Brits Want to Hit the Panic Button Over Facebook

by Tom Henderson

Hey, boys and girls, someone messing with you on Facebook?

Hit the panic button!

What panic button? Oh, that's right. Facebook doesn't have a panic button.

That's enough to make British officials hit the panic button themselves. If they had their way, every kid's Facebook profile would have such a button. It would be linked to the government's Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre.  Read more...

Report: Colorado has fastest-growing child poverty rate in U.S.

BARBARA COTTER

The number of children living in poverty has been growing faster in Colorado than anywhere else in the nation, and El Paso County has experienced one of the highest growth rates in the state, according to a report released Tuesday.

The report, “2010 Kids Count in Colorado!”, says the number of Colorado children living at or below the federal poverty level of about $22,000 for a family of four rose 72 percent between 2000 and 2008.  Read more...

First Lady goes solo with trip to visit children in Haiti and Mexico

Giles Whittell

Excited Mexican children will be joined for their art classes and a PE lesson today by a black American woman with an inspiring message of empowerment, impeccably toned arms and a posse of Secret Service agents following her every step.

Fifteen months into her husband’s presidency Michelle Obama is undertaking her first solo foreign trip — a three-day visit to Mexico City that will reveal much about how she intends to use her unique position as a goodwill ambassador for the US.  Read more...

Charges of gang rape and abuse of children

According to the authorities, a 15-year-old girl went to a party in a vacant apartment and her seven-year-old sister tagged along. The older girl, who is still under the age of consent, reportedly had sex with some of the males in the apartment and then let the men pay to touch the little child.

The touching turned to outright rape, according to the police. At Final Call press time, four minors and three adults had been charged in the alleged crime. One of the minors charged and detained was the 15-year-old girl who allegedly offered up her stepsister.  Read more...

Parents may not recognize bullies

By Leanne Italie

Some common misconceptions may lull the parents of bullies into failing to recognize warning signs.

Bullies are often star athletes or popular girls considered charismatic leaders by peers and adults, experts say. What's often missed or passed over as minor is a consistent pattern of control and aggression against other kids — behavior that socially savvy bullies can sometimes slide under the radar of grown-ups.

"It's not what we typically think of. It's not always the kid who's pushing kids down on the playground," says Rosalind Wiseman, who wrote "Queen Bees and Wannabes," the basis for the movie "Mean Girls."  Read more...

Boy Scouts of America Found Negligent in Sex Abuse Case

A U.S. jury has ordered the Boy Scouts of America to pay $1.4 million to a former scout who was sexually abused by an assistant scoutmaster.

The jury in the northwestern U.S. state of Oregon found the Boy Scouts organization was negligent for allowing an admitted sex-offender to lead troop activities, including sleepovers.  Read more...

American College of Pediatricians’ Facts About Youth project

Facts About Youth (Facts) is a resource created by health professionals to provide policymakers, parents and youth with the most current medical and psychological facts about sexual development.

Amid debate in the medical and mental health fields concerning the causes and proper approaches to youth with non-heterosexual attractions, Facts is a non-political, non-religious channel presenting the most current facts on the subject. Facts is committed to advancing a school environment in which all students will experience the opportunity to achieve optimal health and safety, even in the midst of differing worldviews. Facts is intended to be a resource to promote the factual and respectful discussion of these potentially divisive issues. This is a web site for and about youth and their needs.  Read more...

Rwanda: Kagame Joins Youth in 'Walk to Remember'

Charles Kwizera

President Paul Kagame, yesterday, led thousands of youth in the 'Walk to Remember - East Africa', a march organised by Rwandan youth to pay tribute to the over a million Tutsi who were killed in the 1994 Genocide.

The walk was also attended by various cabinet Ministers and other senior government officials.  Read more...

Taking responsibility for youth justice ("Freed from prison, some juveniles have no place to go")

Tribune readers should have been shocked to learn that more than 10 percent of the youths in state prisons have served their sentences but remain locked up because the state agency responsible for transitioning them back into community life has failed them.

