Here are some items in the news we are watching:.

As the recession continues to hurt the social services sector, the state of California has come up with a creative way to fill some of the funding gaps. From the San Jose Mercury:

SACRAMENTO, Calif.—Counties could raise fees on marriage licenses by up to $10 to fund domestic violence shelters under a bill sent to Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger by the state Senate.

Counties already collect a $23 fee on marriage licenses to fund domestic violence shelters. The bill approved Thursday lets county supervisors increase the fee to $33.

Alarming statistics about prison sexual abuse in America were recently released:

A US Justice Department study reported Thursday that, from October 2008 to December 2009, 88,500 inmates nationwide were sexually assaulted behind bars–4.4% of inmates in prison and 3.1% of inmates in jail.

The study showed that Females are twice as likely to be victimized as males, and that 13% of women and 19% of men were victimized in the first 24 hours after being admitted to a correctional facility.

A new study suggests that child abuse rates in the U.S. are on the decline.
From Time Wellness Blog:

The number of maltreated children in the U.S. has fallen steadily in the last two decades, according to a report this week from the Crimes Against Children Research Center at the University of New Hampshire.

Overall, physical-abuse cases per capita fell 3% between and 2007 and 2008 (the most recent year for which stats are available). Meanwhile sexual abuse fell by 6%, the report says. These figures continue long-term downward trends in the rate of physical and sexual abuse nationwide — with most states reporting cumulative drops of over 50% since 1992 — although neglect cases per capita seem to have remained fairly stable.

From PR Newswire:

The United States Senate yesterday passed a package of spending bills for FY 2010, which included a historic new investment in efforts to prevent teen pregnancy. The Labor, Health and Human Services, Education and Related Agencies Appropriations bill includes a total of $114 million for a new evidence-based teen pregnancy prevention program. This funding is the first and only large scale federal investment dedicated to preventing teen pregnancy through proven, effective efforts. The House of Representatives approved the spending bills last Thursday, and the President is expected to sign it into law by Friday, December 18th.

The teen pregnancy prevention initiative provides $75 million for programs that have been shown through rigorous evaluation to positively affect teens’ behavior, and $25 million for research and demonstration on promising models and innovative strategies. The provision also includes $10 million for technical assistance, training, and other supportive activities to assist the department in effectively running the program, and an additional $4.5 million for program evaluation. The funding will be administered by a new Office of Adolescent Health in the Office of the Secretary of Health and Human Services. The initiative is very similar to what President Obama proposed in his FY 2010 budget

From the article:

So the findings of this new study are intriguing and encouraging. The researchers, led by Farah Ahmad, randomly divided patients at a family practice unit at St. Michael’s Hospital in Toronto.

Half received typical care and half were directed first to a computer survey, which asked them a wide range of questions about mental health, addiction and family violence. The survey took, on average, seven minutes to complete. The study involved 283 women over 18 years of age in a current or recent intimate relationship.

Computer screening doubled the opportunities for detecting and discussing domestic violence in those at increased risk for or actually suffering from it: 18 per cent in the group who used the touch screen, compared with 9 per cent in the control group. And I suspect the 9-per-cent pick-up rate was higher than average, because the clinic where the study was conducted is a teaching centre.

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In England, there is news of a creative approach to public outreach and education. A bus, with experts ready to answer questions on domestic violence, will tour the country.

Also from the UK, a new study suggests that being bullied as a child, doubles the likelihood of having psychotic symptoms in later years.

Link to the local news story.

Relationship abuse has many serious consequences and one of them can be harm to a woman’s reproductive health. Studies show that relationship or dating abuse can have reproductive health consequences, including unplanned pregnancy and exposure to sexually transmitted infections (STIs) and HIV/AIDS transmissions. This happens most often to young women.

Link to the complete article

In a study of people who committed suicide published Sunday in the journal Nature Neuroscience, researchers in Montreal report that people who were abused or neglected as children showed genetic alterations that likely made them more biologically sensitive to stress.

Link to complete Article.

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