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Edited on Mon Dec-03-07 03:44 PM by stillcool47
OR..Why we will need more detention centers20,000 vets' brain injuries not listed in Pentagon tallyBy Gregg Zoroya, USA TODAY At least 20,000 U.S. troops who were not classified as wounded during combat in Iraq and Afghanistan have been found with signs of brain injuries, according to military and veterans records compiled by the data, provided by the Army, Navy and Department of Veterans Affairs, show that about five times as many troops sustained brain trauma as the 4,471 officially listed by the Pentagon through Sept. 30. These cases also are not reflected in the Pentagon's official tally of wounded, which stands at 30,327. http://www.usatoday.com/news/military/2007-11-22-braininjuries_N.htm
HEALTH-US: Iraq Vets Left in Physical and Mental AgonyBy Aaron Glantz According to documents obtained by the National Security Archive at George Washington University, 25 percent of veterans of the "global war on terror" have filed disability compensation and pension benefit claims with the Veterans Benefits Administration. One is a July 20, 2006, document titled "Compensation and Pension Benefit Activity Among Veterans of the Global War on Terrorism," which shows that 152,669 veterans filed disability claims after fighting in Iraq or Afghanistan. Of the more than 100,000 claims granted, Veterans Administration records show at least 1,502 veterans have been compensated as 100 percent disabled. Pentagon studies show that 12 percent of soldiers who have served in Iraq suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder. The group Veterans for America, formerly the Vietnam Veterans of America Foundation, estimates 70,000 Iraq war veterans have gone to the VA for mental health care.New guidelines released by the Pentagon released last month allow commanders to redeploy soldiers suffering from traumatic stress disorders. http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=36056 Homeless Vets Struggle Long After War's Endby Aaron Glantz June 13, 2007 http://www.antiwar.com/glantz/?articleid=11131he U.S. Vets Westside Residence Hall is a hulking eight-story structure a few blocks from Los Angeles International Airport. It's the largest transitional housing and employment center for homeless veterans in the country, hosting 700 veterans annually. Michael Hall is one of its residents. The 31-year-old Army staff sergeant enlisted shortly after high school and served as a heavy equipment mechanic and technical weapons specialist in Bosnia, Cuba, Kuwait, and Afghanistan before being severely injured in Iraq in 2003. ----------------------------------------------- Hall has four children, ages seven, four, two, and one. But his behavior since being released from the military has kept him away from them. In addition to using drugs, he started dealing as well. Since leaving the military in 2003, he has served time in federal prison in Oklahoma for felony home invasion and has had numerous other run-ins with the law. Within three years, he hit rock bottom – one of 27,000 homeless vets on the streets of Los Angeles.----------------------------------------------------------------- The group Veterans for America, formerly the Vietnam Veterans of America Foundation, estimates that 10,000 veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan are now living on the street.
• As of May 2006, an estimated 1,600 American children have lost a parent(s) to the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.
• Each year around 300,000 children are temporarily removed and 65,000 to 70,000 of those children are ultimately taken from their parents forever, according to the Dept. of Health and Human Services.
• In 2004, 532,000 children were in foster care, doubling the number from 1997. Of those 532,000 only 129,000 had been cleared for adoption.
• In 2003, 186,000 deportations left tens of thousands of children with a missing parent or parents.
• In 2000, 1.5 million U.S. children had an incarcerated parent. Between 1990-2001, the number of women in prison increased by 106%.
• In 2002, 8% of African-American children in the U.S. were not living with a biological parent.
• Between 1992-2002, the number of infants and toddlers entering foster care increased by 110%.
• 60% of females who had aged out of foster care gave birth to at least one child by the age of 22, compared to 24% of the general population, according to a 1994 study.
• In 1995, 12% of children in foster care had not received routine health care. 90% had not received services to address developmental delays.
• According to a 1999 report, less than 50% of foster youth had graduated from high school, compared to 85% of the general population.
• In 2000, of 732 mid-western foster care youths, nearly 52% had lived in three or more foster homes and had moved schools.
• In 1993, more than 60% of the homeless population in NYC municipal shelters were former foster youth.
In a 1994 survey, 36.2% of homeless individuals reported a history of foster care.http://www.theorphansociety.org/news_factsheet.aspU.S. Department of Health & Human Services http://www.acf.hhs.gov/programs/cb/stats_research/afcars/statistics/entryexit2005.htmTable 3-4 Victimization Trends, 2001-2005 Child Maltreatment 2005 2001 population-72,603,552- victims-904,666 2002 population-72,894,483- victims-897,168 2003 population-73,043,506- victims-893,296 2004 population-73,089,769- victims-876,937 2005 population-74,502,089- victims-899,454 http://www.theorphansociety.org/news_factsheet.aspStatistics A few pieces of information that really bring home the point that CPS is not taking care of their charges. These facts have been gathered from many sources. The reporting organisation is listed at the end of each paragraph. There are more than half a million children and youth in the U.S. foster care system, a 90% increase since 1987.Three of 10 of the nation’s homeless are former foster children.
