Strollerderby : legislation

Responsible Parenting Law is Unconstitutional

JeanneSager — Wed, 25 Mar 2009 20:01:00 GMT

Can I hear an Amen from every writer of "Bad Parent" here on Babble?

Oh wait, I'm part of that contingent - so AAAAAMEN!

A law passed by Davenport, Iowa that would have made it illegal to be an "irresponsible parent" (close enough) was taken to the courts by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Iowa, and has now been deemed unconstitutional because it was "is overbroad and denies due process rights."

You think?

The law would have required parents to be sent a strict letter of admonishment the first time their child was caught committing a crime or even breaking the town curfew. The worse their kids got, the harder the penalties levied against the parents would be, including fines and mandatory parenting classes.

I was an all around pretty good kid with parents who did some pretty heavy supervision. But on occasion (very rare, of course!), I screwed up royally. Would you blame my parents? No - blame me, I was the idiot. It's no wonder kids take little responsibility for their actions - first their parents hire lawyers to fight the big mean teacher that gave them a B and now the government is willing to pass the buck on to mom and dad.

I'm glad to see this one knocked down, but Lisa Belkin of the Motherlode pointed out in a recent column that there are a fair amount of attempts still in the works to bully parents into being good at their "jobs" with legal threats. North Dakota parents face fines if their kids skip school, Minnesota parents can't smoke in cars with kids.

Do you think the laws can ever really change bad parents into good ones? Or will more laws simply mean more bad parents sitting in jails?

Image: Zazzle

The New State of Children's Health Care

Hannah Tennant-Moore — Fri, 30 Jan 2009 16:30:00 GMT

Soon after President Obama signed the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act into law, the newly empowered Democratic Congress has once again signaled their commitment to what they’re calling “women and children first.” The Senate voted 66-to-32 to expand the State Children's Health Insurance Program to cover four million currently uninsured children by 2013. A tobacco tax will be used to pay for the increase in the federal program.

This legislation, which former President Bush vetoed twice, couldn’t come at a more important time, as job losses mean that tens of thousands of children are losing their health insurance.

One of the most controversial aspects of the bill is that it allows states to decided whether or not recent legal immigrants can benefit from federal programs like Medicaid and the State Children’s Health Insurance Program. Currently, federal law bars legal immigrants from participating in these programs for five years after they move to the U.S.

According to The Times, “Many Republicans, including Senator John McCain of Arizona, said they worried that it was part of a long-term effort to replace private health insurance with government programs.” Since it's clear from President Obama's health care proposals that no one will be taking away McCain’s (or any rich, powerful man’s) private insurance, I think that the real concern is the possibility of having to pay an eensy bit more in taxes in order to help impoverished children and families get covered.

Some critics of the bill are also up in arms because the expanded program would offer federal assistance to families that do not qualify for Medicaid, but who can't afford private insurance--such as a family of four, living in New York, with a combined income of approximately $66,000. Although this is technically three times above the poverty level, it's easy to see how many families in this income range would find it impossible to spend upwards of $12,000 a year on health care.

Hmmm, let's see--would we rather help smokers keep their tobacco costs down or give four million children health insurance?

Photo: faithfulamerica.org

Palin's Town Charged Women for Rape Kits

Hannah Tennant-Moore — Wed, 24 Sep 2008 22:15:00 GMT

You may have heard that the police department of Wasilla, Alaska--currently the littlest big town in the world--charged rape victims for forensic exams while Sarah Palin was mayor. This is a bit like asking the bereaved for hundreds of dollars before taking fingerprints at the scene of a murder.

Now CNN has covered the story, including interviewing the man who sponsored a bill to end the practice. He says, "This [the bill outlawing charging for rape kits] was something that just about everyone agreed on--except Wasilla." The McCain campaign maintains that Palin knew nothing about her town's administration of rape kits. (McCain, however, made his stance on rape kits perfectly clear when he voted against national legislation--introduced by Joe Biden--that would have made charging for sexual assault exams illegal.) This legislator says he finds it very hard to believe that the police chief of a small town waged a campaign against a piece of statewide legislation without the mayor's knowledge. I would add that, if Palin didn't know about the rape kit controversy, perhaps she was slacking on her duties as mayor a wee bit.

But I'm giving away all the good parts. Watch for yourself on Huffington Post.

Photo: pinkandchocolatebrown.blogspot.com

Preventing Teen Pregnancy One Tick at a Time

Two women found guilty of illegal midwifery

Brett Singer — Sat, 06 Sep 2008 21:00:00 GMT

This is a serious issue, but I have to say that the term "illegal midwifery" sounds like something out of a bad Shakespeare parody.

