Whether you provide ministry to children or their family members you may find the information below helpful. You will find the following major headings with one of more resources within each grouping.
- Children and Divorce
- Children with Special Healthcare Needs
- Mental Health Resources
- RSV
- Sexual Health
- Transitions of Care
- Trauma/Disaster
"Nearly half of married couples in the United States eventually get divorced, according to some estimates. Because it occurs so often, it’s easy to forget just how difficult and traumatic divorce can be for children. Research published by sociologist Lisa Strohschein showed that, even before marital breakup, children whose parents later divorce exhibit higher levels of anxiety, depression, and antisocial behavior than peers whose parents remain married. There is a further increase in anxiety and depression in children when parents do divorce. U.S.-based psychologist Sharlene Wolchik and colleagues found that parental divorce is associated with significant risks for children and adolescents, including substance abuse and addictions, mental and physical health problems, and poor educational outcomes". Jenny Perkel, Psychology Today
With this in mind, the following resources may be helpful to those in your congregation or community:
CHILDREN WITH SPECIAL HEALTH CARE NEEDS
This easy to navigate and comprehensive website is dedicated to promoting awareness of common birth injuries and their causes. Their mission is to help users find helpful information on devastating birth injuries and their symptoms, causes, and treatment options.
http://birthinjurycenter.com/
Children and Youth with Special Health Care Needs (CYSHCN)
CYSHCN is dedicated to improving the health and well-being of children and youth with special health care needs. We do this through partnerships at the federal, state, and local levels. Families with lived experience are central partners in all that we do.
https://mchb.hrsa.gov/programs-impact/focus-areas/children-youth-special-health-care-needs-cyshcn
Cerebral Palsy
Cerebral Palsy is the most common physical disability in childhood, with a child being born with CP every hour. Cerebral palsy (CP) is a group of disorders that affect a person’s ability to move and maintain balance and posture. Cerebral means having to do with the brain. Palsy means weakness or problems with using the muscles. CP is caused by abnormal brain development or damage to the developing brain that affects a person’s ability to control his or her muscles.
https://www.cdc.gov/cerebral-palsy/about/?CDC_AAref_Val=https://www.cdc.gov/ncbddd/cp/facts.html
NATIONAL ORGANIZATION FOR RARE DISORDERS
NORD advances practical, meaningful, and enduring change so people with rare diseases can live their fullest and best lives. Every day, we elevate care, advance research, and drive policy in a purposeful and holistic manner to lift up the rare disease community.
CLICK HERE FOR MORE INFORMATION
Get help with access to medication, diagnostics, caregivers support,
and other needs.
Learn more about 1,200 rare diseases
through our comprehensive database.
NORD® Rare Disease Centers of Excellence are diagnosing and treating thousands of rare disease patients.
Assist researchers throughout the world better understand and treat rare diseases by enrolling in our registry and sharing your experiences.
Today's youth are facing unprecedented challenges to their mental well-being, and supportive adults can make a significant difference in a young person’s mental health journey.
Mental Health America's 2024 Supporting Young Minds Guides have been created to empower parents, caregivers, teachers, and others to provide support by fostering nonjudgmental environments where young people feel safe expressing themselves. In them, you will find information about facilitating conversations and validating feelings, creating safe spaces and supportive culture in the classroom, and ways to promote peer support. We've also created resources to help young people support one another and feel empowered to set and achieve goals.
Follow this link for more information and supporting young minds guides: https://www.mhanational.org/young-minds Basics for supporting Friends Guide
NAMI Basics Education Program is a national signature education program for parents and other caregivers of children and adolescents living with mental illness. The course is taught by trained teachers who are the parent or other caregivers of individuals who developed the symptoms of mental illness prior to the age of 13 years. All instruction and course materials are free to class participants. For more information click on the brochure.
The Partnership Center at the Department of Health and Human Services has provided an excellent resource list on opioids and addictions for faith communities. Focus on Youth: Download here.
