North Carolina Now; North Carolina Now Episode from 11/03/1997

It's Monday November 3rd. Tonight teaching kids through the magic of Oz in North Carolina. Nail getting hit everyone and welcome to this Monday edition of YOUR MONEY. I'm a fan of the Korean I'll be your host while Merida Mitra is out on the turn of the leave. Why don't we take a special look at children in our state. We began by examining a state program that's helping to foster children to become a part of healthy happy families faster than later we'll go to Charlotte for an adventure in the Land of Oz where kids are taking away a new appreciation for science and the arts. All

thanks to Dorothy Toto and the yellow brick road. Plus tomorrow is Election Day and we'll check in with the Executive Secretary Director of the North Carolina Board of Elections. But first November is National Adoption Awareness Month. And in North Carolina alone there are currently over 12000 children in the child welfare or foster care system. Studies show the number of children receiving foster care services has increased 200 percent in the last 10 years. But. Now there's a new initiative that's reducing those numbers. It's called families for kids and it's a national initiative focused on streamlining the foster care system. The program is being tested in eight counties across the state. Tonight Sonya Williams explains how the program works. Typical morning in the hounded household mom Doris prepares a breakfast as her two sons point twenty two and Stanley nine. Wait patiently. Together they make a family. But it hasn't always been that way. While Corey is

divorced his biological son Stanley is dumped at son. He was placed in her care as a foster child as an infant. I got him when he was about 9 0 when he became available for adoption when he was about 18 months. By that time he was already a part of my family my extended family as was my immediate family. And you know I thought to myself can I bear to see this child lived my home. Of course the answer was No. So I told the social worker hey I want to keep this baby. Now he's gone. Stanley is one of the lucky ones. Many other children stay in foster care for several years before finding a permanent home. But that trend is changing thanks to a new initiative called families for kids. It's a community collaborative based approach. And what it's looking at is changing the foster care system. What we found is that kids stay in care for a long amount of times once they enter and the whole goal is to move them into a safe permanent home

within one year. Jean Engler one of the families for kids in Edgecombe County one of the eight pilot programs across the state. She says in the year and a half since they implemented the program the number of children in foster care in Edgecombe County has reduced by 25 percent. Before we would say a child could stay in foster care long term that was a plan for a child. Because when children get older it may not be as easy to find an adoptive placement. But now we're saying that every child is adopted. In fact we have a family that is adopting a 15 year old that has been in care for about two and a half years. And we have other families that are adopting older kids that were no longer going to accept that just because we did it that way in the past. We're going to keep doing it. North Carolina's families for kids initiative offers a comprehensive approach to finding a child a permanent home. One option is reuniting the child with his or her birth parents or a relative. But for kids who don't return to their biological parents and need new homes

several departments of Social Services are joining forces with district courts to streamline the legal process. We've talked to the judges about looking at cases that come before them through the eyes of the child. We've seen numerous occasions in the past when cases have been delayed for one reason or another. Three months can go by six months can go by. In some situations a year can go by before that case is brought before the judge again. We've talked with our judges and our judges agree that's just not acceptable anymore. Another component of the program is raising awareness of child abuse and neglect and the need for more foster parents. The Edgecombe County office held a poetry and art contest with family as its theme. Many of their interests reflected both the realities children needing foster care face and the joy they feel once those needs are properly met. North Carolina's families for kids initiative focuses primarily on community involvement

here in Edgecombe County for example workers handout fairs like this one to churches and various organizations to explain how everyone can have a role in helping children. We realized early on. That for this child welfare system to change that we couldn't do it not by ourselves. We had to play as a social services agency a vital and intricate part. But systems around us that dealt with children need to change also and the community at large needed to step forward and say we're just not going to take this anymore. It's time to change it. It doesn't make any sense that children have to stay in foster care for two three four years when some community resources are brought to bear. We can we can put those children in a in a permanent situation and we have people that meet monthly that come up with different strategy reform efforts and civic groups that may help sponsor a child to go to camp in the

summer where we don't have any funds avail available for that child. Things that really make an impact for that child and family in the first year alone the eight pilot counties reduce the number of children in or in foster care by 15 percent. Counties not involved in the initiative reduce their numbers by only 3 percent. So child advocates are asking lawmakers for nearly three million dollars to expand the program to eight additional counties. They say families for kids is the best way to ensure that more children like Stanley find a stable safe and nurturing environment. You begin to detain OK. Families for kids failed to receive any additional state funding this past session. However organizers are looking for federal money to continue and expand the program. Coming up we'll find out how the State Board of Elections will soon link together more than 5 million voters across North Carolina. The First let's check in with Michel Louis at the North Carolina now news desk with a summary of today's statewide headlines. Hi Mitch.

