the decision about such physician assisted suicide should be made by patient and doctor only
-18% say the decision should be made by the patient alone
-15% think the decision requires a judge
-None of those asked felt that doctors or authorities should make this decision without patient input.

There are about 500,000 Canadians currently suffering from Alzheimer’s or dementia, and that number in the UK is 700,000. The numbers have been increasing. September 21 was World Alzheimer’s Day and Dr. Sube Banerjee of the UK has recently suggested that nations treat this illness as the priority it is, not unlike cancer or heart disease. There are about 35.6 million people worldwide living with dementia and that number is up 10% since 2005. Dr. Banerjee suggests addressing and correcting some very damaging misconceptions is vital. Ten nations, including France, Australia, India and South Korea are now addressing these issues. His work points out:
-dementia is actually not a normal part of aging, though some think it is. Only one third get it; two-thirds do not, even by age 90
-though a cure is not known, it is a mistake to assume the situation is hopeless. A lot can be done to treat the depression, anxiety and behavioral concerns of those who get the disease. Seniors have a tremendous resilience and can for along time manage the illness, given resources.
-4-5 educational sessions for family caregivers can reduce depression both for the senior and the caregiver
-such sessions and resources can reduce institutionalization by 28% and keep the senior at home 558 more days.

Professor Warren Sanderson of Stony Brook University is concerned that the definition of aging should be changed. He says that earlier assumptions that at a given age a person is suddenly old or unwell are now very wrong. He also thinks that the ratio of paid workforce to numbers of seniors, called the old-age dependency ratio, when based on the count of seniors as those 65 and over, unfairly makes it look like seniors are a burden and that their proportion of burden on the economy is huge. He suggests instead that since people live longer, 65 is no longer old. He suggests a new measure called the adult disability dependency ratio so that earners are deemed to have to support only those seniors who are disabled, not all seniors. In this way the speed of aging is reduced by 80% The age of retirement is being adjusted in many countries. In the UK it will rise to age 68 by 2044, and in Germany it will be 67 in 2031. In the US it will be 67 in 2027. Michelle Mitchell of Age UK likes the redefinition of ‘old’ and ‘aging’ since it does not treat seniors as a burden or unable to contribute to society. She does however point out that a lot of seniors who live longer are doing so with disabilities and that must be admitted.

In the US the Center for Economic and Policy Research has noticed that raising the retirement age arbitrarily may be ignoring 3 groups and their unique situations. The study found three categories of workers who may not fare well if the retirement age in the country is raised across the board to age 66 or 67.
-physical labourers: 33% of workers over age 58 do jobs that are physical demanding, lifting, hammering, bending and many work in difficult conditions of heat or cold, exposure to contaminants or weather or while standing for long periods of time. These workers may not be physically able to work longer .
-blue collar workers: those in the working class often started earning young and they have already put in a lot of years on the job by age 60. Dr. Teresa Ghilarducci of the New School for Social Research in New York says raising the retirement age will have a disproportionate impact on lower income workers and minorities. She also points out that blue collar workers already paid into the system for more years than professional earners did, so forcing them to earn longer may not be fair.
-the sick often are unable to work longer. They are sometimes caught in a dilemma where they are only able to access health care plans if they stay on the job, even when the job is hard for them to do and part of why they are suffering pain.

Though historically work is only defined as effort that leads to pay, the situation of those unable to do paid work, and of those who provide care to them is getting some government notice. In response to complaints from injured military vets about difficulty of accessing government help, Defense Minister Peter McKay and Veterans Affairs Minister Jean-Pierre Blackburn have announced Sept 2010 changes to several programs. Some of these admit not just the gratitude and ‘debt owed to these veterans’ but also the importance of the caregiving role. The announcement of a “Legacy of Care” program at $10.5 million a year for 5 years includes:
-a $100 a day caregiver grant which is described to include care by family members not just third parties.
-more front line case managers to expedite handling needs of vets
-a transitional housing program free of barriers, with wheelchair accessible doors and bathrooms
-tuition benefits for injured vets
-tuition benefits for survivors of soldiers killed in Canada’s military missions after 2001
McKay also said that changes will soon be announced to income support programs for vets. Commenting on the value of family –caregiving Chief of Defence Staff General Walt Natynczyk said "In many of these cases where a member is injured, it is family that make the medical appointments, pay the bills and make sure the kids are taken care of...What we are doing is strengthening our support systems so that our injured can recover, rehabilitate and reintegrate as fast as possible."
-ED NOTE: I am very pleased to see that the care role is being valued and that it is recognized that family members are often chief care providers and make career and income sacrifices to do the role.This is a huge step for government which usually only recognizes non-family care.

Though the popular notion is that if you marry for love you’ll be happy and if you marry for other reasons you will not, recent research has suggested that other factors are also important. A study of 1414 married men and women in Louisiana between 1998 and 2004 has just been published by Dr. W. Bradford Wilcox of the U of Virginia. He found that there are several styles of happiness in marriage:
-those who find their ‘soul mate’ are often romantically attracted but are prone to more disenchantment, conflict and divorce
-those who marry in order to have children and to be interdependent share traditional values but without social networks or religions in common, those marriages also often fare poorly
-a hybrid that believes in marital permanency and commitment, but also has romantic attraction is the most likely to survive.
Wilcox says that a key factor for a marriage to last is shared values and a social network that sees the couple as a unit and that helps them in difficult times.

The World Health Organization has found that many families in the third world suffer in health due to the way they have to cook their meals. Cooking over open fires or with poorly ventilated stoves produces in some cases an air mixed with toxic chemicals. Dirty cooking smoke is among the top five dangers to health according to the WHO and it kills nearly two million people a year, twice the number killed by malaria. US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has announced Sept 2010 a plan to install 100 million clean burning stoves in the third world.

There has been a longstanding debate about prostitution in Canada and the activity is current legal. However soliciting for the purposes of prostitution or pimping, living off the avails of prostitution were not. Toronto law professor Alan Young has successfully appealed that the laws are not fair and this week Justice Susan Himel has ruled that some laws put the lives of sex workers at risk. She will now permit sex workers to openly do business in Ontario, to communicate for the purposes of prostitution and for people to live of the avails of prostitution to the extent that the law can now ensure the women are not operating underground and without protection. The judge’s ruling still makes criminal human trafficking, pimping to live off the avails of prostitution of someone under 18, and procuring someone for the sex trade. Such activities face a maximum sentence of 14 years in prison. The judge’s decision will be appealed by the government of Canada according to Justice Minister Rob Nicholson.
-ED NOTE: NDP MP Libby Davies characterizes the Justice Minister's decision to appeal this finding to be regrettable, and I fully agree: the safety of sex workers should always be the overriding concern in legislation.

When a person has committed a criminal offense and is mentally ill, authorities have a dilemma about where to place them, for their own safety and the safety of others. Howard Sapers, correctional investigator has recently released results of a study of deaths behind bars, criticizing a system which he feels is not giving enough attention to those with mental concerns who are in jail. In 2007 a 19 year old woman Ashley Smith choked herself with a strip of cloth in her cell in Grand Valley Prison in Kitchener Ontario. Since then more than 130 other offenders have died in federal custody. Suicides using strips of bed sheets, evidence of shoddy patrols, lack of emergency equipment to respond with, lack of response by authorities, too long segregation of hose with mental health issues were all raised as serious problems in Sapers’ report. NDP MP Don Daviessays that the system lacks resources. He wants more psychologists hired and more psychiatric nurses. Davies and Sapers are concerned that the new criminal justice legislation in Canada which will require jail time for more offenses, will overload a system already overloaded.

Krister Pettersson of the Swedish Family Campaign Foundation writes about the upcoming elections in his country and his concerns about child and family policy there. Currently parents are permitted 240 days of allowance based on pervious income, in order to care for a newborn but after that period, benefits drop off significantly for those who wish to be home with the child. He has found that discouragement of raising children at home and preference for use of government – run daycare has many new troubling elements that he feels are unfair bias. He notes:
-Moderaterna and Folkpartiet political parties both have agreed with the recent ban on home schooling
-taxes are based on single income ‘bachelors’ and no recognition is made of the family, shared income or income splitting. He says that this tax bias has nudged most households to have to have two incomes if raising children
-the word’ family ‘has been removed from much new legislation in favour of the expression ‘primary relation group.’ He is concerned that the government is now seeing itself as the agent to protect the child and is ignoring the parents.
-daycare funding by the state is significant with parents paying only 10% of the 12,000-20,000 euros annual cost per child. Other care styles including nannies, grandparents, parents are not subsidized
-a mother of six was recently forced to get paid work despite her preference to be home with the children and her public argument that the state was making no allowance for any of the children being sick and not able to attend the childcare centre
-the public is not onside with this government bias but political parties surge ahead with it. The Family Campaign presented a petition from 70,000 citizens but the petition was ignored.
-Professor Jorgen Weesterstahl of Gothenburg has found that as far back as 1979 government policy on the issue of childcare has been out of sync with public polling.

Just being there for a child is a key element of the child feeling secure according to recent research. Dr. David Haley of the U of Toronto looked at 30 mothers each with a 6 month old baby. All mothers were instructed to play with the babies for a while as the babies sat in car seats on a table. Then half the mothers were to ignore the babies for two minutes on two occasions, looking above the baby and not interacting but maintaining a neutral expression. The other half of mothers continued to engage in play with the baby. Saliva samples were taken from the babies before and after the experiment and on the next day. The study found that those babies always played with had no increase in the stress hormone cortisol but that those babies that had been ignored not only had more cortisol after the event in question but on the next day also, anticipating a stressful event again. Dr. Haley said it has long been known that young children recognize and react to stress but this new study suggests that they even are stressed anticipating problems, and that they remember earlier stress for some time. This insight he says helps explain the great distress of some children at separation from a parent, at going to bed at night, and at being dropped off at daycare. The study is a support for what has been named attachment theory, the idea that children need to bond or attach securely to those they know will love them and that the separation from those people should come gently, gradually and only when the child wants it, not forced by the parent.

In 1992 Harvard professor Paul E. Barton wrote “America’s Smallest School: The Family” He and colleague Richard J. Coley said that five things matter in how well students do in school. These are the number of hours spent watching TV, the number of pages of homework, the amount and quality of reading material at home, the number of days absent from school but most of all the active involvement of both parents in their lives. In 2010 attention has again been drawn to those five factors since according to several researchers very little progress has been made on those fronts. Pulitzer Prize winner George Will has presented statistics August 2010 outlining some of the issues
-wealthy children spend time on social media, computers and fancy phones. Wealthy American children are often white. 59% of African American grade eight kids watch TV four or more hours a day but only 24% of white kids do, so choice of technology is linked to income.
-by age 4, children in a family of high education have heard 20 million more words than children in a working class family and 35 million more words than children in a home on social assistance.
-progress made in reading and writing to level the playing field between the income groups has stalled recently.
-There is a dearth of fathers doing active parenting. 70% of African-American children are born to unmarried mothers.
-men of colour are having trouble getting an education or good jobs in the US. By 2005 over œ of all young black non college men were incarcerated. Over 60% of African American high school dropouts born since 1965 end up in prison.
-Sociologist Julius Watson found that in 2003-2004 for every 200 bachelor’s degrees given to African American women, only 100 were conferred on African American men.
-male teens are without good role models as fathers and are often living in inner city areas of high unemployment, poverty and disorderly neighborhoods. Though solutions to these dilemmas may be many, chief among them should be a focus on valuing fathers and enabling them to be responsible fathers, according both to Barton and to Will.

Third world countries often have challenges funding even universal primary school but the goal of getting an education seems a deep privilege. In the developed world, though education is usually available, there are many who do not pursue it. The National Post has looked at Canadian provinces and high school drop out rates finding that though the rate is down since 2003 across the country, still 8.9% of students do not complete grade 12. In BC the rate is 6.3% but in Quebec it is 11.9%. The Quebec Employers Council has released an August 2010 report studying that province’s economy and noting the trend. Yves-Thomas Droval, of the council says that his province has failed to set up good conditions for youth. A prediction is that by 2013 the number of workers per retired person will approach 3.7, down from the current number at 4.5. The greying of the population not only continues but the dearth of babies is increasing. He points out that by 2013 there will be a decline in the absolute size of population aged 15 to 64. Quebec funds more extensive public services than most other provinces but is creating less wealth. Across the nations of the Organization for Economic Development, taxes in Turkey are only 18% of GDP but in Alberta they are 24%, in BC 32%, in Canada as a whole 33%, in Ontario 34% and in Quebec 40%.

Nancy White of the Canadian Institute for Health Information has released results of a study of 130,000 seniors about care of the elderly and care of seniors with Alzheimer’s. The studies found that
-98% of seniors do have some home support in the form of care by spouse, adult child, friend or neighbour
-most seniors who get help such as shopping, eating or bathing remain at home
-55% of seniors get help from a spouse
-75 % who are widowed get help from an adult child
-though all family caregivers feel stressed sometimes, spouses are twice as likely to feel it as are other relatives of the person needing care
-those giving care of someone with dementia are 3 times more frustrated than those giving other types of care
-Canada has over 2 million informal caregivers
-13% of those caregivers say the care brings them feelings of anxiety, depression, anger or other difficulties coping.

The International Day of Older Persons is October 1 2010 and kinship caring is a new theme of the event. Cangrands National Kinship is promoting the celebration since in Canada as in many other nations the main caregivers of young children are the grandparents. In some households the actual parent is unable to provide care =and the grandparent is the principal caregiver.

Though playing with a child sounds like ‘child’s play’ and easy, a recent study has found that many parents are uncertain about how to do it. Professor Tanya Byron interviewed 200 parents and 200 children aged 5-15 years and recently released results of the study, reported in the Daily Mail in the UK. The study is called “State of Play: Back to Basics”. She found that children still like the same games their parents did when young but parents assume they may not.
-33% of parents play computer games with their children now instead of ball games or going to the park
-90% of children asked would prefer the parent to not play the computer games with them and would prefer to play them alone
-75% of children would prefer to play with parents by interacting with them at board games
-20% of parents feel they are too busy to play with the children or can’t think of what to play with them
-33% of parents found playing with the children boring
-16% of children sensed that their parents were bored when playing with them
Professor Byron says that parents should remember what they liked as kids and encourage their own kids to experience those pleasures.

Dr. Sharon Curham of Harvard Medical School has released results of a study of nearly 4,700 teens aged 12 – 19 in two separate studies of hearing. The studies found that hearing loss in teens has risen by nearly a third in the last few years. Teens with hearing loss were 14.9% of the teen population in 1995 and are now 19.5% of teens in 2006. Curhan says that teens underestimate noise exposure though teens with and without hearing problems both admitted to listening to loud music about the same amount. One factor of the use of headphone or earbuds is deemed to need more study but the research did show that children in poverty had a slightly higher rate of hearing problems. Dr. Yurk Agrawal of John Hopkins University speculates that ear infections left untreated may have led to some of the damage but also says that genetic hearing problems may themselves have led to lower income jobs for parents.

When children fool around, act silly and can’t get to work in school, they may hold up progress of the lesson for others also. Those who have trouble paying attention have occasionally been assessed and sometimes diagnosed with an attention deficit disorder, and then medicated . Dr. Todd Elder of Michigan State University has released results of a study of kindergarteners finding that whether a child was diagnosed or not was highly linked to the age of the child. The youngest in any kindergarten class were 60% more likely to have the diagnosis than the oldest. Elder has become concerned that for many the lack of ability to pay attention was not in fact ADHD but just immaturity. He says that misdiagnoses could represent spending of $320 -$500 million per year in prescriptions that were actually not needed.

