The New York City Health Department is also working with schools, parents and communities to minimize the spread of H1N1 among children and teachers. Key objectives include getting children vaccinated, and New York City, Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg announced that the city will offer free flu vaccines to elementary school students. (scheduled to begin in October).

New York City was the first large U.S. city to be hit hard when the H1N1 virus first surfaced last spring, when hundreds of children in the city were sickened by the disease. At the Children’s Aid Society, we know that school attendance is a predictor for future successes, and keeping children healthy is always a major challenge.

Vaccinations have been one of the most important health advances in history, reports the New York Times. The free vaccinations provided to the more than one million New York City School District students will mostly be a nasal mist, rather than a shot, according to the AP. Along with basic common sense prevention, we’ll be able to make a difference!

Correction:  Thanks to our Facebook friend Janay Bouroughs, we have changed the flu name to the correct name, H1N1.

To help keep children out of the justice system in the first place, The Children’s Aid Society provides educational support services for students seeking a general equivalency diploma (GED). The Children’s Aid Society also helps youths train for and obtain employment. Children’s Aid Society, through its Persons in Need of Supervision – Designated Assessment Services program also intervenes directly in delinquent children’s lives, assigning social workers to help families uncover and remedy the causes of behavioral problems.

And even when prevention falls short, the Children’s Aid Society keeps working. Through its Legal Advocacy program, Children’s Aid advocates for children’s interests in court. And once children have exited the system, Children’s Aid Society helps them re-enter their communities, avoid situations that could prompt a return to crime, and adjust back into their family lives.

Through such preventative measures and re-entry services, Children’s Aid is a leader in helping to bring about a juvenile justice system that prevents and remediates the harsh effects of juvenile delinquency.

Image courtesy of The New York Times

The city’s homeless population is already up more than 20% over 2008, and officials soon expect an all-time high of 10,000 families in the city’s shelters. This severely affects children, who comprise nearly 40% of homeless New Yorkers.

In 1854, Charles Loring Brace was so moved by the epidemic of child homelessness that he founded New York’s Children’s Aid Society to provide shelter for children in need. Today, Children’s Aid works tirelessly with its family support services, on the same principle: that stable families foster stable children and a better future!

Children’s Aid supports families through our Carmel Hill Project, which serves families in three renovated apartment buildings. The Pelham Fritz Transitional Apartments are a Tier II shelter for homeless families. Since 1990, the complex has sheltered more than 900 families while acting as a neighborhood anchor for social services. And housing assistance is just one piece of the puzzle – our Office of Public Policy and Client Advocacy helps families resolve housing issues through legal assistance, financial help, and public advocacy.

Want to help build stable communities and stable families? Help The Children’s Aid Society continue its work to make sure every child has a safe home. Donate today.

easy access to health care.

Charles Loring Brace, founder of  The Children’s Aid Society stated that “When medical care is convenient and accessible, more children live healthier lives.” This may be why, along with support from the New York Times, in1872, The Children’s Aid Society employed teams of nurses and physicians to visit sick children in tenements, establishing the model for Visiting Nurses Services.

• And why in, 1901, The Children’s Aid Society employed the first school nurse in any New York City school.

• And why in, 1906, the first free school dental clinic in the United States was established by The Children’s Aid Society in New York (and why, by 1913, there was a dental clinic in every one of its schools).

And it’s also why today every child who comes into one of The Children Aid Society’s school and community clinics receives comprehensive and coordinated examinations and treatment. The health and mental health services of New York’s Children’s Aid Society remains on the cutting edge of children’s services. Many of its successful program models are replicated across the nation; adapted by public schools throughout the U.S., and across the globe.

At The Children’s Aid Society in New York we believe there  is a core investment that must not be sacrificed, even in times of economic stress – and that is the investment is in our children and their future. The New York Times has reported that more than $83 million in budget cuts loom  at the Administration for Children’s Services (A.C.S.), New York City’s child-welfare agency. With funding cuts on the horizon, A.C.S. officials prepare for reductions in services; the city, meanwhile, is receiving a steadily increasing number of reports of abuse and neglect.

This reduction in resources in New York’s fight for needy children could be profound. Cutting resources at the front end of a child’s life and education will hurt not only this generation of children, but their children as well. Our success in aiding needy children stands as a testament that investing in the future of children is as real as any investment that can be made today.

The ideals that The Children’s Aid Society has promoted for over 150 years are more important than ever for strengthening families in times of hardship. From civic engagement, shared responsibility and holistic responses to complex challenges, we have always recognized the importance of the investment. It will pay back in the future, but also today with wide smiles on the faces of thousands of needy children!

Children’s Aid uses a holistic approach to combat bullying in schools. Each of The Children’s Aid Society’s 21 New York City Community Schools offer social work and/or mental health services, as do our 6 community centers. According to the New York Times, The American Academy of Pediatrics’ new policy statement emphasizes the importance of the watchful eye of a physician. When both the medical and mental health are integrated into schools, as they are in The Children’s Aid Society Community School model, school officials can provide immediate attention for suffering kids, the bullied or the bully.

Activating the bystanders and empowering students to speak up about bullying is the model of Norwegian professor Dan Olweus that is recommended in the revised American Academy of Pediatrics policy and exactly what The Children’s Aid Society gives support to. Events such as the recent Bronx Youth Council conference on violence allow the students themselves to discuss these issues and foster an environment of community responsibility. In February at the 5th annual Youth Speak Out on Education, described the effects of bullying and ways to combat it. Encouraging and open dialogue about bullying, allows students to guide each other on how to deal with bullies, either on the more obvious personal level or when they see it around them, making a more accountable community.

Two Boys & Girls Club youth (far left and far right) presented an award to Children's Aid Society East Harlem Keystone Club members (left to right) advisor Midge Caparosa, Mikal Edwards, Selia Washington, Michael Medina, Dominique Giordano, center director David Giordano, Meagan Gonzalez and Stephanie DeJesus.

The Children’s Aid Society’s East Harlem Center (EHC) welcomed home its Keystone Club from the Boys & Girls Clubs of America’s National Keystone Conference, held in Atlanta, Georgia in early April. Experiencing a once-in-a-lifetime event, our Keystoners were honored at the conference with several awards recognizing their inspiring activities: two first place awards, one second place, and a special Advisor of the Year award for Midge Caparosa, the Keystone Advisor and job-training counselor at the East Harlem, New York Center of The Children’s Aid Society.

In the category of Character and Leadership Development, the teens took first place for their success in having a traffic light installed at a dangerous intersection in their East Harlem neighborhood. In recognition of the teens’ fundraising activities, the club also won first place in the category of Free Enterprise for creating By Kids Ink, a greeting card company. The second place award was for the Education and Career Exploration category, for their mock news program “WEHC NEWS,” which deal with education.

EHC Keystone Club member Stephanie DeJesus was selected, through participation in the Latino Outreach Initiative, to meet with Roxanne Spillett, president and CEO of the Boys & Girls Clubs of America. Stephanie says the conversation concentrated on teens’ use of the club and the space devoted to activities. Stephanie and Meagan Gonzalez, also involved in the EHC’s Latino Outreach Initiative, taped a commercial about the Initiative for Univision.

The Keystoners also participated in educational opportunities and workshops, hearing a variety of unique speakers. They enjoyed a talented group of actors, performers and artists who took part in the workshops. The conference and recognition was a rewarding opportunity for them and for Midge as well. Perhaps most importantly, they learned that hard work and commitment have great rewards when you follow through! Congratulations to all!