From my commitment with NOCIRC, I became involved with community members who were involved with "America's Promise" - ensuring that children have access to five fundamental resources: a healthy start, a caring adult (tutor, mentor, or coach), safe places, marketable skills, and opportunities for community service. I am particularly interested in the Healthy Start portion.

I contacted a local person who was involved with these initiatives and I received an invitation to attend a conference on May 8, 1998 in Northport, Maine to address brain development in young children. This important and interesting topic ties in with my pre-existing interest with the infant circumcision issue because ensuring that a baby is brought into the world with the least amount of interventions and traumas possible lays the foundation for healthy brain development. Studies have concluded that when a baby is under stress, the brain release hormones that permanently change the brain. Cortisol, a stress hormone, is markedly increased in babies undergoing circumcision. Studies have also shown reactions to the pain and trauma of circumcision such as increased non-REM sleep and it has been noted that babies need a few days to recover from the trauma. All this for an elective surgery that does not need to be done.

In order to see that this aspect of the issues of brain development and child health and well-being in general is not continually ignored, I attended the conference and have kept contact with the committee members who are implementing other plans of action to ensure that more children receive a healthy start to life.

I intend to initiate a plan for future educational outreach through Communities for Children and Healthy Start in my area. I haven't put my thoughts onto paper yet but I am thinking about ways to implement educational resources (brochures, videos, presentations, etc.) into childbirth education and prenatal classes at area hospitals as well as to parents, physicians, and the general public. I would also like to begin parent support meetings for those who have chosen not to circumcise their sons where they can ask questions, obtain additional resources for information, and seek support as they raise their sons in a pro-cutting society.