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Proponents of telehealth have pushed for more remote access to services for ages. Here's how COVID-19 accomplished in weeks what they had been urging for years. #COVID19NC #coronavirusNC #telehealth northcarolinahealthnews.org/2…

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child abuse

shows a tile wall, each tile has the handprint of a child and some text on it as a proxy for child abuse

Unsafe conditions for children in wake of COVID-19

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Unsafe conditions for children in wake of COVID-19 - North Carolina Health News

Child abuse and neglect are expected to rise in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, with children unable to escape to the safety of schools and struggling families experience unprecedented levels of stress.

By Sarah Ovaska  The spread of the novel coronavirus has meant an unprecedented retreat from our everyday lives – schools unexpectedly shut down, restaurants closed, and many jobs suddenly disappeared. Children as a whole seem to be avoiding the more serious health effects of COVID-19. But that doesn’t mean they are all safe. The closure […]

A bunch of men with suits sit around tables in the General Assembley in Raleigh, where last week they changed the definition of sexual assault, closing a loophole in the law.

NC sexual assault reforms pass unanimously

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NC sexual assault reforms pass unanimously - North Carolina Health News

Loopholes on revoked consent and incapacitated sexual assault closed without opposition by NC House and Senate.

Kate Martin Carolina Public Press UPDATE: Gov. Cooper signed the bill into law this week. A wide-ranging legislative package reforming sexual assault laws passed both chambers of the NC General Assembly unanimously last week, with two elements closing decades-old legal loopholes on the definition of rape that set North Carolina apart. The Senate passed SB […]

Shows a woman hugging a little boy she's had in foster care. She is signing his adoption papers.

Foster care case numbers continue to climb in NC, as opioid crisis affects families

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Foster care case numbers continue to climb in NC, as opioid crisis affects families - North Carolina Health News

Record numbers of children, almost all of whom have trauma of their own, are entering the foster care system as a result of abuse and neglect.

By Sarah Ovaska-Few  North Carolina could use more people like Lisa Link, as the state grapples with record numbers of children entering and staying in the already stretched foster care system. Link, an auto broker and owner of a small used-car lot in Charlotte, opted five years ago to become a foster parent after years […]

shows a tile wall, each tile has the handprint of a child and some text on it as a proxy for child abuse

Rousing a community to the effects of child abuse in Cumberland County

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Rousing a community to the effects of child abuse in Cumberland County - North Carolina Health News

A multi-pronged effort is underway to build resilience in the community, where a rash of child deaths spurred outrage and a desire to address the root problems.

By Sarah Ovaska-Few Cumberland County is rethinking how it responds to child abuse. Instead of framing abuse as a problem shouldered by individual families, an ambitious effort by a collection of two dozen nonproft partners, government groups and concerned residents are instead naming it a community problem deserving of a community-wide solution. The S.O.A.R.(Strengths in […]

shows children looking frightened as they tumble down a slide

New council will work to improve child welfare system

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New council will work to improve child welfare system - North Carolina Health News

After failing at a state and then a federal child welfare review in 2015, lawmakers and advocates are working to improve the system and provide better coordination.

By Rose Hoban In the next stage of an ongoing overhaul of North Carolina’s child welfare system, legislators announced the formation Wednesday of an advisory body to bring coordination to the complex arrangements that govern the lives of foster children. The new Child Well-Being Transformation Council is intended to provide oversight and framework for changes […]

shows children looking frightened as they tumble down a slide

Advocates See Potential for Child Death Prevention in Connecting State Data

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Advocates See Potential for Child Death Prevention in Connecting State Data - North Carolina Health News

Child welfare advocates say that to improve North Carolina’s child death rate, there’s a need for better coordination and data collection on deaths that do occur.

By Rose Hoban Any time a child dies it’s a tragedy, but in 2017, 1,313 children younger than 17 in North Carolina died. For each of those tragedies, local and state health officials, medical examiners and child health experts review the circumstances around each child’s death in an attempt to learn how to prevent the […]

Abandoned child's toy, child welfare failure

Countering the Effects of Childhood Trauma

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Countering the Effects of Childhood Trauma - North Carolina Health News

North Carolina practitioners and communities are finding ways to help their young charges deal with adverse childhood experiences. These experiences include violence, child sexual abuse, parental substance abuse, and have been shown to affect health outcomes later in life.

By Thomas Goldsmith Young people who are aging out of foster care at the Hope Center in Raleigh often present themselves very well, said a social worker for the agency. That’s because they’re used to concealing the devastating life experiences many have endured. “They’ve learned it; it’s a skill,” said Meredith Yuckman, program director at […]

shows people at a table, one woman is talking

Much-needed Social Services Reforms Underway

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Much-needed Social Services Reforms Underway - North Carolina Health News

A multidisciplinary group has been working since October on changes to be made to the social services system. The activity comes in the wake of some high-profile deaths of children in the system.

By Rose Hoban A 3-year-old boy drowns while in his mother’s care. A 14-month-old boy dies of malnutrition. A 14-year-old overdoses on antidepressants. These are all children who died while in the care of the social services system. And lawmakers want these deaths to stop. Now, after close to a dozen meetings, members of a […]

photo shows national guard member leading civilian throughflood waters to a waiting truck

Low-wealth Schools Find New Ways to Deal with Student Trauma

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Low-wealth Schools Find New Ways to Deal with Student Trauma - North Carolina Health News

In Edgecombe County, educators are learning about how traumatic childhood experiences could impede learning in their students, and how they can help.

By Taylor Knopf As Hurricane Matthew stalled over the eastern part of North Carolina in October 2016, large parts of Edgecombe County were inundated. The storm damaged about 3,500 buildings across the county and at least 250 filled with more than four feet of water. Thousands were displaced from their homes and forced into makeshift […]

Lawmakers Moving on Overhaul of Troubled Child Welfare System

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Lawmakers Moving on Overhaul of Troubled Child Welfare System - North Carolina Health News

After several high profile child deaths and scathing reports, members of the General Assembly lay the groundwork for a major shift in the state’s social services system.

By Rose Hoban The stories from the past decade are heartbreaking: a Wake County toddler smothered by his mentally ill mother in 2012, a year-old Cumberland County child who died of blunt force trauma to head in the same year, and dozens of older children who had cases opened and closed in the state’s child […]

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