Tag: family

Leaving Them To Carry The Burden At Home – 1 In 4 Women Have A Family Member In Prison
IMPACT

Leaving Them To Carry The Burden At Home – 1 In 4 Women Have A Family Member In Prison

Mary Estrada, 56, met her husband, Robert, when she was 10 years old and he was 9. They have been together most of their lives, but they have also spent many years physically apart. Robert Estrada’s contact with the criminal legal system began early, with time in the city’s juvenile detention facility that ignited a cycle of incarceration. Currently he is serving a 52-year sentence at the Richard J. Donovan Correctional Facility in San Diego, more than two hours from Estrada’s home in Pomona, California. Over the decades, Estrada said she has remained her husband’s steadfast support system. Every weekend she drives 135 miles each way to visit Robert. She talks to him on the phone at least once a day, sometimes twice, at a rate of about $2 for 15 minutes. She makes sure to keep money on h...
A Family Physician Explains – How To Navigate Self-Managed Abortion Issues Such As Access, Wait Times And Complications
HEALTH & WELLNESS, IN OTHER NEWS

A Family Physician Explains – How To Navigate Self-Managed Abortion Issues Such As Access, Wait Times And Complications

“Are these pills legit? If I send money, am I even going to get these pills?” These are the kinds of questions people have when they are curious about ordering medication abortion pills online. This process, often called “self-sourced medication abortion,” refers to an individual finding or sourcing medications to induce an abortion on their own, without going through their primary care provider, OB-GYN or other clinic like Planned Parenthood. Globally, abortion pills might be found without prescriptions at neighborhood pharmacies or by accessing local community networks. In the U.S., even prior to the fall of Roe v. Wade, someone could order abortion pills online. As a family physician practicing in Washington, I expect that abortion care will remain legal in my state. Even so, in the ...
Research Shows Family Rifts Affect Millions Of Americans – Here Are Possible Paths From Estrangement Toward Reconciliation
SOCIETY

Research Shows Family Rifts Affect Millions Of Americans – Here Are Possible Paths From Estrangement Toward Reconciliation

Family relationships are on many people’s minds during the holiday season as sounds and images of happy family celebrations dominate the media. Anyone whose experiences don’t live up to the holiday hype may find this difficult or disappointing, but those feelings may be felt even more acutely among those involved in family rifts. I have done a significant amount of research on ambivalence and conflict in families, which led to a five-year study of family estrangements. At the outset, I was surprised at how little evidence-based guidance exists on the frequency, causes and consequences of family estrangement, or how those involved cope with the stress of family rifts. There are few studies published in academic journals on the topic, as well as limited clinical literature. I sought to fil...
No Haven In Family Courts For Victims Of Domestic Abuse
SOCIETY

No Haven In Family Courts For Victims Of Domestic Abuse

The #MeToo movement may have shifted the balance of credibility on sexual abuse and harassment at work more toward victims and away from alleged perpetrators. But the same cannot be said regarding men’s violence and abuse at home: In fact, women’s reports of domestic violence are still widely rejected, especially in one critical setting: the family court. When women, children or both report abuse by a father in a case concerning child custody or visitation, courts often refuse to believe them. Judges even sometimes “shoot the messenger” by removing custody from the mother and awarding it to the allegedly abusive father. For instance, courts reject 81% of mothers’ allegations of child sexual abuse, 79% of their allegations of child physical abuse, and 57% of their allegations of partner a...
Hidden Valley Road: Inside The Mind Of An American Family
BOOK2, BOOKS

Hidden Valley Road: Inside The Mind Of An American Family

Robert Kolker - Hidden Valley Road: Inside the Mind of an American Family (Unabridged) OPRAH’S BOOK CLUB PICK #1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER ONE OF THE NEW YORK TIMES TOP TEN BOOKS OF THE YEAR ONE OF THE WALL STREET JOURNAL TOP TEN BOOKS OF THE YEAR PEOPLE'S #1 BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR Named a BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR by The New York Times, The Washington Post, NPR, TIME, Slate, Smithsonian, The New York Post, and Amazon. The heartrending story of a midcentury American family with twelve children, six of them diagnosed with schizophrenia, that became science's great hope in the quest to understand the disease. Don and Mimi Galvin seemed to be living the American dream. After World War II, Don's work with the Air Force brought them to Colorado, where their twelve children perfectly spanned the ...
With Empathy For Friends – Teens With Secure Family Relationships ‘Pay It Forward’
LIFESTYLE

