Child welfare forty years out of date

It has been almost forty years since the last White House Conference on Children and Youth was held in 1970, according to the Child Welfare League of America (CWLA). A panel was held to discuss the re-establishment of this in 2010 and the experiences of former foster care youth.

Christine James-Brown, president and chief executive officer of CWLA, said that if the upcoming conference was as successful as ones before, as many as 1000 local gatherings of people throughout the U.S. would take place to identify problems and solutions for children who have been abused and neglected. James-Brown emphasized that the critical component of child welfare is community involvement.

Bob Blancato, president of Matz, Blancato and Associates Inc. and executive director of the 1995 White House Conference on Aging, agreed with James-Brown and said it was very important to involve grassroots organizations from the very beginning. In addition, Blancato stressed incorporating the local media to shed light on the child welfare situation. Reverend Kenneth Fellenbaum, chief executive officer of the Boys and Girls Village Inc., pointed out that over the past 20 years foster children are more mentally fragile due to the extent of abuse. Fellenbaum said these children need clinical services and not just social services.

Mikelle Wortman and Asia Moore, both former foster care youth, shared the struggles they faced after they aged out of the foster system. Wortman said that free post secondary education and medical insurance was crucial for foster youth. She described her bouts of pneumonia and shingles which almost forced her to drop out of school while she was also working full time. Moore, one of the founders of Youth In Progress (YIP), highlighted the fact that around 50 percent of the homeless in the state of New York were from foster care. Moore said it was very important that foster agencies took steps to ensure foster youth have a strong support system once they aged out of the system.

‘Complementarity’ key to U.S. and Europe military partnership

The Heritage Foundation hosted a panel on “North Atlantic Treaty Organization’s (NATO) militaries, today and tomorrow: what kind of partners can America expect in Europe?”. Sally McNamara, senior policy analyst of European affairs at the Margaret Thatcher Center for Freedom, said that there has been an on-going debate about ‘America’s unilateralism’ compared to ‘Europe’s unwillingness to fight the war on terror.’ McNamara expressed that the discussion was not meant to point fingers but to look at Europe’s military capabilities.

Dr. Jackson Janes, executive director of the American Institute for Contemporary German Studies, said that since 1994 Germany has been overcoming a ‘culture of reticence’ for wanting to use military action. According to Janes, Germany has projected that by 2010, their armed forces will be structured with 350, 000 response forces for high intensity operations, 15,000 forces for NATO rapid response, 70,000 forces for stabilization and 147,000 forces earmarked for comprehensive joint and sustainable support of operations. Janes also said that Germany faces budgetary constraints as only 1.4% of its gross domestic product (GDP) is used for defense, compared to the minimum two percent of GDP that is usually recommended.

Peter Podbielski, senior analyst at the Center for European Policy Analysis, said that NATO transformation has been hindered by factors such as time, money and the absence of a coherent military transformation concept. With regards to military cooperation, Podbielski cited the Polish for being the most capable and enthusiastic military to partner with both the U.S. and NATO. Podbielski also expressed that missile defense could serve as a ‘catalyst for further cooperation’ between NATO and the U.S.

Brigadier Phil Jones, military attache and British defense staff at the British embassy, emphasized that states no longer have to choose between NATO and the European Union (EU). Jones said that 'complementarity' is a concept that everyone is comfortable with and everyone is working to develop usable military capabilities.

Healthy marriage and domestic violence programs share common ground

A discussion on “Promoting safety together: Domestic violence and healthy marriage programs” was held hosted by the Brookings Institution. Mary Myrick, project director of the National Healthy Marriage Resource Center (MNHRC), said that various healthy marriage programs and domestic violence organizations have consistently done more than what is required of them.

Oliver Williams, director of the Institute of Domestic Violence in the African American Community, moderated the discussion panel and said that there is something for everyone to learn from Healthy Marriage, Domestic Violence or Responsible Fatherhood programs. Anne Menard, executive director of the National Resource Center on Domestic Violence, discussed her research and emphasized that the quality of relationships matter. Menard said that children do better when they are raised by two parents with a stable economic background. She also went on to say that this does not necessarily imply children from single parent families fare worse in life. Menard said that there are several cases of children from single parent families becoming successful and well-adjusted.

According to Menard, one of the problems faced by domestic violence support centers is the fact that their programs are tailored to white middle class families. She said that more strategies are vital to cater to the culturally specific nature of various minority groups. Menard noted that, while they share common ground, healthy marriage programs should not be treated the same as domestic violence programs. When dealing to such issues, Menard said that ‘one size does not fit all’ and that there is tremendous diversity across all the programs.

Early detection key to safeguarding America

A hearing on “One year later: Implementing the bio-surveillance requirements of the 9/11 act” before the Emerging Threats, Cybersecurity, and Science and Technology Subcommittee. Chairman James R. Langevin (D-R.I.) said that the threat of biological attack is real and wanted to address one of the ‘most glaring vulnerabilities’ facing America.

According to Langevin, the 9/11 act authorizes the National Biosurveillance Integration Center (NBIC) and requires the Government Accountability Office (GAO) to submit a report to Congress describing federal, state and local biosurveillance efforts. He noted that the keys to stopping an attack from turning into a catastrophe were early detection, identification, tracking and response.

Robert Hooks, deputy assistant for weapons of mass destruction and biodefense from the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), and Eric Myers, director of NBIC from DHS, issued a joint statement and said that America’s first indication of a bioterrorist attack would be through early detection and warning systems such as BioWatch and the NBIC. Hooks and Myers noted that a ‘comprehensive biosurveillance capability’ could minimize the impact and the duration of an attack.

William Jenkins, Jr., director of homeland security and justice issues from the GAO, said that the DHS had made efforts to make NBIC completely operational by September 30 but it remains unclear what operations the center will be capable of at that point in time. In addition, Jenkins emphasized the importance of improving the technology used by the BioWatch program.

Pinching from the piggy bank

A hearing on “Saving Smartly for Retirement” was held before the Senate Special Committee on Aging. According to Chairman Herbert Kohl (D-Wisc.), the 401(k) saving plan was put into place to ensure Americans have adequate retirement funds but of late, the 401(k) plans are being treated as ‘rainy day funds’ as Americans take out withdrawals and loans.

Christian Weller, Ph. D., senior fellow at the Center for American Progress, discussed the reasons behind 401(k) loans. Weller said that families are taking loans because they are uninsured or under-insured for risks they might face. In addition, he said that families are trying to cope with slow income growth and rising prices for houses, food, energy and health care.

Kohl said that he was against the idea of a 401(k) debit card which allows participants to make everyday purchases using his or her retirement fund. He said it is a ‘gross distortion of the plan’s intended use’ and the high fees associated would ‘drastically diminish savings.’ Ranking member Gordon H. Smith (R-Ore.) pointed out that, according to Vanguard, if an employee takes out two loans of $30,000 total from his 401(k) and pays them back in five years, he will have $40,000 less in his retirement fund after 30 years than an employee who never takes out a loan.
David C. John and Mark Iwry, both principals of the Retirement Security Project, pointed out that aside from withdrawals and loans, leakages were another detriment to retirement plans. In their joint statement, John and Iwry said that the automatic Individual Retirement Account (IRA) approach would feature direct payroll deposits and help households overcome barriers to saving.