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LONG BEFORE the sunrise, Tim Jones started the work of fathering. He cleared the futon of blankets and pillows, trying not to stir the 4-year-old and 9-year-old asleep on his twin bed and trundle in the living room. Jones, a 30-year-old divorced father of two, boiled water to make hot oatmeal, a nutritious and affordable breakfast that at least his baby boy, Tariq, liked. He studied the landscape of the day. Will it rain? What will the boys wear? Did they finish their homework? He realized...

Officer Carlos Conceicao's knocks elicited barks from inside the two-story house. "Who's that dog making all that noise?" he asked as a woman let him inside from the 19 degree cold. Rodney Webb, a clinician from Yale University, followed with a notebook under his arm. Though they come from separate worlds — law enforcement vs. clinical studies — Conceicao and Webb are every bit partners. They interrupted the woman's dinner prep as her young daughter did homework. The woman's husband wasn't...

On the second-to-last day of 2013, when the glow of Christmas had passed and there was nothing to do but settle in for months of unbroken winter, a stranger arrived in Saranac Lake, a 5,400-person mountain town 70 miles shy of the Canadian border. Set amid the patchwork of forest preserves and villages that make up the largest publicly protected area in the Lower 48, Saranac Lake is the self-appointed "Capital of the Adirondacks," a onetime best small town of New York, and the place where...

At a March 8 breakfast meeting in Washington, D.C., the featured speakers—U.S. Senator Heidi Heitkamp of North Dakota (left) and Judith Sandalow, Executive Director of the DC Children’s Law Center (CLC)—used the vivid image of children growing up with “black mold climbing the walls,” referring to unsafe physical and emotional environments at home and in communities, exacerbated by poverty but not limited to poor households. Heitkamp described how the science now explains what we already...

Like any expecting couple, Brett Pipitone and his wife, Laura, knew that having a child would upend their daily routine. But no research or planning prepared them for their biggest challenge: postpartum depression. “It was an incredibly stressful situation,” Brett said. After giving birth to their daughter in 2014, Laura found herself “wanting to disappear” and completely disengaged from her surroundings. She’d call Brett at work in tears, and he’d rush home to help. He wound up taking much...

In a community center decked with streamers and balloons, Georgia state Rep. Erica Thomas urged a small crowd of teenagers to the center of the room for a rap contest last Friday. “Somebody might get discovered tonight! I may have a record deal for you!” she joked, opening her arms wide in welcome amid the clamor of a communal birthday party for teenagers and young adults who are dealing with homelessness, abuse and neglect, or other troubles. They inched their way to Thomas, then grew more...

When considering early trauma - We MUST find ways to track what happens to people conception to age 4, at a bare minimum, to get the ACE model right. We cannot continue to use archaic thinking such as “What you can’t remember doesn’t matter.”

In an effort to ignite conversation and create awareness about traumatized youth, Illinois State University’s College of Education and Illinois Education Association Affiliates will host a film screening of Paper Tigers, from 6 to 9 p.m. Wednesday, March 30, in Braden Auditorium of the Bone Student Center. The event is free and open to the public, and the film will be followed by an expert panel discussion. Online registration is preferred, but not required. Participants need to register by...

This column was adapted from oral remarks given by the author, Wendy Smith, an associate dean at the University of Southern California’s School of Social Work, during a Congressional roundtable sponsored by the National Foster Youth Institute and the Congressional Caucus on Foster Youth in February. Advocates, professionals, legislators, families, caregivers and all those who interact with the child welfare system grapple with the question of when and how resources should be invested at...

James Milan entered foster care at age 4. “My childhood wasn’t the greatest,” he says wryly. “I was trying to figure out why my mother didn’t want me, why my father wasn’t there.” In and out of foster care homes and group homes, he found the Claremont Neighborhood Center in the Bronx, N.Y., — and now works as a senior counselor there with kids ages 5 through 13. [For more go to http://jjie.org/170747-2/170747/]

Citing research and data on the negative impacts of solitary confinement on the human mind and spirit, President Obama has banned the use of solitary confinement in federal prisons for juveniles. The hope is that for now, this policy will serve as a model for state correctional systems to adopt as well. Sen. Cory Booker, D-New Jersey, is also working to prohibit widespread juvenile solitary confinement. Booker teamed with Sen. Rand Paul, R-Kentucky, to introduce the Record Expungement...

HIV has exacted a terrible toll on many children in sub-Saharan Africa. Of more than 17.8 million children who have lost one or both parents to HIV globally, 15 million live in Africa. Another three million are infected with HIV. And each year very large numbers are made vulnerable when parents or family members become sick and are unable to work. The global health community has made significant progress over the past 15 years to understand how to keep HIV-positive children alive and prevent...