child development

shows children looking frightened as they tumble down a slide

New council will work to improve child welfare system

March 14, 2019 by Rose Hoban

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 […]

a little boy drinks at a water fountain that appears to be in the hallway of a school. Children are particularly vulnerable to lead exposure, and they can get it through drinking contaminated water.

Lawmaker will again attempt to get lead out of water in schools, daycare centers

January 24, 2019 by Greg Barnes

Lawmaker will again attempt to get lead out of water in schools, daycare centers - North Carolina Health News

North Carolina does not test for lead in drinking water in schools and child care centers. State Rep. Harry Warren hopes to change that soon.

By Greg Barnes Parents of students at Red Oak Elementary School in Nash County were never notified after federal officials found excessive levels of lead in the school’s water in July 2015. Instead, school administrators posted a notice on a brick wall in the school’s kitchen. Under state law, it was the only notification they […]

shows a smiling little girl at a table with flowers, a little boy is in the background, just out of focus. they're both at a summer school lunches program. School lunch programs were suspended because of COVID-19, but school districts across North Carolina came up with alternatives.

New Rules Could Open More Homes to Foster Kids

January 3, 2019 by Pew Trusts

New Rules Could Open More Homes to Foster Kids - North Carolina Health News

The new national rules are seen as more flexible, written to enable more foster families to get licensed while protecting the safety and well-being of children.

By Teresa Wiltz Stateline Amid an opioid crisis that has increased the need for foster care, states are struggling to find enough foster families to take in kids. A shortage of affordable housing in many places is making the problem even worse. But some foster care advocates hope new federal guidelines will make it easier […]

shows a total of 165 cases of AFM across the US

Polio-like virus affecting children confounding medical world

December 19, 2018 by Sarah Ovaska

Polio-like virus affecting children confounding medical world - North Carolina Health News

North Carolina is one of 36 states with reported cases of acute flaccid myelitis, which leaves children partially or wholly paralyzed.

By Sarah Ovaska-Few A medical mystery is confounding national medical experts: The increase of a rare polio-like condition in children, where sudden paralysis or weakness of the limbs can set in following an otherwise unremarkable respiratory virus. Two children in North Carolina came down with confirmed cases of acute flaccid myelitis, or AFM, in 2018 […]

State Health Officials Seek Input on Early Childhood Action Plan

November 19, 2018 by Yen Duong

State Health Officials Seek Input on Early Childhood Action Plan - North Carolina Health News

The plan is aimed at producing better health and social outcomes for children in the state. DHHS is taking public input on the plan until the end of November.

By Yen Duong The Department of Health and Human Services has a vision for all North Carolina children to be on track by 2025 for healthy, stable lives. DHHS needs public input for how to get there from here. Among other goals, they want to decrease the inequity in the high infant mortality rate between […]

four girls on a swing suspended by chains, they all smile at the camera

N.C. Officials to Set Goals to Improve Child Health Outcomes

August 31, 2018 by Taylor Knopf

N.C. Officials to Set Goals to Improve Child Health Outcomes - North Carolina Health News

Gov. Roy Cooper directed the state’s Department of Health and Human Services to write a plan to improve child health outcomes among children from birth through age 8.

By Taylor Knopf The infant mortality rate in North Carolina has remained stubbornly high in recent years and is one of the worst in the nation. About half of the children in the state live in poverty. And more than 20 percent of kids live in households that are food insecure. These are some of […]

Local, National Barriers Leave Millions of Child Feeding Dollars on the Table

August 3, 2018 by India Mackinson

Local, National Barriers Leave Millions of Child Feeding Dollars on the Table - North Carolina Health News

As the Summer Food Service Program wraps up its 50th summer, participation rates remain low. Here’s why that matters.

By India Mackinson Every day in Charlotte, an air-conditioned school activity bus full of free lunches turns into a church parking lot. Within minutes, 60 children cross the street from a mobile home park with their friends and neighbors to receive a meal. “It was just miraculous to see,” said Tamara Baker, communications and project […]

Abandoned child's toy, child welfare failure

Countering the Effects of Childhood Trauma

March 19, 2018 by Thomas Goldsmith

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 […]

Council Stumbles on Strategy to Smooth Early Childhood Transitions

March 16, 2018 by Education NC

Council Stumbles on Strategy to Smooth Early Childhood Transitions - North Carolina Health News

A multidisciplinary team started work on rethinking early childhood care and education for North Carolina's youngest. But they were stymied by a lack of coordinated data.

By Liz Bell EducationNC Health and education representatives struggled to find a common starting point Thursday as they dove into a large task: creating a coordinated system of care and education for children from birth through third grade. The state’s early childhood and K-12 education systems are largely disconnected, as are the bodies that oversee them. […]

Pediatric Obesity Rates Continue to Increase

March 15, 2018 by Taylor Knopf

Pediatric Obesity Rates Continue to Increase - North Carolina Health News

One in six children in the U.S. is considered obese. And in North Carolina, the rates are on the higher end. Newer research shows excess weight on their growing frames is causing musculoskeletal problems.

By Taylor Knopf When Selma White stocks her neighborhood convenience store with fruit, she can hardly keep bananas on the shelves. Stella’s, named after her mother, is a small, gray house on a mostly residential street just north of downtown Elizabeth City. White opened Stella’s in 2001 and stocked with it the usual corner store […]

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