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Late last week Parents for Choice & Quality filed 2 Freedom of Information requests.

For many years, the public has not known the statistics on the
number of preschool children affected by autism on Prince Edward
Island. According to the Center for Disease Control
the prevalence of autism is 1 in 150 children. According to the 2007
PEI Annual Statistic Review there are approximately 1300 births on
Prince Edward Island. Based on the CDC’s prevalence rate, there should
be approximately 8.6 children born each year on PEI that will be
affected by autism.

On Friday, February 20, 2009, Parents for Choice and Quality Society filed two Freedom of Information
requests with the government of Prince Edward Island. We should have a
response back from each department in approximately 30 days. We will
post the information when it arrives.

Click Here for details on the requests

A new report entitled Kids, Crime and Care – Health and Well-Being of Children in Care: Youth Justice Experiences and Outcomes was released in BC today. Some of the text from the Press Release is below.
Click here to read the full Press Release.

VICTORIA, B.C. — A study by the B.C. Representative for Children and
Youth and the province's health officer calls on the government to act
as a more responsible parent to the children and youth in its care.

The
study – Kids, Crime and Care: Youth Justice Experience and Outcomes –
examined more than 50,000 children born in 1986 and who were in school
in 1997/98. It's the largest study of youth justice of its kind in
Canada.

The study released Monday found schools offer vulnerable
children family-type experiences that can put them on a path that keeps
them out of jail. But the report calls on government to pay closer
attention to the children at their schools.

The 88-page report
makes seven recommendations, including urging every school in British
Columbia to assign a staff member by next September to oversee the
education planning, monitoring and progress of children in government
care at their school.

There are about 9,000 children in government care in British Columbia.

"When
a child enters school, it is a significant transition in their life,
and an opportunity for new roles and responsibilities," said the joint
report by independent children's representative Mary Ellen
Turpel-Lafond and provincial health officer Perry Kendall.

"Negative
experiences that impact on this transition can have long-term
consequences, while a positive school experience can help create a
lifetime love of learning and healthy social relationships."

The
study found that less than one-third of children who get in trouble
with the law graduate from high school and the likelihood of graduation
for children who encounter the youth justice system is a dismal 13 per
cent.

"Youth involvement with the criminal justice system can
only be reduced in British Columbia if that education system is
strengthened to meet the needs of the children. It's quite clear,"
Turpel-Lafond said in a press conference following the release of the
report.

For the record…Parents for Choice & Quality seeks stats on Autism in PEI

What role can the education system play in keeping children away from youth crime?