CONTEMPO

President Jody Roubanis

VP Programs Doris Barela-Fossen

Secretary Melinda Westland

Treasurer Sue Chelini

EEF chair Nancy Rabolt

EEF treasurer Sue Chelini

EEF Nancy Dayne

EEF Sandy Carpenter

aafcs-ca.org

CA-AFCS 2026 Conference – Living Well, Leading Forward

Early bird registration is now open for the CA-AFCS 2026 Conference, taking place on Saturday, March 28, 2026, at Grace Simons Lodge.

🗓 Early bird registration deadline: Saturday, February 28, 2026

Early Bird Rates

AAFCS Members: $150
Non-AAFCS Members: $175
Students: $20

Register early to save on registration fees and secure your place at this engaging, in-person conference focused on wellness, leadership, and professional growth. Attendees will enjoy a full day of learning and networking.

Conference registration includes:

• Continental breakfast

• Lunch with vegetarian options

• Free parking

🔗 For registration details and the most up-to-date conference information:
2026 Conference – California Affiliate (aafcs-ca.org)

We encourage you to take advantage of early bird pricing before the February 28 deadline.

We look forward to welcoming you in March!

Conference Tri-Chairs,

• Diane Lewis-Goldstein (diane.lewis.goldstein@csun.edu)
• Doris Barela-Fossen (dbfossen@aol.com)
• Dolores Robles (Dolores.Robles@csulb.edu)

Viator Tours (https://www.viator.com/Los-Angeles/d645-ttd) offers reasonable Hollywood and Los Angeles tours. Most of the tours can be booked days in advance, depending on availability the day of the tour. Many pick up and meet in Hollywood. Hollywood is approximately a 30-minute drive. Examples of tours: Hollywood, Beverly Hills & Celebrity Homes Tour starting at $25.00 for 2 hours; Hollywood, Beverly Hills & Celebrity Homes Tour by Open Air Bus starting at $99.00 for 7-hour tour.

El Pueblo de Los Angeles Historic Park (https://www.olvera-street.com) is the first settling of the Spanish and Mexican eras. The Avila Adobe is the oldest house in Los Angeles dating back to 1818. Furnishings of the time period are displayed. Within this historic park is Olvera Street, a California Historical Landmark and part of the National Parks Registry. Considered the birthplace of Los Angeles, it is located at 125 Paseo de la Plaza, the heart and soul of the City of Angels. The plaza dates back to the 1820’s and the Conquest of California.

Hollywood Pantages Theater, a step back into the elegance of old Hollywood will be showing “Monty Python Spamalot.” Tickets range in price with plays on Sunday at 1:00pm and 6:30pm as well as plays on Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights. A 30-minute drive. https://www.broadwayinhollywood.com/venues/detail/pantagestheatre

Universal Studios Hollywood/Burbank is located at 100 Universal City Plaza, Universal City. General admission starts at $109. Hours are 10 am–7pm, a 20-minute drive. https://www.universalstudioshollywood.com/web/en/us

Warner Brothers studio tour offers small group tours priced at $76.00. Tour hours are from 8:30am–3:30pm. Located at 3400 Warner Blvd. Burbank, a 10-minute drive. https://www.wbstudiotour.com/

Los Angels Dodgers at Dodger Stadium Thursday, March 26 @ 5:30 pm. Home Opener vs. Arizona. 1000 Vin Scully Ave. LA. Approximately a 30-minute drive. Tickets at https://www.mlb.com/dodgers/tickets/single-game-tickets or gotickets.com

Disneyland Resort is celebrating its 70th Birthday. California residents can enjoy the park at lower rates until May 21. A 3-day Park Hopper pass is $83.00 per day for a total of $249.00. The pass allows one to go to both Disneyland and California Adventure and may be used on non-consecutive days. Disneyland now requires reservations on their website https://disneyland.disney.go.com/ From Burbank to Anaheim is 36 miles and approximately 45 minutes to an hour from the hotel.