In Canada the price of post-secondary education has been steadily rising and many students would be unable to attend without help. Many work summers to save the money and government assumes the family will provide help if it can. However those two routes often are not enough and some students who do not get scholarships find they have to take out loans. The government has over the years offered loan programs though much controversy has developed about the loans programs, interest rates, administration, and what can be done if the student can’t repay debt after graduation. In 2010 the problems have become exacerbated when it was noticed that a higher number of students than usual were applying for student loans. A crisis point was reached when the government had not even set aside enough money to handle all the applications. Some of the problems recently admitted are:
-with the recession many families were not able to help
-with the recession many students were not able to get jobs in the summer
-tuition fees have gone up during the recession so there was more money needed
-David Molenhuis of the Canadian Federation of Students points out that just getting a loan is not always the answer. Many students upon graduation find they can’t get a job in their field, and their debt load is often ‘mortgage-sized’, several hundreds of thousands of dollars. The default rate of being able to repay the debt is one of every eight dollars loaned.
-the government has decided in 2007 to give less aid. In that year the federal government transferred $3 billion less for post secondary education than it did in 1995.
-The Canada Student Loans program was designed with a maximum of money loaned out of $15 billion. That amount was expected to be reached only in about 2015 but a recent survey of loan applications has found that the cap is likely to come in September 2010 already. In response the federal government has announced it will give one time only relief . The new influx of money will enable more students to get loans including more from the middle class. However it is not clear if this extra help will continue each year
-ED NOTE: I find it very troubling that we are in essence robbing our students, with punishment for learning. It is a cruel lesson to cripple them with debt as they struggle to find employment. It would be so much wiser to give them free education as an investment.

The birth rates of many western nations are very low. In Canada a birth rate of 3 per woman was common in the 1940s and the Canada Pension plan and medicare were designed assuming a birth rate would not fall below 2.2. This would ensure enough contributors each generation to sufficiently fund the universal programs. However the birth rate in Canada is now about 1.1. In the US the birth rate in 1909 was 30 for every 1000 people but fell in the 1920s and 30s. It grew during the 40s and 50s but fell off again but not as low as in Canada. In the US with a huge influx of immigrants and robust economy in 2007, the birth rate was 1.43. However even in the US that rate is now shrinking to 1.35. Dr. Roderic Beaujot of the University of Western Ontario says that young people are more likely to have babies when they feel secure about their financial futures and confident time spent at home with a child will be possible without penalty when they try to reenter paid labour. Those assumptions are now in question.

In Ghana vulnerable children have in the past been bought into care in institutions. Addressing poverty and health needs seemed best done in a state-run setting. However problems have developed about the emotional wellbeing of such children while families have disintegrated. Officials are starting to notice that family and relatives provided something vital that institutional settings do not give. As a result a new policy called the Care Reform Initiative has been announced August 2010 to seek wherever possible to find loving relatives to provide care of vulnerable children. The focus will be first to get kinship care and only second to find foster families. Institutionalization will be a last resort and even then for not more a few consecutive months. There will be cash transfers to promote in-family care. 3800 children who have been in orphanages will now be resettled wherever possible in a family care context or transitioned out of the orphanage into independent living. An instructional program to the public has also been made a component of the new plan to ‘sensitive’ the public to the benefits of family care and the risks associated with institutionalized care. One type of shelter provided will not just be care of a baby but a ‘mother and baby home.’

August 2010

Overlooked in current family policy are parents who have been driven to the margins of their children's lives because their disability or partial disability is being used to deny them custody or access after divorce. Existing California family law codes, for example, do not address the issue of disabled parents, leaving the door open for unnecessary and often expensive litigation, even in cases where the disabled parent had been successfully parenting the children for many years prior to the separation or divorce. While some people with disabilities are truly unable to care for their children, many are more than capable of doing so. California Senator Rod Wright's (D-Los Angeles) child custody reform bill SB 1188 will protect the child custody and visitation rights of parents with disabilities. Disability Rights California, the American Retirees Association and Fathers and Families co-sponsored the legislation. Governor Schwarzenegger signed SB 1188 on August 23. It will take effect on January 1, 2011. In the U.S., one in six parents is disabled. They're poorer on average than nondisabled parents, and their ability to fight long, expensive court battles to defend their relationships with their children is limited.

Sometimes legislation can solve a lot of problems with one stroke of the pen. In the European Union currently 16% of workers have no formal employer except themselves. These self-employed workers have in the past not had access to some social benefits such as maternity pay. Research shows that 11% of the self-employed have a partner or spouse who is dependent on them and this person has also been deprived of some financial protection. In the EU 30% of entrepreneurs are women and the rules about self-employment not only affect them but put them at particular risk since maternity benefits are often a bone of contention. However The European Parliament has responded to these concerns. As of June 7 2010 all member states have endorsed new legislation to give better social protection including maternity leave of the first time, to the self-employed and to their assisting spouses. Maternity allowance and the option of a leave of at least 14 weeks will be mandatory through the EU and member states must introduce such legislation in their national laws within two years- this is a great move . It is however not the final move one hopes because tying maternity benefits still to paid work, whether for someone else or as a self-employed entrepreneur still only values maternity through the window of earning money. Ideally maternity benefits would be universal, granted to recognize that giving birth and caring well for a newborn is vital work in society itself.

Dr. Frank Biro of the Cincinnati Children’s Hospital has released results of a study of the onset of puberty. In 1997 some girls entered puberty very young - 5% of white girls and 15% of girls of color. In 2010 the study was repeated and now 10% of white girls, 15% of Hispanic girls and 23% of black girls are actually developing some signs of puberty by that young age. The causes of this early onset are uncertain but the effects and risks are being discussed. Dr. Biro suspect that with early onset of puberty peer pressure may become a strong factor early. Some may develop low self esteem problems if they are teased and there may be a greater risk of depression or suicide. Others may be pressured to be sexually active very young. He has found there are also some statistical links of early puberty to increase risk of breast or endometrial cancer.

Botulinum toxin or Botox was approved by the US Food and Drug Administration for treatment of some eye and neuromuscular disorders. The allowed uses included reduction of physical pain in the joint of the jaw, to correct abnormal eyelid twitch, or crossed eyes in children as young as 12, to help those aged 16 and older with involuntary contraction of neck muscles and to help people aged 18 and over fight excessive sweating. In 2002 it was also approved to relax muscles for cosmetic use in adults. Plastic surgeon Samuel Lam of Dallas uses Botox to help those who want a jaw reduction just as he also performs cosmetic surgery such as nose jobs or operations for people of Asian descent who want to create creases on their eyelids.. However a new use has been revealed for Botox, an off label use, that has become a source of controversy. This is the use of the medical treatment on minors for cosmetic non medical reasons. The American Society of Plastic Surgeons admits that Botox or its partner Dysport were injected into American teens ages 13-19 nearly 12,000 times in 2009 and that this number is up 2% from the 2008 figure. Why teens want a temporary treatment that can cost $100-$800 an injection has been studied. Filipino teenager Charice Pempengco appeared on TV and caused a national sensation with her singing. To prepare for the Fox show “Glee’ in the fall of 2010 has admitted she at age 18 got Botox injections and a skin tightening treatment to look ‘fresh ‘ on camera. A New York Times article found that some teens want the surgery to not have such toothy smiles, or to relieve migraines especially around exam time though some also are under the mistaken impression that they can prevent wrinkles in this way. Dr. Rod Rohrich of the U of Texas Southwestern Medical Center says that there are risks to using Botox and a professional must be consulted. Risks include facial nerve paralysis, weakened chewing, an asymmetrical smile or even speech impairment.

Professor Sawsan Tabbaa of the U of Buffalo has released news of problems with patients who have tongue piercings. One 26 year old had a barbell metal bar as a tongue stud . Since it is never removed because otherwise the tongue would quickly heal the opening, she had been wearing it for seven years. Over several years she had been inadvertently pushing the stud against her teeth till eventually a space developed between her upper front teeth. He also found that tongue piercings are associated with trauma to the gums, hemorrhages and in some case brain abscesses.

When tattoos are applied small punctures are made to inject pigments. The needles for such injection must be sterile to prevent the spread of infection but there are no legal requirements in some provinces for tattoo artists to have a license. In British Columbia there are only health inspections once a year of tattoo parlors to see that equipment is sterilized, that work surfaces are clean and that disposable gloves are used. Beauty salons that tattoo on eyebrows or lips are inspected once every two years only, unless there is a complaint. That rate of inspection is enough according to Angelo Kouris of Vancouver Coastal Health. However Dr. Siavash Jafai of the U of British Columbia says that more enforcement of health guidelines is needed. He looked at data from 124 studies in 30 countries and found that hepatitis C rates are higher where tattoos are common. In Canada 6% of hep C infections in the general population are blamed on unsanitary tattooing. He also found that the larger that tattoo, the greater the health risk.

Dr. Adrian Edwards of Cardiff University has released a result of a meta-analysis of 19 palliative care studies on patients and health care providers. The study found that when asked what mattered most in their lives, many mentioned religion but 87% mentioned spirituality. Since the studies crossed many nations and faiths from Christian to Buddhist to Taoist, and covered the UK, US, Australia, Taiwan and Japan, investigators delved more deeply into what aspects of spirituality mattered. It was found that two elements of spirituality are considered most important, one being having a purpose in life, but the other being relationships. Most people felt relationships mattered even more than one’s life having meaning. Relationships involved the way care was given, distress caused when a relationship ended, a need to feel connected with others. Caregivers were valued least if they were judgmental, proselytizing or from vastly different backgrounds to the patient. Caregivers were valued most if they listened, connected, engaged in reciprocal sharing and practiced self-reflection. Edwards noted that family caregivers are particularly good at the role but are ‘under utilized’ because of lack of time, professional or educational obligations, or other personal factors. She suggests that society address some of the barriers to family-base care since family caregivers are often particularly able to make an important contribution to those near the end of life.

It is well known that medical condition is only one factor in length of life and that other factors like alcohol, obesity, lack of exercise and smoking also have a strong effect. However, Professor Julianne Holt-Lunstand of Brigham Young University has released results of a study finding that for many people, two things outweigh all those other actors in predicting length of life. These factors are having a meaningful relationship in your life and a sense of purpose. Holt-Lunstad looked at 1489 studies involving over 308,000 people at average age 64. They were followed for about 7.5 years and it was found that for those over age 18, having a solid relationship with someone was linked to living about 3.7 years longer than without such a relationship. Having someone who cares about you is key but so is having someone you have to take care of, or someone who needs you. Such sense of being valued is also linked to lower blood pressure and better immune functioning. People spent less time in hospital and even had more of the bonding hormone oxytocin if they had relationships that were important to them. U of Chicago psychologist John Cacioppo confirms such findings noting that there is such a thing as social contagion, whereby lonely people perpetuate a cycle of isolation. He is concerned that nowadays with a loss of intergenerational housing, late marriage, a high rate of divorce, not only do many young people live alone but now many older men and women live alone. In 2007 a study of 1467 people over two decades found a decreasing rate of close friendships. That study in the American Sociological Review found a 3 fold increase in those who say they have no confidante. Study authors say that Facebook may provide connections but it is not the same as face-time with someone.

In 1993 Canadian homemaker Carol Lees refused to sign her census form where it said “If you have been a homemaker all your life indicate ‘never worked’.” Her media and governmental confrontations led to a national conference on unpaid labor, the Work is work is work campaign and ultimately the decision by government to start to tally unpaid labor in the long form of Canada’s census. From the late 1990s onward this long form regularly asked about one fifth of Canadians about their hours of commitment to caregiving, volunteer work and household labor. The statistics have been used to address career-family balance discussions, to look at gender equity, perceived needs for government assistance for care roles and for recognition of the wider part of the GDP that is not just paid work. However the Harper government has announced July 2010 that it will discontinue the policy of asking questions about unpaid labor, and will also when it does ask census questions in detail from now on make them voluntary not mandatory. The reaction to this announcement has been swift, with Conservative MPs defending the plan saying the public thinks such questions are an invasion of privacy. However many groups have not only stood up for such questions but on a wider front have resisted the move by government to make any long form of the census voluntary. Groups asking for the long form to be continued and mandatory include the Canadian Association for Retired Persons and many research groups around the country. An Angus Reid poll found that 52% of Canadians want to keep the long form of the census and only 24% were concerned the long form was overly intrusive. 53% felt the long form gives vital data for formulation of public policy.

Recently a teenage girl was in the news for trying to sail solo around the world and not succeeding. Some commentators believed she was too young to be trying and that if her parents were permitting it, social services should intervene. At legal issue became who has rights to decide- the girl, the parents, or the state. In the Netherlands 13 year old Laura Dekker also wanted to sail around the world. On hearing of this the Child Protection Council set over her a 12 month supervision to prevent such a trip, fearing for her social and emotional well being and overriding parents if necessary. She currently lives with her father Dick and a dog Spot on a boat in the south of the country and is 14. However Judge Suzanne Kupers has ruled in district court July 2010 that the girl can go on the two year trip. She wants to complete it before she turns 17 in order to break the world record currently held by Jessica Watson, aged 16 of Australia. The court ruled that application to extend state supervision of the girl must not be granted and that the ‘responsibility for the child’ must be ‘back where it belongs’ with the parents. The court said it is the responsibility of the parent to let the child go on the yacht trip or not. The girl plans to sail shortly.

In Australia a federal election will be held August 21 2010. PM Julia Gillard of the Labor Party faces a tight race and one key issue is care of children. Opposition leader Tony Abbott has taken a stand recently on the issue. His wife Margie Abbott herself runs a community based child care center in Sydney. On visiting a child care centre in Brisbane, it became evident she is a keen enthusiast of that style of care. He in turn made it part of his platform to commit $89 million to help people access childcare of the type his wife operates. His Coalition will introduce a Child Care Rebate extending present benefits for every child in 3rd party care. The Coalition has also announced that it will discontinue plans to give a rebate to families for half the cost of nannies, au pairs or grandparents, saying such funds are too expensive. Sharman Stone of the Coalition maintains that such programs might only help rich families. The Labor party by contrast gives 50% rebates to childcare centres, family daycare and after school care, but not nannies.
-ED NOTE: I would opt for an equal funding formula per child. Favoring your own lifestyle to the detriment of others is not really fair.

July 2010

The budget for child protection services in Ontario is now about $1.4 billion to operate 53 children’s aid societies. Part of their purpose is to apprehend and put into foster care and group homes those children deemed at risk. However budget cuts in recent years have created serious problems with the system and the Toronto Star editorial board found as of July 2010 a few other problems. The graduation rate of crown wards is much lower than the grad rate of children in intact families. Children’ s Minister Laurel Broten released results of a commission showing too much emphasis on rules and not enough on outcomes. There are hundreds of regulations as detailed as size of bedrooms and temperature of bath water, and many requirements of administration including duplication and triplication of reports for serious occurrences. The result however is that only 15-20% of staff time is actually spent directly serving children. The commission report recommends goals be changed, that outcomes matter more and that funding should stop creating ‘perverse incentives’ that ‘discourage good performance”.

