May is Mental Health Awareness Month, and some education leaders and medical experts are urging parents to take a more active role in monitoring their kids’ mental well-being, which includes their use of social media.
Dalia Hashad, director of online safety for ParentsTogether, in a recent discussion hosted by the American Federation of Teachers (AFT), described the long-term impact overuse of social media can have on kids.
“The longer a child spends online, the higher their level of anxiety, the higher the level of mood swings, aggressive behavior, feelings of worthlessness,” Hashad outlined. “It bears out in the statistics. Hospitalizations for eating disorders doubled last year.”
This year in Congress, a bipartisan group of lawmakers introduced the Kids Online Safety Act, which would force tech platforms to, among other things, offer the option to disable certain addictive features and opt out of content chosen by algorithm. The bill was assigned to the Senate Commerce Committee in February, and has not seen action since then.
Frances Haugen, a former Facebook product manager turned whistleblower, leaked details last year about the platform’s internal business practices. Meta, Facebook’s parent company, argues it has adequate internal policies in place to protect users and kids.
But Haugen pointed out most consumer products used by children must adhere to federal regulations.
“If we hold children’s toys to a product liability standard, where do you need to demonstrate you did safety by design, you know, why aren’t we asking the same thing of these virtual products for children?” Haugen asked. “Especially as we move into the land of the ‘metaverse,’ which is going to be an emergent harm.”
The AFT also has an online archive of webinars and other resources for parents about kids’ mental health and keeping them safe online.
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May is National Foster Care Month and Idaho is focused on bringing more foster parents into the fold.
It’s always been difficult for states to recruit the number of foster parents they need to support children. But Julie Sevcik, project manager for the Idaho Department of Health and Welfare, said the pandemic has added another challenge.
She said the state relies on recruitment coordinators who can speak to potential applicants face-to-face, at in-person events, about the critical need for foster parents.
“Those two years of not being able to attend events, because they were canceled because of COVID,” said Sevcik, “that did decrease our inquiry numbers quite a bit, as well as our new foster parents.”
There were 1,5000 children in foster care in 2020, according to the Idaho Department of Health and Welfare data. It also notes 65% of children are eventually reunited with their families.
Since there have been fewer foster parents over the years, Sevcik said her agency can struggle to identify the best matches for children with a smaller pool to choose from.
She said that presents other challenges as well, for parents who are already fostering children.
“We will also struggle to provide those foster families with a break in between their placements,” said Sevcik. “To allow them the time that it takes to come back together again as a family and be prepared to accept another child in their home.”
Sevcik said her agency provides resources for prospective foster parents, including a mentor with experience in this field, and training is also available.
She said it can be difficult work, but also rewarding for foster parents to see biological families make the changes they need to reunite with children.
“Foster parents are our absolute greatest asset,” said Sevcik, “to being able to meet the needs of children who are unable to be safely managed in their own biological families. And we just appreciate everything that they do.”
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Last year, a whistleblower at Facebook lifted the curtain on how the platform, and its sister companies, impact young kids’ mental health.
Frances Haugen, a former Facebook product manager, alongside teachers and health experts, is raising concerns about the long-term social media effects can have on kids. In an event this week hosted by the American Federation of Teachers (AFT), she described the corrosive social media effects on kids’ mental well-being as a public health crisis.
“If we hold children’s toys to a product liability standard, where do you need to demonstrate you did safety by design, why aren’t we asking the same thing of these virtual products for children?” Haugen questioned. “Especially as we move into the land of the ‘metaverse,’ which is going to be an emergent harm.”
Haugen argued social media companies should be held to Congressionally-mandated standards, an idea which has rare bipartisan support on Capitol Hill. Meta, Facebook’s parent company, contended it already has adequate internal safeguards and protocols.
Among other things, Haugen revealed leaders at Instagram, which is also owned by Meta, knew the platform’s algorithm fed kids potentially harmful content, but opted to essentially double down in order to drive user engagement.
Dalia Hashad, director of online safety for the Washington, DC-based organization ParentsTogether, said such strategies have long-term consequences.
“Without fail, the longer a child spends online, the higher their level of anxiety, the higher the level of mood swings, aggressive behavior, feelings of worthlessness,” Hashad outlined.
Dr. Warren Ng, president of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychology, said having open lines of communication can help prevent issues before they arise. He explained it starts with simply asking kids how they’re doing.
“And don’t ask them in a way that ‘You’re OK, right?’ No, really ask them, ‘Things are really tough right now, how are you doing?’ And really being open to that; but also being open to hearing not good news,” Ng advised.
The AFT has an archive of previous webinars and educational resources for parents and teachers looking to provide emotional and psychological support for students.
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Literacy programs are making headway against the learning loss associated with pandemic school disruptions, which put many students four to five months behind in reading and math.
In California, 96% of students saw in-person classes canceled, modified or moved online over the prior school year. Close to 40% of the state’s enrollment drop was in kindergarten.
Dino Pliego, director for program implementation in California for Save the Children, said the organization’s programs serve 15,500 children at 26 rural schools in the Southland.
“Our elementary school-age education programs offered during and after school strive for reading and math proficiency by the end of third grade,” Pliego explained. “Which is that critical time that children go from learning to read, to reading to learn.”
The data also showed the school disruptions were harder on some students than others. Children from minority communities were set back an average of six months, and those who came from poverty were up to seven months behind.
Shane Garver, head of education, hunger, and resilience for Save the Children, said the good news is children in literacy programs have proved very resilient.
“On average, kids in these programs have gained an additional month in reading, above and beyond a full school year’s worth of growth,” Garver reported. “So while much of the country has fallen behind in their reading ability, kids in Save the Children’s programs have actually moved ahead, working to close that achievement gap that is persistent across minority and high-poverty communities in the rural parts of the United States .”
The classes will continue even while school is out, to counteract learning loss known as the “summer slide.”
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