Photo Courtesy: ACLU
(AUSTIN, Texas) Texas Governor Greg Abbott has authorized a new anti-transgender initiative, sparking debate across the country. 
The new Texas directive requires DFPS to classify medical treatments for transgender adolescents as “child abuse” under existing state law, the latest in a string of <a href="https://www.bu.edu/articles/2022/latest-texas-anti-transgender-directive-explained/" target="_blank">anti-transgender regulations</a> being enforced in Texas. 
According to the Boston University News <a href="https://www.bu.edu/articles/2022/latest-texas-anti-transgender-directive-explained/" target="_blank">website</a>, the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services (DFPS) has since launched an investigation into a case where a transgender teenage girl was granted gender-affirming medical treatment.   
Lawmakers began introducing similar bills in the State’s house and Senate last year.  
Putting pressure on parents
Abbott called on the citizens of Texas as well as its medical community to report parents who are permitting gender-affirming surgery and medicine for their minors. 
NBC <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/nbc-out/out-politics-and-policy/texas-governor-calls-citizens-report-parents-transgender-kids-abuse-rcna17455" target="_blank">News</a> reports the governor's order arrived as a letter to the Department of Family and Protective Services, which instructs them to “conduct a prompt and thorough investigation” of any reported instances of minors undergoing “elective procedures for gender transitioning.”
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton echoed Abbott’s sentiments by stating that allowing children to access transition care such as <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/nbc-out/out-politics-and-policy/texas-governor-calls-citizens-report-parents-transgender-kids-abuse-rcna17455" target="_blank">puberty blockers, hormone therapy and surgery</a><a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/nbc-out/out-politics-and-policy/texas-governor-calls-citizens-report-parents-transgender-kids-abuse-rcna17455"> </a>is child abuse under state law.
Ally Evans, member of the LBTQ+ community, said the state’s response to parents is unconstitutional. 
“This new law that is being presented by Governor Abbott is definitely a breach in our constitutional rights and parents need to fight this thing with everything that they got," Evans said. 
Brian Klosterboer, Staff Attorney at American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Texas, released a <a href="https://www.aclutx.org/en/press-releases/aclu-texas-comment-ag-paxton-attacks-gender-affirming-health-care" target="_blank">statement</a> in support of parents treating their transgender children. 
“The law is clear that parents, guardians, and doctors can provide transgender youth with treatment in accordance with prevailing standards of care,” he said. “Any parent or guardian who loves and supports their child and is taking them to a licensed healthcare provider is not engaging in child abuse.”
“Trans kids are kids”
Gender-affirming care primarily consists of a set of medical procedures that helps an individual to outwardly assume their perceived gender identity. 
Seth Kaplan, President of the Texas Pediatric Society, told the <a href="https://www.texastribune.org/2021/08/04/gender-affirming-care-transgender-texas/" target="_blank">Texas Tribune</a> transgender children deserve to be treated equally when it comes to healthcare. 
“The most important message is that trans kids are kids,” Kaplan said. “And they deserve to have the same health care that all kids have, which is evidence-based health care that serves to promote their growth and development to help them become healthy, fully functioning adults.”
Adri Perez, Policy and Advocacy Strategist at Texas ACLU, touted the benefits of gender-affirming surgery in their <a href="https://www.aclutx.org/en/press-releases/aclu-texas-comment-ag-paxton-attacks-gender-affirming-health-care" target="_blank">official response</a> to the directive. 
“Gender-affirming care saved my life," Perez said. "Trans kids today deserve the same opportunity by receiving the highest standard of care, rooted in decades of scientific research. No partisan political attack can change that.”
A matter of mental health 
Experts say gender-affirming care can heavily impact the mental health of transgender girls and boys.
One <a href="https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamanetworkopen/articlepdf/2789423/tordoff_2022_oi_220056_1645136284.51531.pdf" target="_blank">study</a> shows that Gender Affirming Care reduces the risk of suicide and depression in transgender children between the ages of 13 to 20 years, with 60% lower odds of moderate or severe depression and 73% lower odds of suicidality. 
“These kids already suffer from much higher rates of mental health concerns related to anxiety and the higher levels of suicidal ideation because of all the stress that they’re under,” Kaplan told the <a href="https://www.texastribune.org/2021/08/04/gender-affirming-care-transgender-texas/" target="_blank">Texas Tribune</a>. “And so, these laws have the potential to just have a dramatic impact on these families.”