Bullying
Bullying is a distinctive pattern of repeatedly and deliberately harming and humiliating others, specifically those who are smaller, weaker, younger or in any way more vulnerable than the bully. The deliberate targeting of those of lesser power is what distinguishes bullying from garden-variety aggression.
Bullying can involve verbal attacks (name-calling and making fun of others) as well as physical ones, threats of harm, other forms of intimidation, and deliberate exclusion from activities. Studies indicate that bullying peaks around ages 11 to 13 and decreases as children grow older. Overt physical aggression such as kicking, hitting, and shoving is most common among younger children; relational aggression—damaging or manipulating the relationships of others, such as spreading rumors, and social exclusion—is more common as children mature.
For more information click here: https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/basics/bullying
When adults respond quickly and consistently to bullying behavior they send the message that it is not acceptable. Research shows this can stop bullying behavior over time.
Parents, school staff, and other adults in the community can help kids prevent bullying by talking about it, building a safe school environment, and creating a community-wide bullying prevention strategy.
https://www.stopbullying.gov/
Fostering respect.
Ending abuse in sport.
As reports of sexual abuse in amateur sport made headlines in the 2010s, it had become clear: America deserved a safer sport culture.
To achieve this, a new paradigm anchored by a new organization would be needed. Authorized by Congress to help abuse prevention, education, and accountability take root in every sport, on every court. Dedicated solely to ending sexual, physical, and emotional abuse on behalf of athletes everywhere.
From this need, the U.S. Center for SafeSport was created.
For more information click on this link: https://uscenterforsafesport.org/
Hat Not Hate!
Hat Not Hate is an annual recognition for reducing bullying by wearing blue hats, and thus the Hat not Hate title! Knitting or crocheting blue hats for your community is a project that you could add to your health ministry or contribute to individually! CLICK HERE for more information.
Kid's Anxiety is on the Rise. This book aims to help (excerpted from Harvard Public Health Magazine – 9/12/24)
During play dates and soccer practice, conversation among parents sometimes turns to our kids’ stress, anxiety, and resilience. To many of us, it feels like our children are still experiencing the mental health effects of the pandemic’s isolation and its deep undercurrent of fear and uncertainty.
Research supports our concerns. The most recent National Survey of Children’s Health found anxiety in children increased to 9.2 percent, a 29 percent jump compared to the previous survey.
The book referenced: My Magic Mind Kids: No Worries, which came out in paperback in January, and the accompanying My Magic Mind Journal, both by Gayle Vernon.
Gender Dysphoria Gender dysphoria is the feeling of discomfort or distress that might occur in people whose gender identity differs from their sex assigned at birth or sex-related physical characteristics.
Transgender and gender-diverse people might experience gender dysphoria at some point in their lives. However, some transgender and gender-diverse people feel at ease with their bodies, with or without medical intervention.
A diagnosis for gender dysphoria is included in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5), a manual published by the American Psychiatric Association. The diagnosis was created to help people with gender dysphoria get access to necessary health care and effective treatment. The term focuses on discomfort as the problem, rather than identity. (Mayo Clinic)
See these websites for more information: Mayo Clinic: https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/gender-dysphoria/symptoms-causes/syc-20475255
American Psychiatry Association: https://www.psychiatry.org/patients-families/gender-dysphoria Cleveland Clinic: https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/articles/22634-gender-dysphoria
RSV (Respiratory Syncytial Virus)
Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) causes infections of the lungs and respiratory tract. It's so common that most children have been infected with the virus by age 2. Respiratory syncytial (sin-SISH-ul) virus can also infect adults.
In adults and older, healthy children, respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) symptoms are mild and typically mimic the common cold. Self-care measures are usually all that's needed to relieve any discomfort.
RSV can cause severe infection in some people, including babies 12 months and younger (infants), especially premature infants, older adults, people with heart and lung disease, or anyone with a weak immune system (immunocompromised). Mayo Clinic Information on RSVCDC on RSV: https://www.cdc.gov/rsv/index.html
HPV (Human Papilloma Virus)
HPV infection is a viral infection that commonly causes skin or mucous membrane growths (warts). There are more than 100 varieties of human papillomavirus (HPV). Some types of human papillomavirus (HPV) infection cause warts, and some can cause different types of cancer.
