Maryland Children

Fewer children were poisoned by lead-based paint in 2011 than in any year since Maryland began tracking cases nearly two decades ago, prompting the state to expand its focus to newer rental properties and owner-occupied homes. A survey released Thursday by the state Department of the Environment showed 452 children had dangerous lead levels in their blood last year, down from more than 14,500 youngsters who tested positive for the substance in 1993. In 2010, 531 children were found to have the same level of lead poisoning.

Fewer children were poisoned by lead-based paint in 2011 than in any year since Maryland began tracking cases nearly two decades ago, prompting the state to expand its focus to newer rental properties and owner-occupied homes. A survey released Thursday by the state Department of the Environment showed 452 children had dangerous lead levels in their blood last year, down from more than 14,500 youngsters who tested positive for the substance in 1993. In 2010, 531 children were found to have the same level of lead poisoning.

IN MARYLAND, poor children have a critical health-care problem with dental cavities and lack of access to dental care. Oral health is inseparable from overall health. Every day in Maryland, the lack of oral health care results in severe pain, impaired eating ability, speech difficulties and problems associated with chronic infection. It has an adverse impact on social and financial well-being because of poor appearance and the inability to concentrate because of suffering and pain. There is evidence that schoolchildren with dental pain have increased numbers of missed school days and have a reduced capacity to succeed academically.

Fewer Maryland children are living in high-poverty neighborhoods than a decade ago, but the lingering economic slump has left more parents without a steady paycheck, theAnnie E. Casey Foundationreported Wednesday. The Baltimore-based charity ranks Maryland 10th in the nation for overall child well-being in its 2012 Kids Count Data Book, which analyzed nationwide research and statistics on children's economic well-being, education, health, family and community. Becky Wagner, executive director of Advocates for Children and Youth, said the report shows that the state has made "good, solid advancements," but Maryland must keep working to close the remaining gaps.

Maryland has improved its ranking in the most recent edition of a national survey that measures conditions for children, moving to 22nd in the country this year on the strength of its wealth and the declining numbers of students dropping out of school. But Jann Jackson, executive director of Advocates for Children and Youth in Baltimore, said that although Maryland is doing better, the gap between its haves and have-nots is larger than that of other states. Maryland remained near the bottom of the country in its rate of infant deaths and low-weight babies, according to the annual Kids Count Data Book, which is to be released today in Washington, D.C. Maryland ranked best in its rate of child poverty, which was seventh-lowest in the nation.

Statistically, the most likely profile of a neglectful or abusive parent is a 30-year-old, college-educated white woman who has a job. Yet in Maryland, African-American children are far more likely than their white counterparts to be removed from their homes by child welfare officials because of maltreatment. A recent study by Advocates for Children and Youth, a group that lobbies for children's issues in Maryland, found that while African-Americans make up only a third of the state's children, they constitute nearly three-quarters of the children removed from their homes, and are five times more likely than white children to be placed in group or foster home care.

The Abilities Network, a nonprofit organization providing individualized services, training and support for Maryland children and adults with disabilities and their families, said it has received a $1.2 million grant from the Harry and Jeanette Weinberg Foundation to support its $5 million capital campaign. The Abilities Network and its sister organization, the Epilepsy Foundation of the Chesapeake Region, serve more than 2,000 children and adults each year and employ about 150 people in five regional offices throughout Maryland.

Maryland is one of the nation's wealthiest states, yet its infant mortality rate increased 11 percent between 2000 to 2004 and ranked as the nation's ninth worst, according to the 2007 Kids Count Databook, a report released yesterday by the Annie E. Casey Foundation. "Maryland's current rate of 8.4 infant deaths per 1,000 live births is nearly 23 percent higher than the national rate," says the report, also noting that the number of low birth-weight babies increased by 8 percent and was more than 15 percent higher than the national rate.

Fewer Maryland children are dying in firearms accidents at home, but more are being gunned down on the streets, researchers say.Gunfire took the lives of 92 Maryland children under age 16 in the past four years, and the rates of homicide and handgun use in firearms deaths increased sharply, University of Maryland medical school researchers have found."

Maryland's children are less likely than ever to live with both their parents -- and when they do, the parents usually must juggle child-rearing and work, according to a study being released today.Only 22 percent of Maryland children in 1990 lived in the "traditional family of breadwinner dad and homemaker mom" where one parent works and the other stays home, says the national report by the Center for the Study of Social Policy, a Washington think tank. In only eight U.S. states did a smaller percentage of children live in traditional families.

