The following is an excerpt from Safe Children and Healthy Families Are a Shared Responsibility: 2006 Community Resource Packet — Download packet (PDF,53 pp,743 kb)

All parents struggle with some of the things their children do. While there is no magic formula that will work in all situations, it is helpful to understand the kinds of issues that impact a child's behavior. If you understand these issues and know what... more

With more than 3.6 million U.S. children between the ages of 5 to 15 with a disability(1), financial experts say it is crucial for many parents to recognize they can take a few simple steps now to help ensure security for their child in later years. Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance Company (MassMutual) and Easter Seals today issued a set of guidelines -- 10 questions and answers people should consider to help lay the groundwork for a secure financial future for their child with special needs.

MassMutual and Easter Seals... more

Children in West Virginia are more likely to die from abuse and neglect than kids in any other state, according to the U.S Department of Health and Human Services.

Almost 100 West Virginia children have died from abuse and neglect since 2001, according to state and federal statistics.

While West Virginia’s numbers may be high because the states Child Fatality Review Team does such a great job tracking deaths, these numbers are still far too high, regardless of the reasons. This is why the state Supreme Court is publishing... more

Well, tonight was supposed to be a very different night. My two boys and I were driving to meet my husband, to look at a new car. Just as we were leaving it began to rain. No big deal, we have been in need of rain, and besides it wasn’t raining very hard. I turned the radio on, and began searching for something to listen to, for our lengthy drive to where my husband was waiting for us. Well after hitting the seek button on the radio a few times we came across a National Weather Service announcement, saying that severe thunderstorms were in our path, and the entire area was... more

Keeping kids safe is a hard job. Between violence on the streets, tv, and video games. Drugs sweeping through our streets, and the recent added threat of terrorism, parents can find themselves overwhelmed as to how to keep their beloved little ones, and not so little ones, safe from harm.

Yet with all of the new issues of today to worry about, lets not forget what is lingering in our very own homes, and sometimes, under our very, own, kitchen sinks! Chemicals, chemical, chemical, they are everywhere and in everything! If we aren’t worry about the younger ones... more

How many times have tearful parents, woefully expressed those words in utter shock and sadness, while pleading on television for the safe return of their missing child? Time is the most important factor when dealing with a missing child. While reports state that missing children are rarely murdered, those that are murdered, have very little time to be found according to this recent study:

According to a 1997 study by the State of Washington’s Office of the Attorney General “the murder of a child who is abducted ... is a rare event. There... more

Now in theory, this sounds like a wonderful idea. It gives children a punishment for doing something wrong at school, and eliminates the idea in the child’s head that a suspension is simply some free time off from school. It is also helpful to those families who cannot take time away from work to watch a child at home, who has been suspended.

But what is it that the kids are actually doing while they are sitting in, in-school suspension? My adopted stepson recently had to serve his first stint, for being involved in an altercation as the children were loading... more

In a recent article, I wrote about the importance of sharing the discipline of the child or children in the home, equally among the parents. Here is a link for those who missed Part One. Before we go ahead and dive right into the second half of the article, I thought I would recap, with the last paragraph of Part One of Sharing the Discipline Equally

But simply getting both parents to take an active role when it comes to the disciplining of the child,... more

When it comes to parenting, it is more often than not, that one parent has the burden of doing more than his or her fair share of the discipline, when it comes to the child or children in the home. Many times this is simply due to one parent being at home with the children more than the other parent. And while the numbers of stay at home fathers are on an incline, more often than not it is the mother of the family who is at home with the children more, and who ends up having to do a lot more of the discipline and consequence giving when it comes to the children.

This... more

If the adults involved in a custody situation, or a multi-parental situation, whatever label you would like to stick on it, could learn how to let their fears and insecurities about the other parents go, then the tension between the adults would melt to a manageable level. When all the parents are tense and angry, the child can feel it, and it is not fair to the child to be forced to live in such tension because adults can’t behave like adults. Somewhere among all the fighting, anger, and tension, the adults involved tend to lose sight of the fact that... more