The Getty Museum is a well-renowned art museum located in Los Angeles. Located at 1200 Getty Center Drive, admission is free, and parking is $25.00. Sunday hours are 10am-6:30pm. Reservations required https://www.getty.edu/. Drive time is 25 minutes, 18.3 miles.

The Los Angeles County Museum of Art is located at 5905 Wilshire Blvd, Los Angeles in the Miracle Mile vicinity. Sunday hours are 10am-7pm, adult tickets are $30 for residents outside LA County. LACMA is on Museum Row, adjacent to the La Brea Tar Pits (outdoor area is free, museum is $18, open 9:30am-5pm) and the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures (LACMA West, 6067 Wilshire Blvd), which is the largest museum devoted to the arts, sciences, and artists of moviemaking. Sunday hours are 10am-6pm, adult tickets $25. Drive time is 25 minutes, 10 miles. See https://www.lacma.org/ and/or https://tarpits.org/ and/or https://www.academymuseum.org/en

Compiled by Doris Barela-Fossen

In an article titled "What is home economics called now?" the California Learning Resource Network (CLRN) walks us through changes in the profession starting with Ellen Swallow Richards' time by looking at curriculum in the context of social changes. This historical perspective is appreciate with the March 28, 2026 CA-AFCS Biennial Conference being held at the Grace E. Simons Lodge in Los Angeles.

Current Names and Focus Areas

As stated by CLRN, the term home economics is increasingly seen as outdated. Educators and institutions now use a range of titles that signify specific emphases within the field:

Family and Consumer Sciences (FCS): Common in the United States, FCS integrates classic home economics principles with broader studies in family dynamics, consumer behavior, and resource management. This approach often incorporates elements of social science and data analysis.

Home Economics Education (HE): Still used in many Commonwealth countries (e.g., Australia, Canada, the UK), this term retains the tradition of practical skill instruction while integrating modern issues like environmental sustainability and digital literacy.

Cooking and Nutrition: Programs under this label prioritize food science, culinary techniques, and the relationship between diet and health, frequently leveraging modern technologies for nutrition analysis and meal planning.

Life Skills: This broader designation includes essential competencies for independent living—such as financial literacy, time management, and interpersonal communication—often supported by digital tools and AI assistants.

Personal Finance and Financial Literacy: Given the increasing complexity of financial systems, many programs now focus specifically on personal finance skills, including budgeting, investments, and risk management.

Historical Context and Transformation

Originating in the late 19th century, home economics initially centered on domestic tasks like cooking and sewing, intended to equip individuals—especially women—with practical household skills. Over the decades, the field expanded to include nutrition, child development, consumer decision-making, and more, reflecting societal changes and evolving roles. By the early 21st century, concepts such as sustainable consumption and digital literacy became integral to the discipline.

Period Focus Areas Key Developments

Early 20th Century: Domestic arts, household management, cooking, sewing. Formal subject in schools; emphasis on practical skills and efficiency in the home.

Mid-20th Century: Nutrition, child development, textile science, home economics research. Broadened curriculum; introduction of scientific principles to domestic practices; increased emphasis on hygiene.

Late 20th Century: Personal and social development, family relationships, consumer decision-making, career guidance. Shift towards personal empowerment and responsible consumerism; focus on critical thinking and problem-solving skills.

Early 21st Century: Sustainable living, food systems, digital literacy, financial literacy, data-driven decision-making in the home. Integration of technology and environmental awareness; emphasis on resource management and responsible consumption; leveraging data to track household expenses and consumption.

Indirect Connection between Richards and Simons through Themes

Ellen Swallow Richards is widely credited as the founder of the home economics movement, emphasizing the application of scientific principles to nutrition, household efficiency, sanitation, and family life. Her work in the late 19th and early 20th centuries helped formalize what would become home economics into an academic and professional field. Grace E. Simons was not directly involved in the field of home economics, family & consumer sciences or related education reform, but through general sources (e.g., Wikipedia) she is known as a 20th-century civic activist in Los Angeles, best known for her work in environmental preservation (e.g., saving Elysian Park). Both Richards and Simons were women engaged in progressive social causes in America during the 20th century.