With Empathy For Friends – Teens With Secure Family Relationships ‘Pay It Forward’

Jessica Stern, University of Virginia The Research Brief is a short take about interesting academic work. The big idea Teens with more secure family relationships get a head start on developing empathy, according to my colleagues’ and my new study tracking adolescents into adulthood. In contrast to popular myths about self-obsessed teens, existing research shows that adolescence is a key stage of development for the growth of empathy: the ability to stand in someone else’s shoes, to understand and resonate with their emotions and to care about their well-being. Empathy is a skill that develops over time, and it has major consequences for teens’ social interactions, friendships and adult relationships. So how do teens learn this critical skill? Our team’s new findings, published on July...
Pandemic Makes Separation Even Scarier For People With A Family Member In Prison – No Visits And Barely Any Calls
Journalism

Pandemic Makes Separation Even Scarier For People With A Family Member In Prison – No Visits And Barely Any Calls

Jails and prisons in the United States had a coronavirus infection rate three times greater than the general population, with an average of 1,400 new COVID-19 infections and seven deaths every day over the past year. America’s correctional facilities are notoriously bad for spreading infectious diseases. Millions of people constantly cycle in and out of them every year and they have limited medical staff and supplies. People in prison also spend extended periods in crowded indoor spaces, with poor air circulation and ventilation. For many people who are incarcerated, either awaiting trial in jail or imprisoned after conviction, being locked in a pandemic hot spot has been terrifying. And for the 6.5 million Americans who have a family member incarcerated, COVID-19 has made an already hig...
Feeling Equal Empathy For Strangers And Family Alike And The Morality Of It All
Religion

Feeling Equal Empathy For Strangers And Family Alike And The Morality Of It All

The year 2020 has been no stranger to suffering. In the midst of a global pandemic, widespread financial hardship and violence arising from systemic racism, empathy for others’ suffering has been pushed to the front and center in U.S. society. As society grapples to find its moral compass in a time of such hardship and strife, a critical question emerges: Whose suffering should one care about? When you ponder who is worth feeling empathy for, friends, family members and children might come to mind. But what about strangers, or people not connected to you through nationality, social status or race? As cognitive scientists, we wanted to understand what moral beliefs people hold about empathy and how these beliefs may shift depending on whom someone is feeling empathy for. Empathy as a for...
IN OTHER NEWS

New York finds $1bn in hidden Sackler family wire transfers

NY state Attorney General Letitia James says owners of Oxycontin-producer Purdue Pharma made off with opioid 'proceeds'. The billionaire family that owns Oxycontin-maker Purdue Pharma LP made about $1 billion in transfers among themselves and their shell companies while they were "draining Purdue of its opioids proceeds," New York Attorney General Letitia James told a judge in a letter. The transfers, some through Swiss bank accounts, were revealed in documents provided by an unspecified financial institution in response to a subpoena - one of at least 10 banks facing demands for information in New York's lawsuit against Purdue and the Sackler family, the state said in a court filing Friday. James said she wrote the letter to show the judge the importance of th...
Will Banning Single-Family Housing Make for More Affordable Homes?
Journalism

Will Banning Single-Family Housing Make for More Affordable Homes?

Minneapolis effectively eliminated single-family zoning in order to undo decades of segregation and create more affordable housing options. Other states are watching closely. Nothing captures the housing affordability crisis as well as this fact: In no single city, state, or other municipality in the U.S. can someone earning minimum wage afford a two-bedroom apartment. This is compounded by the fact that housing prices continue to rise, and cities don’t have the ability (and in some cases, the physical space) to add more affordable housing to help keep costs down. So Minneapolis changed the rules, and others are taking notice. In December 2018, the city approved a plan that allows for duplexes and triplexes, effectively eliminating the future of building more single-family hou...