Sometimes when people try to provide outstanding care, they set up so many standards for it, that the standards themselves are deemed too harsh. In the UK the Early years Stage set up benchmarks for all children under age 5 to have reached by their 5th birthday. These include ability to write their own name, use a pencil effectively, order the numbers 1-10, develop mathematical ideas, retell narratives and read familiar words. The guidelines were put in place to ensure children from impoverished backgrounds could enter the formal school system with as much chance of academic success as all other children. However educators have criticized the guidelines on several points
-Some teachers say the guidelines restrict parental choice about how to educate and harm children’s development
-Some childcare providers say the guidelines require of them unnecessary bureaucracy and take them from spending time with the child
-Others observe that children develop at inconsistent rates and one size fits all guidelines are inappropriate
A review of the guidelines will be conducted by Dame Clare Tickell, o the charity Action for Children. Former Children’s minister Margaret Hodge says the point of the guidelines is to ensure children get the ‘best start in life’ no matter what ‘childcare setting’ they have come from.
-ED NOTE: I am concerned when childcare centres say they offer ‘standardized, high quality’ care. Countable standards are not appropriate for assessing loving relationships so the only countables end up being room sizes and people ratios. Education standards can be set out but holding back a 5 year old as failed already for not being able to ‘read’ is harsh. What ends up happening is that we teach to the test, teach kids to fake reading and just have them parrot a set of words. Sadly this is not actually even reading and kids start to think ‘reading’ is faking it or that they personally are not very competent.

Dr. Robert Mann of the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health in Ontario has released the results of a survey in 2009 of health of 327,000 students in grades 7 to 12, at 181 Ontario schools. The study found
-30 % of those asked report unhappiness, sleep deprivation and other signs of psychological distress
-43% report they occasionally gamble
-14% say their physical health is poor
-8.5% report no physical activity in the seven days before the survey
-25% are considered overweight or obese
-10% say they spend seven hours a day playing video games, watching TV or using computers The use of computers has come under particular fire. Dr. Dimitri Christakis of the U of Washington School of Medicine says about 10% of North Americans have ‘internet addiction.’

Many nations are experiencing a birth rate drop so troubling it threatens economic viability of the nation long term. When seniors may soon outnumber youth and earners, several governments are researching what would be along-term solution, and a way to encourage births. Australia and Singapore have had some success with a birth bonus. Korea by contrast tried to encourage births by funding more childcare. In 1995 the birth rate in that country was 1.6. In the last five years the government has devoted 1.7 billion US dollars to triple its provision of childcare but the results have been discouraging. The birth rate in 2007 was 1.2 and in 2009 sank even lower to 1.1 according to Korea Statistics
ED NOTE: People don’t have babies just because there is somewhere away from home to put them. People who have them usually want to spend time with them. Funding that ‘flows with the child’ works much better than directed funding to nonparental care only.

June 2010

The care of the elderly has another dimension besides loneliness – a kind of "separation anxiety" between two long-term partners. Generally if only one needs care the other the provides it. When both need care, they try to provide it for each other and home care professionals sometimes help out. But when both need intense care and cannot provide for themselves or each other, there is a dilemma. In Montreal Elena and Francisco Basch, married for 65 years, now both need intense care. They are both experiencing Alzheimer’s and now, in their 90s, must soon live apart even though they have been married over 65 years. Their son Max Basch says separating them will be devastating however since ‘they cannot survive without one another’. In Calgary a new solution is being tried. A new Garrison Woods seniors complex has been designed to offer a small number of ‘couples rooms’ for the first time ever. Those who qualify for care and who need to stay together may be eligible for the two bedroom unit, separated by a washroom. The care costs $49 per day per person, or about $3,000 a month for the couple, but it includes lodging, meals, all medical care and medication. The price is arranged so that in most cases it can be covered by old age pension and retirement benefits.

In many US states teens want to get permanent tattoos and piercings but their parents are not in favor. 28 US states have passed laws that required parental permission before tattoo parlors will perform these surgeries, but not all states have such legislation. The counter argument is being raised by some advocates that tattooing is a personal decision and second, that if teens are going to do it anyway, at least making sure they have the procedure done in a licensed and sanitized venue would be safer for them. Some states either have legislation to permit such parlors to do body piercings and tattooing without parents consent for minor children or have not taken steps to outlaw it. The editorial board of the Austin Daily Herald has commented on the situation saying that parents are the people who know teens best, "are responsible for them" and “are best suited to know what is right “ for them.

–ED NOTE: I think the argument that ‘they’re going to do it anyway’ is used for sexual activity, alcohol use, smoking cigarettes, some drug use and even drinking and many legislators simply give up and not only make the activity legal so minors are not prosecuted, but also endorse the activity and just try to make it a healthier experience. This is the slippery slope and I am very much against it. I think teens need us to protect them even above their insistence on adult rights and freedoms. They are too young to handle the consequences of these very troubling, risky decisions and a parent with guts, and legislators with guts,do not simply legalize all that teens want to do- editor.

Dr. Aric Sigman of the UK in 2005 wrote a book about the harmful effects of TV on children. His book “Remotely Controlled’’ argued that watching television encourages children to not exercise and to become overweight, and that too much TV role-models criminal behavior and has been associated with a rise in violent crime. He feels that watching the tube without interaction hinders educational progress, stereotypes people unfairly, misrepresents all children in divorced or separated families as happy, stereotypes all slim young career women as preferable to mothers who take care of their children at home. He made the case that watching TV is associated with depression and that the medium is weighted to urge purchasing. The American Association of Pediatrics recommended in that year that children under age 2 not watch any TV and that no children should have a TV in the bedroom. More recent results however show that TV watching is still intense. On average people in 2005 watched four hours of TV per day and by age 6 had already spent the equivalent of a calendar year watching TV. In 2010 Sigman has now taken aim at computers, saying that new policies to expose 22 month olds to computers are very harmful. He says that young children should not be exposed to IT until the age of 9 years and that computers create mental conflict between the child’s capacity to multi-task and the ability to pay attention. He says too early exposure to computers harms a child’s development.

In earlier times young children picked their own friends informally or with casual parental supervision. The New York Times recently looked at today’s parents and officialdom directing such friendships, with the scheduled play date and policies to discourage a child from having a ‘best friend’. Jay Jacobs who works at Timber Lake Camp in the US hires friendship coaches and encourages campers to have lots of friends not just one. If two children are seen as ‘too focused on each other’ the camp will seat them at different ends of the dining table, put them on different sports teams. He fears that if children rely too much on one friendship any disruption of it could be devastating. Christine Laycob of St. Louis County Day School in St. Louis says she too discourages children from having one best friend and prefers big groups and no possessiveness about friends. On the other hand Dr. Brett Laursen, of Florida Atlantic University prefers kids to have a best friend than to have a lot of superficial relationships Psychologists have found that having a best friend helps children’s self-esteem and makes them able to listen and console and even helps them learn how to argue and make up. Dr. Michael Thompson says ‘No one can teach you what a great friend is, what a fair-weather friend is, what a treacherous and betraying friend is except to have a great friend, a fair-weather friend or a treacherous and betraying friend. “ He has written a book “Best Friends, Worst Enemies: Understanding the Social Lives of Children”. Patti Kinney of the National Association of Secondary School Principals says that schools should not intentionally break up close friendships but they should also give a chance to interact socially with many other students.

Roy Romanow, head of the Canadian Index of Well Being, has published results of a recent study of how Canadians balance career and family. The study found June 2010 that the balance is getting even worse than in earlier years.
-in 1992 64% of teens aged 15-17 ate at least one meal a day with their parents but that number is now 35%
-28% of employed Canadians are in the sandwich generation taking care both of children and of aging parents
-25 % of the care of seniors is provided by fellow seniors
-in 1996 17.4% of adults in the paid workforce provided elder care but now 19.5% do
-in 1992 16% of women and men expressed they were under a ‘time crunch’ but that number is now nearly 20%
-in 1998 time spent on leisure was 15% but it is now 12%
-In 2001 attendance at arts performances was 15 million but it is now 13 million
The study recommends a federal conference on the issue. Romanow says that a better balance is good for ‘your own health, your family’s health’ and ‘our economic wellbeing’. The study also recommends employers provide more flex hours, more vacation time, more walk-able neighborhoods, increased engagement of volunteers and better supports for people caring for children and parents.

The G8 countries meeting in Canada June 2010 have agreed to contribute $5 billion to maternal and newborn health initiatives. Several other nations, outside the G8 and some private donors have also committed money including Spain, Switzerland, the UN Foundation and The Gates Foundation. Many aid agencies had expected donations over $20 billion and were disappointed that donations were not as high as anticipated.

The US Department of Agriculture has released June 2010 its annual study of the cost of raising children in that country. It estimates costs for one year and then extrapolates to age 17, noting food, housing, education costs, as well as other regular costs. The guidelines are issued to be used when costs are estimated for child support, foster care or education budgets. The study found
-for households earning under $56,670, cost of raising a child to age 17 is about $150,000.
-for households earning $56,670 to $98,120 costs are about $210,000. -for households earning over $98,120 costs are about $360,000
The difference in costs for household income assumes wealthy parents spend more on their offspring. The assumption is made that feeding children costs the same across social groups but that higher income families spend the most on ‘third party ‘care because both parents earn. The study assumes that the housing of a wealthy child costs twice the housing of a child in poverty.
-ED NOTE: It is odd to do such a study because there is no assumption of rights of all children to equal benefit under the law. The study suggests perpetuation of social class, and the right of the rich to be supported in the style to which they became accustomed. In some circles these misrepresentations of ‘cost’ are then used to try to garner sympathy for the wealthy as if their ‘costs’ are higher. I feel that the taxpayer, when asked to subsidize anyone, with tax breaks for children or with childcare or daycare aid, should not favor the wealthy but should provide only equal benefit.

Many nations are starting to recognize the contributions seniors make to the community. In 2007 Canada formed the National Seniors’ Council to advise government on matters about seniors and their quality of life. In June 2010 Minister of State Diane Ablonczy has announced that October 1 each year will now be designated National Seniors Day. This will coincide with the International Day of Older Persons. Ablonczy also seeks appointment of a Minister of State for Seniors, tax relief for seniors and a New Horizons for Seniors Program to help seniors network and provide their skills for the community. She has said however that she wants the National Seniors Council to look at two new priorities – the paid labor force participation of seniors and intergenerational relations. Mr. Jean Claude Soulliere of the seniors’ council says that the group looks at how seniors can stay healthy, active and continue ‘contributing’ to society, about active aging.’

Hanna Rosin, writing in the Atlantic for the summer 2010 edition has studied recent trends in the US that suggest women are not only becoming equal to men but in some cases are dominating. The article ”The End of Men” has generated much controversy. Rosin points out
-of every five colleges grads now, three are women
-the universal world preference to have a male child is shifting. Earlier generations may have aborted a female child or considered not having a male heir to the throne as a failure but where sex determination is possible, doctors are finding couples often now request a daughter.
-The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development found in a 2006 study that in 162 countries wherever women had economic and political power, the country had greater economic success
-in the Great Recession , 3⁄4 of the 8 million jobs lost in the US were lost by men
-women in India are learning English faster than men do and getting global call centre jobs
-Pierre Bourdieu of France noted that in his country the idea that men inherit land and become wealthy has eroded since farm income there diminished and the successful young adults now are often the daughters who went to the city
-Heather Boushey of the Center for American Progress found that women are getting a wider range of jobs now, including being paid for childcare, home health assistance, nursing and food preparation which they used to do at home free, while men’s range of jobs has not expanded
-the US Bureau of Labour Statistics found that women now hold 51.4% of managerial and professional jobs up from 26.1% in 1980. 54% of accountants and about 50% of banking and insurance workers are women. 45% of legal associates in law firms are women and about 33% of doctors in the US are women
-the only area that women are not starting to dominate is in the higher echelons, and CEO positions. Only 3% of Fortune 500 CEOs are women
-men earn more straight out of high school than do women- $35,474 compared to $32,469 but women are now more likely to go on to post secondary.
-Among people aged 30-44, there are more college educated women than college –educated men
-In 1970 women contributed 2-6% of the family income but now they contribute about 42.4%

-the decline of marriage has been noticed as a new trend, possibly linked to the career and financial empowerment of women. In 1970 among women aged 30-44, 84% were married. Now only 60% are.
In response to the article, Gloria Steinam, Katie Couric of CBS and Jehmu Greene of the Women’s Media Centre produced a 40 minute clip responding to the Atlantic article saying the goal of feminism is simply equality.

In Australia there is a birth bonus as well as a funding in place for the first year of a child ‘s life, not dependent on paid work history of the parents. New proposals to change benefits however are being discussed. The National party wants to give 18 weeks pay at minimum wage as a maternity benefit for those mothers who did paid work in the preceding months. New South Wales Senator Fiona Nash however says this move is not adequate to benefit all children. She wants to see a mechanism that benefits mothers at home not based on paid work last year. She suggests income splitting, or increasing the baby bonus that is already universal, or paying benefits not as a lump sum but in periods over time.

According to University of Calgary sociology professor Gillian Ranson, family life in Canada is changing. In her new book, Against the Grain: Couples, Gender, and the Reframing of Parenting, Ranson profiles families who are challenging conventional parenting notions, specifically the roles of mothers and fathers. For the book, Ranson conducted interviews with 32 families; she spoke to stay-at-home dads, moms and dads who both work and who split parenting duties equally, and same-sex couples with creative approaches to family life. She found that in families where there is a genuinely equitable sharing of all the responsibilities, there also tends to be a blurring of gender boundaries. What's taking place, she says, is parenting, rather than mothering and fathering. In these families, the couples were interchangeable as parents. "It's as if you took all the things you usually associated with mothering and all the things normally attributed to fathering, dumped them in a basket and shared them generally. Instead of one parent mainly focused on the kids and the other one helping out, you have two parents who are really interested and involved. Over time this creates a functional interchangeability of roles between the two parents in the household...What those 32 couples show, in a very small way, is that they're probably at the front end of change that is coming."

Dr. Dorothy Matthews of The Sage Colleges in New York has released results of a study of mice some of which were exposed to a natural soil microbe and some of which were not. The ones who had been exposed to Mycobacterium vaccae later ran a maze twice as fast as those who were not, and with fewer signs of anxiety, less freezing, stopping, returning to the start. Matthews notes that this study confirms an earlier finding that the microbe which is found in nearly all outdoors stimulates neurons in the brain stem to produce the stress reducer serotonin. She has commented that when human children are exposed to nature they can pick up these benefits to stimulate learning and reduces stress and is concerned when children are not allowed to spend much time outdoors.

In 1995 Betty Hart and Todd R. Risley wrote the book “Meaningful Differences in the Everyday Experience of Young American Children”. By their research language–rich environments were associated with stimulating education and more wealthy parents talked more often than did those in low income households. In homes where the income was $100,000 a year children heard 2153 words an hour, in working class homes they heard 1251 words and in homes of parents on welfare they heard about 616 words an hour. Whether the children were being talked to or just overhearing may be relevant to the discussion however since more recent studies have shown that with new technology the well to do may be using the Internet and cell phones in ways that do not communicate with children and that may risk ignoring them. Dr. Sherry Turkle of MIT has released results of 5 years of study and 300 interviews finding that children are expressing that they feel hurt and jealous when their parents are often at the computer, using their phones or texting. Her book “Alone Together” will be published in 2011.