Most HPV infections don't lead to cancer. But some types of genital HPV can cause cancer of the lower part of the uterus that connects to the vagina (cervix). Other types of cancers, including cancers of the anus, penis, vagina, vulva and back of the throat (oropharyngeal), have been linked to HPV infection.
These infections are often transmitted sexually or through other skin-to-skin contact. Vaccines can help protect against the strains of HPV most likely to cause genital warts or cervical cancer.
Mayo Clinic Information on HPV
This link provides more information on HPV, including an HPV vaccine fact sheet: https://www.cancer.gov/about-cancer/causes-prevention/risk/infectious-agents#human-papillomaviruses-hpvs
Courageous Parents Network is a non-profit organization that orients and empowers parents and others caring for children with serious medical conditions, by providing resources and tools that reflect the experience and perspective of other families and clinicians. Here—in videos, podcasts, printable guides, Guided Pathways, and blog—you will find wisdom from families and pediatric clinicians to help you feel you are doing the very best you can for your child and family.
https://courageousparentsnetwork.org/
Got Transition® is the national resource center on health care transition (HCT). Its aim is to improve the transition from pediatric to adult health care through the use of evidence-driven strategies for clinicians and other health care professionals; public health programs; payers and plans; youth and young adults; and parents and caregivers. https://gottransition.org/about-us/
Legal guardianship (excerpted from Children’s National Parent Booklet Making Decisions: Guardianship and Other Options for Supporting Young Adults)
At 18, every person gains all the legal rights and responsibilities of adulthood. This includes making decisions about education, work, finances, and health. Young people choose how involved their parents/guardians should be in their healthcare decisions, including surgery and admission to the hospital. Some young adults have intellectual disabilities or other disabilities and cannot make these healthcare decisions by themselves. Legally, their parents or guardians can no longer approve medical treatment without their permission. This is true even if the parent has always made all of the child’s medical decisions. If the young adult is cognitively unable to give this permission, then the parent may need to go to court and request legal papers from a judge. Only a judge can remove the rights from someone over 18.
Guardianship is a legal way to protect someone who has an intellectual disability which prevents him from making safe, informed life decisions. A proposed guardian (parent, relative, or adult friend) can ask a judge to grant that person the power to make decisions, including medical decisions, and act on the young adult’s behalf. Guardianship is a court-ordered relationship that cannot be reversed easily, except through revocation, which involves another court proceeding.
A guardian is appointed by a judge in a court hearing, once a court receives a petition from an interested person (parent/ guardian). WHAT IS IN THE PETITION? A petition is a document that contains the necessary details of the guardianship case and states what the court is being asked to do. The petition has all of the basic facts about the situation of the young adult, and the reason for seeking guardianship. What is needed in a petition varies from state to state and within individual counties. A lawyer usually writes and files the petition in court.
Where Can I Get Legal Help
1. Call, visit, or look on the internet for the courthouse in the county or district where your child lives. Most courthouses have a Family Court Division, with an office that provides free support services for persons seeking guardianship. They can help you get the required paperwork. They may also be able to link you with an attorney who can provide legal services with low or sliding scale fees, or pro bono (free) services.
2. Contact the Bar Association in your state - this organization may be able to refer you to lawyers who specialize in guardianship issues. Ask them if they can refer you to someone in your area.
3. Contact your local Legal Aid - If your household income is low, you might qualify for free legal advice. Legal Aid can tell you if you qualify and refer you to a lawyer in your community.
SUPPORTING CHILDREN WHO HAVE EXPERIENCED TRAUMA
Although adults cannot always prevent children from experiencing trauma, they can play an important role in helping children recover from past stressful or traumatic experiences. Just like children can experience stress or trauma in lots of different areas of their life, they also benefit from protective factors in all aspects of their world. When children have adequate resources (like food, shelter, and clothing), stable routines, and healthy and sensitive caregivers at home, at school, and in the community, they have the best chance of recovering from a stressful event.
