Links

Healthy Neighborhoods

Act for Youth, at www.actforyouth.net, strengthens community partnerships that promote positive youth development and prevent risky and unhealthy behaviors among young people, aged ten to nineteen.

The Center for Children’s Advocacy at the University of Connecticut School of Law, online at www.kidscounsel.org, represents children who are wards of the state and lack other legal representation and also provides a wealth of legal and other information for advocates.

The Children’s Law Center, in Hartford, Connecticut, online at www.clcct.org, offers lawyers who can represent indigent children in family court, a telephone law line, and resources to help advocates for children.

Child Trends, online at www.childtrends.org, publishes research briefs on topics of interest to parents and providers alike.

Connect for Kids, an online newsletter listing news and resources relating to children and families, can be accessed at www.ConnectforKids.org.

The Connecticut Assets Network, online at www.ctassets.org, serves as a clearinghouse for community-building efforts in Connecticut.

The Connecticut State Library sponsors www.greatkidsCT.org, a website for Connecticut parents that is devoted to information on parenting, education, and health and safety.

Connecticut Voices for Children, online at www.ctkidslink.org and devoted to research and public policy analysis, has a newsletter (Enotes) and list serves in the areas of mental health, juvenile justice, early childhood education, and youth.

Every Child Matters is a nonprofit committed to making the needs of children and youth a national priority. Its website, www.everychildmatters.org, provides news, links, and a wealth of information about how children are faring in our society.

The Forum for Youth Investment, online at www.forumforyouthinvestment.org, works to ensure that youth are ready for college, work, and life by age twenty-one.

The National Neighborhood Coalition, online at www.neighborhoodcoalition.org, is an organization devoted to community organization, with publications and programs aimed to energize urban and rural neighborhood advocates and make them more effective.

The Prevention Researcher, online at www.TPRonline.org, is committed to providing professionals with behavioral research on children and adolescents.

Prevention Works, online at www.preventionworksct.org, is concerned with research to steer children away from drugs, alcohol, and other hazards of modern life.

Restorative Practices, concerned with conflict resolution and the reintegration of rehabilitated offenders into society—“repairing people and relationships”— has the Restorative Practices Eforum and assorted publications (also videotapes), online at www.restorativepractices.org.

The Search Institute, online at www.search-institute.org/, is dedicated to helping communities come together to promote the healthy development of children and families.

Education

Bridges for Kids, offering a comprehensive system of information and referral for parents of children from birth through transition to adult life, is online at www.bridges4kidsnewsdigest.c.topica.com/maacHUsabasyMbbX2HwbafpLKt/.

Bullying News provides citizens with news and information about efforts in this country and others to reduce bullying.  Contact www.agpcabinc.org.

The Disability Rights Education and Defense Fund, online at www.dredf.org, protects the civil rights of people with disabilities, including children, through legislation, litigation, advocacy, technical assistance, and education.

The Family Involvement Network of Educators at the Harvard Family Research Project, online at www.finenetwork.org, promotes partnerships between children’s educators, their families, and their communities.

Financial Literacy Guide for Youth, online at www.nyec.org/financial, aims to help children and adolescents learn how to manage money.

The Learning Disabilities Association, online at www.ldanatl.org, has a Connecticut chapter that offers resources, training in educational advocacy, and parent assistors (advocates) for parents of children facing educational challenges.

Toys "R" Us publishes a toy guide each year for differently abled kids. Featured toys are selected and evaluated by the National Lekotek Center, an independent nonprofit dedicated to children with disabilities. This year's edition of the complimentary guide is available in all Toys "R" Us stores nationwide and online at www.toysrus.com/differentlyabled.

Wrightslaw: The Special Education Advocate Newsletter, available from www.wrightslaw.com, as its name suggests, includes news and information for parents and others concerned to advocate for children in the school system.

YouthLearn, at www.youthlearn.org, offers comprehensive services and resources for using technology to create learning environments in school and after school.

Health and Mental Health Advocacy

The Bazelon Center for Mental Health Law, online at www.bazelon.org, has a wealth of information of interest to consumers and professionals nationwide.

Consumers Union and the Kaiser Family Foundation have published a guide, www.kff.org/consumerguide, designed to help consumers understand their health insurance, avoid disputes, appeal decisions, get an independent review, and locate the state-specific process for such reviews.

Families United for Children’s Mental Health, online at www.familiesunited.org, is a Connecticut support and advocacy group run by and for families of children and youth with emotional, behavioral, or mental health needs.