The article ("Freed from prison, some juveniles have no place to go," April 1, 2010) highlights the appalling inefficiency and lack of direction in the Illinois Department of Juvenile Justice. Four years ago, concern about the high recidivism of juveniles sent repeatedly to the Department of Corrections led to the creation of a new Department of Juvenile Justice (DJJ), which was separated from the adult Department of Corrections and given a mission to turn the juvenile prisons into juvenile treatment programs and facilities focused on rehabilitating and returns these youths to society.

Resistance to change has been strong, and the new DJJ has fallen far short of its intended mission. Reports and media investigations document an increased rate of suicide attempts and an unacceptably high rate of sexual assaults on the youth in the juvenile facilities most of which still retain the adult prison culture.

Greater Cincinnati’s Service Symposium Celebrates Youth Service

By Jordan Huizenga

Do you want to be at the heart of youth service, be recognized for outstanding volunteerism and have the opportunity to share and collect ideas from hundreds of other youth? Then plan to attend the second annual Service Symposium for youth, parents and educators April 17 from 2-5pm at Duke Energy Convention Center and learn about the outstanding contributions of youth to our community.  Read more...

Nigerian youth march to demand clean elections

More than 200 young men and women held a music-filled protest on Tuesday to demand that Nigeria's polls scheduled for next year be clean.

The students, artists, professionals and activists carried banners and placards and passed out flyers to onlookers as they marched through downtown Lagos, Nigeria's commercial capital.  Read more...

Microsoft targets youth with release of new Kin phones

While the rollout of Microsoft's Windows Phone 7 has dominated the headlines as far as the company's recent mobile strategy goes, the release Monday of a pair of smartphones was heavily focused on the youth market.

The extensive sharing features present on both the Kin One and Kin Two could offer digital marketing professionals a whole new target surface with a young demographic, since the phones will make it very easy to share links and other digital content with people in peer networks. The idea here, Microsoft's spokespeople said, was to provide the opportunity for an active "journal" chronicling people's lives online.  Read more...

Rare disorder erases all social anxiety

By Robin Nixon

Williams syndrome makes kids 'hypersocial,' researchers say

Never has a human population been found that has no racial stereotypes. Not in other cultures or far-flung countries. Nor among tiny tots or people with various psychological conditions.

Until now.

Children with Williams syndrome, a rare genetic disorder that makes them lack normal social anxiety, have no racial biases. They do, however, hold the same gender stereotypes other children do, said study researcher Andreas Meyer-Lindenberg of the University of Heidelberg in Germany.  Read more...

Pharma Planning to Dump Experimental and Controversial Vaccines in Public Schools

The golden calf of public health was smashed in this recent flu season as many in the United States outright rejected the H1N1 vaccine. Pharmaceutical companies are now holding the bag, as millions of doses of the vaccine are rotting on shelves or being discarded as hazardous waste. Or are they? The manufacturer may find it more cost effective to dump them into the arms of our public school systems.

Parents would revolt if they knew that the pharmaceutical industry, the Department of Health and Human Services, and Centers for Disease Control have allocated millions of dollars in funding to establish vaccine clinics in the public schools. Pumping children with experimental vaccines in public school is about to be pursued as a matter of policy.  Read more...

Antibacterial in soap comes under U.S. scrutiny

Animal studies linked chemical to altered hormones, antibiotic resistance

"I call upon the federal government to ban the use of triclosan in consumer soaps and hand-washes, products intended for use by children, and products intended to come into contact with food. In addition, I will soon introduce legislation to speed up the government's efforts to evaluate and regulate other substances that may pose similar public health concerns."

The FDA noted that there was no evidence that triclosan could be harmful to people but noted that an animal study showed the chemical may alter hormone regulation and several other lab studies showed that bacteria may be able to evolve resistance to triclosan in a way that can help them also resist antibiotics.  Read more...