Many families have as caregiver of their children, the grandparents. A recent survey in the UK, operated by FindaProperty.com looked at the phenomenon when it became clear that many couples seeking a place to live want to live near the grandparents. The study found that:
-75% want to live within 20 miles of the grandparents
-33% said that they hoped their parents would move to live close to the couple
-84% said their own parents looked after the children at least once a week
-maternal grandparents are slightly more likely to be the caregivers
Psychologist Donna Dawson found that having grandparents as caregivers can be a ‘sweet and sour’ experience. On the plus side the caregivers love the children, have a vested interest in their well-being and are people the parents know and trust. On the down side family tensions can be a problem. Some of the results found by the study include:
-35% were concerned that the grandparents might not have the same rules as the parents
-19% found it hard to accept the grandparenting style
-15% felt the grandparent discipline style did not match their own
-14% would have preferred grandparents to go home each night when they visited
-12% worried the children were getting too attached to the grandparents

Dr. Brian Johnston of the University of Washington works with children and has found some injury trends he is concerned about. In the 2008 report about childhood injuries for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 9.2 million children visited emergency rooms between 2000-2006 for non-abuse, unintentional injuries. Of those 12,000 children died a year. In 1967 a theory was advanced that some children are just impulsive and reckless so they tend to have more accidents. But Dr. Johnston did not feel the concept of ‘injury proneness’ has much utility. He did found that if one child was admitted to hospital with a injury, there was a 20% risk that another child in the family would also be injured within the next 3 months. This clustering of injuries puzzled him. He thinks there may be a condition called ‘post-traumatic arousal’ where children after an injury in the family are on edge and likely to overreact. Dr. Flaura Koplin Winston also feels that after an accident, for instance a car accident, stress may remain with a child and with the family for some time, and may show itself in nightmares. She says that after an injury to a child it is important to ask not just how the child is coping but how the parent is functioning. Most fatal injuries to children are as a result of motor vehicles or drowning. The nonfatal injuries for children under age 9 are usually falls, getting hit with something or encounters with insects or animals. Dr. Perri Klass writing in the New York Times says that it used to be that when kids were hurt biking, they were treated and sent home but at his health centre doctors have also started to ask the child if he has a bike helmet, then measure his head and send him home with a helmet. The American Academy of Pediatrics used to advise against children under age 4 being given swimming lessons but has now become more open to the idea, since some studies suggest actual lessons will reduce the risk of drowning. Dr. Winston’s main focus shows the new shift, toward considering, "Are we creating environments that allow kids to explore?"

Henrietta Lacks was a woman of colour who got sick in the 1950s. She was a tobacco farmer, along with her husband and they lived in the US south. She had a viral infection, HPV, linked to cervical cancer and doctors talked to the family about collecting the cells to do some tests. Her husband had only a 3^rd grade education and was not sure what the question meant but the cells were collected. Henrietta Lacks died but the cells doctors had collected continued to live in the sample dish. Their amazing ability to keep going went on at least 60 years and led to significant advances in study of what makes cells divide. Her cells were named the HeLa cells and were used to develop a polio vaccine and to uncover how cancer cells work. The cells of some of her family members were also used in research without their consent. Writer Rebecca Skloot heard of the HeLa Cells during a biology class at college. She was intrigued and as an adult looked into the mystery, not just of why the cells continued to live but also the ethics of collecting them without consent, and the multimillion dollar medical industry that developed because of them but that never sent funding back to the family. She became intrigued when some of the HeLa cells were even sent into space to study their action in zero gravity and how some of them were the fist cells every cloned and the first ever mapped. Skloot has prepared a book about the controversies and the science entitled, “The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks.”

There are about 1.3 billion smokers around the world but many of them want to quit. They find however that their desire to quit is often offset by an undeniable physical dependence on nicotine. Though nicotine gum and patches have had some success, they do not work for everyone and researchers have turned their attention to the nature of the pleasure and addiction. Nicotine latches onto a protein in the brain and creates a substance that triggers the reward center of the brain. The rush of pleasure or a high is based mainly on this physical link. Dr. Jonathan Henry of Michigan State University has reported that a vaccine his team developed, NicVAX, passed stages one and two of human trials and at stage 3 is recruiting 1000 smokers of 10 cigarette a day habits to get an injection several times over a year. The vaccine interferes with the brain reward mechanism by putting antibodies into the blood but they do not cause any related other complications or disease. If the vaccine trials go well and FDA approval is received, the vaccine could be on the market by 2012.

In many cases funding for care of a child is made dependent on the income or lifestyle of the parent. There are however movements around the world to make the government funding conditional on something else- on the fact of care itself, whoever provides it. In some European countries grandparents have successfully lobbied government to have funding when they are the caregivers of heir own grandchildren, to enable the benefits the parents would have gotten to still be given, but now to the grandparent. These benefits could include parental leave, sick leave, or even pay for a nonparental caregiver. Grandparents Plus in the UK has released June 2010 a report noting that one third of UK mothers now rely on grandparents for the care of their children. As of April 2011 grandparents in the UK will be able to get national insurance credits for providing care of their grandchildren but they still will not get the right to ask for flexible paid work hours or to use parental leave entitlements or childcare vouchers that the parents were not using. Dr. Karen Glaser, a specialist on aging said that with the high rate of divorce and single parenting, grandparents have become crucial to children, especially in times of crisis. Dr. Katherine Rake of the Family and Parenting Institute says that grandparents in poverty are particularly adversely affected by lack of funding. Their offspring tend to give birth younger, before the grandparent has retired, and their offspring are statistically more likely to be in poverty. Many grandparents in poverty also find they are financially supporting adult children so benefits that flow with the child would be very fitting and fair. Rake says “We must ensure that the joy of grandparenting prevails”.

The long debates about seniors struggling financially have led to many presentations to government and Finance Minister Jim Flaherty has announced June 2010 that his government will provide a ‘modest phased- and fully funded’ expansion of benefits under the public pension plan. Currently 9.9% of a worker’s pay is paid into the fund, with contributions by employers and employees for earners of modest incomes. The changes however would have to be approved by all provinces. A spokesperson for the Canadian Federation of Independent Business says the idea is ‘outrageous’. However The Canadian Auto Workers union likes the idea and John McCallum of the Liberal Party says the idea’s flaw is that it does not go far enough. He wants to have a supplementary Canada Pension Plan created as well as provisions to protect pensions of those whose companies go bankrupt. Investors Group has recently found that 62% of the nearly –retired admit they will still have debt when retired. Ipsos Reid polled respondents for the Royal Bank of Canada and found that 40% of retired Canadians still have debt. BMO Financial Group found that under 50% of Canadians 55 and over have a strategy in place to generate income after retirement. Yet people are living longer and the prospect of outliving one’s money has led to a study in the National Post newspaper June 2010. The Canadian Institute of Actuaries in June 2007 found that a person retiring at age 55 has a 40% chance of running out of savings by age 85 and a 90% change of having zero money by age 95. Women who earn less and live longer are likely to have no income even sooner. – /There are private agendas afoot in the discussions about pension however. Some political philosophies would like to wipe out government pension plans completely so that all citizens had to purchase mutual funds, thereby benefiting the investment industry - editor/

Families in poverty have some things in common with people who are ill or elderly – not enough resources to prepare healthy meals. Though canned goods can be purchased at low price, most dietary recommendations for genuine health include fresh fruit and vegetables which can however be costly. RBC is a Canadian bank chain that has created the Good Food Box program to help meet these needs. In this program a box of fresh vegetables and fruit is available at least once a month to people who sign up for the service, placing an order and then arriving for pick up about 2 weeks later. The boxes cost $20 for 15 pounds of fresh produce for a single person or senior, $20 for 30 pounds of fresh produce for a small family and $35 for 40 pounds of produce for a larger group.

The Boston Consulting Group has released its annual report of wealth noting that in 2007 the US had a record $38.3 trillion in assets of wealthy people but that since then there has been significant decline of 20% in 2008 and only slow growth back. Canada’s average annual growth in wealth is 4%. The study also found
-in Canada households with assets between US $100,000 and $1 million control 70% of Canadian wealth
-in Canada millionaires control 20% of the nation’s wealth
-in the US there are not only more millionaires than in Canada but more proportionately. In the US millionaires control 55% of wealth. This means the income gap is larger in the US
-The highest absolute number of millionaires in the world is in the US at 4.7 million, then Japan at 1.2 million, China with 670,000, the UK with 485,000 and Germany with 430,000.
-Global wealth was highest in 2007 but has dropped since.
-the largest concentration of the world’s wealth is in Europe which has one third of it overall.

Dr. Marilyn Warning of the Auckland U of Technology has presented a paper before the 9th Commonwealth Women’s Fair ministers Meeting, looking at responses to HIV AIDS internationally. Her research presented, to 16 Commonwealth parliamentarians, pointed out that though 33.4 million people are living with HIV, and nearly 2/3 of them are in Commonwealth countries, a major part of the response to the epidemic is being ignored – family-based care. 12 million people urgently need access to treatment, care and support and 8 million of those are indeed getting some care, but mainly at home by unpaid women and children. The unpaid caregivers are the ‘missing factor ‘ in the treatment plan. Dr. Meena Shivdas, Advisor at the Secretariat’s Gender Section says that the voices of such carers need to be amplified to link the dignity and rights of carers with the economic and policy decisions about HIV. Countries studied in the research included Bangladesh, Botswana, Canada, Guyana, India, Jamaica, Namibia, New Zealand, Nigeria, Papua New Guinea and Uganda.

The Indian Act in Canada permitted men to pass down special rights to their offspring, to reap financial and land benefits conferred on the native population. However mothers were not allowed to pass on those rights; only fathers could. Sharon McIvor opposed this and after 25 years was successful in getting government to put Bill C-3 on the table. This would let women with status rights pass on the rights to their young. About 45,000 offspring would be affected. Before the bill passes however, it was noticed that the new wording also was limited. The rights would only apply to offspring born to married not common law unions and to children born after Sept 4, 1951. Sharon McIvor was unhappy that the bill did not go far enough and she and other native women from Wendake Quebec set out on a 500 km trek to Ottawa to protest. The group has arrived safely in Ottawa and made their voices heard.

A legal dispute has arisen in the US with implications about free speech. Justin Kurtz lives in an apartment in Kalamazoo Michigan and parks there legally. However his parking permit may not have been visible enough recently and a towing company towed his car away. He was angry at the bill of $118 to get the car back and expressed his frustration with the towing company on Facebook. Within two days his angry comments had attracted 800 people joining his group against the towing company. The company responded by filing a defamation suit against Kurtz for ruining their business and reputation and they sought $750,000 in damages. Thomas Alascio in Florida posted negative remarks about a car dealership which immediately turned around and threatened to sue him for similar defamation. Alascio however said that his comments were part of protected speech. A San Francisco chiropractor discovered that a patient had posted a negative review about how much he charged and he also turned around to sue the patient. The phenomenon of big companies suing people for expressing their opinions online is becoming more common and has now a label – Strategic Lawsuit Against Public Participation or SLAPP. Lawyers have noted in the New York Times that such lawsuits by companies are intended to intimidate, often have no expectation of actually winning in court, but aim to get the critic to withdraw the posting rather than face huge legal bills. 27 US states now prohibit such SLAPP lawsuits. Another way to deal with the situation is however used by the group Medical Justice. That group of doctors advises patients to sign an agreement to not post their reactions to treatment online. Doctors in the group say that such online posting is unfair because doctors have no legal ability to respond because of privacy laws.

In Canada cutbacks to funding for some daycares have spurred anger among those daycare operators and though parents can make other arrangements, they are often inconvenienced. A protest about these cutbacks is being waged through the Ontario Coalition for Better Child care. It is also supported by the large labor union Canadian Union of Public Employees, both of which are urging parents to send a postcard to the provincial government. The postcard is premade and says “Don’t Drop the Ball On Early Learning and Care”.

ED NOTE: I am very concerned when such lobbies claim to represent the public, when they are urging no funding for the public or for all children but for a specific style of care only. Often the pleas are made emotionally as if to ‘keep a promise’ as this one is, to keep a promise about ‘early learning and care’. And yet a promise to fund only one style of care is not really a promise that benefits all. The agenda of those whose incomes are made through labor unions is clear here. They want to keep their jobs and the CUPE involvement with the campaign is very telling.

Ed Broadbent formerly led the federal New Democratic Party. He has recently reflected on social policy in May 2010 at the Congress of the Canadian Federation for the Humanities and Social Sciences pointing out that focus on human rights used to be about economic and social and cultural rights but lately has declined. He says governments lately defend only civil and political rights.. He makes the case that the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in 1948 was meant to be more inclusive. He noted that many governments tried to include economic rights after the Great Depression so that churches would not be required to support the poor single-handedly. He said that in Canada the pension plan, universal health care, trade union rights and comprehensive unemployment insurance were all developed post war as part of the value placed on social and economic dignity However he says a ‘new barbarism’ has set in, with PM Thatcher in the UK and President Reagan in the US rolling back social democratic rights. He observed that in Ontario premier Mike Harris abolished several programs and the federal government followed suit. It is this ignoring of the plight of the poor that he says is at the root of the continuing high levels of child poverty in Canada and the increase in inequality. .He cited other nations’ statistics which have found that when you give economic and social rights along with political ones, the society itself is more stable and the people are healthier. Using as examples Denmark, Sweden and Norway he made the case that longer life, fewer teen pregnancies and more civic participation are results of ensuring economic rights not just political ones. He says that “Canada is moving backwards”, denying EI benefits to over half of the unemployed in the nation, and forcing the poor to re-mortgage their homes so their young can attend university. He urges governments to focus again on social and economic equality, to provide adequate pensions, ensure EI goes to all workers, guarantee equal pay for men and women, build schools and hospitals and let labor unions flourish.

In a society where age is respected and elderly women have even historically overruled native chiefs on some issues, some native grandmothers have become very upset at the high levels of youth violence among natives. A Winnipeg Group called Grandmothers Protecting our Children Council held a study session, called for a healing prayer service and is lobbying provincial leaders to help them go into the prisons to speak to gang members and other incarcerated youth. The native group, Kookum Gaa Na Dam Ma Waad ABinnonjig is hoping female elders still carry weight to help young people find a healthier lifestyle.

In Mississippi recently an 19 year old student, Constance McMillen was told she could not bring her female date to the prom. The gay and lesbian community around the world was touched by the story and some have reacted with troubled memories of their own proms and having to take a friend who was not in fact the one they cared about. James Demers of Calgary has decided to right some of those wrongs and host an event for people aged 18 and over in Calgary, who would like to redo their prom, but with a same sex partner if that is what they would have wanted. Christine Pinkey is 23 but when she graduated from St. Francis High she had still not come out as a bisexual. She now has however and plans to attend the “gay prom’ with her partner of 3 years. The organizers of the prom expect about 300 people, Admission is $10-$15 and all proceeds go to Miscellaneous Youth Network that offers support programs to gay youth under age 25.

In Canada family caregivers are rarely valued for their work and the poverty they endure and lack of rights is a concern. There are however even larger numbers of caregivers in nations in poverty, who face different dilemmas. A quick survey of recent statistics:
-In 2000 life expectancy in the industrialized world was 71 for men and 79 for women. In the developing world it was 62 for men and 65 for women
-In the industrialized world the main causes of death are blood and circulatory problems 46%, cancer 21% while infections are 1% and prenatal and natal deaths are 1%. In the developing world the main causes of death are infections at 43% and prenatal and natal at 10%. Cancer is only 9%, circulatory problems are only 5%.
-The median age of the population in the world as of 2000 was 26.5 years. The median age in Europe was 37.7, in North America as 35.6, but the median in Asia is 26.2,the media in Africa is 18.4 years
-The birth rate in the year 2000 in Canada was 1.6. In Italy it was 1.2, in Japan 1.4, in Sweden 1.6. However in Malawi it was 6.8, in Kenya 4.5, in Saudi Arabia 5.8
-The number of people living below the poverty level in China is 4.% while the number living below the poverty level in the Philippines is 40% and the number in Honduras is 53%
-The number of children who are under age 5 and malnourished is 1% in Canada or the US or Germany but 16% in China, 23% in Kenya and 57% in Nepal.
-the number of deaths of children under age 5 per 1000 population is 7 in Canada, 6 in Germany but 35 in Mexico, 52 in Guatemala, 124 in Kenya and 210 in Burkina Faso
-of people who get AIDS, the death rate is one in 46 in North America but one in twelve in SubSaharan Africa.