Click on this link find a tip sheet developed by the Center for Early Education and Development at the University of Minnesota: https://ceed.umn.edu/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/FINAL-Tip-Sheet_Trauma-Practice-3.30.2023.pdf
Helping Children Cope with Traumatic Events
Helping Children Cope with Traumatic Events was developed in response to the tragedy at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut. This booklet provides practical guidance for caregivers—including parents, family members, teachers, clergy, and volunteers—on how to help support children after a traumatic event.
This booklet provides readers with an overview of common reactions to violent acts, including a breakdown of common signs and symptoms by age. Concrete steps for caring for children’s emotional and spiritual needs in the wake of a traumatic event are also provided. The book is also available in Spanish.
We hope this resource, based on years of experience, is useful to you at this time. Feel free to share with family and friends.
Click HERE to access the publication.
Disasters affect children differently than they do adults. Learn more about the unique needs of children during and after disasters.
https://www.cdc.gov/childrenindisasters/index.html
Trauma Informed Care/ACES (Adverse Childhood Experiences)
Adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) are traumatic events that happen between ages 1 and 17. These negative experiences affect a child’s brain and health as they grow into adults. ACEs can lead to mental health or chronic health conditions. Lifelong treatment and management of ACEs help a person lead a fulfilling life. The links below offer more information and resources: https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/symptoms/24875-adverse-childhood-experiences-ace
Trauma Informed Implementation Resource Center
https://www.traumainformedcare.chcs.org/
https://www.traumainformedcare.chcs.org/what-is-trauma-informed-care/
Sexual Violence
An American is sexually assaulted every two minutes, totaling an average of nearly 238,000 individuals over 12 years of age each year, according to the U.S. Department of Justice. And the Crimes Against Children Research Center estimates that one in five girls and one in twenty boys will be a victim of sexual abuse in their lifetimes. These assaults leave behind a lifetime of psychological damage. The links below offer excellent resources for those seeking support in breaking the pattern of violence.
CDC resources on prevention of sexual violence: https://www.cdc.gov/sexual-violence/prevention/index.html National Sexual Violence Resource Center: https://www.nsvrc.org/
Child Trafficking: Myth vs. Fact
Child trafficking affects every country in the world, including the United States. Children make up 27% of all human trafficking victims worldwide, and two out of every three identified child victims are girls[i].
Trafficking, according to the United Nations, involves three main elements[ii]:
- The act: Recruitment, transportation, transfer, harboring, or receipt of persons.
- The means: Threat or use of force, coercion, abduction, fraud, deception, abuse of power or vulnerability, or giving payments or benefits to a person in control of the victim.
- The purpose: For the purpose of exploitation, which includes exploiting the prostitution of others, sexual exploitation, forced labor, slavery or similar practices and the removal of organs.
There is much misinformation about what trafficking is, who is affected and what it means for a child to be trafficked. Read on to learn more about the myths vs. facts of child trafficking. https://www.savethechildren.org/us/charity-stories/child-trafficking-awareness
Human Trafficking Hotline - 1-888-373-7888 Text* 233733
https://humantraffickinghotline.org/en
At the link below are examples of the kinds of sex trafficking situations that we hear about most frequently on the U.S. National Human Trafficking Hotline. They are by no means the only ways that sex trafficking can occur, but taken together may help you craft your own stories in ways that are realistic and impactful.
https://polarisproject.org/sex-trafficking%20examples/
Cherish All Children Minnesota
Cherish All Children is a ministry of Lutheran Social Services of Minnesota, that partners with churches and communities to prevent child sexual exploitation and trafficking. The heart of the ministry lies in churches, where staff, leaders, and members work together to act on behalf of children and youth. Cherish All Children offers presentations, resources and tools for adults and youth to promote healthy and safe relationships, guided by Christian values. Faith communities are powerful agents for social change, and invite you to join us in raising healthy generations. While the organization is based in Minnesota, many resources are available nationwide.
https://www.lssmn.org/services/youth/education/cherish-all-children
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