the California Parent and Youth Helpline just received a lifeline from the federal government, to the tune of $1 million.
President Joe Biden recently signed a congressional budget resolution that included the grant money, proposed by Rep. Judy Chiu, D-Calif.
Dr Lisa Pion-Berlin, president and CEO of Parents Anonymous, part of the nonprofit Raising the Future, which runs the helpline.
“They may suffer from mental health problems, behavioral problems at school,” observed Pion-Berlin. “Parents have lost their jobs. They can call the California Parent and Youth Helpline 12 hours a day, seven days a week, and join online evidence-based Parents Anonymous groups.”
People can call the helpline at 855-427-2736 or go to Raisingfuture.org. The funding will support mental health services for the empowerment journey for Asian, Latino, African American and other populations.
Pion-Berlin noted that she would like to see federal legislation to fund a national parent and youth hotline modeled on the program in California.
“It’s mainly the federal government that funds hotlines. Suicide, running away, domestic violence,” Pion-Berlin said. “Everything is important, but that’s where people are struggling with these issues. It’s prevention.”
The California Parent and Youth Helpline has served more than 32,000 people since its inception in May 2020.
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As National Parenting Leadership Month draws to a close, advocates are calling on lawmakers — who are writing the new state budget — to fund programs that support the emotional health of families.
In January, Governor Gavin Newsom’s budget proposal included $4.7 million to fund the Parents Anonymous helpline, but the group is asking for double that amount.
Antonia Rios is a California mother who went to work for Parents Anonymous after benefiting directly from its counseling service. She is now a Senior Parenting Partner and Chair of the National and California Parent Leadership Teams with the group.
“The help, support, strength and hope that my children and I have received has changed our lives for the better,” Rios said. “We are resilient. The cycle of violence has been broken in my family.”
Parents and young people can call the helpline at 855-4-A-PARENT or sign up for free weekly online support groups. The Parents Anonymous Helpline, run by the association Raising the futurehas answered over 1.5 million calls since its inception in May 2020.
Elizabeth Harris, teacher and researcher at Arizona State University, co-author of a Ph.D. a study in the journal Child and Health Services Reviewwho found that the helpline and support groups make a dent in child abuse and neglect.
“And this evaluation showed that his program significantly reduced the number of parents who ended up in the child welfare system and the number of children who ended up in the child welfare system,” Harris said.
The group also helped lobby for an extension of paid sick leave related to COVID. The legislature has until June to approve the state budget.
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Parents’ rights groups are praising a plan to extend paid sick leave for many California workers, which is now on the fast track.
Governor Gavin Newsom announced an agreement with legislative leaders Tuesday on a bill requiring companies with 26 or more employees to offer two weeks of paid sick leave to recover from COVID or care for a sick family member.
Matthew Kijak, program director for the nonprofit Raising the Future, which is part of Parents Anonymous, which runs the California Parent Youth Helpline, said people shouldn’t lose their pay if they or their children are tested positive.
“So it’s really, really important that we respect the role of parents who are basically the heroes of this whole pandemic,” Kijak said. “And honor that by allowing them to stay home to care for their children who may be suffering from coronavirus.”
A similar extension of sick leave during COVID expired last September. The proposal would be retroactive to cover sick days taken since January 1 and end on September 30. Full-time workers would be entitled to 40 hours off, plus another 40 if they present a positive COVID test. Part-time workers would get the number of hours off they normally work.
Opponents complain that extended sick leave will be entirely the responsibility of businesses, many of which are still struggling after the pandemic shutdowns. To help soften the blow to businesses, the deal would restore some tax deductions and expand some tax credits.
Kijak argued that workers’ health must be the priority.
“Business is important,” Kijak acknowledged. “But compared to employees coming to work with coronavirus and, God forbid, dying, that’s not a comparison at all. Whatever we have to spend to keep Californians safe has to be spent.”
Without the change, California workers would have only three days of state-mandated paid sick leave. The bill is expected to be drafted and voted on in the coming weeks.
Disclosure: Parents Anonymous contributes to our fund for reports on children’s issues, family/father issues and social justice. If you would like to help support news in the public interest, click here.
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As holiday celebrations continue, groups studying issues in prisons say families with an incarcerated loved one should try to connect with them. They say even with barriers in states like Iowa, the visit has a lasting impact.
The Prison Policy Initiative says 50 years of research found that people held in state prisons who receive in-person visits are less likely to be reincarcerated after release.
The Initiative’s communications strategist, Wanda Bertram, said that in recent years, prison and prison systems have added a variety of barriers making it more difficult to connect in person, by phone or by mail. But she said that shouldn’t deter families.
“We want higher success rates when people come out of prison and reenter society,” Bertram said. “You know, we want mentally healthy people.”
Separately, Researchers in Iowa have found a link between visitation and a person’s tendency to obey the rules inside a correctional facility.
Bertram noted that Iowa was among the states with the highest costs for a 15-minute call from jail. But the Initiative scored a victory this year when the Iowa Utilities Board agreed to cap rates set by prison phone companies.
As for better outcomes, Bertram said it goes beyond reducing recidivism — the benefits can be seen in a variety of ways.
“People who are in frequent contact with their family have better mental health outcomes,” Bertram said. “It actually impacts their physical health, it impacts their improvement in school and educational programs.”
As the country experiences a new surge of COVID, Bertram said she fears the country’s administrators are making more efforts to block visits.
Iowa has yet to resume restricting in-person visits to state facilities after resuming them over the summer. But Bertram said there were concerns about the potential for a patchwork of county-level prison restrictions.
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