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In the race to dominate the child abuse prediction market , the world’s largest data analytics firm has its eye on what it calls “perpetrator” networks. SAS , with a global workforce of 14,000 and $3.16 billion in revenue in 2015, delivered Florida’s Department of Children and Families a lengthy technical report in August of last year. The report claimed that the firm had developed the strongest child abuse prediction algorithm to date by focusing on the many adults in a child’s life who...

When we speak of ACEs we do so, almost universally, as adults. But the adverse experiences lived through are lived through by children, as children, while children. When I look at the photos in the Survivor Gallery I feel sad and old. I remember childhood and the way I felt as a kid, while a kid. Ancient. Lost. Confused. All at the same time. Today, I'd say ancient-lost-confused is code for anxiety or helplessness or too alone. But I didn't know that as a kid. As a kid, I felt wrong and bad...

A trigger is a reaction that is more instinctive and immediate, lacking our typical skill or thought, that has ties to our conditioning of the past. At the point our conditioning takes over, our amygdala amps up, which is the little almond in our brain that detects danger and tells our fight or flight reactions to kick in. Our amygdala comes in very handy at times, however, it’s not the best at determining when danger is real or not. So, let’s use three mindful approaches with roots in...

I just received Bridging the Relationship Gap: Connecting with Children Facing Adversity. It is written by Sara Langworthy, PhD. who is also a You Tuber. Her content is engaging and accessible. Anyhow, she's starting an online book study group and parents and professionals and people who care about ACES might want to participate. CEU's are offered. She is also got a discount code for her book and is making it available via audio for those who prefer listening rather than reading as I...

Hello. I wanted to introduce myself to this group. My name is Rene Howitt and I'm the founder a non-profit child advocacy organization, COPE24....Changing Our Parenting Experience. Our mission is "To significantly reduce incidences of child abuse and neglect." Our methodology is through parenting education. I've been working with Family Consumer Science (FACS) and health teachers since 2008. We believe that parenting education should be a priority in all of our high schools, reaching all of...

I asked parents on my Heal Write Now Facebook page for some feedback before my last talk on Parenting with PTSD. Here are some of the responses parent shared. “When I first became a parent I didn't understand that not all parents reacted or were triggered the way I was. For example, all parents go through lack of sleep but for me it brought up physical and emotional memories of the years of night terrors I suffered. It took me awhile to figure that out on my own.” Karen P. “The hardest part...

Excerpt from this blog post, which I wrote earlier today: "This past week has been brutal, in terms of what has been coming across my newsfeed. And 2016 wasn't exactly a picnic either. So lately I've been thinking a lot about the mental health impact of a steady avalanche of Really Bad News. Many of us (myself included) deal with mental health challenges on a daily basis and being fed a steady diet of devastating world events only serves to make that harder. So I've decided to share a few...

Brené Brown was interviewed by Lesley Chen and spoke most about her new e-course on imperfect parenting. Here's an excerpt. B+C: What does it mean to be imperfect and wholehearted? How do the two go together? BB: We are all human and imperfect. As much as we would like it to seem like we have it all together, we don’t, especially when it comes to parenting! The good news is that we are all in this together and parenting perfection is not the goal. In fact, the best gifts — the best teaching...

Lisa Damour Ph.D. is a psychologist, best-selling author, monthly New York Times online columnist, and regular contributor to CBS News. She blends years of experience with the latest research developments to provide sound, practical guidance to children and adolescents as well as their parents, teachers, and advocates. If you missed hearing Lisa's insightful, funny and frank presentation about raising a teenager (yes, I think there's lot of info here for parents of teenage boys too!), I...

A few months ago I published a blog, " A Mother's Rage". I re-accounted my rage and helplessness regarding my daughter's high school rape in Miami, FL. I ended my post with words of hope. I wrote how several years had passed since my daughter's assault. She was now engaged and pregnant with my first grandchild.  This is the rest of the story. I held my daughter's hand as she labored through the night with my grandson. I tried to comfort her fiancee who felt helpless. I rubbed her back,...

Note: ADHD is complicated. This is an interesting read for parents and teachers with kids on the younger side compared to peers. Of those children, 5937 received medication for ADHD, or attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, with boys more highly represented than girls. Among kids aged 6-10, those born in June, the last month of the recommended school intake, were twice as likely to have been given ADHD drugs as those born in July, the first month of the recommended intake. A similar...

Note: Personal experience and research combined are pretty dang persuasive and compelling. There are lots of people who are still very resistant to attachment parenting and sometimes consider it extreme. I know because when my daughter was first home from China I practiced this style of parenting. Being responsive to her wants and needs and cues was priority number one because she'd been in an environment where her needs weren't always met. However, had I not adopted and learned about...