Children Matter!

Farms International Curbing Child Slave Trade

Link: Christian Today

      Farms International, a Christian ministry which equips impoverished families with the means of self-support, is helping to curb the child slave trade by helping families become self-sustaining.

The charity is currently helping Christian families in 12 countries work their way out of poverty by providing small loans to help them start up their own family businesses.

The loans are provided with the aim of making the families self-sustaining and in turn able to support the local church by tithing the profits of their new businesses to support ministry.

Farms International president, Joe Richter, told Mission Network News that the programme is having an impact on the family.

"In many countries of the world, family breakdown is a serious problem," says Richter. "Usually it's caused by lack of finances for the family. For example, in Northern Thailand, many families will sell their children into prostitution and the slave labour market because they can't afford to feed their children."

Helping Children in Need

Link: Building Strong Towers.

   The Evening: Will present four different training workshops designed to help you walk alongside children who face a tough time. Choices: You can choose one 90 minute workshop out of the following four subjects:

• How to tell Bible stories creatively and with interaction
• How to use the book and its supporting notes to support children
• How to support children who are bullied and struggling with life at school
• How to support children in families

The author Robert Harrison and Sue Phipps, who wrote the accompanying notes for using the book, will be at most events. NCH will be leading the Family workshops.
The Bullying and Living in Schools workshops will be led by Scripture Union Schools staff. Various agencies who support children will be at each event along with comprehensive resources and a bookshop. Each event will be staffed by a local minister and refreshments will be provided.

Dates and further information at the link above

Operation Christmas Child US Denies Banning Christian Items

Link: Christian Today

   An official with the US branch of Operation Christmas Child (OCC), an outreach of the international relief ministry Samaritan's Purse, has denied claims that the programme banned its donors from offering religious items to children.

Operation Christmas Child spokesman Jim Harrelson said that media reports, claiming that the OCC had imposed the ban as part of an effort not to offend Muslims, were not true and that such a ban would be inconsistent with the ministry's global mission, policies, and practices. (But the UK boxes are done in a different way)

Click the link above for more

CARE Calls for Government Rethink on Child Support Proposals

Link: Christian Today

     CARE accepts that the maintenance payments proposal would encourage parents who live-apart to support their children. The charity says, however, that this should not be the only consideration.

CARE notes that Henshaw recognises that theoretically his proposals could “lead to an increase in relationship breakdown” but that his report concludes that this is unlikely. CARE, however, believes that the risks of such breakdown are very real. It also believes that, if implemented, the Henshaw proposals would adversely effect family formation, leading to a greater number of couples “living together apart”.

Dan Boucher, Director of Parliamentary Affairs, said, “CARE does not believe that the proposals are in the best interests of the majority of poor children.

World Vision Shocked at Child Poverty in South-eastern Europe

Link: Christian Today

     World Vision has expressed its shock at the extent to which serious levels of poverty continue to blight the lives of children in the poorest families in south-eastern Europe, the Commonwealth of Independent States and Central Asia, which a new report claims have made little progress over the last decade.

According to the latest reports by Unicef’s ‘Innocenti Social Monitor 2006: Understanding Child Poverty in South-Eastern Europe and the Commonwealth of Independent States’, child poverty is becoming more and more concentrated in certain groups and geographical areas in the region.

Among the disturbing findings of the report was the latest statistic which shows that for every four children in the region one is living in absolute poverty, despite a recent economic upturn.

YWCA USA Encourages Children to Express Anger After School Shootings

Link: Christian Today

      The Young Women’s Christian Association USA has responded to the recent school killings by expanding an initiative that encourages parents, teachers and carers to engage with children in positive expressions of anger.

The YWCA’s “When I Get Mad I Draw” contest has been expanded from the small scale to the national level and is intended to give kids the opportunity to show the ways in which they express their feelings of anger.

“What better place to start than with teaching our own children how to better deal with their emotions?” asked Lorraine Cole, CEO of YWCA USA.

“The recent shootings are a horrific reminder of the violence that we face in our society far too often.”

The art contest is open to children between the ages of 3 and 16 and will be a core feature of the YWCA’s Week Without Violence campaign (15 to 21 October 2006).

Operation Christmas Child to Reach Millions of Poverty-Stricken Children

Link: Christian Today

       A project providing relief to children in war-torn, poverty-stricken countries during Christmas is preparing to be launched.

Operation Christmas Child, a Christian relief project, is launching its appeal in Bromley urging residents to deliver gift-filled shoeboxes for needy children in Eastern Europe and Africa.

Last year, the UK sent more than 1.1 million shoeboxes to children, with 2,000 of them coming from the borough of Bromley. This year, communities are being challenged to beat the total number.

The appeal's regional manager Gordon McCann said: "We are very proud of the tremendous level of contribution that Bromley communities have made over the last few years and we need to keep this great effort going because, sadly, there are many places where children are suffering from natural disasters, war and poverty. Far too many children - and their families - are left with nothing through no fault of their own, and the simple act of giving the kids a few gifts in a shoebox has a very positive impact on them and their family."

Prevalence and risk factors

Link: BMA - Prevalence and risk factors.

      Prevalence and risk factors of child and adolescent mental health

There is evidence to suggest that the prevalence of childhood mental health problems is gradually increasing. [Go to notes 36 and 37]. Studies suggest that 20 per cent of children and adolescents have mental health problems at some point,[Go to notes 1 and 12] and one in ten have a clinically recognisable mental health disorder. A prevalence of 10 per cent of one to 15 year olds would equate to approximately 1.1 million children under the age of 18 who would benefit from specialist services. Up to 45,000 young people suffer from a severe mental health disorder at any one time. [Go to note 7]

Click the link above for more - this is not a Christian survey but it will be useful to many

Child Crisis

Link: si johnston

Yesterday I decided to pay a visit to my old stomping grounds in Bangor where, as a kid, instead of sitting in front of a TV screen with joy-pad in hand, I was out fishing, BMX-ing through forests, hedge-hopping, and whatever else. Advertising wasn’t smart nor prolific enough to insiduously penetrate my consciousness, and depression was something I couldn’t spell never mind experience.

Early this morning as I drove to work, I heard of a new national inquiry into the state of childhood (having once headed up a national youth and children's network, I still occasionally give this some thought). When I get to work I discover the police are there talking to my colleague about the nursery’s (kindergarten) trampoline across the road which had been slashed with knives by youths at the weekend.

I’m trying to steer away from the tendency to see the olden days as steeped with brighter and more harmless sunshine than our present sociological weather, but if the rumour is that childhood depression is on the increase, I’m glad someone is taking the time to ask ‘why?’.

Children’s Society Launches National Inquiry into Childhood

Link: Christian Today

    The Children’s Society has announced the launch of a new national inquiry into the state of childhood in Britain as professionals and academics warn of more depression among children.

    Too many children in the UK are still experiencing poor childhoods. The announcement is a prompt response to the joint letter published in The Telegraph in which leading professionals and academics in child-related fields, including director of Kidscape, Michele Elliot, and popular children’s author Anne Fine, warned that modern life is leading to more depression among children.

In the statement, the professionals and academics said they were “deeply concerned” at the “escalating” childhood depression and behavioural and developmental conditions among children in Britain.