Good morning! ☀️

It’s June already! Summer officially begins in about two and a half weeks.

Will you be a Juilletiste or an Aoûtien? In France, Juilletiste are people who take their break in July while the Aoûtien take their break in August. The July-people are seen as lazy because they go on break while there is still work to be done, while the August-people are seen as overall unoriginal but kind of smug because they come back with a tan in September while the others no longer have one.

If you live in America, you don’t have to answer this question. We don’t get much of a vacation here 🦅

Today’s question: When did foster care begin?

News

Errors in reporting child abuse

According to a report by KPBS, half of all verified child abuse reports in California were not accounted for in the state’s database, increasing a child’s risk of being put in a violent home. More specifically, the state contained around 25,000 county reports of sexual and physical abuse and neglect, while there were more than 52,000 of these reports across the county.

Why weren’t these verified reports in the database? Auditors found that there were two reasons:

1. State officials did not always put county reports into the database,

2. Counties did not always send their reports to the state

These problems are not exclusive to California. A recently published article in the Guardian highlights that there were 536 child abuse incidents “involving serious harm to a child” in England over a period of 3 months last year. These incidents were blamed on systemic issues including a lack of information-sharing (sound familiar?) and insane caseloads.

Other social work-related news

• The same old story: NASW again implores lawmakers to enact sensible gun laws in aftermath of Texas elementary shooting

• A hotline in India became a lifeline for expectant mothers who experienced depression. Funding, however, was only allocated for 7 months.

• Hailey Baldwin says therapy was a 'game changer' for her mental health: 'I feel really safe'

• It’s here to stay: The breakthrough for telehealth in mental health

Research

Children in team sports

A large-scale study found that children who play team sports have fewer mental health difficulties. Not much of a surprise there. However, the study also found that kids who were exclusively involved in an individual sport may experience more mental health difficulties than kids who do not play sports at all!

We know what you’re thinking; Yet another reason not to sign your child up for wrestling (if the Cauliflower Ear wasn’t enough of a reason) 👂

Despite the mental health concerns, however, children in both individual and team sports had a lower likelihood of rule-breaking behavior than children who did not play a sport. As always, this does not necessarily mean that engagement in team sports directly leads to fewer mental health issues and decreased rule-breaking behavior, but that there is an interesting relationship there that should continue to be explored.

Other reads on research

• Science has shown that there are effective mental health treatments for children such as emotional regulation training and school-based screenings that allow us to detect mental health crises before they occur. So why are these treatments being ignored?

• Researchers found that children with psychiatric disorders have increased substance use disorder later in life and that medication treatment for children reduces this risk. Two of the authors disclosed financial ties to the industry 👀

Reads on policy

• An in-depth look at the federal and state policy landscape for youth access to gender affirming care. Four states (Alabama, Arkansas, Texas, and Arizona) recently enacted laws or policies restricting youth access to gender affirming care despite the statements of major medical societies about the benefit of this care for youth.

• Florida House Bill 1421 will require law enforcement to take part in assailant emergency drills in schools, the Department of Education to release an annual school safety report, and 80% of school personnel to be trained in youth mental health awareness.

• Out-of-state counselors and therapists will soon be able to work in Ohio

Tech, social work, and cool opportunities 😎

• Surveillence technology may help us to identify shootings and reduce crime. Cities such Durham, North Carolina have begun partnering with surveillance tech businesses to test whether they can reduce shootings. Others, however, voice concerns with these technologies, especially when used in schools

• Did you know that we are now prescribing video games for behavioral health difficulties? Akili integrates first-of-its-kind prescription video game treatment with the virtual world through partnership with roblox

• Content Designer at Carrot Fertility, a company that seeks to enable fertility access for everyone

• Mental Health Specialist at YouTube

• Senior Manager of Health & Wellbeing at Lululemon

• Behavioral Scientist at Mahana Therapeutics

• Clinical Operations Supervisor at Loop, a company that uses audio-based visualizations to help people experiencing social anxiety

• Science of Wellbeing Expert at Apple

Answer: Foster care originally came into existence with the English Poor Law of 1562, which allowed certain families to care for foster children. Modern day foster care in the United States traces its roots back to 1853, when Charles Loring Brace created a program that moved children who were homeless and neglected from Urban areas to families in rural ones.

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