Thank you to everyone who was able to join us for our October Lunch & Learn: Accessing Early Childhood Special Education Services.

If you were unable to join us, you can watch the webinar here:

To view the slides and resources associated with this webinar, and to view all of our past our Lunch & Learns, click here:

Tomorrow is Election Day!

Voting in person tomorrow? Make sure you know your polling location.

What does it mean to vote for kids?

Elected officials at the local, state, and federal level are making decisions about how to take care of children and families in crisis, promote racial justice, ensure children have access to health and behavioral health care, promote equitable education policies, and so much more.

Voting for kids means voting for elected officials who keep the best interest of children at the forefront of their work.

Learn more about the impact of your vote, explore children's issues at stake in this election, and find resources for making a plan to vote here:

Spread the Word!

Check out the social media toolkit created by our partners at MSPCC for tweets and graphics to share (including the one below) about voting for kids in this election! Remember to use the hashtag #Voteforkids

Mental Health Advocacy Program for Kids Spring 2020 COVID-19 Remote Schooling Report

MHAP for Kids has released data collected from parents/guardians about the harmful impacts the pandemic is having on their children’s mental health and remote learning experience. When schools across the Commonwealth shifted to remote learning due to the public health crisis, MHAP for Kids’ staff attorneys spoke to families each week about their experiences with remote learning and with their youth’s mental and behavioral health symptoms.

Researchers from the Boston University School of Public Health analyzed the data and published a report. Read an excerpt below:

Major findings include:

• 60% of parents and guardians rated their youth’s mental health at or below a score of 5 on a scale of 0-10 where 0 is the worst and 10 is the best possible mental health.
• The vast majority (96%) of parents reported observing social, emotional, and or behavioral challenges. The average family reported 3 challenges per week.
• Qualitative comments provided by families suggest that youth social, emotional, and behavioral challenges were made worse during COVID-19.
• 67% of families reported increased symptoms of Anxiety.

HandHold

The Massachusetts Department of Mental Health, Executive Office of Health and Human Services, and the Office of the Child Advocate have partnered to create HandHold, an online guide for families navigating their children's mental health journey. The site helps you answer questions like: "Should I worry?" "What can I do?" and "Who can help?"

Safe Kids Thrive

In many cases, child sexual abuse is preventable. With the right tools, you can stop abuse before it happens. A new website, www.safekidsthrive.org, developed by the Massachusetts Legislative Task Force on the Prevention of Child Sexual Abuse, provides organizations with customizable tools and guidelines to prevent child sexual abuse.

How American teenagers fared during this time is more of a mystery. With teens no longer going to school and few able to see friends, many people worried about how teens would adapt. However, teens’ experiences of these events might differ from adults’, just as responses to the Great Depression varied by age.

What we do with our children has the potential to affect democracy in the year 2032—or whenever your kiddo is eligible to vote. Studies indicate that what our children learn before reaching voting age has an impact on lifelong voting habits. Data from Center for Information and Research on Civic Learning and Engagement of Tufts University shows that one in four young people who weren’t taught about voting before they reached the age of 18 choose not to vote because they don’t feel knowledgeable enough about the process.

Take action for kids' mental health by signing up for our advocacy alerts, newsletters, and invitations to future events!

Thank you!