Family News Archives

Parents who fail to stop their children drinking in public face court action in a drive by ministers to prevent drunken youths marauding the streets.

AROUND 100 teenagers marched on the offices of a widely-read British tabloid on Saturday to protest at its suggestion that their favourite emo band, My Chemical Romance, encouraged suicide.

Parents who drank or used drugs at their proms or graduations are likely to be more permissive toward their kids than those who didn't, a U.S. survey indicates.

The Minnesota Supreme Court has ruled that spanking children isn't illegal. The court ruled in a 2005 case in which a father paddled his son's upper thighs 36 times in 12-blow increments.

When the police got a tip that Bonner Elementary was being hit for the second time in a week, they rushed three squad cars to the school.

Most of the 8,000 children found alone after China's devastating earthquake have been reunited with their parents, Chinese officials said Friday.

Alison Lall fought to protect her two young daughters as her husband, Joshua Lall, went on a murderous rampage armed with a knife, police revealed on Friday.

Three teenagers accused of forcing girls as young as 12 into prostitution have reached plea agreements and been sentenced to a juvenile detention center.

Tonight will spell victory for one final contestant at the annual Scripps National Spelling Bee in Washington, D.C. Multimedia Watch The Video Coarsegold's Tia Thomas is one of 45 remaining competitors heading ...

From correspondents in Washington, United States, 12:32 PM IST Elderly people who are active socially may delay or have a slower rate of memory loss, according to a new study.

The Texas Supreme Court ruled Thursday that child welfare officials overstepped their authority and the children of a polygamist sect should go back t ...

As we get older, one of the first things to go is our memory. But new research suggests that an active social life could slow the rate of memory decline.

In a crushing blow to the state's massive seizure of children from a polygamist sect's ranch, the Texas Supreme Court ruled Thursday that child welfare officials overstepped their authority and the children should go back to their parents.

The high court affirmed a decision by an appellate court last week, saying Child Protective Services failed to show an immediate danger to the more than 400 children swept up from the Yearning For Zion Ranch nearly two months ago.

"On the record before us, removal of the children was not warranted," the justices said in their ruling issued in Austin.

City officials are considering a curfew ordinance that would fine both teenagers and their parents for repeated violations.

Standing outside a 19th-century elementary school, Gov. Jon S. Corzine began a push Wednesday for legislation enabling the state to borrow $2.5 billion to build schools in the state's poorest districts.

The Japanese government has approved an initiative that warns parents to limit the use of cell phones by children, who officials fear are becoming addicted to the Internet-linked mobile devices.

Four teenagers have been arrested and a fifth is being sought in the killing of a Covina Hills woman who was shot in her home while reporting a burglary to a 911 operator, a district attorney's office ...

The Iowa attorney general's office has restored public access to state records that include the names of people fired for abusing elderly and disabled clients at care facilities.

Authorities say a Staten Island mother faces misdemeanor charges after allegedly leaving her three children alone and hungry amid cockroaches and rat droppings.

C5 TORONTO - An annual report card on the physical activity levels of Canadian children takes direct aim this year at "screen time." Active Healthy Kids Canada says a staggering 90 per cent of Canadian children ...

The anguish of Hurricane Katrina should have ended for Gina Bouffanie and her daughter when they left their FEMA trailer. But with each hospital visit and each labored breath her child takes, the young mother fears it has just begun.

'It's just the sickness. I can't get rid of it. It just keeps coming back,' said Bouffanie, 27, who was pregnant with her now 15-month-old daughter, Lexi, while living in the trailer. 'I'm just like, `Oh God, I wish like this would stop.' If I had known it would get her sick, I wouldn't have stayed in the trailer for so long.'

The percentage of American children who are overweight or obese appears to have leveled off after a 25-year increase, according to new figures that offer a glimmer of hope in an otherwise dismal battle.

"That is a first encouraging finding in what has been unremittingly bad news," said Dr. David Ludwig, director of an obesity clinic at Children's Hospital Boston. "But it's too soon to know if this really means we're beginning to make meaningful inroads into this epidemic. It may simply be a statistical fluke."

New figures show the percentages of kids who were overweight or obese in 2005 and 2006 were about the same as in 2003 and 2004.

