Tagged With "Family Resource Centers"
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Only a fraction of California children eligible receive subsidized child care [EdSource.com]
As Gov. Gavin Newsom pushes to expand subsidized childcare in California, a new report indicates that the state still has a long way to go to reach a substantial share of its neediest children. Only 1 in 9 children eligible for subsidized childcare and preschool programs in California were enrolled in a program that provided full-day, year-round care in 2017, according to an analysis by the California Budget and Policy Center, a nonpartisan organization that analyzes how budget and tax...
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Parent Handouts: Understanding ACEs, Parenting to Prevent & Heal ACEs (English)
Please see the main post for these parent handouts in the ACEs Connection Resources Center. These two flyers ( Understanding ACEs and Parenting to Prevent & Heal ACEs ) can be downloaded, distributed, and used freely. One is brand new and the other is a revision. Both flyers were made with generous support from Family Hui, a Program of Lead for Tomorrow. Translations of these flyers are in progress and will be shared by Family Hui and updated on ACEs Connection when available.
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Parenting Apps Aren't Just About the Kids Anymore [hechingerreport.org]
By Jackie Mader, The Hechinger Report, February 20, 2020 When Kayla Ramsey learned about Goal Mama, a new app from the Nurse-Family Partnership, a home visiting program, she jumped at the chance to try it out. Ramsey, who lives in Montgomery, Alabama, and has participated in the Nurse-Family Partnership since she became pregnant more than two years ago, quickly found this app was different from other parenting apps. Instead of solely highlighting developmental information relevant to her...
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Parents Need Flexible and Affordable Child Care [RWJF.org]
I remember how it felt when I returned to work after the birth of my first son. Trying to figure out child care was confusing, overwhelming, and downright stressful. Of course I wanted the very best care for my baby, but I didn’t know what “high quality” really looked like. Our first arrangement was with a nearby woman who cared for a few other children in her home. Pretty quickly, I decided it wasn’t the right fit. I cobbled together a mix of family and part-time care while searching for a...
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Peace of Mind: Adverse Childhood Experiences [14News.com]
Science shows children's exposure to trauma and toxic stress could lead to major health problems later in life. Walk into any classroom at Evansville's Ark Crisis Child Care Center, and you will find children who feel safe and welcome. "A lot of the kids that we see have lived in a number of different places, they don't have a home, they don't have some place to call their own," said Angie Richards Cooley, Ark Crisis Child Care Center executive director. "So we work really hard here at Ark...
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Plymouth County Schools Receiving Trauma Informed Training
This opportunity is for schools and districts to receive training to develop an awareness of the prevalence of traumatic experience, its impact on academic behavior and relations and the need for a whole school approach. For the 2019-2020 school year, Carver, Marshfield, Rockland, Scituate and Silver Lake qualified to receive free training from TLPI.
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Positive Relationships Can Buffer Childhood Trauma and Toxic Stress, Researchers Say [bostonglobe.com]
By Kay Lazar, The Boston Globe, October 15, 2019 Traumatic events and toxic relationships during childhood can cast long shadows, often damaging mental health well into adulthood. But a growing body of research suggests sustained, positive relationships with caring adults can help mitigate the harmful effects of childhood trauma. And specialists say pediatricians, social workers, and others who work with kids should take steps to monitor and encourage those healthy relationships — just as...
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Power of Family Resilience to Protect Children From Bullying [sciencedaily.com]
By American Academy of Pediatrics, Science Daily, October 25, 2019 Studies show that children exposed to childhood trauma known as adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) are at increased risk of being bullied or bullying others. New research being presented at the American American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) 2019 National Conference & Exhibition suggests that family resilience -- the ability to work together to overcome problems, for example -- reduces this risk. The research abstract,...
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Preschool Teachers Earn Less Than Tree Trimmers [TheAtlantic.com]
In the past several decades, advances in brain science have suggested that the learning that occurs in the first few years of a child’s life lays the groundwork for a productive adulthood. The expansion of preschool is one of the few topics where both Republicans and Democrats in Congress find common ground; while lawmakers don’t always agree on how programs should be funded or structured, the belief that good early-childhood education can help prevent later gaps in test scores and...
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Presentation: Are the Words "Toxic Stress" Toxic? Re-thinking the Narrative About Early Life Stress
The concepts of “toxic stress” and “adverse childhood experiences” (ACEs) have captured professional and public attention in recent years. While this has helped to bring more resources and interest to early childhood issues, it has also resulted in some harmful language and imagery that depicts children, families, or entire communities as “broken” or beyond healing and resilience. In our concern about adversity, are we selling short the capacity of individuals and communities to heal and...
