There is nothing more important than the health and happiness of our children, and what they experience in their early years helps build the foundation for them to grow into strong, confident adults. But every year, more than 650,000 children across our nation suffer from abuse and neglect, and more than 1,500 die from this abuse. We are only recently becoming aware of the long-term impact of these preventable tragedies on our nation's physical and economic health.
We were honored to host the Commission to Eliminate Child Abuse and Neglect Fatalities in Madison recently. The commission, formed by the Protect our Kids Act of 2012, is charged with developing a national strategy and recommendations for reducing fatalities. Members are currently working to raise visibility and awareness about the problem, review data and best practices to determine what is and is not working, and identify solutions. The commission will issue a report to the president and Congress in early 2016, complete with findings and recommendations that can drive future policy.
We were pleased to share with the commission the impact of Fostering Futures, which I helped establish in 2011 in partnership with Angela Carron of the Fostering Hope Foundation and Laurene Gramling Lambach of SET Ministry.
We launched this effort in response to research showing children within child welfare are exceptionally vulnerable to the effects of chronic toxic stress resulting from abuse and maltreatment. Furthermore, research shows toxic stress has a long-term negative impact on a child's healthy growth and development. This evidence-based research into Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) is at the forefront of a new paradigm in child welfare called trauma-informed care.
[For more of this story, written by Tonette Walker, go to http://www.jsonline.com/news/o...882z1-318503391.html]
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