A guide to self-help books, online at www.Books4SelfHelp.com, includes workbooks, memoirs, and even some novels.

The Health Care Advocate for Connecticut, online at www.ct.gov/oha/site/default.asp, can answer questions about managed care, the referral or preauthorization process, and appeal or grievance procedures.

The Manisses Communications Group, online at www.manisses.com, has Psychopharmacology Alert, a free email newsletter with information about psychotropic medications and other pharmaceuticals.

The National Alliance for the Mentally Ill, www.nami.org, has state chapters and is dedicated to the eradication of mental illnesses and the improvement of the quality of life of all whose lives are affected by these diseases.

The National Coalition of Health Care Consumers and Providers, a membership organization online at www.TheNationalCoalition.org, works to preserve quality care and patient choice, privacy, and decision-making power, with a focus on replacing managed health care with a pro-patient, pro-quality, pro-consumer system accessible for all.

The National Institutes of Health and, within it, the National Institute of Mental Health, fund and report on major research efforts; for more information, go to www.nih.gov.

The Office of the U.S. Surgeon General has downloadable reports that are essential reading for those concerned with mental health, online at www.surgeongeneral.gov.

Physicians for a National Health Program, online at www.pnhp.org, is a membership organization with a name that says it all.  Membership brings a newsletter, printed materials, and training in advocacy.

PubMed, an archive of life sciences journal literature, is online at www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov; the National Library of Medicine is online at www.nlm.nih.gov/.

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has the National Mental Health Information Center, online at www.mentalhealth.org.

Mental Disorders of Children

Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder: www.CHADD.org (Children and Adults with Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder).

Autism spectrum: www.autism-society.com (Autism Society of America); www.autism-resources.com (autism resources); www.autism.org (Center for the Study of Autism); www.autism-pdd.net (information about autism and pervasive developmental disorders); www.do2learn.com (educational resources, many of them free, for special needs, including autism).

Juvenile-onset bipolar disorder: www.bpkids.org, the website of The Child and Adolescent Bipolar Foundation, which also maintains a web-based support group; www.bipolarchild.com (website of Janice and Demitri Papolos, authors of The Bipolar Child); www.bpso.org, a support group; www.dbsalliance.org, a “depression and bipolar support alliance.”

Sensory integration disorder: www.abilitations.com, www.integrationscatalog.com.

Fun for Kids of All Ages

Archimedes Laboratory, online at www.archimedes-lab.org, offers free puzzles and games, “educational aids for training, socialization and communication.”

You can read books—poetry, plays, classics, and children’s literature—online for free by going to www.readprint.com.

Brain Connection and Brain Buzz, a free biweekly email newsletter with all sorts of news about the human brain and learning, is available at www.brainconnection.com, a Web resource from Scientific Learning, creators of Fast ForWord products.

To find activities for kids throughout Connecticut and western Massachusetts, try the parents' website, www.kidtivity.com. It has a searchable database, an e-newsletter and membership features, and chances to win in ticket giveaways.

Tito Dupret’s website, www.world-heritage-tour.org, offers astonishing three-dimensional photographs of museums, parks, and historical wonders all over the world.

The global incident map, www.globalincidentmap.com, updates every 300 seconds twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week, and pinpoints strange and dangerous events throughout the world.

Educational software, mazes, and games are available with purchase of membership at www.greyolltwit.com.

You can learn all about geocaching, an adventure game for users of global positioning systems, by visiting www.geocaching.org.

The Hubble telescope website, www.hubblesite.org, has images and information that are out of this world, including a guide to the Hubble space telescope itself.

The latest science news is available at www.world-science.net, which offers a free email newsletter.

Learn to be Jackson Pollock in mere seconds! Click on www.jacksonpollock.org, move the cursor, and click the cursor to change colors.

A mythology website, www.mythweb.com, celebrates the gods and heroes of the ancient Greeks.

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration has a website with interactives, http://solarsystem.nasa.gov/index.cfm, where you can learn about the solar system.

You can build a solar system at http://www.exploratorium.edu/ronh/solar_system/.

Solstice celebrations, fun for observers and participants alike, have been spreading all over the country; information is available at www.revels.org.

Stagecast Creator, at www.stagecast.com, offers software to help children and teenagers build their own puzzles, mazes, and video games.

The Virtual Fish Tank, www.virtualfishtank.com, allows you to build a fish, release it in the tank, and watch it interact with other fish.

For writers,  www.livejournal.com is a personal publishing (blogging) site; www.poetry.com invites you to post your own poetry and read that written by others.