Tagged With "Adverse Childhood Experiences"
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2018 Policymaker Education Day on Childhood Adversity - REGISTER NOW!
The California Campaign to Counter Childhood Adversity (4CA) invites you to participate in our 2018 Policymaker Education Day on Childhood Adversity. Last year, we had over 100 4CA representatives who participated in the day-long event. Policymaker Education Day is an opportunity to come together as advocates to educate policymakers about childhood adversity, the long-term consequences of childhood adversity on communities, and garner support for 4CA endorsed legislation. Please register...
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2019 Economics of Child Abuse in Mendocino County
Mendocino recently shared 2019 data related to the economic impacts of child abuse. The attached documents are in a printable format.
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28,000 LA preschoolers are learning how to be better humans [scpr.org]
I don’t want to be your friend. Stay away. I’m not going to share with you. These harsh statements are "very normal to hear at the beginning of the school year," for preschool teachers like Rafaela Campos. To push past those moments of mean, she and more than a thousand other early educators in the Los Angeles Unified School District now have a new tool. This school year, all 86 of the early childhood centers in the district started using a program called Sanford Harmony, which provides...
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5 Ways Trauma-Informed Care Supports Children's Development
Happy Friday! Below is an excerpt from an article by Child Trends about how trauma-informed care supports children's development. I think it's a nice overview for the trauma-informed work that you're doing - why it's so important, and how it connects to the broader initiative. To see the full article click here . TIC helps service providers, parents, and systems recognize and respond to the needs of children who experience trauma. Each child reacts to trauma differently, but experiencing...
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A Guide to Creating “Safe Space” Policies for Early Childhood Programs [CLASP]
From the Center for Law and Social Policy Early childhood programs play an important role in the lives of young children and their families. But in our current immigration policy climate, families across the country are questioning whether it’s safe to attend or enroll. Providers can take steps to protect families’ safety and privacy by implementing policies that designate their facilities as a safe space from immigration enforcement. This guide explains federal agency guidance related to...
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A New Suite of Data on Safeguards for Youth
Safeguards for Youth is a compilation of the latest data on promoting California children’s health and well-being. The data describe protective factors and supportive services, both of which are critical to building a solid foundation for life and addressing the effects of childhood adversity. Protective factors highlight the importance of preventive health care, a strong start in education, and a nurturing school community. Supportive services address adverse experiences such as health...
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ACEs Champion Julie Kurtz Gives Every Child (and Adult) a Voice
Julie Kurtz hasn’t stopped creating ways to build and promote resilience in herself and others who have experienced trauma since she left her family home for college at age 18. Although she experienced four types of adversity during her childhood, the CEO of the Center for Optimal Brain Integration has traveled a complex journey to mitigate those adversities by recognizing her own internal resilience, building skills to buffer her toxic and traumatic stress, uncovering her voice through...
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ACEs Connection Webinar: The trauma toll on pediatric immigrants, refugees and their families
The trauma toll on pediatric immigrants, refugees and their families Date: Friday, December 14, 2018 Time: 10:30-11:30 am Pacific Time/1:30-2:30 Eastern Time Central American asylum seekers, including a Honduran girl, 2, and her mother, are taken into custody near the U.S.-Mexico border in June in McAllen, Texas. John Moore/Getty Images Please register here for this webinar. News accounts say it all: “Families Are Still Being Separated at the Border, Months After ‘Zero Tolerance’ Was...
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ACES Science 101 (FAQs)
What are ACEs? ACEs are adverse childhood experiences that harm children's developing brains so profoundly that the effects show up decades later; they cause much of chronic disease, most mental illness, and are at the root of most violence. ...
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Addressing historical and childhood trauma: Why native people across the country are gathering in San Diego in October
photo/ CCO Children, in what should be the safety of their homes, experience trauma, and it is ruining lives -- and perhaps entire ethnic groups. Childhood trauma actually alters the structure of the brain – a result of consistent toxic stress, which is why it’s so difficult to heal an individual and help them attain a healthy life. Dr. Anthony Pico The science that was the springboard for making those linkages began with a now famous Adverse Childhood Experiences study of over 17,000...
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Addressing Trauma in Early Childhood: (Issue Brief 61 - (CHDI) Child Health and Development Institute of Connecticut, Inc.)
ARC Supports Parents in Helping Young Children Recover from Trauma Through a five year SAMHSA grant awarded to CHDI as part of the National Child Traumatic Stress Network (NCTSN), the Early Childhood Trauma Collaborative (ECTC) is helping to address this gap by training clinicians to use Attachment, Self-Regulation and Competency (ARC), 5 an effective treatment for young children who have experienced trauma and their caregivers. ARC is a behavioral health treatment that supports parents (or...
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Among preschoolers, bullies who get bullied are at high risk for depression [hechingerreport.org]
It turns out the old saying about sticks and stones breaking bones but words never hurting is bunk. According to research newly published in the peer-reviewed Early Childhood Research Quarterly, emotional bullying in the preschool years hurts quite a lot. When a child both bullies and gets bullied, the findings are especially clear: Depression symptoms begin to appear as early as age 3. Depression in early childhood increases the risk of depression in later childhood, which predicts...
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Apply now to Showcase your work at the San Francisco National ACEs Conference in October 2018!