• Richards brought scientific methods into the domestic sphere, elevating household knowledge to a discipline (home economics) that broadly influenced education and family life.

• Simons worked as a civic activist, advocating for community preservation and public engagement in Los Angeles.

In that sense, they both reflect broader trends in the 20th century where women used professional or civic leadership to influence social conditions, although in very different arenas (education vs. urban/park preservation).

Conclusion

While both are notable women activists of the 20th century, there is no direct link between Ellen Swallow Richards and Grace E. Simons in the context of the CLRN article or the home economics profession. They are connected only in the broad sense that both contributed to social change in different fields.

Reference

CLRN team. (2025, July 2). What is home economics called now? California Learning Resource Network. https://www.clrn.org/what-is-home-economics-called-now-2/

Introduction: A Patchwork of Rules in a Rapidly Evolving World

As artificial intelligence (AI) systems become embedded in children’s lives — from classrooms and homework helpers to social interactions and play — policymakers are scrambling to define safe practices. At the federal level in the United States, comprehensive AI regulation has stalled, leaving states to fill the void. California, in particular, has emerged as a proving ground for ambitious laws aimed at protecting children from AI-related harms while still encouraging innovation.

California’s Leadership and Future Legislation

In Sacramento, legislators, advocacy groups, and the Department of Justice have taken a proactive stance. One of the most notable efforts has been Assembly Bill 1064, also called the Leading Ethical AI Development (LEAD) for Kids Act, which sought to create an oversight board and privacy safeguards for AI systems used by children — including prohibitions on emotionally manipulative chatbots and mandatory parental consent for AI training data derived from minors.

However, this ambitious proposal faced strong opposition from the tech industry, and in 2025 Governor Gavin Newsom ultimately vetoed a version of it that would have broadly restricted chatbot access for minors, citing concerns about over-broad limitations that could stifle beneficial educational tools.

Yet California has not abandoned AI child safety. In October 2025, Newsom signed a suite of bills enhancing online safety, including laws requiring platforms to implement age verification, break reminders, and disclosures that users are interacting with AI — not humans, especially for minors. These rules also enforce stronger penalties for deepfakes and require protocols for detecting and addressing self-harm or suicidal content.

Another significant step was AB 1831, which criminalizes the creation and distribution of AI-generated child sexual abuse material, closing a dangerous loophole as generative tools become more capable.

Looking ahead, Senate Bill 867 — a proposed four-year moratorium on the sale of toys embedded with AI chatbots — is being debated in the legislature, highlighting ongoing concerns about young children’s exposure to unsupervised AI interactions and giving policymakers time to build safety standards before the technology proliferates in play.

Beyond California, other states are acting as well: Texas enacted S.B. 20 in 2025 to make possession or promotion of AI-generated obscene material depicting children a criminal offense, reflecting a wider trend of states updating existing criminal law to account for AI risks.

The Potential Benefits of AI for Children

AI technologies also offer real and promising benefits for child development — especially when thoughtfully designed and regulated:

• Personalized learning: Adaptive AI tutors can evaluate a student’s strengths and weaknesses, delivering customized lessons that support literacy, numeracy, second-language acquisition, and more.

• Accessibility and inclusion: For children with learning differences or disabilities, AI tools can improve communication, reading support, and engagement by adjusting to sensory or cognitive needs.

• Creative engagement: Generative AI can inspire artistic expression, storytelling, and problem-solving by allowing children to explore ideas interactively.

• Parental and teacher support: AI monitoring tools can help detect early signs of learning struggles — such as dyslexia — and provide educators with insights they might otherwise miss.

When well-governed, these applications can bolster developmental outcomes, promote equity, and extend educational resources beyond traditional classroom boundaries.

Risks and Harms: Why Careful Oversight Matters

Despite these benefits, AI can pose unique risks to children — and developmental scientists and family professionals are raising alarms:

• Psychological harm and attachment: AI chatbots that simulate human-like companionship can form intense emotional bonds with users. For children and adolescents whose social cognition is still maturing, such interactions can blur the line between real and artificial relationships, potentially worsening loneliness, anxiety, and social isolation.