Hello Shannon. Good evening everyone. Topping our news tonight the State Board of Education says it will move ahead to approve the ABC is a public education plan for high schools despite the fact supporters say it is flawed and may be unfair. Critics say the high school portion of the ABC lacks several key elements that gave the program its strength in the state's elementary schools. For example the high school program will compare one group of students to another rather than measure students progress over time. State leaders say they have little choice but to push ahead because of legislative requirements to implement the program. Should the Cape Hatteras Lighthouse be moved or should it stay in its current location. The National Park Service proposes really relocating the structure away from where it now stands a move that could that some estimate could cost as much as 10 million dollars. But a number of North Carolinians favor some kind of reinforcement around the lighthouse and keeping it where it has stood for one hundred twenty seven years. The U.S. Congress has approved a two million dollar appropriation to study the option to North Carolinians who don't

agree on workplace safety regulations are now working together to rewrite the laws. One is Charles Jeffress a state employee for 20 years who led workplace safety reform in North Carolina after a 1991 chicken plant fire and Hamlet killed 25 people. Jeffords was confirmed last week to head the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration or ocean. The other is U.S. representative Cass Ballenger who plans to introduce eight bills this week to overhaul o ship Ballenger sounds although he favors more cooperation with industry and Jeffords believes in stronger enforcement. The two of them should be able to work together. Duke University is joining the fight against unfair labor practices. The private university is working on a set of new licensing standards with companies that bear items that make items bearing the school logo. The new standards would require companies to disclose employee working conditions in an effort to maintain the school's reputation. The move follows a campaign by students at USC Chapel Hill against what they call sweatshop conditions at Nike plants in Southeast Asia. Duke is one of a handful of schools now revising

their contracts to include a code of conduct for manufacturers. And now for a look at tomorrow's weather. High temperatures won't be all that high in some places to say expect lows in the 40s in some mountain areas rising to around 60 at the coast. Mostly sunny skies a forecast for most of the state. However mountain areas will be partly cloudy and Boone could even see some morning flurries and business news the latest edition of Fortune magazine shows the triangle area holding onto its number five position and its annual rankings of the best cities for business in North America. New York City was picked as the best city for business on the 1907 list. The Big Apple is followed by Denver Boston Seattle and then the triangle using research by its staff and consultants fortune examined a range of measurements from the cost of labor and office rental rates to quality of life and education. The Dow Jones closed out today posting its third best point gain ever. Here's a look at the numbers. Tomorrow is Election Day and across the state voters will go to the polls to decide who

will lead their city and county governments. Here to give us a preview of what you kind of expect when you go to vote tomorrow is Gary Bartlett the Executive Secretary Director of the North Carolina State Board of Elections. And Mr. Bartlett thank you so much for joining us tonight. Thank you. Well to begin what can people expect. What do you expect voter turnout to be tomorrow for most of the city county races. The turnout should be somewhere around 25 26 percent. Except in those areas that have hotly contested races and their turnout may be 10 to 15 percent higher. How does this compare then with years when we have perhaps a national race statewide races usually in non presidential elections are historical turnout has been somewhere between 44 and 50 percent in presidential elections. Our historical average has the range from 60 percent to sixty eight point eight percent.

What do you think that is especially when a lot of the city and county races actually have a greater impact on on people's daily lives than perhaps some of these statewide or national races. I can only guess but my best guess is that people are focused more with the higher races because they feel like it will impact their pocketbooks more. So Tamar do you think that that a lot of people will have to contend with with long lines in the types of things that you tend to think about on voting days except for maybe some key time periods during the day. There should not be long lines as we saw in the last presidential election. Let's turn to another project that your office is working on. You were trying to set up an electronic voter registry. What is that all about. We hope and it's mandated by law that we have a statewide voter registration system by August 30 1st

1998. And today we're on schedule. We have. I had an orientation for counties across the state to see what type of software that we will be using for this voter registration system. This voter registration system will allow us to do several things. Number one we will for the first time have a state wide voter registration list and each county can all get their records beyond county lines so that we can have cleaner and better list. We will also be able to have one stop shopping for candidates. Currently the way our voter registration records are kept and will still be recognized as the official record in the county the candidate would have to go to each county to get their voter registration list unless they were able to buy it from a vendor who would compile that list from the different counties. At this point how is voter registration information kept throughout the state.

Voter registration information is kept in the county office and that will still be where the official record is kept and the. Voter Information such as the verification and the confirmation letters that are sent to ensure that these people are at the address that they say they are in is done by the Cannie and the county board of elections must pass the qualifications of each voter registration application. So the counties play the most major role and they will continue to play a major role in this process. Once all of this information is computerized who will have access to it and where will they have to go to find this information. They will be able to request this information at their county boards of elections. They will also be able to come to the State Board of Elections and

request information. And should we have funds appropriated we might be able to put this information on the Internet. Well I think a project is this. This is a mind boggling project especially for the state board of elections who have not had the computers and the wherewithal to do it. Venture on such a project. Gosh that does sound like a huge project for the average voter out there in North Carolina. What does this mean for them. First of all it will ensure that we will have even more accurate list on election day so that when a person goes to their precinct and their name is not found on the list they will be the the ability to cut the missing information in

administrative clerical errors. And we're hoping that that will impact the election process anywhere from 3 to 5 percent. And that means shorter lines that well. Well Mr. Bartlett It sounds like such an interesting project and we hope to have you come back and update on us as it gets a little bit closer to being a reality. I would like to. Just a reminder the polls will be open tomorrow at 6:30 a.m. they will close at 7:30 p.m.. When Charlotte Mecklenburg School Superintendent Eric Smith introduced his literacy plan