A string of shootings in Harlem sent eight people, including half a dozen teenagers, to nearby hospitals with gunshot wounds.

The Associated Press 10 comments Children carry buckets to collect water from a well in Port-au-Prince,Thursday, March 20, 2008.

A string of shootings in a New York City neighborhood sent eight people, including half a dozen teenagers, to nearby hospitals with gunshot wounds, police said Tuesday.

Safe Kids Canada launched a campaign Monday to raise driver awareness about accidents that harm or kill children.

By YURI KAGEYAMA The Associated Press Tuesday, May 27, 2008; 1:36 AM TOKYO -- Japanese youngsters are getting so addicted to Internet-linking cell phones that the government is starting a program warning ...

Class cheer Unidentified actors of French film The Class , celebrate their top award at the Cannes film festival, in their school in Paris on Monday.

The Iraqi military on Monday displayed a group of weeping teenagers who said they had been forced into training for suicide bombings by a Saudi militant in the last urban stronghold of al-Qaida in Iraq.Four of ...

Dear Abby: I am a 54-year-old divorced woman who raised three kids on my own for 15 years.

As storms roared over his head, shaking his house and sending the family belongings flying all over the place, all Jason Akins could do was put his arms over his wife, two sons and two neighbor kids and hope for the best.

'I was worried something was going to fall on us,' said Akins, a Hugo resident who went in a matter of seconds from a carefree Sunday barbecue to holding on for dear life in his basement.

Akins' house was severely damaged when thunderstorms packing large hail and a possible tornado swept through this small St. Paul suburb, killing at least one person and destroying dozens more homes during a devastating tear through the north metro area.

The souring U.S. economy is expected to make it difficult for teenagers to find summer jobs this year, analysts say.

A Pennsylvania man is accused of setting a fire that caused three firefighters and three teenagers to be treated for inhalation of toxic smoke.

Daniel Coulter, 21, of Green Castle, Pa., has been charged with second-degree malicious burning, and he may face additional charges.

Deputy State Fire Marshal Joseph Zurolo says Coulter started the fire Saturday night outside an unoccupied building in Hagerstown.

Coulter allegedly took a heater from inside the building and used it to ignite rolls of paper, then placed it against a drum of gear oil.

First thing every morning, Lynn Pitet, of Cody, Wyo., checks her computer to see whether her mother, Helen Trost, has gotten out of bed, taken her medication and whether she is moving around inside her house ...

Two teenagers a boyfriend and girlfriend were killed and four family members were injured in a house fire early Saturday morning in this Lenawee County community, authorities said.

WITH CREDIT MARKETS ever so tight, many families are deciding against shopping for new houses and, instead, are remodeling their current homes.

It's an about-face for Texas Child Protective Services, which has argued that more than 400 kids, seized from a West Texas Polygamist Compound, must stay in temporary foster care, because they are in imminent ...

A mother was sentenced to 20 years in prison Thursday for keeping her 17-year-old adopted son caged in her home.

The smoky haze that blanketed the Bay Area on Friday, scenting South Bay with a campfire aroma and trapping antsy school kids indoors, is likely to continue throughout the holiday weekend.

When Joe Fox sends his daughters away to summer camp, he's confident they'll be surrounded by youngsters who share his family's beliefs and values.

A south Alabama town that was the inspiration for the setting in Harper Lee's book 'To Kill a Mockingbird' is finding itself as the backdrop for a real-life legal case involving allegations of racism at school.

The parents of several black junior high school students have filed a discrimination lawsuit claiming their children are subject to racial slurs and punished more harshly than white students at Monroeville Junior High School.

The lawsuit says black students at the county's only public junior high have been called slurs such as the 'N-word,' 'filthy trash' and 'black monkey.' Their parents also say classes are segregated, with most black students being kept out of advanced placement and honors courses.

A semi-truck slammed into the back of a school bus that had stopped to drop off students along a highway on Friday afternoon, seriously injuring five people.

'One of the kids that was stepping off the bus was actually ejected as the bus was hit from behind,' said Kenosha County Sheriff David Beth.

Two other children, the truck driver and the bus driver also were seriously injured, Beth said.

The injuries were not believed to be life-threatening, he said, but two of the children were airlifted to Children's Hospital of Wisconsin in suburban Milwaukee.