UNICEF via the UN Children’s Fund has released its 2008 report about life expectancy finding that in Afghanistan 25% of babies born will not live to age 5. Half of the people in Afghanistan are under 18 and nearly half of the children in the country do not go to school. Over 1 million Afghan children are the main breadwinners for the family. That country in poverty has also been war torn. Between May 2007 and February 2008 98 schools were burned, 147 teachers and children were killed. Over two million Afghan children are orphans.
-ED NOTE: I must admit I find these numbers humbling and startling. Access to clean water, good food and safe housing, to innoculations and prenatal and maternity care would massively reduce deaths in the developing world. However it seems to me that we have not solved all the problems in the west either though. Women are not valued wherever they do care roles but women in the west are now valued, but only for how much they earn. We still are not valuing the care role. In the developing world the pressure internationally is to get women to have fewer babies but in the west we have a lack of babies so severe that we can’t maintain our tax base. In the developing world we force women to be home but in the west we force them to work outside the home. Both forces are in my opinion unfair and we should respect women’s earning and care roles equally.. The problems therefore are different and we should not assume we have solved them. I would recommend all women who want babies get more status, respect and funding for them, wherever they are.

May 2010

Clinical Psychiatry News board member and Temple University professor Dr. Paul Fink made a shockingly irresponsible assertion in his recent column (May, 2010). He wrote that family court reform groups seeking to have parental alienation disorder (a campaign of denigration and forced estrangement of a parent from the life of a child by a custodial parent) seriously considered for inclusion in the fifth edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM V), the American Psychiatric Association's "bible" of diagnoses, are doing so because they “don’t like to be interfered with when they are sexually abusing their children." He directed his comments to a group of 50 mental health experts from 10 countries who are part of an effort to add Parental Alienation Disorder to the DSM. This scientific coalition is led by psychiatrist William Bernet, who explains that adding PAD to the DSM "would spur insurance coverage, stimulate more systematic research, lend credence to a charge of parental alienation in court, and raise the odds that children would get timely treatment." A letter demanding a retraction from Dr. Fink was signed by members of the coalition, with a copy sent to Temple University Medical School. In response, Dr. Fink apologized and retracted his defamatory statement in the latest issue of the Clinical Psychiatry News. Dr. Fink wrote: "I apologize for suggesting that fathers who accuse mothers of PAS are sexually abusing their children. That was clearly an overstatement that I retract. Admittedly, I got carried away when writing the article...I had absolutely no intention of impugning Dr. Bernet or his colleagues in any way. I hope we can all come to an agreement about what constitutes alienation, how to deal with PAS, and how to proceed in court hearings when someone alleges that one or another parent is an alienator or an abuser."

The consequences to parents around the world of Japan's refusal to sign the Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction have yet again been noted. In sum, any Japanese parent anywhere in the world can kidnap his/her child and return to Japan. Once there, Japanese courts refuse to acknowledge the other parent's rights. That's mostly true when mothers abduct their children because Japanese family courts overwhelmingly favor exclusive maternal custody post-divorce. A new article goes a step further (Japan Times, 5/14/10). It seems that many Japanese parents are surprised to learn that, if they live outside the country and one parent returns to Japan with the child, the other parent may be left out of the child's life for good. As the article makes clear, it's mostly fathers who have their children taken from them, but mothers can be victimized as well. But the problems with the Japanese system of family law don't begin or end with its refusal to sign the Hague Convention, according to the Times. It's main shortcoming is its antipathy for fathers, regardless of their nationality. Japan's pro-mother bias is abetted by the unwillingness of judges to look impartially at claims of abuse, as many veteran family attorneys have said frankly that allegations of abuse are routinely made for the sole purpose of gaining the upper hand in custody proceedings.

A recent report (May, 2010) from the U.S. National Institutes of Health about the long term effects of daycare on kids has created considerable media excitement over the past couple of weeks. The study, "Do Effects of Early Child Care Extend to Age 15 Years? Results From the NICHD Study of Early Child Care and Youth Development," published in the latest issue of the journal is either good news or bad news for parents with kids in daycare - depending on how you spin it. While CBC news ran this story about the study, the headline read, "Quality child care linked to kids' well-being," whereas the L.A. Times highlighted another aspect of the study's results: Day-care kids are more impulsive, bigger risk-takers. The report is part of a longitudinal study led by Deborah Lowe Vandell, the chair of education at the University of California, Irvine, who heads a team tracking 1,364 children from diverse backgrounds who have been studied since they were one month old, starting in 1991. The latest study results indicate that kids who had attended high-quality childcare scored slightly higher on measures of academic and cognitive achievement as teenagers. However the study also found that at 15, the kids who had spent longer hours in day care as preschoolers were more impulsive and more prone to take risks than the teens whose toddler years were spent largely at home. While news reports have largely focused on the study's findings about the beneficial effects of childcare - what is being largely ignored is the fact that the study reveals that the influence of childcare on children's development pales beside that of parents. As the chief of the Child Development and Behavior Branch at the NIH has pointed out: "findings from the study indicate that parents appear to have far more influence on their child's growth and development than the type of child care they receive." In fact, the NIH study, the most comprehensive study of child care in the United States, has consistently found that the relation between family features and children's development was two to three times stronger than the links between daycare and child development. Features of the family and of children's experiences in their families proved, in general, to be stronger and more consistent predictors of child development than did any aspect of child care.

Though some believe that if you don’t closely supervise a 7 year old you are giving bad care, others think the supervision itself is bad. Lenore Skenazy of New York City thinks that children from age 7 and up should be able to have unstructured and independent time in parks and not be too closely monitored by overzealous parents. She urged parents to meet up at 10 AM at parks around the US on May 22 and then leave the kids there, with a cellphone to use in case of emergency or with the parents across the street at a café. She wanted kids to set up spontaneous games and friendships. She says we have taken from kids a sense of freedom. Her movement has received both praise and horrified responses from parents. Richard Louv in 2005 wrote “Last Child in the Woods” praising freer play among youth and he won an Audubon Medal in 2008. He believes that children are at risk of nature deficit disorder. and Chicago has fostered a movement called “Leave No Child Inside”. It also has a “Children’s Outdoor Bill of Rights’.

Though many people choose to not have children those who do are also expressing more strongly their rights to take their children into public places. In Washington DC conflicts have erupted between parents and nonparents in several locations in the inner city core, as the number of children under age 5 has ballooned in the past 8 years. Annys Shin of the Washington Post studied the conflicts as some users of parks are offended when young children use their tricycles and strollers outside the fenced-in play area. Some merchants are banning large baby strollers if very wide and often laden with packages and beverages that can cause damage in a store. Mo Rezvan of Exquisite Fabrics got complaints from customers when he told a woman she had to leave her 3 month old baby near the entrance. Other confrontations have erupted between parents and nonparents on city buses and in restaurants. Scott Magnuson of The Argonaut restaurant has embraced the children though, hosting a weekly family night but a few customers have grumbled about having children around.

Researchers from Johns Hopkins University have released results of a study of 1221 married couples aged 65 and older, followed every 3 years from 1995 to 2007. Of the group of 2442 people, 255 developed dementia. Studies have already been done about depression of the caregiver of someone with dementia and how the emotional strain is harder than if care is because of physical problems. However this study found that caregivers also tend to have a risk of their own memory and language loss and mood swings. The study found that male caregivers had a 12 fold risk of developing their own dementia and female caregivers a 3.7 fold risk. The study suggests that chronic stress may harm the hippocampus responsible for memory.

Dr. Nicholas Christakis of Harvard Medical School and Dr. James Fowler of UC San Diego have released results of a study of alcohol consumption based on the 12,000 people Framingham Heart Study that follows people for decades. They found that those emotionally near a person have a strong influence on their drinking habits.
-if a woman is a heavy drinker, her female friend is also 154% likely to be a heavy drinker
-if a woman is a heavy drinker he husband is 196% more likely to drink heavily.
-if a man is a heavy drinker, his wife is 126% more likely to drink heavily.
-if a close friend does not drink, someone near them is 29% more likely to also abstain
Dr. Tricia Leahey of Brown Medical School found that weight loss has a similar social network influence. Several thousand people were given pedometers for exercising but those who fared best were ones teamed up with others of similar ability level.Researchers are suggesting that rather than urge everyone to lose weight or stop drinking, it might be wise for government to target a few people at the center of social influence.

In Canada new mothers with a certain number of paid work hours the preceding year qualify for 50 weeks of paid maternity benefit. Many are excluded if their paid work profile is not within the criteria, however. In 2002 an amendment was added to the legislation permitting new mothers to add to this 50 weeks if they had become ill and were unable to bond with the baby. An additional 15 weeks benefit was possible. However some mothers asking for this additional benefit have been turned down. Some suffering from postpartum depression and wanting the extension were denied it. The government HRDC website says the benefit is for mothers who claim sickness benefits prior to or following maternity or parental benefits. Those who became ill 15 weeks prior to their due dates seem to get the benefit but those who got ill just after giving birth often do not. MP Carolyn Bennett is angry at such inconsistencies. Laurel Ritchie of the Canadian Auto Workers and Canadian Labor Congress says there is a large issue at stake here. Bennett argues that pregnancy and delivery problems can lead to illness at any point during the leave, as can cancer or car accidents, and the coverage should be broader. Natalya Rougas gave birth in early 2009 and took the maternity leave. However just before the year was up she was diagnosed with stage 3 breast cancer and needs chemotherapy and a double mastectomy. She has asked for an extension of her benefits to now cover 15 weeks due to illness and has been turned down. She is appealing to the EI Umpire, an independent tribunal. The 15 weeks extension would have helped her single income family pay for her medicine and hiring a nanny for the toddler. The benefit would have been about $400 a week.

Dr. James Sargent of Dartmouth Medical School in New Hampshire has released results of a study of 2400 children aged 10-14 and their TV viewing habits. The study found that 25% of those who were allowed to watch R rated movies frequently admitted to having also tried alcohol without permission while only 3% of those whose movie watching was controlled had tried alcohol. Sargent says that the effect of parenting was also followed up 13-26 months later by phone and with paper surveys. Dr. David Walsh of the National Institute on Media and the Family says the results are significant since research shows that the younger children start using alcohol the greater the risk to their own health.

Demographers, economists and sociologists have gathered recently in Dallas Texas for the meeting of the Population Association of America.
Much of the research being presented is about caregiving and in particular how much time parents spend with their children.
-Dr .Barbara Schneider of Michigan State University says parental presence in the house with the child is reassuring to the child but is not the same as direct interaction
-The American Sociological Review in studying 1800 workers found that nearly 50% of Americans bring some work home with them regularly
-Dr. Sherry Turkle of the MIT Initiative on Technology and Self says parents often deceive themselves that they are spending time with the child when in fact they are there in body but on their Blackberry or cell phone. She interviewed children aged 10 to college age and found that people of all social classes now are guilty of using technology a lot even when theoretically watching the child. She calls this ‘shared attention’ and says that many children feel it is not attention at all:

-The US Bureau of Labor Statistics often does time-use surveys asking people to report how much time they spend with children but these statistics do not count such multi-tasking. Dr. Julie Brines of the U of Washington says researchers still are not able to easily analyze multitasking
-Dr. Peter Brandon of Carleton College says that doing dishes with the child in the room is only passive monitoring but what kids also need is direct time, going to concerts with them, playing with them, knowing who their friends are. He says parents who spend time directly with the children reap payoffs when the children become teens because such close bonding is associated with fewer teen risky behaviors
-Dr. Jane Waldfogel of Columbia University says a lot of parents are bringing job stress home. She found that in 1979 parents put in shorter work weeks than they do now. For a two parent family, paid work hours are up 12% and for single parents are up 23%. Parents simply have less time with the kids
-Dr. Julie Brines of the U of Washington says parents also can’t always hit that window for when the kids are available to talk. In the late 1980s 60% of couples had one spouse regularly doing paid work at night and this number by 2002 has risen to 86%
ED NOTE: I always find it ironic and sad that troubled kids are often the ones whose parents are away the most, but that for those in deep poverty, who sometimes have to work late shifts or two jobs, single parents often, there is a double penalty. They are not paid well enough to support the family, they are not valued for the care role, and then their children are so distressed that their children may go wayward and at fault is certainly not the parent. At fault is the tax system that devalues parenting time.

When small children are put into daycare programs for long periods of time they may develop lifestyles suited to such a nonphysical lifestyle. The UK Millenium Cohort Study looked in April 2010 at 12,500 children aged birth to age 5. Those with mothers who worked outside the home differed in several areas from those whose mothers were home tending them. The differences included
-children with moms at home ate more fruits and vegetables at snacks and with meals
-children with moms at home watched television less and played on computers less
-children with moms at home consumed fewer sweetened beverages such as pop
-children with moms at home did more physical exercise and had fewer sedentary activities
-children are very shapeable and adapt to what they cannot change orwhat they have never seen options about. But their allusion of coping does not mean they are coping optimally. Parents who leave the child for longer periods each day may lovingly pack a lunch but it is less likely to be fresh fruit since that takes longer to prepare. The parent may never find out if the child actually ate it. It is less likely the parent can provide a trip to the park or museum or science center that afternoon and it is very hard for a large preschool to prepare and dress dozens of small children even for one small outing. Better would be for government to fund children directly and let parents create a wider and more attentive range of options. Some of this is about trusting parents’ judgment. Some is about realizing that tending a child is vital work.

The Pew Research Center has released April 2010 results of a study of teen use of cell phones. The study looked at changes since 2004 and found that:
-45% of teens owned cell phones in 2004 and now 75% do
-50% of teens with cell phones sent text messages in 2004 and now 88% do
-48% of parents of teens say they use the cell phones to help the teen stay in touch with the parent either through having the teen call home or through tracking the teen using GPS
-parents who have rules about text messages are less likely to send sexual content over the phone than those whose parents set no limits
-over 50% of teens say they have sent a text message during class even when the cell phone is technically not allowed in the classroom
-if the parent pays for the cell phone teens are less likely to send sexts than if the teen pays for the cell phone.

The bible of psychiatric diagnosis for mental disorders is the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders and this catalogue of medical illness is undergoing its first major overhaul in 16 years. Controversy has erupted in the psychoanalytical community about over-labelling of some conditions as illnesses. Christopher Lane, wrote “Shyness: How Normal Behavior Became a Sickness” and has noticed that children for the past few years have been diagnosed at alarming rates with a condition called childhood bipolar disorder. This condition is often treated by strong medication. A new label is listed however in the new edition, temper dysregulation disorder with dysphoria – or TDD. This new diagnosis for outbursts of temper in children might ‘tone down’ the over diagnosis of the more serious condition according to some observers. Dr. Edward Shorter of the U of Toronto says over-diagnosis of bipolar has been a ‘colossal embarrassment’ to the field of psychiatry. However he is concerned that the new TDD label is still going too far. He says some children are just ‘unruly ‘and to label a toddler’s temper tantrum as an illness is extreme. To medicate it, he says, is unwise. Dr. Wilma Narrow however says the TDD diagnosis will not be for ordinary temper tantrums of a 2-3 year old who is not getting his way. It will be saved for the child aged 6 or more who has a hair-trigger fuse, who has violent temper tantrums out of proportion to any kind of provocation.

