This article originally appeared in the January-February 2007 issue of the Children's Advocate, published by Action Alliance for Children.

Use the Children's Advocate in your work! Feel free to reprint this article, as a handout or in your own publication -- just credit us (see above) and be sure to send us a copy.

Children's Advocates Roundtable

Advance look at 2007

Early Roundtable conversations about the 2007 legislative year have given clues about some of the issues advocates will be working on, including:

Foster care and family support

Children’s Advocacy Institute, 916-444-3875, www.caichildlaw.org:

• Providing more support for former foster youth after they turn 18

• Raising rates for foster care families

National Center for Youth Law, 510-835-8098, www.youthlaw.org:

• Supporting programs to move nonviolent women offenders to community facilities close to their children

CalWORKs

LIFETIME, 510-352-5160, www.geds-to-phds.org:

• Defending the partial grants for families being “sanctioned.” Now when a parent breaks a rule, CalWORKs takes away the parent’s share of the grant but keeps sending the child’s share. Some have proposed taking away the family’s whole grant

• Reducing the number of families being sanctioned (noting that many families are sanctioned in error)

NOTE: If families are sanctioned in error, it’s very important that they get in touch with their local Legal Aid office for assistance!

National Center for Youth Law, 510-835-8098, www.youthlaw.org:

• Making sure that California allows child-support payments to “pass through” to families on CalWORKs without reducing their checks, as federal law now permits

• Assuring CalWORKs families get the cost-of-living adjustment they’re entitled to

Health

Children Now, 510-763-2444, www.childrennow.org:

• Providing insurance for the 10% of children who are not insured and not eligible for government programs

• Linking oral health programs to schools

California School Health Centers Association, 510-268-1310, www.schoolhealthcenters.org:

• Supporting school clinics

Child care/Preschool/After school

Child Care Law Center, 415-394-7144, http://www.childcarelaw.org/:

• Promoting a comprehensive evaluation of the state’s child care system and setting priorities where investment is needed

• Reducing waiting lists for subsidized child care

• Making sure child care is increased if CalWORKS families have to work more while making sure that all eligible families get subsidized child care

• Advocating for more federal child care funds and family-friendly federal policies

California Child Care Resource and Referral Network, 510-882-0234, www.rrnetwork.org:

• Improving health and safety in child care by increasing visits and follow-up by the state licensing agency

• Improving the quality and supply of care for infants and toddlers

• Continuing programs to support license-exempt child care providers and to help child care providers include children with special needs

Children Now, 510-763-2444, www.childrennow.org:

• Making sure new funds for preschool and after-school programs are used well

• Supporting full-day care connected to state preschool

Working for Quality Child Care, 415-808-7327, cares@caccwrc.org:

• Improving training programs for early care providers: coordinating requirements, expanding training in languages other than English, publicizing financial aid

California Federation of Family Child Care Associations, 916-852-7063, cafederationfcca@aol.com:

• Increasing reimbursement rates to family child care providers

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Birth of a blog!

The Children’s Advocate has given birth to a blog! This newest member of our family, at http://childrensadvocate.blogspot.com, will be a place for new resources (studies, reports, materials, etc), news, model programs, advocacy campaigns, and other interesting stuff that appears on our radar screen, along with our two cents on what it all means. You can respond with comments and soon you’ll be able to look up past posts by topic. Check us out!

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LIFETIME: Workshops for CalWORKs parents

LIFETIME, (Low-Income Families Empowerment Through Education), a parents’ organization working to empower low-income families, is offering workshops for CalWORKs parents throughout California. Topics include

• New federal welfare rules and how they affect you

• How to fulfill work participation requirements (core and non-core hours)

• How to develop resources for yourself and your family

and other topics that local groups request. Workshops can be arranged through community colleges or other local agencies or organizations.

Contact: Dianna Collier, 510-352-5160, dcollier@geds-to-phds.org

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Parents of kids with special needs organize

Family Voices of California (FVCA) is part of a national grassroots network of families and friends speaking on behalf of children with special health care needs. It’s a statewide grassroots clearinghouse for information, education, and advocacy, created by connecting Family Voices National with the statewide Family Resource Centers Network.

With chapters in 36 counties and a statewide network of parent health liaisons, FVCA’s goals are:

• Improving policies and systems of care for children with special health care needs

• Providing information and education to families and professionals

• Promoting quality health care that is family centered, culturally competent, community-based and coordinated

• Developing family and professional partnerships.

FVCA will always bring the family perspective to policy discussions and decisions.

For more information, call Linda Vossler-Swan at 415-282-7894 or go to their website at www.familyvoicesofca.org

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Health care for all kids

Prop 86, which would have funded health care for all kids living in California, lost in November. But its backers say their campaign for kids’ health insurance is “almost there—we’re going to finish the job this year,” in the words of Wendy Lazarus, executive director of the Children’s Partnership, one of the groups that make up the Californians for Healthy Kids coalition.

In a conference call in November, advocates said the campaign strengthened the movement for covering all kids and pointed out that polls show 80% of voters favor this. The ballot measure, they say, lost for other reasons, mainly the $2.60 tax increase on cigarettes.

They say in 2007 they will continue the momentum by

• Working with Gov. Schwarzenegger, who has said he will come out with a new health care initiative

• Making children’s health care a top priority in the budget process

• Building a stronger partnership between county Children’s Health Initiatives and the statewide movement

For more information: 100% Campaign, 916-443-1869, www.100percentcampaign.org; PICO, 916-447-7959 www.picocalifornia.org

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Children’s Health Bill of Rights

The Children’s Advocates Roundtable Health Committee is launching a year-long project to create a Children’s Health Bill of Rights, to be used as an advocacy tool for a range of children’s health needs. On the day of each Roundtable meeting (usually the second Thursday of the month) in Sacramento, at 11 am, the committee will hear a speaker about one of the main areas that will be included in the bill of rights, as part of the process of developing the document.

The eight main areas the committee is considering are: school health, environmental health, prevention of child abuse and neglect, injury prevention, obesity/nutrition, meeting children’s special needs, oral health, and mental health.

The committee hopes this process will involve a range of organizations advocating for children’s health and help tie them together into a larger children’s health movement.

If you would like to participate in these meetings or have ideas for topics or speakers the committee should include, please contact Christina Riehl at the Children’s Advocacy Institute, 619-260-4806, criehl@sandiego.edu

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