earlier this year he had no idea he'd be getting help from the Wizard of Oz. Tonight we take a look at a collaborative effort in the Queen City that is getting rave reviews. In the Wizard of Oz Dorothy's dream comes true. Imagine making this dream come true. What if every third grader in the Charlotte Mecklenburg School system could spend a day experiencing the wonderful world of Oz. What if they could explore their creativity with help from the cultural arts and science organizations in the community that dream did come true for children in Charlotte. Thanks to the newly formed cultural education collaborative a recently launched affiliate of the Arts and Science Council the world school community collaborative project and what we mean by that is we're working very closely with the schools of our community and the cultural organisations here in Charlotte

to team together to develop curriculum based learning activities for the students who knew that Discovery Place was going to be doing science advisor. It was part of their national touring opportunities. We then looked to children's theatre to say what to do with that kind of a theme and they started to brainstorm and once we got around the table and started to think of the educational implications it was really easy to come up with lots of really interesting stuff for kids during the month of October in uptown Charlotte. Children spent an entire day learning dance steps exploring science and geography making music and going to the theater. There are a lot of little kids

and only things like you know I say only to their friends because the characters go through the aisles and everything and that's how I got into theater is I think the other kids on stage and so I hope that by them seeing us they'll be interested and maybe explore that as an art form for themselves. What happens is that seeing apply or touring the exhibit sparks an interest in these young people. Yesterday I heard one child turn to another and say this is the best just field trip ever. That's what we want to hear here. Discovery flies. The idea of the world began with this interactive exhibit created at Discovery Place where the yellow brick road leads to one place to learn up stairs another. Group learns all the right moves from the North Carolina Dance Theater up the street opera Carolina encourages everyone to see.

And at the Blumenthal Performing Arts Center the Charlotte Symphony Orchestra has a full fledged performance going on heaping 12 hundred children on schedule each day take scored a nation and volunteer. We have about 200 volunteers some of them are from first union on several retirees who have students who are retired teachers and every one of them are wonderful. So how are the reviews. Well they've already told me they want to put a play on right now of the wizard in the classroom and they're saying I'm going to be just the third graders. So they're excited and I'm never seen lots of planes before but this one was really cool. Right. I love the tornado. First Erica. Can't pass the Wizard of Oz is a story about finding courage brains and heart. Charlotte Mecklenburg the world A-bombs project

has all three. Organizers tell us that today the seventeen thousand five hundred students have taken part in the world of Oz activities in uptown Charlotte. Throughout the rest of the year all grade levels in Charlotte area schools will be using teaching tools provided by the cultural education collaborative to advance what's being taught in the program. The PBS talk show host Charlie Rose has gained national recognition as perhaps the best interview on television today. His show which airs on new and CTV every weeknight at 11:30 has been called by one media critic to talk as it was meant to be. And CBS correspondent Morley Safer has called the show the last refuge of intelligent conversation on television. North Carolina native Charlie Rose was back in his home state last night to address a Raleigh audience gathering to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the North Carolina Association of Broadcasters. Here's some of what he had to say. They are all there.

You know it's amazing what I do. It's amazing what an opportunity I have. And it's an amazing how few people do it so well. My father looked at me and he said probably one less than you think. I missed that kind of humility that he gave me as I have this experience of broadcasting has enabled me to have there are two questions that always come up in the first one is how do you do it. And it's very simple how to do it it's true whether you're in New York City or Washington D.C. or in in ways hometown or my hometown in Henderson whether it's a local radio station if you want to be on the air which you've got to do is prepare and you got to read and you got to listen. I say I want to prepare as much as I possibly can because I want to know where I can take this interview and I want to be spontaneous but I only through preparation. Can you see the road ahead and know when you might want to detour the second thing that I found out about being.

About the gratitude of you sitting there doing it is listening. I think the third thing about the grant women that I've learned is that you cannot be afraid. I had Peter Ledger on the show this week and it allegedly got up after the show he said My God you know afraid of asking any question and you can't be afraid of asking any question because you if you are prepared to go wherever they're prepared to go wherever that guest might take you they will lead you to places that you don't know and you will find that there are incredible areas to uncover the last thing I find about doing an interview and the craft of interviewing that I discovered from having this opportunity the broadcasting that brought me is the notion of chemistry. We all think about preparation and we all think about being tough or not being tough in the end a lot of it has to do with chemistry I've seen guests in which I could not have been more prepared when you come into the studio with that. Yes. They leave having not told you anything because you could not create some sense of chemistry or some sense of connection some sense that you care about them.

You want to know what they had to say. That was the response they would give. Senator Jesse Helms was on hell hand today to address the Raleigh gathering. The senator told broadcasters that he sympathizes with parents who want the government to impose a TV rating system to keep their children away from indecent material. However Senator Helms said he supports self regulation over government regulation. Well that does it for tonight's show. Have a good evening everyone.