Children-and-youth

California's well-meaning program to treat adverse childhood experiences relies on a system that requires doctors to report them, even if it doesn't amount to abuse. The result could cause even greater harm to children.

Medi-Cal doctors are screening more patients for adverse childhood experiences, but they aren’t required to report whether those patients receive therapy or other services they may need. Yet getting that helps is key to preventing chronic health or mental health conditions later in life, research finds.

For the last two years, some families who receive subsidized child care got a waiver from the fees they pay to participate. But the waiver will end next year after Gov. Gavin Newsom vetoed a bill that would have extended it, citing an expected decrease in state revenue.

A beleaguered state program that provides hearing aids to children may soon include families with partial insurance coverage and youth up to 21 years old after the Legislature included the expansion in the budget bills. About 2,000 more children would be helped.

California counties regularly take the Social Security benefits of foster youth who are disabled or whose parents have died. Advocates say it amounts to children paying for their own foster care.

In California, 32,000 children under 18 have experienced the death of a parent or primary caregiver from COVID-19. The state has set aside $100 million for trust funds for children who are in low-income families to access when they turn 18 for school, housing or other expenses.

For families receiving government assistance, the types of infant formula they are allowed to purchase is limited. When the shortage began, California couldn’t quickly expand its list of approved formula brands due to federal restrictions, leaving low-income families scrambling to find formula.

California day camps operate without background checks, CPR training, child/adult ratios or required reporting of injury and death. A family whose daughter drowned at a camp is working to change that.

The mental health of children under 5 has typically been overlooked when it comes to state funding. Advocates aim to change that by asking for $250 million to support the youngest Californians.

The state mandates transitional kindergarten, but isn’t paying the tab for a small portion of wealthy school districts. Some are balking.