Now that I've gotten that out of the way, here's the story:

"Tonya McGlade was found guilty of Attempting Midwifery Without a License. Linda McGlade was found guilty of Principal to Practice Midwifery Without a License.

"Prosecutors say the women helped Linda McGlade's other daughter-in-law deliver her baby boy. She died of internal bleeding two days after giving birth back in 2004."

In other words, they attempted to deliver a baby without having a license to do so. Sadly, the mother died; the baby survived. This site has a lot more detail if you're interested (fair warning: it's very sad).

What I'm wondering is, just how prevalent is this practice? If someone decides to give birth at home without a trained person present (midwife, doctor, nurse, whatever) and nothing goes wrong, would they be prosecuted as well? Judging by what I've seen on Babble, home births are far more common than I realized. If I had to guess, I would say that a large percentage of these births are against the law. And something else: isn't the problem that the patient died and received poor treatment, rather than the midwife's lack of license? I mean, you can get a midwife license online. (CORRECTION: according to a commenter, that web site only offers the coursework; to get licensed you have to complete your training under supervision.)

Image/source: mysuncoast.com

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Is Home Birth a Civil Right?

Hannah Tennant-Moore — Sat, 09 Aug 2008 19:00:00 GMT

Most people agree that where and how to give birth is a personal choice. But what if your choice is one that many doctors feel is dangerous for you and your baby?

A resurgence in the home birthing movement has doctors and midwives grappling with this question, and Babble’s own Ada Calhoun has researched the heck out of the issue for Time.

Women who opt for home births argue that this method allows them more control over their birthing experience, making it unlikely that they will undergo interventions, such as C-sections or episiotomies, that they don’t feel are necessary. Midwives only assist at home births for low risk patients, and are trained not only to deal with emergencies themselves—often in the exact same way an obstetric nurse would—but they also know when it’s necessary to bring a patient to the hospital as quickly as possible.

But many doctors argue that the best medical care can only be accessed in the hospital—period. The American Medical Association is urging lawmakers to restrict the home birthing movement, in part by making it more difficult for direct-entry midwives (who don’t have nursing degrees) to get licensed.

Currently, only 1 percent of U.S. births occur in the home. So midwife Joan Bryson seems justified in defending home birth’s safety in these terms: “We [the U.S.] rank 42nd in the world in live births, and we spend more money than anyone else. You can’t blame it on home birth.”

My personal experience makes me naturally inclined to side with Bryson. Both my sister and I were born at home with a midwife, and my parents describe the experience in near ecstatic terms (honestly, their extreme enthusiasm when recounting my mother's 12-hour labor can be a bit disconcerting). Also, my older sister never exhibited the jealousy and sense of displacement that many older children feel after the birth of a sibling. I believe this was in part because she was present in the house while my mother was in labor, and was able to see my mother and me almost as soon as I was born. There was no sense that her mother had disappeared, and then returned carrying the reason for her disappearance.

It goes without saying that giving birth at home is not for everyone—but neither is giving birth at a hospital. Competent midwives should not be subject to prosecution for allowing women to opt out of a traditional hospital birthing experience.

Photo: Time

Climbing on my Soapbox

Adrienne Martini — Wed, 23 Jul 2008 18:00:00 GMT

With my first baby, I dropped into a depression so deep that something tragic probably would have happened had I waited 24 more hours before going to the ER. I am one of the lucky ones. Not every mom with postpartum depression has as many options as I did. But how wonderful it would be if there were at least a couple more choices?

Thanks to a bill that has just been introduced into the U.S. Senate by Harry Reid, there is the possibility that more cash can be spent on research into motherhood-related mood disorders. Blogger Katherine Stone explains succinctly why everyone should care about these health issues: "We know from research that untreated perinatal mood disorders are a serious public health threat -- they can lead to chronic depression in the mother, behavioral problems in the child and stress-related health problems in both -- yet 90 percent of all women who suffer are never treated."

Can you imagine another condition that has a 10 percent treatment rate? Yeah, me neither.

So take a minute and send a letter, write a blog post or otherwise spread the word. Thousands of crazy moms -- and I write this as one -- will thank you.

Florida law mandates insurance payments for autism

Brett Singer — Sat, 03 May 2008 19:00:00 GMT

Some good news from the south: Florida lawmakers have passed a bill that requires insurance companies to pay for treatment costs for autistic children – up to $36,000 per year, with a lifetime cap of $200,000. The bill was approved after another more complex piece of legislation that will offer inexpensive health insurance ($150 a month) to uninsured state residents.

Both programs are part of an initiative started by Florida governor Charlie Crist called "Cover Florida." Although the plan is being criticized by some for not being comprehensive enough, it certainly seems like a step in the right direction.

