August 2021

Despite institutional child sexual abuse being a known and alarming issue, most recently highlighted by investigations of the Boy Scouts and USA Gymnastics, little is known about the extent of the problem and best practices for prevention. Yesterday, PACEs Connection hosted a webinar with Dr. Billie-Jo Grant and Terri Miller, experts in school employee sexual misconduct. They cover the scope of the problem, why it is so difficult to address, and best practices for prevention.

By Veronica Chambers, The New York Times, August 18, 2021 The spring and early summer of 2020 was a tough time for me and many other parents. The deaths of George Floyd , Breonna Taylor and the spotlight on previous victims such as Elijah McClain broke our hearts again and again as we watched graphic videos of police-involved killings and stayed glued to the news. There were days that I woke up crying and went to bed crying. I tried to hide these tears from my daughter. But she had just...

This article appears with explicit permission of RACMonitor; a version of this story was published 8/19/21 There was tremendous buzz last week about the U.S. Census report on shifting demographics across the country. Yet the greater concern in the area of the social determinants of health (SDoH) is mitigating prevailing gaps in care. What happens when society’s most vulnerable populations grow due to a pandemic? Just how much trauma can populations endure? Healthcare history was made when...

By JJIE Staff, Juvenile Justice Information Exchange, August 18, 2021 Following its July 2017 resolution urging a shift in how juvenile probationers are supervised, the National Council of Juvenile and Family Court Judges recently issued its blueprint for how judges and probation officers help make that happen. Based, in part, on results of that organization’s 2020 survey of family court judges across the country, “The Role of the Judge in Transforming Juvenile Probation: A Toolkit for...

By Amy L. Eva, Greater Good Magazine, August 18, 2021 “I’ve got to be on. I’ve got to be extra on,” said one school counselor I know during a recent staff meeting. As educators across the country welcome students back to school this fall, they are feeling the pressure. It’s difficult to imagine how we will navigate so many unknowns across this new school year. No doubt many of us don’t even feel ready to be back, yet here we are. With this lack of control comes the need for flexibility and...

By DeNeen L. Brown, The Washington Post, August 18, 2021 Tulsa Race Massacre survivors and the descendants of victims have asked the U.S. Justice Department to intervene in the city’s search for mass graves. Justice for Greenwood, a foundation representing three known massacre survivors, as well as descendants, historians and activists, sent a letter Friday to formally request that the Justice Department open an investigation under the Emmett Till Unsolved Civil Rights Crime Act to determine...

By Margaret Renkl, The New York Times, August 16, 2021 Something wonderful happened in Memphis last month: Community organizers in the city managed to stop a crude-oil pipeline from running beneath the historic neighborhood of Boxtown as well as several other predominantly Black communities along its projected 45-mile route. The Byhalia Connection pipeline was to be a joint venture by Plains All American Pipeline and Valero Energy. As The Commercial Appeal in Memphis reported in March,...

By Elizabeth Amon, The Imprint, August 9, 2021 What unites the group of imprisoned men seeking change isn’t addiction recovery, making amends or anger management. Instead, it’s a shared childhood experience: foster care. “State-Raised” is the name of the group they’ve formed with the goal of disrupting the foster care-to-prison pipeline. Washington legislation passed this spring is designed to help that mission, the group’s founder Arthur Longworth said on a recent call from the Monroe...

By Anita Sircar, Los Angeles Times, August 17, 2021 My patient sat at the edge of his bed gasping for air while he tried to tell me his story, pausing to catch his breath after each word. The plastic tubes delivering oxygen through his nose hardly seemed adequate to stop his chest from heaving. He looked exhausted. He had tested positive for the coronavirus 10 days ago. He was under 50, mildly hypertensive but otherwise in good health. Eight days earlier he started coughing and having severe...

New Guidance: California's Mandated Reporting Requirements and ACE Screening We are pleased to share this joint letter from the California Department of Social Services, the California Department of Health Care Services, and the Office of the California Surgeon General providing clarifying guidance on the responsibilities of health care clinical teams who conduct screenings for Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) in the context of the state’s mandated reporting requirements. The Child Abuse...

By James F. Smith, Harvard Kennedy School, August 2, 2021 The COVID-19 pandemic increased negative emotions across the world. People reported poor mental health and behavior problems including sleeping less, consuming more drugs and alcohol, struggling to concentrate, and fighting more with loved ones. Over the past year, researchers from scores of countries joined together to study whether interventions to mitigate negative emotions and increase positive emotions could improve psychological...

By Alejandra Londono Gomez and Alycia Hardy, Center for Law and Social Policy, August 18, 2021 It is no secret that the cost of child care is unbearable for most families. In many states, the monthly cost of child care often exceeds the average mortgage payment and the annual cost is higher than in-state college tuition . Historically, this cost has fallen to parents and providers as the child care system has been significantly underfunded. The lack of funding exacerbates the structural...