healthbriefs
The ABCs of Foster Care and Adoption
There are thousands of New Jersey children that need the warmth and guidance of a family. Many parents are welcoming these children into their homes to provide safety, stability and love. These wonderful people are New Jersey’s foster and adoptive families.
Foster families provide a home for children that have been abandoned, ne- glected or abused. These children are in need of nurturing families to help them heal and grow.
Many children long for a forever family because they are not able to be re- united with their birth parents. Being an adoptive parent can change a child’s life forever, as well as bring new joy and fulfillment to their new family Basic requirements for foster/adoptive parents are that they must be at least 21 years old; single, married, in a domestic partnership or civil union; live in ei- ther a house or an apartment; and have existing children or are parenting for the first time.
Conditions for becoming a foster or adoptive parent include a completed ap- plication, a home inspection and pre-service training. A home study is a mutual assessment consisting of sharing your family’s story through interviews, home visits and background information checks.
Support available to foster and adoptive families include monthly board payments/stipend, medical coverage, childcare services for employed parents, behavioral health services, adoption subsidy, post-adoption support services, a resource family support worker, community agency support and foster and adop- tive family services (FAFS).
For more information, visit the Department of Children and Families and Division of Youth and Family Services at
NJFoster.org and
NJAdopt.org.
Local Toxins Increase Risk of Autism C
Olive Oil Boosts Healthy Cholesterol
I
n an effort to understand what makes olive oil so good for heart health, a study from Eu- rope’s Cardio- vascular Risk and Nutrition Research
Group and the U.S. National Institutes of Health has found that olive oil’s polyphenols significantly
onfirming previous findings, a large study from the Univer- sity of Chicago has found that autism is linked to toxic en- vironmental exposure. The research examined data from nearly a third of the U.S. population, which showed that both autism spectrum disorders and intellectual disabilities increased as exposure increased in region-by-region testing. The research measured clusters of autism incidence together with exposure rates in different counties and states across the country. The areas with greater environmental toxin exposures had significantly increased autism rates. The correlation was significant among both boys and girls, but stronger among girls. Proximity to urban areas also increased autism incidence. For every 1 percent increase in urbanization, there was about a 3 percent rise in autism and intellectual disabilities. Influential toxins include pesticides, plasticizers, lead and pharmaceuticals.
increase the size of high-density lipo- protein-cholesterol (HDL) in the blood and enhance the HDL’s ability to inhibit formation of the abnormal fatty depos- its, known as plaque, within the walls of arteries. Polyphenols are natural compounds from plants known to help prevent cancer and heart disease. In the three-week study, research- ers isolated the effect of polyphenols by dividing 47 healthy European men into two groups: one ate a diet con- taining polyphenol-poor olive oil and the other consumed polyphenol-rich olive oil. The enriched diet resulted in increased size, fluidity and stability (resistance to oxidation) of the HDL molecules by reducing their triglycer- ide core. The researchers note that the oxidation of cholesterol lipids such as low-density lipoprotein (LDL) is linked with arteriosclerosis.
Logic is the beginning
of wisdom, not the end. ~Leonard Nimoy
natural awakenings
April 2015
9
Courtesy of David Castillo Dominici at
FreeDigitalPhotos.net
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