State child welfare authorities on Friday appealed a court ruling that said their seizure of more than 440 children from a polygamist sect's ranch was unjustified, but they also agreed to reunite 12 children ...

DALE, Ind. - A mother and daughter who both dropped out of high school as teenagers are going back to class together to earn their diplomas.

Teenage motherhood has generally been associated with long-term socioeconomic consequences for women, but doesn't necessarily predict a life of low income and education may be the equalizer, said a study ...

When Evelyn Burwell put on a cap and gown to accept her high school diploma, she knew someone wasn't in the audience - her dad.

Former NFL offensive guard Rich Tylski was placed in a pretrial intervention program for first-time offenders after admitting in court that he abused their adopted daughter.

Jordan Beckett, Spencer Nelson, Samuel Mousolf and Dustin Shaw, all 19 years old, and Cory Carnella, who is 18, signed a payment agreement on Wednesday, the same day they were sentenced to probation.

Photographs of naked 12- and 13-year-olds at a Sydney exhibition shut down by police are revolting and have no artistic merit, Prime Minister Kevin Rudd says.

In a ruling that could torpedo the case against the West Texas polygamist sect, a state appeals court Thursday said authorities had no right to seize more than 440 children in a raid on the splinter group's ...

Jennifer Shelton had heard the phrase, "Mommy, I neeeed that," one too many times.

' Tennessee could become nationally known for its pre-kindergarten programs, an annual report says.

Some of the nearly four million uninsured Florida residents may be able to more easily get health care coverage under legislation signed today by Governor Charlie Crist.

The new law lets insurance companies offer scaled-back health plans without all the usually required coverages. That might make insurance available to some people for as little as $150 a month, Crist said.

Under the law, some insurance companies will join a state program in which they are required to cover many basic health care needs, such as drugs, emergency care and hospitalization, but won't be required to pay for many treatments that insurers generally must cover. Among those might be mandated coverages like certain screenings, or coverage of certain transplants. Insurers said those requirements contribute to rising health care costs.

Better education and easier access to contraceptives has significantly cut the number of abortions sought by Canadian women, particularly teenage girls.

QUAKERTOWN, Pa. - A disoriented deer smashed his way into a suburban hair salon, and a customer wrestled with the animal to keep it from ramming into his 11-year-old son or other youngsters.

A new study shows that an increase in the birth rate among California teenagers is costing taxpayers more money.

The study from the Public Health Institute says the number of births by teens increased in 2006 for the first time in 15 years.

The institute's report says births to teenage mothers are now costing taxpayers $1.7 billion a year, or $2,493 per baby.

That's up from 2002 when the state hit a low of about $1.45 billion in costs associated with the births.

The study says the increase comes as the overall population of teenagers in the state continues to rise.

An Austrian woman imprisoned by her father in an underground cellar has been praised for managing to give her children a well-rounded education despite being locked away from the world.

The Government has defended plans for a new breed of school diplomas amid concerns that fewer teenagers than expected are choosing the courses.

MPs are set for a fiery showdown over abortion as pro-life campaigners seek to reduce the age limit from 24 weeks to 20 or even fewer.

A woman accused of raking in more than $1 million in subsidies for adopting 11 disabled children while beating and starving them in her Florida home has pleaded guilty to federal fraud charges.

A new study says fewer Canadian children are getting the immunizations they need, though vaccination rates among immigrant children are doing better.

MOSES LAKE, Wash. - Earlier this month, federal officials noted that the number of measles cases nationally had reached a six-year high.

"Dr. Norman Spack, a pediatric specialist at Children's Hospital Boston, has been criticized for offering sex change treatments for children.

Pink slips for principals and teachers. School-funded tutoring for poor kids. Schools are increasingly looking at those kind of consequences for failing to raise math and reading scores.

Around 50 percent of all new mothers don't return to work after giving birth, according to Census Bureau statistics In an effort to combat this turnover, over 80 companies have come up with an alternative to ...

A person buckles up in Bethel, Maine, on Monday, March 31, 2008. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said 68 percent of drivers and passengers between the ages of 16 and 20 who were killed in car ...

