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HHS Invests $51 Million to Expand Dental Care for Children With Neurodevelopmental Disorders
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services reported:
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), through the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), today announced $51 million in awards to 28 HRSA-funded health centers to improve access to dental care for children with neurodevelopmental disorders, including autism spectrum disorder, Down syndrome, cerebral palsy, and intellectual disabilities.
The new Quality Improvement Fund — Improving Access to Dental Services for Children with Neurodevelopmental Disorders (QIF-DNDD) investment will help health centers build on evidence-based models and test innovative approaches to improve dental care for children with neurodevelopmental disorders. The funding will support expanded and tailored preventive and other dental services, strengthen the health center workforce, and identify promising approaches that can be replicated in other communities.
“Children with neurodevelopmental disorders should not struggle to get the dental care they need,” said HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. “We are investing $51 million in HRSA-funded health centers to remove barriers to care, equip providers to better serve these children, and give families more options close to home. We will identify the approaches that work, scale them across the country, and ensure more children can get the preventive care they need to live healthy lives.”
Latest CDC Report on Youth Behavior Has Some Good News — and MAHA Vibes
Mental health symptoms and suicide risk among American high schoolers improved in 2025 compared to two years prior. That’s according to the latest report from the national Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance Survey, conducted by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) every two years.
The new report, which primarily highlights students’ diets, physical activity and sleep, found improvements in the number of students who ate fruits and vegetables compared to the previous survey. While there was not much improvement in levels of physical activity, more students reported playing on a sports team compared to in 2023.
“We see in this report that our children are eating healthier, engaging in team sports, and experiencing fewer feelings of sadness and hopelessness,” said Dr. Jennifer Shuford, CDC’s Deputy Director and Chief Medical Officer at a press conference held last week to announce the report’s findings. “This is good news for kids, for us, and for our country. The focus here is clear: healthier youth today, healthier adults tomorrow.”
Ladera Ranch Families Await Cancer Registry Review as Soil Testing Begins After at Least Six Ewing Sarcoma Cases
Researchers and students from Cal State Fullerton began collecting soil and water samples at parks in Ladera Ranch on September 14, the first environmental testing in the Orange County community since families reported at least six children diagnosed with Ewing sarcoma, NBC Los Angeles reported. The samples will be analyzed for heavy metals such as arsenic and lead as well as pesticides, with results expected by the end of the year.
At the same time, the California Department of Public Health is reviewing cancer registry data to determine whether cancer rates in Ladera Ranch are higher than expected. The agency estimates that assessment will be finished this fall, and it has not confirmed a cancer cluster or identified any environmental cause, according to the CDPH Ladera Ranch page.
For parents in a community of about 26,000 people, the uncertainty is personal because the parks being tested are the same places their children play. Jennifer Piazza, the Cal State Fullerton public health professor leading the sampling, cautioned that “whatever we find does not imply causality in terms of the pediatric cancer cases in Ladera Ranch,” she told Fox News Digital. That means the coming results may raise new questions rather than settle old ones.
Mother Who Lost Son to SIDS Seeks $10,000 to Reopen Just in Case Foundation’s Infant Monitor Program
The Just in Case Foundation, a nonprofit that provides Owlet monitoring socks to families of infants at higher risk of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS), has launched a public appeal to raise $10,000. The funds will clear a growing waiting list and allow the foundation to reopen applications, which were paused after demand outgrew donations.
Founder Kayla Borton started the foundation in 2021 after losing her 7-week-old son, Case, to SIDS on May 12 of that year.
The day after his death, a friend bought an Owlet sock for Case’s twin brother, Chase. That first night, the sock alerted Borton to low oxygen. She found Chase unresponsive and not breathing, and was able to revive him. Chase started kindergarten this fall.
“I lost one son and nearly lost the other within two days,” Borton said. “That alarm gave me the chance to act. Every parent deserves that chance, and right now there are families on our waiting list who don’t have it.”
Since its launch, the foundation has placed [749] monitors with families across the country and runs monthly SIDS and Safety Seminars covering risk factors, safe sleep practices and infant CPR certification. Sudden unexpected infant death claims around 3,500 babies in the United States each year, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Hospitals Shutter Youth Gender Clinics in Deal With Trump Administration
At least six major hospitals across the country have recently agreed to stop providing gender-transition treatment to adolescents to end a wide-ranging Justice Department investigation into potential legal violations related to billing practices and consumer fraud.
The wave of settlements includes hospitals in New York, Pennsylvania and Connecticut, states that have been supportive of access to the treatments. The hospitals have agreed to pay fines, and several will provide free medical care to former patients who wish to treat side effects or to “detransition.”
The agreements are a victory for the Trump administration, which has asserted that the potential harms of gender transition for young people outweigh any benefits and that hospitals have overbilled for transition treatments to make a profit. Since early 2025, the administration has applied an array of financial and legal pressures to health care providers to stop treatments in 24 states that permit them.
Children as Young as 13 Being Referred to UK Hospital Suffering From ‘Ketamine Bladder’
Children as young as 13 in the UK have been referred to a specialist clinic for a “devastating” bladder condition linked to sustained use of ketamine. Medics at Alder Hey children’s hospital in Liverpool opened the first ketamine clinic in the UK for young people amid a surge in urology problems linked to addiction of the drug.
Now analysis of the first patients to use the service shows some are as young as 13, with most being girls and most living in deprived areas. Excessive use of ketamine can cause serious health problems as the drug and its breakdown products sit in the bladder for a long time, where they can damage the lining and muscle tissue.
Ketamine-induced uropathy — also known as ketamine bladder — is a severe and painful condition caused by the drug damaging the bladder, urinary tubes and kidneys. Symptoms include frequent urination, loss of bladder control and blood in the urine.
