Policy & Practice articles from September 2003

Policy & Practice archives from September 2003

The legacy of Roberto: a touch of royalty.(director's memo)(Editorial)
September 1, 2003... As a sports fan, late spring is one of my favorite times of the year. It's time for basketball and hockey playoffs, auto racing is in full swing, and baseball season, my favorite sport, has begun. Ah, life is good! For me, this season has...

Inside story.(Editorial)
September 1, 2003... On a recent walk through a shopping mall, I began thinking about APHSA, a member association, and retail stores--thinking how they are alike. There are some obvious similarities. At the end of the workday, retail stores tally sales; APHSA...

Do safe haven laws work?(first things first)
September 1, 2003... In response to the many highly publicized infants who have been abandoned, at least 42 states have adopted safe haven laws. These laws allow legal citizens to abandon newborns at designated sites. Two new reports, however, question whether the...

States expand prenatal care under SCHIP.(first things first)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2003... Michigan and Rhode Island are expanding prenatal care to low-income pregnant women and their unborn children under the State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP). The two states are the first to take advantage of a new federal regulation...

Task force to help reduce homelessness in Minnesota.(first things first)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2003... Commissioners of Minnesota's human services and corrections departments, as well as the Minnesota Housing Finance Agency, are developing a statewide plan to help reduce long-term homelessness by linking people and families with the social...

Online training that's convenient.(first things first)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2003... Child welfare managers and supervisors can now become more efficient in their service interventions through the Internet. Results-Oriented Management in Child Welfare is a free online training and ongoing learning community for child welfare...

Growing up and out.(first things first)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2003... Youth Who "Age Out" of Foster Care: Troubled Lives, Troubling Prospects, a research brief from Child Trends, details the complex issues around children aging out of the foster care system. The general premise of the brief is that without...

A healthy start for healthy babies.(first things first)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2003... Fresh Baby, a company offering all-natural feeding accessories for infants, has joined with the New Mexico Department of Health: Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) to create a program that encourages healthy eating habits among parents and...

Program gives recipients freedom to choose.(first things first)
September 1, 2003... Medicaid recipients with disabilities who control their own supportive services are significantly more satisfied and appeared to get better care than those receiving services through home care agencies, according to an initial evaluation of a...

More help needed to recruit Child Welfare Staff.(first things first)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2003... Difficulties recruiting and retaining qualified child welfare staff in state child welfare systems affect safety and permanency outcomes for children in foster care according to a report from the U.S. General Accounting Office (GAO). In its...

Staff spotlight.(first things first)
September 1, 2003... Name... Sharon Alisa Thompson Time at APHSA... 16 years Title... Conference Coordinator Place of Birth... Laurel, Maryland A Typical Day Starts With... Watching the morning news and drinking a cup...

Delaware got summer help feeding its children.(Delaware)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2003... The News Journal Delaware enlisted summer recreation programs, churches, and vacation bible schools to help more children receive nutritious meals when they weren't in school. The effort paid off, according to a study by the national...

Improved access: mental health care worries ease.(Nevada)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2003... Las Vegas Review-Journal The state's approval of more than $30 million in funding for mobile mental health teams and a new psychiatric hospital in Southern Nevada will improve access to care and alleviate crowding in emergency rooms,...

State cuts errors in food stamp distribution.(Ohio)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2003... Dayton Daily News The state has considerably improved its performance for determining who is eligible for food stamp benefits and how much they should get. Statistics released in July by federal regulators show Ohio ranked 18th among the...

Agency seeks more aid recipients.(West Virginia)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2003... Charleston Daily Mail West Virginia wants to help more pregnant women, new mothers, and children get healthy diets. The state Department of Health and Human Resources' Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children,...

Phase-out nursing homes, state board says.(Wisconsin)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2003... Milwaukee Journal Sentinel The traditional nursing home--where frail, but not necessarily seriously ill residents live for years under the watchful eyes of floor nurses and their assistants--should be phased out, according to a state...

