America-Our Children Need Us
Across the country, communities are coping with the consequences of social injustice: poverty, racism, inequity, violence, isolation, and economic segregation. These challenges undermine the capacity and well-being of our nation’s most precious resource, our children. (1)
We have to speak up
“When you see something that is not right, not fair, not just, you have to speak up. You have to say something; you have to do something. John Robert Lewis_ American statesman and civil rights activist
We all need to make an issue of poverty
One way to do this is to get active. Joanne Goldblum, one of the authors of Broke in America (Seeing, Understanding, and Ending U. S. Poverty), did just that by focusing on the most basic thing imaginable-diapers. Having no diapers corresponds to no work or school. There are rashes, and possibly more serious infections due to too few diaper changes. Babies are fussy and cry. Parents experience feelings of failure and embarrassment.
In 2004 Joanne started by founding the Diaper Bank in New Haven, Connecticut where she volunteered as executive director until 2010. Today she is CEO and founder of the National Diaper Bank Network, encompassing more than 200 member organizations that provide diapers and other basic needs to families across America. (2)
Preventing Childhood Toxic Stress
Policy statement from the American Academy of Pediatrics, August 2021.
Topic: Preventing Childhood Toxic Stress: Partnering with Families and Communities to Promote Relational Health
This revised policy statement on child toxic stress acknowledges a spectrum of potential adversities and reaffirms the benefits of an ecobiodevelopmental model for understanding the childhood origins of adult-manifested disease and wellness. It also endorses a paradigm shift toward relational health because safe stable nurturing relationships (SSNRs) not only buffer childhood adversity when it occurs, but also promote the capacities needed to be resilient in the future. (3)
1) https://www.nasponline.org/social-justice
2) Goldblum, J.S., Shaddox, C. 2021. Broke in America: Seeing, Understanding, and Ending U.S. Poverty. Dallas, TX: BenBella.
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