With health care making headlines this political season, maybe this news will inspire a debate about the specifics of how to get insurance to people who need it most, and also how to help families with autistic children get the treatment they need.

image: lacounty.gov

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Update on Megan Meier Story: The Drews, and Making Online Harassment a Crime

Kelly Mills — Sat, 01 Dec 2007 14:09:00 GMT

Since the story of 13-year-old Megan Meier's suicide broke, the lives of Lori and Curt Drew have gotten real different. Lori Drew was the neighbor who created, along with an 18-year-old employee, a fictitious profile of a boy named "Josh" on MySpace. Megan considered Josh her boyfriend, and Lori Drew, her daughter, and the employee sent messages to Megan as Josh. When "Josh" abruptly broke off the relationship, saying he heard she wasn't nice to her friends, and others joined the online fray, sending insulting messages to Megan, she went upstairs to her bedroom and hung herself.

Lori and Curt Drew's personal information was widely circulated on the internet, where mass outrage was expressed (by me too) that an adult would do this to a teen. Megan's parents had no legal recourse against the Drews. Now the town where they lived has passed a resolution making cyberstalking a misdemeanor. The Drews have been widely condemned, and the day after the story broke someone called police and falsely reported a murder at the Drew residence. They've received death threats and a brick though their window. Now it seems the Drews have disappeared, leaving their home and their jobs. Their current whereabouts are largely unknown.

Armchair Activism: The MOTHERS Act Needs to Pass

Alisyn — Wed, 17 Oct 2007 19:33:00 GMT

Read carefully, because this affects all of us: 800,000 American women each year suffer from the debilitating and horrible effects of postpartum depression. Eight hundred thousand. That is a staggering number, isn't it? Equally shocking is that only 15 percent of these women will receive any assessment or treatment for postpartum depression.

That's why BlogHer, Postpartum Support International and Postpartum Progress are joining together to host a blog action day (next Wednesday, October 24th) in support of the MOTHERS Act - The Moms Opportunity to Access Help, Education, Research and Support for Postpartum Depression Act. Women in this country are demanding that new mothers and their families are educated about postpartum depression, screened for symptoms and provided with essential services. To show your support by the bill, call your senator next Wednesday (the more calls the better!), and blog for the cause.

The women of American need this bill to pass, and we need the acknowledgment and support of lawmakers to make that possible. All it takes is a phone call and a blog post to do your part.

D.C. Bill Would Give Mothers Right to Breastfeed in Public

Karen Murphy — Wed, 14 Mar 2007 13:11:00 GMT

I'm a little embarrassed writing this headline. My thoughts go like this: "You mean we don't already have the right to breastfeed in public, anywhere, any time?" Apparently not, which means that in my nation's capitol, as well as in 25 U.S. states plus Puerto Rico, it's possible to be arrested for indecent exposure while feeding your child, or asked to leave the premises. Hello?? Here's a list of the states that still have not enacted legislation protecting a mother's right to breastfeed any time, anywhere: Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, District of Columbia, Idaho, Kansas, Kentucky, Massachussetts, Michigan, Mississippi, Montana, Nebraska, New Hampshire, North Dakota, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Utah, Washington, West Virginia, Wisconsin, and Wyoming.

I was especially and sadly amused by the number of states whose legislation specifically addressed protection of the mother whether her nipple was showing or not. I can only imagine the embarrassed looks on the legislators' faces when debating that point.

Anyway, have a look here whether or not your state is listed above, since every state addresses slightly differently additional points such as protection in the workplace, exemption from jury duty, etc. As a confirmed and long-time breastfeeder, I fed my children (once I got over the whole exposure thing) in every situation possible, so you can imagine my surprise at finding out that in my state I was breaking the law. And maybe you are too. At any rate, it's time for change, and I'm hoping that more states will follow D.C.'s (and 25 other states') example.

Toledo Mayor Believes Parents Should Pay for Kids' Crimes

JasonAvant — Thu, 01 Mar 2007 13:33:00 GMT

In the wake of the murder of a Toledo police officer by a 15-year-old boy, the city's mayor has reintroduced a controversial ordinance. Mayor Carty Finkbeiner is proposing that parents and legal guardians be held accountable if their kids break the law. According to the article, this legislation was introduced about a year ago, as part of an effort to curb youth and gang-related crime. If the ordinance is passed, police would issue a written warning to parents whose children have had run-ins with the law. If the children continue to be a problem, parents and guardians would be charged with a misdemeanor, potentially facing 30 days in jail and a $250 fine.

