The story of an eight-year-old girl named Anna has sparked a movement to end childhood trauma in New Mexico. Anna is a fictional character based on a real case within the Protective Services Division of the New Mexico Children, Youth & Families Department and it's her story in the book, Anna, Age Eight, that is guiding urgent community work focused on ending ACEs, childhood trauma and maltreatment in New Mexico.
A group of family-focused Dona Ana county agencies have initiated a groundbreaking project that will use a data-driven approach to prevent Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) and childhood trauma - the result of ten adverse childhood experiences that include growing up in households where adults misuse substances; are threatening or violent; have mental health challenges; are abusive physically, emotionally and sexually; are neglectful of meeting basic needs; are dissolving marriages or are incarcerated.
The Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) Prevention Project launched on Aug. 8, with a series of events in Las Cruces. They begin with the Resilience Leaders course at City Hall. The ACEs prevention course is a new web-based program with five lessons: Engage, Assess, Plan, Act and Evaluate. The course empowers agency leaders with a result-focused process and was inspired by our success with the Data Leaders for Child Welfare course implemented in New Mexico, New York City and Connecticut.
The course invites participants to explore strategies for meeting the needs of families, improving the conditions children grow up in, and preventing ACEs and trauma. Upon completing the course, participants join one of ten task forces focused on improving the quality of ten vital family-friendly services shown to strengthen families and create safe childhoods.
The local program also sponsored a public forum on ACEs prevention called “The Preventable Trauma and Death of Anna, age eight” for the public, followed by one for legislators and business people. Both forums provided an overview of the root causes, emotional costs, financial cost and data-driven prevention of ACEs.
Las Cruces City Councilor Kasandra Gandara, Dist. 1, the ACEs prevention initiative developer shared, "I was eager to read Anna, Age Eight, having collaborated with the authors on their earlier program, Data Leaders for Child Welfare. The book has become a catalyst for important forums on the root causes of family trauma and how to engage the community in data-driven prevention. Each chapter offers practical ways for addressing long-standing challenges. I especially liked reading their ideas for designing a new version of child protective services called 'Child Welfare 2.0' and creating a city-wide system of trauma-informed behavioral health care to heal families. For elected officials, the business community and the public, Anna, Age Eight will provide a framework for using data, technology and community empowerment, to create a safe place to live where all children are nurtured, and all families have the support they need to thrive."
According to Gandara, most ACEs fly under the radar of child protective services, resulting in high emotional costs to families. A high ACEs score can result in a child's diminished capacity to learn in school, perform well at work, or establish healthy relationships. The costs to government and taxpayers associated with ACEs include resourcing social workers, child welfare programs, law enforcement, the judicial system and emergency room visits.
Gandara says, "The good news is that most ACEs are predictable and preventable with a data-driven and cross-sector, city-wide process. The blueprint we are using for our citywide ACEs prevention program is Anna, Age Eight: The data-driven prevention of childhood trauma and maltreatment by Katherine Ortega Courtney, PhD and Dominic Cappello. We will be using their Resilience Community Experience Survey to assess how accessible our family services are to parents and youth. Once we identify the gaps in services in particular neighborhoods, we can target our resources. We're committed to a collaborative approach that creates partnerships between the city, county and school boards."
For more information about the Las Cruces Resilience Leaders ACEs Prevention Project, contact Kasandra Gandara kgandara@las-Cruces.org. For a free copy of Anna, Age Eight please email info@safetyandsuccess.org
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