RIECKEN: SATURDAY TOWN HALL TO FOCUS ON CHILDREN’S ISSUES

INDIANAPOLIS – State Rep. Gail Riecken (D-Evansville) said a town hall she has scheduled for Evansville this Saturday (October 19) will focus in part on gaining public input on ways to improve the lives of children across Indiana.
The town hall will begin at 10 a.m. Saturday at the First Presbyterian Church, located at 609 E. Second Street.
Riecken’s plans to gain information come as part of her service on the state Commission on Improving the Status of Children, a group that grew out of efforts the lawmaker helped lead to reform the delivery of services to neglected and abused children across Indiana.
“In our meetings so far this year, we have focused upon specific areas of service,” Riecken said. “Two of those areas are Infant Mortality and Child Health and Data Sharing and Mapping.
“I believe the success of our commission will depend greatly on the input we receive from individuals and groups of our area who can bring a local perspective to identifying problems and finding solutions,” she continued. “I intend to give those individuals a chance at Saturday’s town hall to discuss what can be done to help.”
Here are the issues of concern within the two areas identified by The Commission:

INFANT MORTALITY AND CHILD HEALTH
– Improving Medicaid access and coordination for children and youth    released from detention.
– Addressing Medicaid barriers for youth released from detention.
– Increase well-child visits for preventive care/monitoring child development.
– Create policies to improve child health indicators such as infant mortality, obesity, underage smoking/drinking.
– Enforce lead-based paint prevention standards.
– Address Neonatal Abstinence Syndrome (NAS).
– Increase public education on child health policy, especially Medicaid issues.
– Improve public education around Internet safety for children.
– Develop a plan to decrease high incidence of child fatalities.
– Improve public education/awareness of NAS.

DATA SHARING AND MAPPING
– Identify gaps in the array of mental health services, especially in rural areas.
– Identify gaps in the array of substance abuse services, especially in rural areas.
– Implement technology initiatives to improve data collection and create capacity for sharing data for all systems serving children.
– Develop a repository linking all relevant data relating to children in multiple systems-for transparency and accountability.
– Identify barriers associated with confidentiality requirements.