The Fraser Institute’s Dr. Niels Veldhuis has released results of a study of tax trends, finding that since 1961 taxes have increased significantly. The study found that the cost of living has increased. A basket of goods and services costing $100 in 1961 would cost $736.31 in 2010. Despite the fact that most household expenses have gone up- housing, food, transportation- the biggest increase has been in taxes themselves. Canadians now spend about 42% of their average income on some form of tax, including income tax, sales tax, property tax, and taxes on alcohol and tobacco. The average Canadian family pays 1198% of what it did in 1961 on housing, 559% what it did on food, 526% what it did on clothing. But those increases of 11, 5 and 5 times as much pale in comparison to the increase in the tax bill which is 1624% or 16 times as much as it was. Veldhuis found that most Canadians are not even aware of some of the taxes they are paying, such as on gas. When faced with the revelation of such high increases in tax, calls for lowering of tax are common reactions. However Alderman Andre Chabot of Calgary found that people always want higher levels of service and it takes taxes to provide them. Dan Meades of Vibrant Communities Calgary says that the tax system is still not fairly proportioned since the poor have to pay too much of their income to get the services. Richard Truscott of the Canadian Federation of Independent Business would like taxes reduced, pointing out that when they are high, people don’t have much discretionary money left and they can’t buy things, affecting sales, which harms business.
ED NOTE: This is an age-old debate. The big government people who want the state to operate a lot of social programs, as in Sweden with universal daycare, need tax rates often over 60%. The small government advocates like Sarah Palin in the US seem to believe that if the taxes are kept low, people will have more to spend, keep business going, employ more people, and that business will somehow on its own be kind and magnanimous to the poor. It is not an observation that I find has proven true. Government is the only reliable funder of social equality.

April 2010

Dr. Mark Holder of the University of British Columbia has done a study of happiness of 8-12 year olds and found that there is a strong link in North American culture to their spirituality. Recent parallel studies with children in New Delhi focusing on a different religion found the same result. He suggests that children have an amazing sense of faith and a higher power even if they do not attend a church. Amy Crawford of the United Church of Canada children and youth projects says that society tends to discourage people from that youthful sense of wonder but children are very familiar with mystery and not knowing. Kathleen Ennis works in Toronto for the Catholic Archdiocese. She found that very young children on hearing someone died are comforted being told that person has risen.

Dr. Arlene Astell of the U of Andrews has noticed that computers have a real role to play in helping those with dementia, as long as the computer is not hard to operate. If it has no mouse or keyboard but just a touch screen, it provides much greater accessibility for the elderly. A new program called Computer Interactive Reminiscence and Conversation Aid has been developed for use in UK nursing homes where those with dementia are being treated. The program has a data base of thousands of generic still images, films and clips and when the elderly see them, they often explode with verbal thoughts about what the images remind them of in their past. Though some may suggests family pictures would be more useful, Astell says that people often are upset if they can’t recall names or specific events so a generic photo is much less threatening. A photo has also many possibilities. One photo of Trafalgar Square motivated a viewer to notice the pigeons and then to speak of his hobby years earlier of breeding pigeons. Every picture has much potential. Andrew Chidgey of the Alzheimer’s Society says reminiscence therapy is a powerful way to help those with dementia. Caregivers in nursing homes are also expressing pleasure that the people in their care are now discussing a wide and stimulating range of topics. Chidgey notes that one in 3 people over 65 will die with dementia.

Russia has many children available for adoption and UNICEF estimates that over 740,000 children there are not in the custody of their parents. Agencies have been set up to expedite adoptions of these children around the world and in 2009 nearly 1600 children from Russia were adopted into the US. However there is no formal treaty between the US and Russia about the rules of such adoptions. Four crises have surfaced lately that have led the Russian government to freeze any continuing
-In 2006 a Virginia mother was convicted and sentenced to 15 years in prison for fatally beating the 2 year old girl she adopted from Siberia a few months earlier
-In 2008a Utah mother was sentenced to 15 years after pleading guilty to killing the Russian infant in her care
-In March 2010 a couple in Pennsylvania was accused of killing the 7 year old they had adopted from Russia
The breaking point occurred however this last month when a 7 year old Russian boy, adopted by a Tennessee single mother and her grandmother, arrived to live with them and then was sent back, alone, to Russia with a note. The note read that the child was mentally unstable, violent and had psychopathic issues and that the Russian orphanage workers had misled the adoptive mother. The outcry about sending a child back unannounced or sending a young child on an international flight unaccompanied has led to accusations against several parties. The grandmother, Nancy Hansen, says that she ensured the boy was safe by dropping him off at the airport into the hands of a United Airlines Stewardess and paying a man $200 to pick him up at the Moscow airport and take him to the Education and Science Ministry. United Airlines has said that the conditions it requires of parent or guardian dropping the child off and showing ID and ensuring pickup at the other end were all met. Though no charges have been laid against the adoptive mother, Russian Foreign Minster Sergey Lavrov says the case has prompted outrage. Charges of child abandonment are possible.

Psychoanalyst Sue Gerhardt has recently published “The Selfish Society’” rguing that women are being pressured too soon to return to paid work after a baby is born. She says that children fare best for mental health if they are given parental care till at least age 2 years. Gerhardt has also written “Why Love Matters: How Affection Shapes a Baby’s Brain”. She says we have confused economic well being with happiness and ignored emotional needs and the caregiving role. Her work adds to literature in the same vein:
-Dr. Penelope Leach argued in 2008 that nurseries for children under age 18 months are not as good as is parental care
-Oxford University and the Institute for Fiscal Studies found that children enrolled full time at nurseries were more likely to display antisocial behavior
-Steve Biddulph wrote “Raising Babies” making the case that current trends distancing direct parenting risk a colder, more stressed and more aggressive child.
Rowan Pelling, columnist for the Telegraph in the UK has summarized these studies April 3 2010 saying “The experts who tell us that our children’s welfare will be better ensured by breastfeeding, family meals, bedtime stories and hands-on care are not being sanctimonious or finger-wagging. They’re just telling it how it is and in our heart of hearts we know they’re right”. Pelling says the vitriole of mothers who earn outside the home can be explained by this defensiveness against the message. Pelling does note however that tax policy in the UK favors and makes sometimes the only affordable option, parents not taking care of their children themselves.

Dr. Gary Ramey and Dr. Valerie Ramey, economists at the U of California San Diego have analyzed time use surveys from 1965 to 2007 and reached the conclusion in April 2010 that parents nowadays spend more time with their children than parents used to. The study defined however time with the children only as specific activities focused on that child and did not count time at dinner, time near the child while cooking, time taking the child on shopping errands or family sports. This exclusion of time led to the conclusion that before 1995 women spent only 12 hours a week attending to the needs of the children while by 2007 they spent 21.2 hours per week if college-educated and 15.9 hours per week if not. Ellen Galinsky of the Families and Work Institute says the study will console parents who work outside the home and who worry ‘they’re shortchanging their children’. Dr. Betsey Stevenson and Dr. Dan Sacks, also economists at The U of Pennsylvania, said they found that before 1995 college-educated men spent 4.5 hours per week with the children but now spend 9.6 hours per week. If not college educated they used to spend 3.7 hours per week but now spend 6.8 hours. Dr. Stevenson says women spend less time cleaning the home or cooking and men spend fewer hours at the office, enabling the new results
–Bev Smith writes: "I seriously take issue with the definition of ‘attending to needs of the child’. If a parent is baking for the family, getting groceries the child needs, reading about medicine the child needs, watching TV with the child, the parents is ‘attending to the needs of the child’ and those vital hours should not be considered irrelevant. They are the kind of casual togetherness time, dependable on call time that kids actually need. If we count only direct conversation one on one with the child, asking specifically interview-style how the child is, maybe that has increased but I am not sure it is the best way even to get to know your child. How far will people not go to console themselves that it is OK to leave the young child with strangers? First the daycare movement said they were educators and parents weren’t, that they were child-care providers and parents weren’t and that they were professionals and parents were not competent. Now the movement dares to even claim parents who are away 40 hours a week are with the child more than those right there. It is bizarre. We don’t need to assuage guilt of parents by such contortions. We can respect those who work outside the home but we must realize that you actually can’t be two places at once and if you choose to be away you are not at home. The alternative to care at home does not need to try to claim it is also superior. If it just makes the case it is good enough, then funding for all styles is reasonable."

The insurance firm Aviva in the UK has released results of a survey of 1000 parents about their parenting style. The survey found that the number of men as primary ‘carer’ of the child has increased 10 fold in the past decade. Currently 6% of fathers are the primary caregivers of the child. The reasons for the shift are many. Adrienne Burgess of the Fatherhood Institute says many men now prioritize this time with their children. Others gave economic reasons such as the fact the wife earns more than the man – in one in 6 cases – or the fact 3rd party childcare is so costly that having one partner at home was less expensive. Adjustment to the gender shift was also studied:
-37% of women felt guilty going out to paid work and leaving the children
-30% of the men felt the care role was more rewarding than paid work
-75% of the fathers felt lucky to spend the time with the children
-10% of the men felt less manly for being at –home dads

Though the case for breastfeeding is often based on child health, with some research showing benefit also to the mother’s health, researchers in the journal Pediatrics have released research results April 2010 showing that breastfeeding also saves a nation money. The study looked at costs incurred when there is less breastfeeding
-treatment and hospitalization for lower respiratory tract infections, atopic dermatitis, sudden infant death syndrome, asthma leukemia, type 1 diabetes, childhood obesity, necrotizing entercolitis, gastroenteritis
were compared to the costs of breastfeeding. It was cheaper to breastfeed and not have to treat ailments
-the cost of parents missing paid work and not being productive in paid labor during those parts of the day when they breastfeed
The study found that US breastfeeding rates are ‘suboptimal’ and result in excess costs. Investment in more breastfeeding duration would be cost-effective

In 1971 nine people were earning for every one retiree. However the Institute de la Statistique du Quebec says that this year the number is 4.5 earners, by 2016 it will be 3.7 earners and by 2026 unless there is a huge population surge it will be 2.6. This crisis in maintaining the tax base and funding pensions, education, health care and social programs has been addressed in two ways recently. One was to increase benefits for parenting through more generous maternity leave provisions. The other was to encourage immigration. However key to immigration being a solution is either that immigrants have lots of babies or that they earn. The Center for Interuniversity Research and Analysis on Organizations has found that not many immigrants to Quebec are able to find jobs. Though US and Western Europe immigrants can, the 19% of immigrants from North Africa or South Asia have high rates of unemployment. Brahm Boudarbat of the Center says that today’s immigrants have high levels of education. In 1981 only 15% had university but in 2006 over 50% do. The problem is also not lack of French. 60% of new immigrants are quite fluent in French.

At the Starting Over Show in Brighton UK, couples getting divorced attend a trade fair. They can get massages, have a healing ceremony to say good-bye and get counseling about child access and custody. However one booth at the fair has raised particular concern. Allianz Litigation Funding offers to provide funding for divorcing couples that the banks may have turned down to fund the procedure. The litigation arrangement in exchange for funding the divorce however, wants a 20-30% cut of the final settlement. Timothy Maier of Allianz has been asked about the ethics of betting on marriages ending and denies there is profiteering. He says he is just providing an investment facility. Divorce fair lawyer Alan Larkin however is critical saying the hedge fund option makes him uneasy and is actually taking a ‘pound of flesh’. He does admit though that divorces can be costly and that during the recession many divorces were put on hold.

It is well documented that in India and China births of males far outnumber births of females and that gender selection and abortion of the female fetus is becoming commonplace. Dr. Prabhat Jha of the University of Toronto has found that birth numbers are so lopsided in India that there were likely 10 million female fetuses aborted there in the last twenty years. The morality of aborting a child is a different decision from the morality of aborting only a child of a certain gender but most politicians steer clear of both discussions for their sensitive nature. A 2003 Stats Canada survey found that immigrant communities in BC and Ontario often also have large numbers of male births, particularly if the first child is a girl. The suggestion has been made that doctors could refuse to tell the gender of a fetus to expectant parents until late enough in the pregnancy that abortion was not permitted. Doctors in British Columbia for instance have a policy of refusing to divulge gender until 20 weeks into the pregnancy and Dr. Alain Gagnon of the BC Children and Women’s Hospital says this seems to be a good compromise fulfilling the obligation to ensure health and inform the patient of vital information while not revealing gender till later. However suggestions of a national policy of the same nature have met with opposition. Dr. Doug Wilson of the U of Calgary says doctors have an ethical agreement with the patient to provide information if the patient asks for it. Joyce Arthur of Abortion Rights Coalition of Canada says the debate is irrelevant anyway since mail order DNA tests can also quite accurately tell gender. She feels for doctors to not tell what they know is paternalistic. The Society of Obstetrics and Gynecology of Canada officially condemns sex selection.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has announced April 2 2010 that all of India will now ensure that children aged 6-14 can attend schools. Singh has said that education is the ‘key to success’ and will ensure financial constraints do not hamper implementation of the Right to Education Act.

Australia has a universal birth benefit of over $5,000 but once the baby is born, funding flows much more generously to mothers in paid work than to mothers at home. PM Kevin Rudd has proposed a new paid parental leave plan under which parents could get funding if the mother had been in paid work continuously for 10 months during the 3 months before giving birth. She must have put in at least 330 hours of paid work. If so she could get up to $7342 in benefits. However mothers at home would only get the birth benefit. Opposition leader Tony Abbott is also proposing preferential funding to mothers who earn. His plan would provide up to $75,000 for some earning mothers, funded by a business tax. Galaxy Poll has asked the public their reaction to both plans. 68% of those asked said that under both or either plan, at-home mothers should get the same amount of money that mothers who earn get. Kids First Australia which asked for the survey said that “All mums work, but not all mums are paid for what they do." Tempe Harvey of Kids First Australia says parenting payments should not discriminate. He said that in Sweden where paid parental leave was conditional on paid work, there has been a "bitter harvest" of long-term separation of children from parents.

In Australia government subsidies 3rd party childcare at childcare centres. Childcare Minister Kate Ellis, of the Labor party, says subsidizing nannies would be elitist but did not dismiss entirely the suggestion. Sharman Stone of the Coalition is recommending benefits also be given to in-home carers, including nannies since many women work shifts or weekends and a childcare centre does not fit their needs. Stone also says that subsidizing a nanny may even be less costly for government that providing inner city childcare at $100 a day.

March 2010

Coldwell Banker Real Estate in Los Angeles has completed a survey of 2360 real estate agents finding that 37% are now being asked to provide residences for multiple generations. Some want a mother or mother in law suite over a garage or in a basement, while others seek the same location for an adult child who has not moved out or who has moved back in. Some adults are moving in with an aging parent in the parent’s home. 39% said the arrangements were for financial reasons, 29% for health care reasons and 6% for creating strong family bonds.