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Principals to Get Specialized Training to Tackle Racial Inequities in Their Schools [blogs.edweek.org]
By Denisa R. Superville, Education Week, November 5, 2019 The country's second-largest school district—where 82 percent of students are Latino and African American—is tapping principals to root out racial bias and inequitable practices in their schools. Los Angeles Unified School District and the Race and Equity Center at the University of Southern California have partnered to train principals and other school leaders to tackle systemic inequities. The Racial Equity Leadership Academy for...
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Protecting Brains, Stimulating Minds: The Early Life Roots of Success in School
Below is an Askwith Forum with Dr. Jack Shonkoff of the Harvard Center on the Developing Child. Understanding both the biology of adversity and the science of early learning is essential for building a strong foundation for reducing disparities in educational achievement. The benefits of evidence-based curricula in the early childhood years cannot be fully achieved without effective strategies for preventing the consequences of toxic stress.
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Regulations for child care hard to roll back, as Trump proposed, because there aren’t many [hechingerreport.org]
Ivanka Trump has waded into the child care debate again with vocal support for a proposed one-time influx of $1 billion to the federal Child Care Development Fund, which provides states with money for subsidizing care. The money, which is listed in addition to the $5.3 billion for child care also included in the White House’s proposed budget, would be available to states willing to compete for it in part by eliminating requirements or regulations that can make it harder to run child care...
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Resource List - Trauma Informed Approaches and Autism Spectrum and Other Developmental Disabilities
Resources for individuals, organizations, and communities moving along trauma and hope-informed pathways in order to: Prevent and mitigate adverse childhood experiences (ACEs). Promote resilience and safe, stable, nurturing relationships and environments. Promote equity and racial justice. Prevent substance abuse and promote mental health. … so that all children, youth, families and communities have equal opportunity for educational success, economic stability, health, and well-being.
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Resource List - Trauma Informed Approaches and Autism Spectrum and Other Developmental Disabilities
Resources for individuals, organizations, and communities moving along trauma and hope-informed pathways in order to: Prevent and mitigate adverse childhood experiences (ACEs). Promote resilience and safe, stable, nurturing relationships and environments. Promote equity and racial justice. Prevent substance abuse and promote mental health. … so that all children, youth, families and communities have equal opportunity for educational success, economic stability, health, and well-being.
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Revisiting a Wonderful Resource
Today I stumbled on an "old" resource and was reminded about what great and accessible information it has. Calmer Classrooms was published in 2007 by the Child Safety Commissioner in Victoria Australia. It is full of excellent and...
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Self-Care Resources
Self-care is a key element of a trauma-informed approach, at individual, organization, and community levels. This internet resource list includes links to introductions to ACEs and the ACE Study, self-care, secondary trauma and mindfulness. Self-Care - General Self-Care Starter Kit, School of Social Work, University of Buffalo http://socialwork.buffalo.edu/...are-starter-kit.html Relaxation Tool Kit, Navy and Marine Corps Public Health Center...
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Sesame Street Resources for Families Coping After Natural Disasters
In the aftermath of recent hurricanes and wildfires, the Sesame Street in Communities team wanted to reach out to provide information on our available resources to help families cope in the aftermath of natural disasters, and other traumatic experiences. Bilingual videos, articles, printables and more, are all available for free on our website at www.sesamestreetincommunities.org . Here are the links to a few topic pages that may be most useful to you as you work with families in the...
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Sesame Street Resources for Families Coping After Natural Disasters
In the aftermath of recent hurricanes and wildfires, the Sesame Street in Communities team wanted to reach out to provide information on our available resources to help families cope in the aftermath of natural disasters, and other traumatic experiences. Bilingual videos, articles, printables and more, are all available for free on our website at www.sesamestreetincommunities.org . Here are the links to a few topic pages that may be most useful to you as you work with families in the...
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Sesame Workshop and BTC Team Up to Help with Big Scary Feelings during the COVID-19 Crisis
Caring for Each Other: How to Use Sesame Street in Communities Resources for Health Emergencies with Families Now Wednesday, April 1, 2020 @ 3 PM ET We're all in this together, and that's why we're all coming together. Sesame Workshop and the Brazelton Touchpoints Center are partnering on a webinar series, beginning April 1st, to share online resources that can help us handle the sudden changes in our lives when we face health emergencies like the one that confronts us today. As a result of...