A recent study has found that 12-18 months after leaving foster care:
27% of the males and 10% of the females had been incarcerated
33% were receiving public assistance
37% had not finished high school
50% were unemployed------------------------------------------------------------------------------ *Casey Family Programs National Center for Resource Family Support Children in foster care are three to six times more likely than children not in care to have emotional, behavioral and developmental problems, including conduct disorders, depression, difficulties in school and impaired social relationships. Some experts estimate that about 30% of the children in care have marked or severe emotional problems. Various studies have indicated that children and young people in foster care tend to have limited education and job skills, perform poorly in school compared to children who are not in foster care, lag behind in their education by at least one year, and have lower educational attainment than the general population. *Casey Family Programs National Center for Resource Family Support 80 percent of prison inmates have been through the foster care system.*National Association of Social Workers Children are 11 times more likely to be abused in State care than they are in their own homes.*National Center on Child Abuse and Neglect (NCCAN) Children died as a result of abuse in foster care 5.25 times more often than children in the general population. 2.1 percent of all child fatalities took place in foster care. While this may seem like a relatively low number, we must consider the contrast in population between children in the general population versus children in foster care. In 1997, there were nearly 71 million children in the general population (99.6%), but only 302 thousand in state care (.4%) in state care. As state care is supposed to be a 'safe haven', the number of fatalities should be less or at least equal to what it is in the general population of children. By this standard, there should have been less than .4% of child fatalities occurring in foster care, however, there was 5.25 times that amount. (31 states reporting)*CPS Watch Inc http://fostersurvivor.netfirms.com/statistics.shtml---Children and youth at risk * 872,000 children and youth were confirmed victims of abuse or neglect in the United States in 2004.---Children and youth in care * 518,000 children and youth were in foster care on September 30, 2004 in the United States. * Half of all children in foster care are over the age of ten. In 2000, more than 2.4 million grandparents were the primary adults responsible for their grandchildren. ------------------------------------------------------------------
Foster Care in the Year 2020 (if nothing changes in child welfare trends)
Children who will experience the foster care system Over 9,000,00014
Children who will age out of the foster care system 300,00015
Foster youth aging out of the system that will experience homelessness 75,00016
Foster youth aging out of the system that graduate from college 9,00017
Number of children killed by abuse or neglect 22,50018http://www.casey.org/MediaCenter/MediaKit/FactSheet.htm --Youth After Foster Care
Incarceration* In Wisconsin, 18% of former foster youth experienced incarceration after leaving foster care. * In Clark County, Nevada, 41% of former foster youth reported spending at least one night in jail. Early Parenthood* Sixty percent of young women had children 2.5-4.0 years after leaving foster care. * In Clark County, Nevada, 38% of former foster youth have children. Health* In Wisconsin, 47% of former foster youth received mental health services while in foster care. * Forty-four percent of former foster youth in Wisconsin reported difficulty accessing health and mental health services. * In Clark County, Nevada, 55% of former foster youth reported no type of health insurance after leaving foster care. http://www.cwla.org/programs/fostercare/factsheetafter.htm Nationwide, researchers, practitioners, and policymakers are increasingly focusing on a growing tragedy—large numbers of youth with mental health problems becoming involved in the juvenile justice system. A recent study by the National Center for Mental Health and Juvenile Justice
found approximately 70% of the youth in residential juvenile justice settings meet criteria for at least one mental health disorder. For at least a quarter of these youth, their mental health issues are severe enough to require significant and immediate treatment (Shufelt &Cocozza, 2006). Many of these youth are placed in the juvenile justice system for relatively minor offenses with the hope of obtaining treatment that is unavailable in the community. In a survey of parents conducted by the National Alliance for the Mentally Ill, 36% reported intentionally involving their child in the juvenile justice system to access mental health services otherwise inaccessible to them in the community(NAMI, 2001). A recent U.S. General Accounting Office study found more than 12,700 children were placed in
either the child welfare or juvenile justice systems to access mental health services (U.S. GAO, 2003). A recent series of U.S. Department of Justice investigations into the conditions of confinement in juvenile detention and correctional facilities repeatedly found inadequate access to treatment, inappropriate use of medications, and neglect of suicide attempts in juvenile justice facilities nationwide (U.S. Department of Justice, 2005). THE PROBLEM OF TRYING YOUTH AS ADULTS Now researchers estimate that approximately 200,000 youth are prosecuted in adult courts every year. This places youth at risk of assault, suicide and death in adult jails and prisons. The consequences of an adult conviction are long-term, serious and life-threatening. --The overwhelming majority of youth who enter the adult court are not there for serious, violent crimes. For example, more than 7,000 young people in Connecticut enter the adult court system each year the vast majority for non-violent offenses. In 2002, in Wisconsin, there were almost 14,000 admissions of 17-year-olds to adult jails—only 15 percent of these youth were arrested for violent crimes such as murder, rape, aggravated assault, and robbery. --According to the National Council on Crime and Delinquency, since 1990 the incarceration of youth in adult jails has increased 208%. On any given day, more than 7,000 young people are held in adult jails. --Access to effective legal counsel is a deciding factor on whether a youth is prosecuted as an adult. The effectiveness of a youth’s lawyer can be the difference between whether a youth is prosecuted as an adult or as a juvenile by the justice system. --Youth of color are disproportionately affected by these policies. In every state profiled in this report for which data are available, youth of color are disproportionately affected by these statutes. For example, of the 6,629 youth who entered the custody of the California Department of Corrections for an offense committed prior to their 18th birthday, seventy percent were African-American and Latino, and less than 10 percent were white.In Illinois, youth of color are about a third of the youth population, but research has shown that they have represented 9 out of 10 young people in the adult system. -- The consequences for prosecuting youth in adult court “aren’t minor.”Youth tried as adults face the same punishments as adults. They can be placed in adult jails pre- and post-trial, sentenced to serve time in adult prisons, or be placed on adult probation with few to no rehabilitative services. Youth also are subject to the same sentencing guidelines as adults and may receive mandatory minimum sentences or life without parole. The only consequence that youth cannot receive is the death penalty. http://www.campaign4youthjustice.org/Downloads/NEWS/JPI014Consequences_Summary.pdf
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