The number of young children deemed at risk of lead poisoning in Maryland and nationwide expanded drastically Wednesday as a federal health agency declared it would effectively cut in half its threshold for diagnosing the environmental illness. Acknowledging mounting evidence that children can suffer lasting harm from ingesting even minute amounts of lead, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said it would reduce the level at which it recommends that doctors, families and health authorities act to lower a child's exposure to the toxic metal.

More than 100,000 Maryland children whose families got mortgages in the middle part of the last decade have lost their family home to foreclosure or were dangerously close to it as of last year, according to a new report . That's one out of every 11 children in the state, which ties Maryland for the sixth-highest share nationwide. The study, from the child-centered group First Focus in Washington, looked at the swath foreclosure has cut through families across the country.

One in 88 American children has an autism spectrum disorder, according to a new estimate from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The rate is 23 percent higher than one the agency released three years ago. Federal officials said some of the increase is attributable to better diagnoses, though it's not clear how much. "We don't know what causes autism, but a lot of children have autism," said Li-Ching Lee, a psychiatric epidemiologist at the Johns Hopkins University's Bloomberg School of Public Health and the principal investigator for the CDC's Maryland data.

Models strutted down the runway, showing off the latest fashions in vintage and contemporary clothes. But the event Sunday at the Hippodrome Theatre was no ordinary fashion show. It was a fundraiser featuring girls ages 5 to 12 years old from across the Baltimore region. They modeled the outfits of the popular American Girl dolls, who represent historical and modern characters, such as Kaya, a member of the Nez Perce Indian tribe, and Addy, who escaped slavery during the Civil War. Accompanying the girls onstage were matching dolls.

Maryland officials plan to announce this week whether the state will sever ties with the state's second-largest foster care provider, a decision that also could determine whether the company keeps its contract in the District of Columbia. Officials with the Maryland Department of Human Resources, the agency charged with protecting the state's 7,400 foster children, is expected to announce a decision on renewing the license for Contemporary Family Services. The Hyattsville company's contract in D.C. depends on it retaining its Maryland license, according to officials with the District of Columbia's Department of Youth Rehabilitation Services.

Rep. Chris Van Hollen of Maryland and other members of the congressional "supercommittee" created by this summer's federal deficit ceiling law are charged with making a plan to reduce the federal budget deficit. That's a daunting task. But as new Census Bureau data shows, kids in Mr. Van Hollen's 8th District and in Maryland as a whole face an even more daunting one: staying afloat as more and more of them sink into poverty. First Focus, a national bipartisan children's advocacy organization, has crunched the numbers, and the Census figures show that an alarming 16,000 children in Mr. Van Hollen's district lived in poverty in 2010.

From a Maryland perspective, the campaign to override President Bush's veto of legislation expanding access to health insurance for working-class children isn't going well. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid started out by leveling a thinly veiled threat at Republican Rep. Roscoe G. Bartlett, the only Marylander to vote against the measure. But Mr. Bartlett has reveled in the attention, saying he was pleased to be identified as the only one who got it right. Meanwhile, a Baltimore family that volunteered to help make the case for the State Children's Health Insurance Program by sharing their personal story got slimed by conservative bloggers who questioned, quite rudely, whether they qualified for taxpayer help.

Maryland has made great strides in reducing lead paint poisoning among children and in improving the outdoor air they breathe, but more needs to be done to keep track of other environmental hazards and their links to kids' health, according to a report released yesterday by state health and environment officials. While pointing to previously reported decreases in the number of children with lead poisoning and an equally significant drop in ozone levels in Maryland, officials said they plan to better keep track of issues such as pesticide levels in children, their exposure to pharmaceuticals in water and where serious asthma cases are most concentrated.

Brasen VonMoose-Lemin stared at the money spread over the family dining room table and knew immediately that he had outdone himself. The 7-year-old from Glen Burnie had raised the money with his family to donate to the University of Maryland Children's Hospital for treating his leukemia. After an April 30 fundraiser that included a lemonade stand, brownie sales and raffles, family members knew they had done well. But $1,800? "That was the most money I had ever seen!" said Brasen, a student at George Cromwell Elementary School who has pledged to continue to do fundraisers for the hospital, which has helped to put his leukemia in remission.

Ten years ago, the General Assembly made a historic commitment to the education of children in Maryland. In the years since, thanks to advocates in the legislature and Gov. Martin O'Malley, it has paid off in improved graduation rates, higher student achievement and — because of expanded pre-kindergarten — greater numbers of children who start school on track to succeed. Nowhere is this turnaround more evident than in Baltimore City, though increased funding has lifted the boats of kids all over the state.