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Child Care Crisis Disproportionately Affects Children with Disabilities
A new report from the Center for American Progress found that parents of young children with disabilities are more likely to face job disruptions due to child care challenges. The report explores how the lack of affordable, high-quality child care options disproportionately affects these families and policy solutions for addressing these barriers. https://www.americanprogress. org/issues/early-childhood/ reports/2020/01/29/479802/ child-care-crisis- disproportionately-affects- ...
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Childcare Outside the Family for the Under-Threes: Cause for Concern [journals.sagepub.com]
By Denis P. Gray, Diana Dean, and Philip M. Dean, Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine, February 13, 2020 Child-rearing is culturally determined, varying between countries. For thousands of years in most cultures, it has been kinship groups and parents, especially mothers, who have been central. Parenting changed in the mid-20th century, partly through better educational opportunities for women, partly through reliable birth control and partly through cultural agreement on female...
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Closing the Child Care Access Gap [CityLab.com]
In April , Creative Learning Preschool in the center of downtown Madison, Wisconsin, launched an ambitious campaign : to raise half a million dollars to buy the building they had operated out of for 19 years. As rents continue to spike in Madison, public day cares have struggled to stay in place. The only other nonprofit child care option for downtown parents, Red Caboose, announced a move to the east side of the city in September. If Creative Learning were forced out, “there would be nobody...
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Collateral Damage: Advocates aim to save Baltimore children from impact of violence [baltimoresun.com]
The first time she witnessed a student's major tantrum — a 2-year-old hurling a toy stove filled with plastic pots and pans — Shanikia Johnson had just started as a teacher at Little Flowers Child Development Center in West Baltimore....
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Considering Family, Environmental, Cultural and Economic Factors, an opportunity to exclude children from Special Education and Address ACES and become more Trauma Informed.
Unfortunately, by putting the problem on the students we are causing more trauma. We are making “something wrong with them” and trying to fix it. But I don’t think it is working. Because the families and the teachers are not addressing the root cause and children are stressed, suicide rates are up, and teachers are leaving the profession.
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D.C.'s Universal Preschool Program has been Hugely Beneficial for Moms - and the Economy [psmag.com]
In 2008, the District of Columbia passed the Pre-K Enhancement and Expansion Act , which sought to make free, full-day, high-quality preschool available to all three- and four-year-olds in the district. The preschools run on roughly the same schedule as the city's elementary schools, and teachers are paid salaries on par with the city's elementary teachers. Today, approximately 90 percent of the district's four-year-olds and 70 percent of the district's three-year-olds attend public...
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Day Care Centers For The Most Fragile Kids Struggle To Stay Open (californiahealthline.org)
Beth Kemplin said that for the first several months after the birth of her son, Bear, she had no idea he would be severely disabled. She started to notice something was wrong when, at 10 months old, he couldn’t sit up. He didn’t babble or meet her eye. He cried 20 hours a day. Now, at 5½ years old, Bear’s list of medical diagnoses is long: cerebral palsy, autism, a seizure disorder and pica, a compulsion to eat objects like rocks and toys. Kemplin had to quit a job to look after Bear when he...
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DCYF Director Says N.H. More Focused on Keeping Families Together [nhpr.org]
By Rick Ganley and Mary McIntyre, New Hampshire Public Radio, October 17, 2019 Reports of child abuse and neglect reached a record high in New Hampshire during the last fiscal year. That's according to data released last week by the Division for Children, Youth and Families, the state's child welfare system. NHPR's Morning Edition Host Rick Ganley spoke with the DCYF director Joe Ribsam about what this data mean for measuring the agency's progress and how DCYF plans to do better. [ Please...
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Despite Gains, the Emotional Lives of Children Often Forgotten by Our Medical System [centerforhealthjournalism.org]
By A.K. Whitney, Center for Health Journalism, November 11, 2019 I don’t remember the date, or even the time of year, though the medical records tell me it was 1977. I was 6. But I will always remember that day: the gloomy, wood-paneled exam room at Karolinska Institutet in Stockholm, the hard, high table I sat on, the doctor looming above me as he muttered about swan necks and hammers, though there were no birds or tools in sight. He didn’t bother making eye contact with me. I’m not sure he...
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Developing Healthy Minds: It’s Never Too Early to Start! [Blog.SAMHSA.gov]
The human mind is one of the most complex structures in the universe. Even in early infancy, it is capable of taking in a wide variety of inputs. Still, in our early years, we’ve only unlocked a small portion of its potential. Our brains actually continue to develop into our twenties . Accordingly, the U.S. Government embraces a definition of youth that continues until we turn 25. Nurturing the development of young minds to stay healthy through adulthood is a primary goal of SAMHSA’s Project...