United States of America

Latest anti-transgender initiative in Texas draws national scrutiny

Renae  Morgan 

Photo Courtesy: Child Mind Institute Website 
(NATIONAL) Three years in, the Coronavirus pandemic has been one of the most challenging times for single parent families across America. 
Faced with a lack of child care support and frequent school closures, the task of balancing work and home life has never been so arduous for single working mothers. 
No childcare support 
During past surges of Covid-19, many states were forced into lock down to limit infection rates, including daycares. Single moms without a childcare alternative were forced to stay home, too. 
Alicia Young, a 36-year-old single mother of one, says she ended up quitting her CNA job in 2020 to stay home with her son. 
“It didn’t really hit me until it was announced that Damar’s school was closing and I realized that he would have no one to stay with him at home if I kept working,” Young said. “I just had to walk away and trust that I had enough money to look after us for a while.” 
Young’s story is one of many. 
A recent<a href="https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2020/11/24/in-the-pandemic-the-share-of-unpartnered-moms-at-work-fell-more-sharply-than-among-other-parents/"> survey</a> conducted by the Pew Research Center shows during September 2020, six months after the virus outbreak, the number of single working moms with kids at home younger than 18 dropped to 67.4 percent, compared to 76.1 percent of single working moms in September 2019. 
The research shows this 9 percent drop is the<a href="https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2020/11/24/in-the-pandemic-the-share-of-unpartnered-moms-at-work-fell-more-sharply-than-among-other-parents/"> highest of all the parental groups</a>, whether partnered or not. Single fathers experienced a lower decrease in employment (4 percent), which is approximately the same figures seen for the drop in employment for partnered mothers and fathers (about 5 percent each).
“Money became tight”
As more single mothers are forced to abandon employment to care for their kids,  the struggle to feed their families increases. 
“The first month went by and we survived but after that money became extremely tight. I could barely afford to pay my bills,” Young said. “All of my expenses kept piling up more and more and there was no check coming in to help me to cover them.” 
Young went on to say that her mounting debts prompted her to seek funds from the government. 
“The only option was for me to file for unemployment and that was something that I swore that I would never do but I had no other choice,” Young said.  
35 percent of single mother households were<a href="https://www.brookings.edu/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/MTU-Blog-figure-3.png"> reported as having</a> food insecurity and hunger in late March 2021, as well as the highest ratios of hunger to low food security compared to other households during any time during the pandemic. 
”Bouncing back”
Single mothers quitting the workforce to stay home has had a rippling effect on American households and by extension the US economy. 
But Lauren Bauer, a fellow in economic studies at the Brookings Institution, remains optimistic things will return to normal for working moms. 
“People are coming back —and especially women,” Bauer said during <a href="https://19thnews.org/2022/01/women-workforce-pandemic-202/">a recent interview</a>. “The combination of schools consistently opening and their kids being able to be vaccinated, they have been driving the labor force participation and employment recovery for the past several months.”
Latoya Blake, 45-year-old mom of two, shared the same sentiments as Bauer. 
“Right now, things are starting to look better with the virus,” Blake said. “Since schools are opening, my friends are working again. Things are starting to bounce back to the way they were.”

Covid ramifications stack up against single mother households

Photo Courtesy: Dorson Community Foundation
(EAST ORANGE, N.J.) Maximizing the potential of high school students from Essex County has been the driving force behind Dorson Community Foundation since 1992. 
With that focus in mind, they continue to provide underprivileged youths with career training, college preparedness, and the means to channel their creativity. 
The Purpose Behind the Program
Natasha Scott, Executive Director for Dorson Community Foundation, reflects on what inspired her mother to develop the community program. 
“Her first business is a home care agency called Dorson Home Care," Scott said. "Most of her workers are Home Health Aides who also happen to be immigrant women who were mostly single mothers. My mother wanted to provide enrichment for the children of these women to have a safe place to go because she was aware of how difficult it is to be a single mother in a new country. So, that was initially the purpose behind the program before it expanded into a college and career readiness program.” 
While there was some shifting with some of the programs since Scott stepped into her leadership role in 2019, the main goal of the overall program remains centered on guiding high school students into the next phase of their lives. 
<a href="https://verifiednews.network/code-catchers/" target="_blank">STORY CODE: YOUTH</a>
“We are here to help high school students develop a strong sense of character, while helping them with the process of figuring out what they want to do after high school,” Scott said. 
Benefits of Youth Programs 
Scott shed some light on a specific program that is geared towards providing support for their students. 
“Our Dorson scholar’s program includes a cohort of twenty students who have been with us since they were freshmen in high school and now, they are juniors,” she said. “We provide wrap-around support for them. They do college readiness classes every other Tuesday, career development classes every other Saturday, as well as being involved in community service. In addition to these programs, we also provide emotional and social support for them.”
However, Scott is not alone in highlighting the benefits of Youth Community programs.
In fact, a <a href="https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED505368.pdf">survey</a> published by the Journal of Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning shows that youth who participate in after-school programs improve significantly in three areas: their feelings, behavior and academic performance.
The Impact of Covid 
Scott said the Coronavirus forced the program to change from in-person to virtual learning. 
“All of last year was done virtually, which was definitely a struggle internally for our operations," Scott said. "But it also had a huge impact on our students' social and emotional health due to the fact that they were locked in for virtual learning at school and then for Dorson online, as well." 
Despite the challenges the organization faced, there were some positive outcomes as well. 
“We ended up instituting a program called Reflect and Connect, which is basically our advising model. All twenty of our students were assigned an advisor that checks in with them either individually or in small groups to facilitate their emotional well-being,” Scott shares.
More information on how to get involved with this non-profit program is available on the Dorson Community Foundation <a href="https://www.dorsoncommunity.org/">website</a>.

Renae Morgan

Latest anti-transgender initiative in Texas draws national scrutiny

Covid ramifications stack up against single mother households

Foundation pivots around pandemic, continues commitment to youth