Getting money to the workers: preparing income tax returns can be daunting, even for those who have become used to the annual experience. For those families new to the job market, however, not understanding tax returns can be costly, both in lost credits and in fees paid to tax preparation firms.
September 1, 2003... It was for this reason that Colgate University students volunteered to get into the tax return preparation business, an endeavor that helped 127 low-income families in rural, upstate New York take advantage of the Earned Income Tax Credit...

Providing services in Indian country.(Interview)
September 1, 2003... Nationwide, welfare-to-work efforts have found some success with help from an economy that produced many entry-level jobs. But the picture is much different on most American Indian reservations. Many tribal communities suffer from...

Who is coming on welfare now, and whys?
September 1, 2003... Most researchers agree the robust economy of the late 1990s was a critical factor in the "success" of welfare reform. Yet "what if" questions lurked in the background. What if the economy declines, what will happen to recently employed welfare...

Making medical decisions for foster children.(legal notes)
September 1, 2003... A function that distinguishes the job of many human service administrators is their responsibility for making decisions about medical treatment of children in agency custody. Because of the physical and mental traumas many of these children...

2003 Summer Council Meeting.
September 1, 2003... [ILLUSTRATIONS OMITTED] Caption: Nearly 300 administrators and staff attended APHSA's Summer Council Meeting, which took place July 19-22 in Washington, D.C. Meeting participants attended sessions on a variety of topics, from child...

Carol L. Adams was appointed secretary of the Illinois Department of Human Services.(newsmakers)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2003... Carol L. Adams was appointed secretary of the Illinois Department of Human Services. Adams was formerly executive director of Northeastern Illinois University's undergraduate and graduate Center for Inner City Studies. Nationally acclaimed for...

Uma S. Ahluwalia was named assistant secretary of Washington state's Children's Administration.(newsmakers)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2003... Uma S. Ahluwalia was named assistant secretary of Washington state's Children's Administration. As assistant secretary she will manage a $450 million annual budget and about 2,400 employees. Ahluwalia replaces Rosalyn Oreskovich, who died last...

Gov. Janet Napolitano appointed David A. Berns director of the Arizona Department of Economic Security.(newsmakers)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2003... Gov. Janet Napolitano appointed David A. Berns director of the Arizona Department of Economic Security. Berns was director of El Paso County (Colorado) Department of Human Services prior to his appointment. In El Paso County, Berns developed a...

Albert Hawkins was appointed commissioner of the Texas Health and Human Services Commission.(newsmakers)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2003... Albert Hawkins was appointed commissioner of the Texas Health and Human Services Commission. The commission oversees the operations of 11 state agencies and about 50,000 employees. His direct responsibilities include formulating a consolidated...

Gov. Rod R. Blagojevich appointed Barry S. Maram director of the Illinois Department of Public Aid.(newsmakers)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2003... Gov. Rod R. Blagojevich appointed Barry S. Maram director of the Illinois Department of Public Aid. The department has an annual budget of $8.6 billion for the Current fiscal year and more than 2,700 employees who administer such programs as...

Rosemarie DiMauro Satyshur was selected as executive director of Maryland's Social Services Administration.(newsmakers)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2003... Rosemarie DiMauro Satyshur was selected as executive director of Maryland's Social Services Administration. Saryshur has a long and diverse background in family-centered care of children and adolescents. Prior to her appointment, she was a...

Our do'ers profile.
September 1, 2003... In Our Do'ers Profile, we highlight some of the hard-working and talented individuals in public human services. This issue features Helene Nelson, secretary of the Department of Health and Family Services in Madison, Wisconsin. Name:...

Say what?(Brief Article)
September 1, 2003... Most Monday evenings, television host Jay Leno has a standard segment after his monologue called "Headlines." He shows headlines, ads, and instructions that are unintentionally funny. Those of us who work for the government are often familiar...