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Early-childhood development offers a brighter future to entire nations [The Seattle Times]
By Steve Davis and Peter Laugharn, July 29, 2019 The Seattle Times The World Health Organization just unveiled an initiative that could improve millions of children’s lives and boost the global economy by trillions of dollars. The initiative, known as the Nurturing Care Framework for Early Childhood Development , [ PDF attached ] seeks to change how we raise infants and toddlers. Children’s experiences during their first three years of life heavily influence their well-being as adults,...
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Early Childhood Education Matters—Here’s How to Make It Great [PSMag.com]
By the time a low-income child enters kindergarten in America, they’re already woefully lagging their more advantaged peers — 11 months behind in math and 13 months behind in reading, according to a recent report from the Center for American Progress. (Chart: Center for American Progress) The figure at left, from the CAP report—“How Much Can High-Quality Universal Pre-K Reduce Achievement Gaps?”—illustrates the gulf between both low- and high-income children and minority and white children.
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Early childhood educators learn new ways to spot trauma triggers, build resilience in preschoolers
A hug may be comforting to many children, but for a child who has experienced trauma it may not feel safe.
That’s an example used by Julie Kurtz, co-director of trauma informed practices in early childhood education at the WestEd Center for Child & Family Studies (CCFS), as she begins a trauma training session. Her audience, preschool teachers and staff of the San Francisco-based Wu Yee Children’s Services at San Francisco’s Women’s Building, listen attentively.
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Early Childhood Providers, Systems Leaders, Communities: Timely! Please Answer Early Relational Health Questionnaire
Early Relational Health (ERH) – is an emerging framework that elevates the primacy of relational experiences as foundational for life-long health, learning and social-emotional wellbeing and has relevance across the child and family-focused fields of pediatrics, public health, infant-child mental health, early learning, child welfare and early childhood community systems. Please take 10 minutes to answer this questionnaire, offered by the Center for the Study of Social Policy (CSSP). CSSP's...
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Elaine Miller-Karas Helps Bring the Dalai Lama's Vision to Light
Elaine Miller-Karas, executive director and co-founder of the Trauma Resource Institute, has been invited to attend the launch in New Delhi, India, of a special program initiated by His Holiness the Dalai Lama. Miller-Karas is one of the key developers of the Trauma Resiliency Model® (TRM) and the Community Resiliency Model® (CRM) – biological-based models designed to help people recover from toxic stress. Miller-Karas has shepherded the Trauma Resource Institute since its birth in 2006 into...
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Even Infants Need Mental Health Care, so new Chicago Clinic Caters to Those 5 and Under [chicagotribune.com]
By Peter Nickeas, Chicago Tribune, September 20, 2019 In and around Chicago’s Little Village neighborhood, long-standing causes of friction like gun violence and poverty have for some families combined with newer fears of immigration crackdowns and deportation of loved ones — and mental health professionals hope to address toxic stress that can have long-term effects on the lives of very young children. Aiming to rectify the shortage of mental health care available to infants and children...
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Even Toddlers, Preschoolers Need Trauma-Informed Intervention [youthtoday.org]
Benjamin Franklin once said; “An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.” Nowhere is this axiom truer than in the field of children’s mental health. My years of education, training and experience as a school-based clinical social worker at The Guidance Center , working with children, their families and educators, has led me to realize the value of a trauma-informed lens. This means I have an understanding of how the brain forms and functions in relation to the environment, and that...
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Experts Worry Active Shooter Drills in Schools Could be Traumatic for Students [npr.org]
By Lulu Garcia-Navarro, Sophia Alvarez-Boyd, and James Doubek, National Public Radio, November 10, 2019 A regular drumbeat of mass shootings in the U.S., both inside schools and out, has ramped up pressure on education and law enforcement officials to do all they can to prevent the next attack. Close to all public schools in the U.S. conducted some kind of lockdown drill in 2015-2016, according to the National Center for Education Statistics. Last year, 57% of teens told researchers they...
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Family-Centered Pre-Kindergarten Provides A Strong Foundation For Children’s Mental Health And School Success [NewsWise.com]
A family-centered, school-based intervention in pre-kindergarten programs developed at NYU Langone Medical Center, known as ParentCorps, has a positive and lasting impact on mental health and academic performance, according to new research published online October 3 in JAMA Pediatrics. A study of close to 800 low-income black and Latino children enrolled in pre-k in New York City public schools found that children who attended programs with ParentCorps had fewer behavioral and emotional...
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Few programs prepared to help traumatized infants and toddlers, report finds [EdSource.org]
Few early education programs are prepared to help children recover from traumatic experiences, such as abuse and neglect, that can have long-term effects, according to a recent report . The National Center for Children in Poverty , a national public policy organization that advocates for children in poverty and low-income families, released the report titled, “Helping Young Children Who Have Experienced Trauma: Policies and Strategies for Early Care and Education.” It describes the impact of...