One European hotel chain caters specifically to families with children. The Kinderhotel operates all over Austria and a typical family suite costs 1400 euros for two adults and one child for a week. This cost includes 80 hours of free childcare while parents ski or shop. An additional child costs 200 euros a week. Some of the features of this hotel include:
-onsite baby pool and slide for under twos
-onsite petting zoo
-ski school for 2-5 year olds
-ready packed swim bags with towel in each room for when guests go to the pool
-a crawling room for infants, complete with mini ball pit, hammock cribs and caring staff
-dining room with attached playroom separated with glass doors so parents can eat while restless children play
-sleeping room suites so children are in their own room with bunk beds or cots, and with internal doors so parents can stay up later. The hotel even provides a baby alarm for parents via mobile phone
-available cribs, sterilizers, fridges, changing mats, formula, baby food and potties so parents need not travel with all these things in tow
-diapers and strollers can be preordered and ready when guests arrive

Teens are highly subject to peer influence and recent studies have confirmed this trend occurs not just for smoking or drinking behavior, and not just for drug use but also for amount of sleep. Dr. Sara Mednick of the U of California at San Diego examined data about 8,349 teens tracked over 8 years and questioned their personal habits and social network. The study found that a teen is 11% more likely to sleep 7 or fewer hours per night if he has a friend who also sleeps less. A teen is twice as likely to smoke marijuana if he has a friend who does and the relationship holds true even at 4 degrees of separation, if a teen has a friend whose friend’s friend exhibits that behavior. Mednick says that it looks like teens who are sleep deprived do not feel well, have behavioral problems, have fewer inhibitions and may seek out drugs to treat how they feel. She speculates that if the most influential people in a social circle were targeted with anti-drug messages that would have greater impact that targeting all their friends.

Dr. Robert Weis of Denison University in Ohio has released results of a study of children who play video games. His study found that young gamers who average 40 minutes per day playing Play Station at home do not develop as fast in reading and writing skills as those who do not own such a game system. Those who don’t own a game may play it on average 9 minutes a day at the home of a friend, and their test scores progress.

Though use of nursing homes is increasing across North America, minorities and immigrants are less likely to use that care method. They are however as much in need of care as they age as are people born in the US or Canada. The US Alzheimer’s Association estimates that 11 million Americas provide 12. 5 billion hours of unpaid care for loved ones. Many of those care for parents from another country who have moved to North America and who feel that the cost or culture, language or traditions of a nursing home here would not meet their needs. Angela Geiger of the Alzheimer’s Association notes also that African-Americans are twice as likely to develop Alzheimers and that Hispanics are 1.5 times as likely to do so, so the demand for care by family is very high among those cultural groups. Other problems faced by minorities include
-difficulty understanding the language of the health care system resulting in less likelihood of getting early care and medication
-lower income level which makes upscale centres less affordable
-cultural taboos against nursing home placement with the strong belief instead that family has an obligation to provide care out of respect.
-ignoring symptoms of what is dementia as distinguished from what is normal aging. Dr. Dolores Gallagher-Thompson of Stanford University School of Medicine says that some cultures try to conceal deficits of the elderly out of respect.

With the development of entire career designations to do care roles- taking care of the young or elderly family members of strangers, governments often search for what part they should play. Care of family used to be in the private sphere and highly valued as personal right and private decision. However hiring strangers to take care of a family member creates needs for some guarantee of competent care and standards have been set up in many jurisdictions. The problem is that some of those standards are not adhered to according to a recent article in North Carolina. Dr. LeRoy King’s mother was in a nursing home in that state years ago and at age 88 started to choke while eating. The staff wanted to help but their efforts at performing the Heimlich maneuver were not fully successful. The lady developed a ruptured diaphragm and died. Dr. King has pointed out that US legislation requires all nursing home staff to have 75-85 hours of training. However individual states may cut back on that significantly. One third of certified nursing assistants and nursing aides providing elder care may only have undergone an 8 hour course or even just on the job training. Ruth Sheehan of the News Observer points out that even workers in less medically vulnerable settings need more training than that. She says that cosmetologists need 1500 hours to get certification and manicurists need 300. Dr. LeRoy King did not sue the nursing home where his mother received care but urged them to use the money they would have had to pay in a lawsuit to train their workers better. As far as he knows they did not.

In the UK the National Health Service has set in place a program under which those who provide care of the elderly, who themselves become ill, can seek respite. The frail elderly patient can spend some time under the care of a third party at little or no expense. In 2008 the Government said it would double the amount of money available to long-term carers for such respite, and the new funding was 100 million pounds. However Princess Royal Trust for Cares and Crossroads Care recently revealed March 2010 that the money never did reach its destination. Only about a quarter of it was spent on carers and the rest seems to have gone into existing health budgets elsewhere. Max Pemberton author of ‘Where Does it Hurt”? is concerned that the trusts are not operating transparently and are taking advantage of the tendency of stoic seniors to not ask for help. He says it is the responsibility of the trusts to ensure everyone who deserves help is made aware of it and the money is available. Pemberton is a London doctor.

In Australia a birth bonus of over $5,000 per child, and a parental leave can be shared by either parent. As a result many fathers in that country are particularly active in child-rearing. Lyn Craig of the Social Policy Research Centre of the U of new South Wales has released results of a study of fathers around the world March 2010, finding that Australian dads spend 10-11 hours per day combining both paid and domestic work. Danish men tally only 8 hours. French fathers spend 20 minutes a day taking care of the physical needs of children under age 5 but Australian dads spend 40 minutes per day in such tasks. The study did however find that mothers also differ. Australian mothers spend 160 minutes per day taking care of children while French mothers spend about 100 minutes per day. Australian mothers do less paid work than in other nations but spend more time on children and housework.

In Canada it was routine years ago to force sterilization of young women who were mentally challenged. That policy has been deemed an affront to human rights and is no longer in practice. Making such lifetime decisions for someone else is now deemed unethical. However in Sydney Australia parents of a severely disabled 11 year old girl have again raised the issue. They want to have her given an irreversible hysterectomy. The girl has epileptic seizures which seem exacerbated by menstrual cycles. She cannot speak or walk and has to be fed, transported and washed. She has no bladder control and a pediatrician has ruled that pregnancy for her would be disastrous. The Family Court has been asked to permit the surgery but Queensland Health will not approve the procedure without a court order. Justice Paul Cronin of Brisbane says the decision is in the child’ s best interests and the surgery is urgent and necessary. However Carolyn Frohmader of Women with a Disability Australia does not approve of it. She says disabled boys are never sterilized, just disabled girls and sterilization of any girl without her consent violates her human rights. Mark Patterson of the National Council on Intellectual Disability says, however, that the case is unique.

Years ago the Ontario government cut benefits to the poor, in order to nudge them back into paid work. However the new government under Premier Dalton McGuinty urged changes. In 2008 he committed to a plan to reduce poverty by 25% in 5 years, now known as the 25 in 5 target. One of the elements being examined is a social assistance plan that for years has given a dietary funding to those with higher than normal food costs due to a medical condition. For years this dietary funding supplement was not well advertised but recently it has become known better and many claims have been made. It has been found that
-those with serious illness like ALS, cystic fibrosis, cancer or Crohn’s disease get up to $240 a month for nutritional support so they don’t suffer life-threatening weight loss
-those with high blood pressure, high cholesterol, diabetes or celiac disease get some funding per month to help afford their special costlier foods. Those with hypertension for instance get $10 a month to help purchase extra fruits, vegetables, whole grain products and low fat milk and meat. The government’s review committee did admit however that such diets usually add $86 a month to the patient’s bill not $10.
-those with multiple sclerosis, lupus or muscular dystrophy often may suffer life-threatening weight loss too but get no funding for special diets.
Over 200 patients have lodged human rights challenges recently, saying that the ruling has discriminated unfairly based on medical condition. The Ontario Human Rights Tribunal ruled March 2020 that the discrimination must end. It says government must increase its allowances for four of the medical conditions and it establishes a legal test for the 200 complaints. So far government has not taken action.

With people living longer and with advances in medical technology, many seniors are now taking a lot of medicine. The Canadian Institute for Health Information has looked at drug use in 6 provinces and found that 62% of seniors take five or more types of drugs each. This number is up from 58% in 2002 and is a cause for concern. 21% were taking over 10 medicines and 5% were taking over 15. The most common drugs used were to lower cholesterol, treat reflux or treat heart illness. However Dr. Steve Morgan of the University of British Columbia has cautioned that the costs of such drugs are high for seniors, and that some of the drugs interact poorly. The prescribing of one medicine to treat adverse reactions of another can be a concern and some of the medications prescribed are not being used as prescribed. He urges doctors to start rolling back on medicines for seniors. The total cost spent on medicine is $30 billion a year, much of which is for prescription drugs. $11 billion is covered by drug plans operated by the government and it is estimated that $1 billion of that is on drugs for seniors.

As people age some continue to drive cars very well but others develop heart conditions, vision, hearing, reaction or attention deficits that may make it dangerous to drive. The Canadian Medical Association has called in March 2010 for a public debate about how society should proceed on the issue. Some possibilities are regular driver testing after a certain age, graduated delicensing, restricting time of day or location of travel, medical test criteria, better urban planning with more shuttle van services or tax incentives for those who car pool or taxi around the elderly. Dr. Nathan Herrmann of Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre says patients have become physically aggressive towards him when he recommended that the Ministry of Transportation pull their licenses. Dr. Paul Hebert of the Canadian Medical Association Journal says the solution may be for people to calmly plan for ‘driving retirement’ the way they plan for and accept career retirement. Dr. Shawn Marshall of the U of Ottawa is conducting a study seeking 1000 seniors to be tracked with GPS to see how they are driving and to help establish factors that matter in assessment of safety. The CanDRIVE project studying drivers aged 70 and up, and in 8 different cities, aims to not just pull drivers off the road at a given age but to help safe drivers stay on the road as long as possible. Pulling the license over objections of patients has created a medical, ethical and legal dilemma for doctors, many of whom feel they are not really competent to determine how well a person drives. Research also indicates that those who are forced to stop driving often decline dramatically in health and become depressed and socially isolated. Some provinces offer a driving assessment test but its $500 costs is prohibitive for some seniors according to Dr. Herrmann.

Salary.com annually estimates the value of a parent at home. This year’s 2010 value tallies the hours of work at 96.4 per week and then looks at salary rates of the various roles – cook, facilities manger, van driver, psychologist, daycare worker. It tallies these up and says the value of a parent at home is about $122,000 per year. Others have disputed the figure. One blogger, My Reputo, said that the tally was inflated because the normal at home parent is not highly qualified as a cook, facilities manager or psychologist so would not be earning those salaries. He said the more logical tally would be akin to home care aide at $9.47 per hour and that would earn about $61,000 a year. He also says the number of hours, being self-reported is very likely inaccurate.
ED NOTE: I think the issue is not the value of money parents at home are ‘worth’ but the principle involved. The observation that parents give their skills free and get no pay, however much they would have been getting elsewhere or however much they would be getting if paid for what they do at home is valid. The point is they are giving up income. This self-sacrifice is causing not only their own poverty but family poverty and will have pension repercussions for long term poverty. The poverty also puts the health care of the children in jeopardy and may risk them being less able to afford adequate housing, nutrition or educational opportunities and yet the benefit is that the children feel loved, get attentive loving care and are raised with the moral values the parents espouse. The children grow up well adjusted and secure not enticed by gangs, drugs or likely to drop pout of school. I see the real issue here as one of what society owes parents.

In some provinces there is funding not just for daycare but for family-based care of children. However the preferential funding for those in daycare continues. In Ontario all parents get federal government help of $100 a month per child till age 6. In addition the federal government provides subsidies to those who use daycare both by setting up the daycare space often at a taxpayer cost of $10,000 per child per year, and by permitting the daycare expense deduction of up to $7,000 per child per year. Parents who take care of the child at home get the $100 a month and can access the Early Years Centre to play with toys there but do not get the daycare subsidy. Parents in Ontario however all do get a universal funding per child. The Ontario child benefit is $250 per month per child till age 18. Those nonfamily members who provide care when parents cannot are given a small compensation. Temporary care allowance is about $200 for the first child per month and $177 for each additional child.
- daycare parent gets per child $1200 + $3000 + fed funding $10,000 + deduction up to $7,000
-at home parent gets per child $1200 + $3000
In Alberta there is a similar inequality. There is a universal federal benefit of $100 per child per month till age 6. Daycare users get subsidies however up to $546 per month for attending a licensed daycare program. Parents using parental care get no assistance but parents using care provided by a ‘noncustodial relative’ get $400 a month per preschooler and $200 a month for children in grades 1-6.
-daycare parent gets per child $1200 + $6552 + fed funding $10,000 + deduction up to $7,000
-parent using relative care gets $1200 + $4800
-parent using parental care gets $1200
ED NOTE: These tiers are very hard to justify in terms of equality rights or equal benefit under the law. They discriminate based on family status, on location of care, of lifestyle in essence and as such I think are not fair under the Charter of Rights. It is nice to see a token recognition given to children not in daycare but the recognition falls far short of equality. Coupled with realization that the daycare parent also has income and the at-home parent does not, that the parent at home has to pay a single income tax penalty, the decision is obviously very strongly weighted to favor use of daycare.

When people are married, there is a spousal deduction claimable on the tax form if one of the partners is not earning much and the principal earner claims him or her as a dependent. Single parents can claim a child as a dependant ‘equivalent to spouse’. When Stephen Krashinsky separated from his wife Alexandra Dagg in 2007 after a 14 year marriage, their separation agreement gave them joint custody and equal shared access to their son. A lump sum payment was given to Dagg instead of child and spousal support. However in the ensuing years Mr. Krashinsky has been paying about $40,000 per year for costs beyond those anticipated, such as summer camp, private school, hockey. He wanted to claim those costs as equivalent to spouse deductions on his tax form and was told by Canada Revenue Agency that he could not do so unless his ex-wife approved. He complained to the court saying that it should not be necessary to get an ex-spouse to approve since married couples don’t need to get each other to approve of the claim. Judge Campbell J. Miller of the Tax Court of Canada has seen merit in the claim. Judge Miller says the credit one or other of the parents could claim could be $10,320. When the law requires them to agree who gets to claim it and they don’t agree, then having no one get it is unfair, according to the Krashinsky argument. Judge Miller says that the measure is simply awkward and he says lawyers helping negotiate separation agreement should also set up who gets this tax credit. In 2006 just over 2 million couples were separated or divorced and of them nearly half claimed the equivalent to spouse credit.

When couples separate or divorce they often have to discuss child custody. Though only about 3% of those discussions end up in court, according to Dr. Gerald Farthing of the U of Saskatchewan, those that do are often acrimonious. The court will often call on a 3rd party expert or group of experts, psychologists, social workers, psychiatrists to do an assessment of the parents in terms of who would be the best caregiver of the child. Those who do the intense and costly assessments are sometimes sued later by the parent who ‘lost’ custody. The court is not obliged to do as the assessment suggests but judges usually accept the conclusions of the assessors. Dr. Farthing has done one custody assessment per year on average since 1981 and has had 10 complaints later lodged against him at the College of Psychologists. In each one the decision was in his favor. The Ontario Medical Association has been asked by some members to protect their colleagues who do such assessments from frivolous and vexatious complaints. The assessments often involve psychological testing on family members and assessments of parenting abilities, so enter into very personal and emotionally charged areas. Dr. Oren Amitay, a Toronto psychologist thinks that the association should have on staff an expert in child custody assessments who can screen out frivolous complaints, save the courts money and reduce harm done to professionals for just doing their job. One other option is suggested by divorce lawyer Jeffrey Wilson who says that a good lawyer should be able to question the expert witness for traces of bias but he also does not like the option of making a disciplinary complaint. Family Mediation Canada notes that custody and access assessments by psychologists are the least evaluated mental health intervention and there is little to no regulation of the profession.