Needless to say, this has caused a bit of debate. Proponents argue that parents should be made aware of who their kids are running around with and what kind of trouble those kids are getting into; the goal, according to police chief Mike Navarre, is not to bust good parents, or even bad parents - it's to remind them of their responsibilities. As he puts it in the article, give them "a wake-up call". Those opposed say that it's unfair to blame parents for the actions of their kids; lower-income parents may lack the resources to help their kids and keep them on the straight-and-narrow.

As much as I'm opposed to giving law enforcement any more power, I gotta say that I'm leaning towards Mayor Carty Finkbeiner on this, and it's not because he has a name that sounds like that of a Dr. Seuss character. I'm not in favor of tossing parents in jail over something that their children did, but I'm a bit tired of hearing the same stories from parents of juvenile offenders. "We had no idea..." (I'm talking to you, Ma and Pa Klebold and Mr. and Mrs. Harris.) Clearly there can be some sort of middle ground, with parents, law enforcement, schools, and social workers addressing these kids before they end up ruining their lives and the lives of others.

Kansas Bill Would Fine Parents Who Leave Kids in Cars

Karen Murphy — Wed, 21 Feb 2007 13:12:00 GMT

Kansas is mulling over a bill which would allow police officers to assess a $25 fine to parents of children left alone in cars, unless the children are over eight years old or are supervised by another child of at least 12. The fine is being proposed as an alternative to the current choices a Kansas police officer has when confronted with a child left in a car: that of "scolding" the parent upon their return, or taking the child into custody and charging the parent with reckless endangerment of the child. Subsequent offenses would result in a much larger fine.

Although I tend to be one to decry over-legislation, I understand the concern here of preventing deaths from exposure to heat in a closed car. Two Kansas children have died in this way in the past 9 years. The fine seems a middle-ground alternative to the option of charging a parent for something my parents did without thought or needful concern when I was growing up, in a time when it was a lot more "okay" than it is now.

St. Paul Banning Realistic Toy Guns

Karen Murphy — Sat, 03 Feb 2007 17:08:00 GMT

In legislation that is likely to seep across the country, the City of St. Paul, MN has proposed a city-wide ban on "public display of weaponry that substantially duplicates a real firearm", unless said firearm comes in hot pink, white, or some other bright and non-gunlike color. The ordinance would also ban laser pointers on toy guns.

The new law would allow realistic toy guns to be displayed in homes, businesses where the gun owner is also the business owner, and gun shops. It would also still allow public use of translucent water pistols. The law also requires the presence of a bright orange cap on the "business" end of the gun, a federal requirement that comes with all toy guns sold but which is often removed by the consumer.

St. Paul, like many other cities, has had a rash lately of tragic deaths due to these toy guns being mistaken for the real thing. On the one hand, guns scare me (but if you say "guns don't kill people; people kill people", I swear I'll scream. Or shoot you.). I don't want them around me or my children. We don't even have toy guns in the house: no water pistols, nothing. Despite the fact that I grew up with a father who shot at neighborhood cats with a BB gun to "keep them away from our cats" and at paper targets with rifles and pistols, and we had water pistols, I know I'm not scarred for life or anything. I just don't like guns.

I'm not sure, though, that creating yet another series of laws across the country is going to solve the problem of scared, trigger-wary police officers mistaking innocent teenagers for criminals and shooting them. It's more likely that the problem is much deeper than that, and throwing legislation at the problem isn't going to make it go away.

Strollerderby : legislation

Responsible Parenting Law is Unconstitutional

Four Creepiest Animals Turned Adorable Kids Characters

Children's Laughter Bugs Pre-School's Neighbors

Judge: Home-Schooled Kids Must Go to Public School

The Newest Form of Discipline: Licking

The New State of Children's Health Care

Palin's Town Charged Women for Rape Kits

Two women found guilty of illegal midwifery

11 months old, 62 pounds

Girl being kept alive by Viagra

They Say: no link between autism and measles vaccine

Red eye? Nope, eye cancer

McCain, Palin oppose teen pregnancy aid and sex education

New Mom Sues After No-Meds C-Section

Only 43% of British Moms Offered Home Birth! Outrage!

They Say: More Toddlers Get Immunized Than Ever

Is Home Birth a Civil Right?

Airline removes life vests

Storm Tracking? It Can Be Used in Pregnancy, Too

Is Home Birth a Civil Right?

Climbing on my Soapbox

Florida law mandates insurance payments for autism

Update on Megan Meier Story: The Drews, and Making Online Harassment a Crime

Armchair Activism: The MOTHERS Act Needs to Pass

D.C. Bill Would Give Mothers Right to Breastfeed in Public

Toledo Mayor Believes Parents Should Pay for Kids' Crimes

Kansas Bill Would Fine Parents Who Leave Kids in Cars

St. Paul Banning Realistic Toy Guns