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For Parents with High ACE Scores
When I lecture at universities, advocacy groups, hospitals, schools, etc., I’m often asked: what advice do you have for parents who have high ACE scores if they are trying to raise children with fewer ACEs? Children with ACEs find “resiliency” because an adult provides a safe environment – in which they feel known, validated. So that means that the most important thing adults can do is to manage their own stuff. Self-regulation by adults is a first step to help kids self-regulate themselves.
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FREE Access to 2 Early Childhood Webinars, Resources and Handouts on COVID-19
FREE Access to 2 Early Childhood Webinars, Resources and Handouts on COVID-19 (details below) Sponsored by Region 9 Head Start Association, Continued and Center for Optimal Brain Integration™ Webinar #1 Being Your Own Emergency First Responder: Leaders Managing the Stress of Working in Response to COVID-19 Facilitators: Julie Kurtz, Julie Nicholson and LaWanda Wesley Description: This webinar provides leaders with useful information to help them manage their own stress response to the...
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FREE Access to 2 Early Childhood Webinars, Resources and Handouts on COVID-19
FREE Access to 2 Early Childhood Webinars, Resources and Handouts on COVID-19 (details below) Sponsored by Region 9 Head Start Association, Center for Optimal Brain Integration™ and Continued. Webinar #1 Being Your Own Emergency First Responder: Leaders Managing the Stress of Working in Response to COVID-19 Facilitators: Julie Kurtz, Julie Nicholson and LaWanda Wesley Description: This webinar provides leaders with useful information to help them manage their own stress response to the...
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Free ECE APP for Sensory and Emotional Literacy
Center for Optimal Brain Integration™ is offering our Sensory and Emotional Literacy APP for FREE for a lifetime if you download in the next 2 months. You can access links to the APP and a free 22-minute video and a free 16-page user guide to support children ages 3-8 with sensory and emotional literacy. Download now while it is free and share widely. We wish you and your children physical, social and emotional wellness. https://www.optimalbrainintegration.com/app-1
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FREE Mindfulness Curriculum for kids
Listening to a FREE Mindfulness and Meditation Summit presented by Sounds True and heard about a FREE curriculum from Richie Davidson, PHD at the Center for HealthyMinds at University of Wisconsin - Madison. Here is a description of the currilum: Various mindfulness programs have been developed for adults, but we and our colleagues at the Center for Healthy Minds at the University of Wisconsin–Madison wanted to develop a curriculum for kids. Every school teaches math and reading, but what...
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Giving traumatized kids a head start in healing [PBS News Hour]
Every year, thousands of children in the U.S. are expelled from school before they reach kindergarten. PBS News Hour special correspondent Molly Knight Raskin reports on the Head Start-Trauma Smart program in Kansas City, Missouri, thats trying...
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Governor Newsom announces Nadine Burke Harris to be CA's first-ever surgeon general
Governor Gavin Newsom today announced the appointment of Dr. Nadine Burke Harris, a national leader in pediatric medicine, to serve as California’s first-ever Surgeon General. There is overwhelming consensus in the scientific community around early warning signs and childhood determinants of serious health outcomes. As California's Surgeon General, Dr. Burke Harris will urge policymakers at every level of government and leaders across the state to consider the social determinants of health,...
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Great parenting resource for Strengthening Families 5 Protective Factors
Here is a great website from the Five for Families public awareness campaign that explains the Strengthening Families 5 Protective Factors to parents. It has parent-friendly language, videos, questions to consider, and parenting ideas. https://fiveforfamilies.org/
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Group of educators, policymakers aims to tackle preschool suspensions [EdSource.org]
California preschools are mirroring an alarming national trend, suspending or expelling children from preschools far too frequently. This is the judgment of a group of state educators, policymakers and representatives of public agencies, including the California Department of Education, who are working on a proposal that will offer solutions. The group is an unofficial committee that grew out of a project involving the Department of Defense and the WestEd Center for Child and Family Studies...
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Helping Young Children Who Have Experienced Trauma: Policies and Strategies for Early Care and Education [ChildTrends.org]
This report from Child Trends and the National Center for Children in Poverty includes a review of the prevalence of early childhood trauma and its effects. The report offers promising strategies for child care and preschool programs looking to help young children who have endured trauma, and presents recommendations for policymakers to support trauma-informed early care. [For more of this story go to https://www.childtrends.org/publications/ecetrauma/]