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In the earliest years of life, children’s brains are developing rapidly, producing more than a million neural connections every second. During this period of rapid brain development, children gain the social and emotional skills they need to make friends and succeed at school and later in life. Pediatric primary care is a vital opportunity to…
Involved fathers give children a better chance of leading happy and fulfilling lives. From cognitive and social emotional development to education and employment accomplishments, children with involved fathers achieve better outcomes on nearly every measure of child well-being. Father involvement is also linked with improved mental health and well-being for moms. Yet despite fathers’ positive impact…
For the past 18 years, Mary Bullock, LCSW, MBA, has provided counseling and support to pregnant women and young mothers in the Indiana Women’s Prison (IWP). A social worker for Indianapolis Healthy Start, Bullock says that her relationships with these women have been a highlight of her 40-year career. “If I won the lottery, I…
Approximately 13,000 people live in Alaska’s Kodiak Island Borough, which is comprised of the City of Kodiak and six surrounding villages. The only way to get to Kodiak or travel between the different villages is by boat or plane. In this remote island community, it can be difficult for families to connect with public health…
Across the country, health and social service providers have had to find new ways to support children and families in the face of COVID-19. Home visiting services, pediatric well-child visits, prenatal care, and mental health appointments have largely had to transition from in-person appointments to visits virtually—either via phone or video. At the same time, COVID-19…
The COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted daily life across the country, with schools and childcare closed, routine medical care delayed, public transportation limited, and millions of jobs lost. These disruptions have disproportionately affected vulnerable low-income communities where families already face significant threats to their health and well-being, including housing and food insecurity and less access to…
For years, experts have called for a comprehensive system that links young children and families to needed health and social services at the community, state, and federal level. The coronavirus pandemic has revealed that the need for that system is more urgent than ever. Children’s health and development is affected by a long list of…
A serious compounding problem of COVID-19 is how it is intensifying inequalities across the country, including in Ohio where significant disparities in maternal and child health persist. “Barriers created by bias and difficulties with access to resources—those problems don’t go away because we are facing a national crisis. Instead, you’ve just added this new issue,…
Persistent and unacceptable disparities in infant mortality and perinatal outcomes affect the health of families in every state in the nation. For the past 30 years, the federal Healthy Start program has provided integral maternal and child health services in communities disproportionately impacted by negative birth outcomes. Now, NICHQ is working with all 101 Healthy…
Currently, children without underlying chronic conditions do not appear to be at high risk for COVID-19 and the illness seems to be milder in children than adults. But while most children may be unlikely to have adverse health effects from the illness, COVID-19’s overall impact on children’s health outcomes will likely be far reaching. “When…