• Exposure to harmful content: Reports have surfaced of chatbots generating sexualized language, self-harm encouragement, and other dangerous content when interacting with minors. Zhanging safety measures and age gating is critical because current AI systems often fail to detect and mitigate these harms adequately.

• Privacy and data usage: Children’s personal information — conversations, preferences, biometrics — can be collected and used to train models or build profiles. These practices raise ethical concerns about consent, long-term data retention, and future exploitation.

• Inequitable impacts: AI systems may embed bias or operate less effectively for children from underserved communities, reinforcing disparities in educational resources and mischaracterizing behaviors (e.g., linguistic diversity mistaken for error).

• Distraction and learning substitution: Overreliance on AI tools as substitutes for human instruction can undermine developmentally appropriate teaching and critical thinking skills.

Conclusion: A Call for Balanced Policy and Practice

For child development scholars and family science professionals, AI represents both a powerful resource and a complex challenge. Emerging legislation — from California’s transparency mandates to criminal penalties for AI-generated harms — signals an urgent need for policies that protect children without shutting off innovation.

Thoughtful regulation must be paired with evidence-based guidelines for educators and families, rigorous research into developmental impacts, and design frameworks that prioritize privacy, safety, and developmental appropriateness. As the technology evolves, so too must our legal and ethical frameworks, ensuring that AI empowers children’s growth without exposing them to undue risk.

References

Bauer-Kahan, R. (2025, February 20). Assemblymember Bauer-Kahan introduces groundbreaking bill to regulate AI use for children.

California Governor’s Office. (2025, October 13). Governor Newsom signs bills to further strengthen California’s leadership in protecting children online.

California Attorney General Department of Justice. (2025, September 12). Attorney General Bonta supports AI legislation aiming to protect children from companion chatbots.

Figueira, O., Chamarthi, P., Le, T., & Markopoulou, A. (2026). Actions speak louder than chats: Investigating AI chatbot age gating. arXiv.

Kim, P., Xie, Y., Yang, S. (2025). “I am here for you”: How relational conversational AI appeals to adolescents, especially those who are socially and emotionally vulnerable.

Kim, P., Chin, J. H., Xie, Y., Brady, N., Yeh, T., & Yang, S. (2025). Young children’s anthropomorphism of AI chatbots and the role of parent co-presence.

Moore, B., Herington, J., & Tekin, Ş. (2025). The integration of artificial intelligence-powered psychotherapy chatbots in pediatric care: Scaffold or substitute? The Journal of Pediatrics, 280, 114509.

University of California, Los Angeles. (2025). Evaluating generative AI psychotherapy chatbots used by youth: Cross-sectional study. JMIR Mental Health, e79838.

Yaman, Y., Liu, Y., Zhang, J., Huang, Y., & Wang, Y. (2025). Understanding generative AI risks for youth: A taxonomy based on empirical data.

American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry. (n.d.). Is AI dangerous for children?

Reuters. (2026, February 18). California builds AI oversight unit and presses on xAI investigation.

Associated Press. (2025, October 13). California governor vetoes bill to restrict kids’ access to AI chatbots.

Oxford Academic. (2026). AI companions and adolescent social relationships: Benefits, risks, and bidirectional influences. Child Development Perspectives.

February 28, 2026 CA-AFCS Conference Early Bird Deadline - Registration Form

March 4, 2026 at 2:00PM Student Deadline for $1500 scholarship from the San Diego District -

District Scholarships Info - CA-AFCS

March 28, 2026 CA-AFCS Conference, Los Angeles 2026 Conference - California Affiliate

April 1, 2026 CA-AFCS Scholarship applications due Scholarship Info - California Affiliate

June 18-21, 2026 AAFCS Annual Conference in Louisville Kentucky - AAFCS Louisville, Kentucky

Scholarship information is available on our website: aafcs-ca.org/ca/ scholarship-info

Applications will be available the beginning of 2026 and are due April 1.

Grant information is on our website: Grants - California Affiliate Due date is December 1 of each year.