Kids Count is a national and state-by-state effort to track the status of children in the United States. By providing policy-makers and citizens with benchmarks of child well-being, the project attempts to enrich discussions about ways to secure better futures for all children. This year's data book, the sixth annual edition, places a special…

"Confronting the New Politics of Child and Family Policy in the United States" is an 18-month project designed to help states, local government, and the voluntary sector as they respond to the social policy debates and changes precipitated by the 104th Congress. The project's main vehicle, aside from exploratory and analytic work, is a…

In today's internal armed conflicts that pitch one group against another, minority and indigenous children are often seen as "legitimate targets" despite the wealth of international law to the contrary. This report focuses on three recent or current armed conflicts, drawing on interviews with children and others to piece together the…

This report is part one of three volumes to be published by the Office of Technology Assessment (OTA) in response to the request of members of Congress to review the physical, emotional, and behavioral health status of contemporary U.S. adolescents, including adolescents in groups who might be more likely to be in special need of health-related…

This document presents oral and written testimony concerning the effectiveness of federal assistance programs in reducing infant mortality. In opening statements, members of the House Select Committee on Hunger voiced their concern over the persistence of high infant death rates among minorities, the rural poor, and urban populations, despite…

This monograph presents an examination of patterns which emerge from the interrelationship between development, environment, and health and nutrition in Latin America. First, the authors consider the components of this interrelationship, discussing the inseparability of health problems such as malnutrition, fecally-borne and parasitic diseases,…

The National Academy of Sciences Committee on Children, Health Insurance, and Access to Care was assembled to address questions about health insurance for children, evaluating the strengths and limitations of insurance as a means of improving children's health from a variety of approaches and policies. Meeting between March 1997 and January 1998,…

In addition to challenges of adolescence itself, teens with asthma face demands of asthma management and risks of asthma sequelae, including fatalities. Few asthma educational programs specifically address their needs. In response to school nurse concern, this pilot study evaluated an adolescent asthma education program, the "Power Breathing[TM]…

This paper identifies issues and needs related to services for migrant children based on a review of the literature and discussions with experts in the field. Background on migrant children includes definitions; demography; migrant data sources; and descriptions of federal migrant education, migrant health, and migrant Head Start programs. A…

American Indian unemployment remains high despite efforts by tribes and the federal government to improve employment opportunities. Persistently high unemployment among Indians has resulted in low family incomes and high poverty rates relative to Whites. Particularly serious on reservations, these continuing problems are related in part to low…

A survey of Hispanic residents of Oklahoma City assessed their knowledge of and need for health, social, and educational services. Home interviews were conducted with 212 Hispanic households in areas identified as having a high density of Hispanics. One adult was interviewed in each household. Interviewee characteristics included 28% under age 25,…

The Kids Count project is an effort to track the status of children in the United States on a state-by-state basis. The benchmark figures presented give policymakers a clearer picture of the educational, social, economic, and physical well-being of children. High rates of child poverty and births to single teens continue in the United States, and…

Developing social indicators of basic human needs involves (1) recognizing the problems in selection, (2) identifying the criteria for making selections, (3) choosing which basic needs to cover, and (4) selecting the indicators. The social indicators are to help formulate U.S. foreign policy and will be used by the State Department's Bureau of…

This paper discusses how the health care needs of underserved children, particularly urban children, can be met through an ecological model of health care. Ecoprimary care, infant mortality, and the experiences of King/Drew Medical Center in Los Angeles (California), an example of maximization of resources, are described. (SLD)

The authors surveyed 243 urban public university students who were born in the United States, China, and India to compare the health beliefs of the China-born, India-born, and US-born students. Although the China- and India-born students shared beliefs in many preventive and therapeutic practices of Western medicine with the US-born students, they…