Under common law women were considered property of their husbands and if someone tried to steal them, this was property theft. Those who tried to interfere with the possession or marriage were guilty of alienation of affection. Not all states in the US still have such a law on the books but Hawaii, Illinois, Mississippi, New Mexico, South Dakota and Utah do, as does North Carolina. Allan Shackleford married his wife Cynthia and they were together 33 years. He is a lawyer and provided legal services for Guilford College, a private school. His wife is a former teacher. However the marriage ended in separation after the husband was accused of having an affair with Anne Lundquist, dean of the private school. Cynthia Shackleford took Lundquist to court, alleging alienation of affection. The court has ruled March 2010 that Lundquist is guilty of the offense and has awarded Shackleford $5 million compensation and $4 million in punitive damages. Lundquist says the ruling is ‘hilarious’ since she does not have the money. Mr. Shackelford says the ruling is unfair because the marriage was ending anyway and three attempts at counseling had failed.

The Canadian government has provided through treaties many rights and benefits to native Indians and their descendants as long as they could prove genetic proof of full-status Indians. When a person married someone who was a First Nations status Indian, the rights got more cloudy. If a First Nations man married a nonnative woman, he retained the status he had. However if a First Nations woman married outside the group, she lost her status. A BC court has ruled in 2009 that this policy was discriminatory and as many as 45,000 more people now will qualify as First Nations and eligible for special rights and benefits. The grandchildren of interracial marriages will now get rights as status Indians as long as one of their grandparents was from the First Nations.

In Canada provinces differ about landlord and tenant law. In Alberta pets are not permitted unless specifically noted while in Ontario they are permitted and cannot be excluded unless there are serious medical issues. In Canada many ads say ‘no children ‘. Such restrictions however are being questioned in the US. The National Fair Housing Alliance of the US h as recently run large magazine ads to alert renters to changes in the laws in that country, ensuring that landlords cannot discriminate because of race, color, religion, national origin, sex, family status or disability. The 1968 Fair Housing Act has been amended in 1988 and many renters now aware of their rights lodged complaints. Investigation by the HUD and possible referral to civil action in federal court are possible. Not only are renters protected when they try to rent lodging but they are protected from being given different housing services, facilities, conditions for inspection or membership in services because of their age, gender or other factors above. In purchasing property, those applying for mortgages are also protected from discrimination as listed above. Ads that limit accessibility based on religion, sex, familial status or handicap are not permitted for owner-occupied housing or single family housing. Those with physical or mental disabilities are allowed to make reasonable modifications to the dwelling or common use areas at their own expense. A no pets building must allow a visually impaired person to have a guide dog. A housing complex offering unassigned parking must nonetheless let a person with mobility impairments have a reserved space near his or her lodging. Those buildings built after March 13 1991 that have an elevator and four or more units must have public areas accessible to persons with disabilities, and doors and hallways must be wide enough for wheelchairs. Unless a building qualifies as housing for older persons, it is not permitted to have a discrimination based on age. It cannot discriminate against families in which there are one or more children under age 18 as long as that child is living with the parent or legal guardian. Buildings for older persons only must be occupied solely by those aged 62 or older, or at least 80% of residents are 55 or older.

Though some consider abortion a feminist right, others object to it and around the world public opinion varies about the issue. In Canada moves are underway that some believe may be trying to reopen this discussion. Some of these include:
-Whether international policies for ‘family planning,’ which Canada says it supports, should or should not also encourage abortion. The Liberal party is divided on the issue and as opposition was not able to launch a unanimous attack March 2010.
-In 2008 MP Ken Epp put forward a private member’s bill that passed second reading, and that was to protect ‘unborn victims of crime’. It addressed assaults on women who were pregnant, looking at the pregnancy as an additional factor of the assault.
-In August 2008 Current Justice minister Rob Nicholson said he would table legislation to make pregnancy an aggravating factor when judges sentence those guilty of assaulting a pregnant woman. However he has not committed to when he will introduce such legislation. MP Dominic Leblanc says the promise was a ‘cynical’ ploy to just satisfy Conservative voters with a promise, though still avoiding actually having the debate.
-In the US the recent health care bill passed only when President Obama assured voters that funding of abortion was not to be included. The Taxed Enough Already (TEA) party had questioned such funding.

Late in the evening March 21 2010, the US Congress voted to approve health care for tens of millions of uninsured Americans. The bill passed by a vote of 291 to 212. It will require that companies providing medical insurance cannot turn down a claim just because the person had a pre-existing medical condition, a common excuse given for lack of coverage to date. Democrats predicted the groundbreaking bill costing $94 billion a year, will rank in history along with establishment of social security and medicare. Rep. Jim Clyburn said, "This is the civil rights act of the 21st century."

The European Union has been considering what legislation should be in place to value parenting. Maternity benefits vary from 14 weeks in Malta to 16 months in Sweden but there is no overriding EU law for paternity benefits. On the topic of parental leave, the union has announced March 2010 that it will require all member nations to provide 4 months of such leave and parents can share it or use it for one of them only. It is also left up to national governments to decide the timing of such leave though many are choosing to provide it during the first seven years of the child’s life. The decision of whether the leave is paid or unpaid is also left to member nations. The announcement indicates that the purpose of this leave is to ‘keep parents in the workforce’.

Though some may define negative care as not taking enough precautions to shield your child from danger, others see such protection as itself bad parenting. There is a new current to encourage children to take little risks and develop skills and competency handling life.
–The Dangerous Book for Boys and the Daring Book for Girls suggest that parents let children build a snow fort or use a bow and arrow.
-The Tinkering School operated by Clever Tulley in California gives preteens and teens a one week camp out experience building a tent, go-karting, handling saws and drills.
-The book 50 Dangerous Things You Should Let your Children Do, is also by Clever Tulley, a software engineer who does not have children. He suggests overprotection be avoided and suggests children be allowed to drive a nail, throw a spear, burn things with a magnifying glass, whittle, make a rope swing, play with fire, sleep outdoors, fly a homemade kite in a storm, drop from high places and cook something in the dishwasher.
-Lenore Skenazy has founded the Free Range Kids movement and lets her 9 year old ride alone on the NY subway.

To know how to help people, you have to have accurate information about what they need. However an ambitious American research project to understand babies has become embroiled in controversy . In 2000 Congress approved a National Children’s Study, to enroll 100,000 pregnant women in 105 counties in the US to monitor their babies till the babies turned 21. The intense study will look at mothers’ vaginal fluid, toenail clips, breast milk, the placenta, the baby’s first feces, diets, pesticide exposure, genetics, bedsheets, tap water, particles on carpets and baseboards and will aim to study many difficult questions about heredity and environment and their effects. Dr. Francis Collins of the National Institute of Health is overseeing the study and says it is important to understand the health of the nation’s children. It was speculated that the study would last 21 years, would cost $3.1 billion and to recruit the 100,000 mothers, it would be necessary to go to a lot of houses and ask for volunteers, possibly 14 houses to get each one. The study has encountered some hurdles -it takes 40 hours to get one woman to enroll. So far only 510 women are wiling to participate
-The cost is now estimated to be $6.7 billion, double early estimates, and raising the ire of the Senate committee overseeing its budget
-Dr. Susan Shurin of the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development is afraid that study is so intrusive that eventually even those who were willing to take part will slam the door in the face of researchers

Dr. Jane Waldfogel in the UK has released results of a study for Sutton Trust, looking at parenting factors and children’s performance Feb 2010. The study found that young children do best on vocabulary tests if they are read to daily, if they have regularly library visits and if they have predictable lives with fixed bed times. Tests on 12,500 children age 5 revealed however that families in poverty are less likely to be able to provide some of those standards. Nearly half of children in the poorest income group were born to young mothers under age 25 and many did not live with both biological parents. The report author sees the results as ‘sound evidence’ that state programs could help children of the poor thrive better.
ED NOTE: I disagree with the solution. The study shows that children in poverty need more time with parents and at libraries and parents need an income level that would enable them to read to the child and have a stable life. To whisk children away into regular, predictable programs may sound stable but if the program is in large groups with paid staff who are not attached to or invested in that child, this is not a loving solution but a bureaucratic one. We do our greatest harm to those in poverty when we consider them not just financially unable but also incompetent in regard to their love relationships. Young parents need more time with their babies and more support for such time.

The Equality and Human Rights Commission in the UK has recently published a study of the role of grandparents in the economy, The report Protect, Support, Provide says that grandparents have been an under-recognized source of support to the nation, providing vital care and often at great personal sacrifice. The study found that grandparents enable young parents to earn, and are the ‘last line of defence’ between millions of children and the poverty line.
-33% of families use grandparent care weekly
-67% of grandmothers have given up paid work or reduced paid work hours to provide care of grandchildren and end up themselves in poverty
-50-67% of single parent families rely on grandparent care weekly
-50% of families with a disabled child rely on grandparent care and are at risk of poverty
-in households of ethnic minorities it is common that grandparents provide care of the grandchildren regularly
The study found that when government aims both to increase paid employment of seniors and to increase the number of young parents earning, those two goals work at counter-currents. Sam Smethers of Grandparents Plus praises the report and is asking for the default retirement age to be abolished and for paid work arrangements for all ages to be made more flexible.

Dr. Irfan Dhalla is chair of Canadian Doctors for Medicare and he has written in Feb 2010 his strong case for universal pharmacare, to match our free universal medicare. He cites current problems he feels such a program would address
-there is a two tier system where some people have no private insurance and some do. Those companies that provide it cover a wide range of services even massage while the poor can’t get those services free
-a person’s profession therefore dictates coverage and a 65 year old executive may get free medications while a taxi driver does not
-age also is an unfair determiner. The coverage of someone aged 64 is less than the free provision of drugs to those 65 and older
-some medication currently covered by medical insurance plans is frequently prescribed to seniors but is ineffective or very harmful and should be reviewed
-generic medications are still too costly. In Britain they are 10% of the brand name price but in Canada they are 50% of the brand name price so pharmacies and generic drug makers are getting too much profit
-governments right now do not make employers pay tax on money they provide for health care plans. Because employers get this tax break, the general public is also subsidizing private health care plans
-self employed people have to pay full cost of some life-saving medication while other employees do not
Dr. Dhalla says that the universal free availability of the H1N1 flu vaccine was a model for how a universal pharmacare program could work.

A new study in the UK has surveyed 3953 adults for the Centre for Economics and Business Research. The study has estimated the cost of raising a child in the UK now to be 201,809 pounds from birth to adulthood. The costs are up due to recession and due to rising costs of 3rd party daycare fees. Nursery fees are up 5.1% in the past year according to The Daycare Trust, making the annual cost 4.576 pounds per year per child.This amount means that some earners pay half their wages to pay for care of their children while they are earning. Families in the survey admitted to surprise on becoming parents at the high cost of food, furniture and clothing for children. 49% said they have cut down on holidays and fun days. 49% say they have cut back on spending for clothes, 70% say they shop for cheaper groceries and value supermarket items. 31% say they buy second hand clothes and 37% have sold unwanted items on eBay. The costs outlined include several facts:
-the first year of a child’s life costs 9.152 because of cots, prams, buggies.
-between ages 1-4 years the costs are 13,104 per year
-the highest costs are when the child is in university ages 18-21, where the bill for tuition, cars, living costs can be 13,677 a year.
-it costs 9610 pounds to feed, clothe and educate each child per year, not counting private school fees.
-education related costs for tuition, uniforms, sports, school trips are 52,881 for ages 0-adulthood
-costs of living are higher in London and lowest in Yorkshire.

The government of Singapore has put in place in Feb 2010 several measures aimed at recognizing care of spouses, the elderly or the young. These include:
-spousal relief of a $2,000 benefit for those who have to support dependent spouses
-$7,000 relief for each dependent parent, grandparent or great grandparent receiving your care while living in your home or up to $4,500 for their care if they do not live with you. This amount is up $1000 from previously.
-tax relief of $11,000 for each dependent handicapped parent, grandparent or grandparent, if they live with you or $8,000 if they do not. These amounts are up from $8,000 and $6,500 being therefore a significant recognition of care roles
-$100-$200 per child granted by government annually for children in primary school to be put into a post secondary education savings account. The amount increases to up to $500 for those aged 13-20 The benefit is to encourage post-secondary education
-$5,000 tax relief for course fees up from $3500
-The benefits are based on value of the house with the wealthier getting the smaller benefit. Benefits also are related to personal income of the person needing care but the income threshold has been raised for the elderly and removed entirely for handicapped dependents ensuring that there is no disincentive to paid work. The income threshold for all dependent related relief is up from $2,000 to $4,000.

The Vanier Institute of the Family has released results of a study of household debt Feb 2010, noticing that
-5% of families are saving. This is up from 2% in one year
-it is still common to be behind on credit card payments. There was a rise of 40% in accounts that were 3 months behind
-the number of people behind by at least 90 days in paying their mortgage was also up 50% since 2008
-more people owe more than they earn. The debt to income level is currently 145%, the highest level recorded in all 11 years of the study
-the average Canadian family household debt is now $96,000.

The federal budget of 2010 has provided very little new for caregivers though it has provided some tinkering of the administration of programs
-seniors will get on April 9th each year a day in their honor but no pension summit to address concerns about poverty
-single mothers will be able to claim their child as earner of the child tax credit so will reduce slightly their tax but the amount of benefit is not going to increase
-military families will be able to delay their parental benefit till they return from the theatre of war
-parents who share custody of a child will not get a larger child tax benefit but will be legally allowed to share the one they get
-government will however reduce corporate income tax, create a tighter security screening for air travel, make a biometric passport and punish crime more severely, and will have better tracking of those who do cyber luring.
-there is no help financially to parents but there is much more red tape to substitute for parents, to have government protect children instead of allowing parents to be nearby. Many of us had asked for a much different approach-editor.

In some feminist movements the role of caregiving is argued as worthwhile in the economy and a viable career option for a time for either gender. In traditional economics the caregiving role however is viewed as non contributing, not working and not productive. An Irish couple, Amy and Marc Vachon wanted to stand up for pressuring men and women to do equal shares of all roles, equal paid work, and equal shares of the caregiving role at home. They formed the Equally Shared Parenting website and have recently written “Equally Shared Parenting, Rewriting the Rules for a new Generation of Parents.” The arrangement is not designed to accommodate or apply to situations where one parent is at home with the child. The focus for them is on equivalence of all roles by time commitment.

In Haryana India, government has announced that female employees of the government will get a two year child care leave, lasting maximum 730 days. This amount can be divided up or taken all at once for care of a child up to age 18 years. It is restricted in use to care of the two eldest children but the leave will be at full salary, ‘like in the case of earned leave’. Weekends and holidays falling during the period of the leave would be called part of the leave period, but the leave would be independent of other leaves provided.

Maternity rights in South East Asia are changing
-The International Labour Organization Convention 183 recommends maternity leave and provision for breastfeeding and care of children.
-Singapore provides 112 days of maternity leave. Thailand, Cambodia, Indonesia and the Philippines provide 90 days.
-In Cambodia companies with over 100 women workers must provide rooms for breastfeeding and for care of children. Mothers in Indonesia are also entitled to such provisions.
-The National Union of Bank Employees in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia has decided to imitate these Asian partners and provide better facilities for the 5.1 million women workers who are also mothers. The NUBE is also seeking maternity leave extension in the private sector from 60 days to 90 days.