A 6-year-old son of polygamist sect leader Warren Jeffs did not suffer physical or sexual abuse while living with his mother at the group's Texas ranch, a child welfare case worker testified Monday.

The education ministry will include Japan's sovereign claim over the disputed Takeshima islets in its manual for revised school curriculum guidelines to take effect in spring 2012, sources said.

Can you forgive her? In March, Lenore Skenazy, a New York City mother, gave her 9-year-old son, Izzy, a MetroCard, a subway map, a $20 bill and some quarters for pay phones.

What makes or breaks a summer vacation? When traveling with small children, it has a lot to do with the layout of the hotel room.

They came in sandals, flip-flops and sneakers to Warder Park in Jeffersonville to walk for a cause yesterday.

COLUMBUS - For years, Armond Budish made a name for himself by teaching the middle class how to get into a government health care program designed for the poor.

The more than 400 children, from newborns to teens, forced from a polygamist sect's sprawling ranch during a raid six weeks ago and into foster care have been treated as a single group of abused and at-risk ...

There are plenty of summer spots where you can entertain your brood and barely spend a penny - the beach, a nearby park or Grandma's house.

Thanks to the three "Back to the Future" films, actress Lea Thompson was already a movie star in her 20s.

Authorities say a pickup truck crashed into a train early this morning in rural northwest Indiana, killing three teenagers.

Even in the neatest of homes, children's bedrooms are magnets for clutter. Parents battle the constant influx of stuff - everything from school art projects to gifts from grandparents, hand-me-downs from ...

Worried parents are not letting their kids enjoy childhood, says SPARC. Photo / Chris Gorman Sport and Recreation New Zealand agrees the 'cotton wooling' of children by worried parents has gone too far.

Dear Annie: I am a widow. I met a good man back in 2003 and we hit it off really well.

The Department of Children and Families is expected to issue a Jacksonville daycare with heavy fines after taking children on a wild ride.

Children's nonfiction has come a long way from the days of stodgily written books created to provide basic facts for school reports.

A woman grieves on the grave of her child who was killed in Monday's earthquake at a school in Wufu.

“People with incomes below the poverty threshold are in dire straits because not only are food prices increasing but the food stamps they are receiving have not increased”

Danielle Brown stands outside a South Side market at midnight, braving the spring chill for her first chance to buy groceries since her food stamps ran out nearly two weeks ago. via MSNBC

“Our survey results show that women are in control, they decide when they want to have children, and they have more freedom to consider the physical and emotional requirements themselves, without pressure from their husbands”

Only about one in 10 women says she feels pressure from her husband to have a baby, according to a survey by Betty Confidential.com . In the poll, 87 percent said they are the ones who will decide when to ... via WAPT

Settling in nicely alongside all the early summer blockbusters, 'The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian' offers kids and adults an entertaining escape into the world of C.S. Lewis' books. via CourierPostOnline

Class sizes should be cut to a maximum of 25 to help young children who struggle with reading, a report on primary education has said. via Daily Express

“We cannot stand by while our fellow New Yorkers are subjected to threats and intimidation through display of historic symbols of hatred”

ALBANY - ' Gov. David Paterson signed legislation Thursday that will make it a felony to display a noose as a threat. via NY Daily News

Plumas County sheriff's investigators say they have narrowed the time of death and found a knife they believe was used to kill two teenagers in Chester last weekend.

Patrol Commander Gerry Hendrick says Jennifer Carrigan and her boyfriend, Steven Furtado, died of multiple stab wounds late Saturday or early Sunday. Their bodies were found inside her home in Chester, about 150 miles north of Sacramento.

The 18-year-olds were planning to attend the Chester High School prom.

Hendrick would not say whether investigators found signs of a struggle. Read more

“Therefore, parents matter a little less - and in particular, inadequate supervision by a depressed mother might not influence the child's safety as much as it does during the toddler years.”

A revealing new study finds that infants and toddlers whose mothers are severely depressed are almost three times more likely to suffer accidental injuries than other children in the same age group. via Psych Central News

“But Mom, we're so tired and need a break.”

DEAR ELLIE: My new neighbor in an apartment upstairs is unhappily married. She confessed this and told me she's very lonely because her husband is away a lot for his job. via Chicago Sun-Times