Applications due June 18. Application link included in this post
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Armstrong: Building a Supportive Classroom Community in Early Childhood
As an educator and researcher who specializes in early childhood and also works with older grade levels, I’ve used National Bullying Prevention Month to reflect on ways bullying progresses as children age. I’ve been wondering what can be done in early childhood to prevent bullying in later grades. I’ve reviewed the literature on bullying, including sites that provide suggestions on how to prevent and address bullying , but figuring out how to get started can be overwhelming as it involves...
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Best toys for children’s development? Hint: They are not electronic or costly [aappublications.org]
Parents are overwhelmed with messaging and claims about how the latest “educational” toy or app is going to make their child smarter or more prepared for school. At the same time, accelerating scientific advances have demonstrated the critical importance of early brain and child development across the lifespan. The new AAP clinical report Selecting Appropriate Toys for Young Children in the Digital Era supports pediatricians as they counsel parents, focusing on what we know about toys and...
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Book review: "Once I was very, very scared," a book on childhood trauma
The past few years have brought a wealth of evidence for the impact of childhood trauma on lifelong health. The AAP has recognized the importance of childhood trauma with conferences (2015 Violence, Abuse and Toxic Stress: An Update on Trauma-informed Care in Children and Youth) and resources ( AAP Trauma Toolbox for Primary Care .) Like many pediatricians, I have been grateful for the attention to and evidence base for an area of pediatrics I see on a daily basis but for which I have felt...
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Book: Trauma Informed Practices for Early Childhood Educators
15% discount with this flyer! Trauma Informed Practices for Early Childhood Educators Relationship-Based Approaches that Support Healing and Build Resilience in Young Children Julie Nicholson, Linda Perez and Julie Kurtz Trauma Informed Practices for Early Childhood Educators guides child care providers and early educators working with infants, toddlers, preschoolers and early elementary aged children to understand trauma as well as its impact on young children’s brains, behavior, learning...
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BUILD Initiative Blogs and Webinars on Early Childhood: Immigration and Trauma
Recent changes in immigration policy are presenting new and intense challenges to infants, toddlers, preschoolers and their families, and the teachers and programs that work with them. Families and programs are experiencing increased trauma due to the immigration climate. With funding from the Irving Harris Foundation , the BUILD Initiative is organizing a series of webinars and blogs in partnership with the Center for Law and Social Policy for providers, state policy leaders, and advocates.
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CA to reimburse for only one of three ACEs screeners
California health care providers will soon begin to learn how many of the 13.2 million California children and adults in the state’s MediCal program have been exposed to adverse childhood experiences (ACEs). But the state’s proposed decision to reimburse only one of three recommended options for screening children has drawn mixed reactions from pediatricians. “If we have mandated legislation that only looks at one screening tool, it really limits the opportunity to improve that screening...
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California Data Dashboard: Child Adversity and Well-Being
A product of the CA Essentials for Childhood Initiative, the California Data Dashboard contains up to 23 select indicators of child adversity, health and well-being, utilizing data available on kidsdata.org. The dashboard below includes state-level indicators. We have also created data dashboards for California counties ( CLICK HERE to see if your community has one and if not, how you can get one for your community!). For more information about this project please go here. The California...
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California Looks To Lead Nation In Unraveling Childhood Trauma [californiahealthline.org]
Imagine identifying a toxin so potent it could rewire a child’s brain and erode his immune system. A substance that, in high doses, tripled the risk of heart disease and lung cancer and reduced life expectancy by 20 years. And then realizing that tens of millions of American children had been exposed. Dr. @Nadine Burke Harris, California’s newly appointed surgeon general, will tell you this is not a hypothetical scenario. She is a leading voice in a movement trying to transform our...
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Care for Yourself, So You Can Care for Others
December can be a busy and stressful time for everyone. Please see the message below from the Office of Head Start, reminding you to take care of yourself and giving some helpful daily tips- Safe Foundations, Healthy Futures Campaign Care for Yourself, So You Can Care for Others December 2018 December can be a particularly hard time to take care of yourself. You may be busy, over-scheduled, stressed about finances, or worried about family. This month, the Safe Foundations, Healthy Futures...
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Child’s behavior may be linked to parent’s adverse childhood experiences [contemporarypediatrics.com]
Parents who have experienced adverse childhood experiences (ACEs), such as abuse, neglect, or household dysfunction, are more likely than parents without these experiences to have children with behavioral health problems, according to an analysis of data from several large, nationally representative surveys of US households that addressed ACEs and children’s behavioral problems and diagnoses. Of the more than 2500 children for whom researchers had data, one-fifth had a parent who reported...
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Connections between early childhood program and teenage outcomes [sciencedaily.com]
A new study published in PLOS ONE by researchers from New York University's Steinhardt School of Culture, Education, and Human Development examined the long-term impacts of an early childhood program called the Chicago School Readiness Project (CSRP) and found evidence suggesting that the program positively affected children's executive function and academic achievement during adolescence. The program targeted children's self-regulation skills while also raising the quality of inner-city...
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Data-for-Equity Research Brief [nichq.org]
Child care offers a safe space for children to grow and learn while their families are at work, making it a critical resource to support healthy development. However, child care is unaffordable for the majority of working parents, especially for low-income and black and Hispanic working parents. This research brief provides insight and analysis about the challenges families face in affording childcare, which can exacerbate inequities in early childhood health and development. [For more on...
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Earlier always better? Child development reseachers question old assumption [CenterforHealthJournalism.org]
It’s always worth revisiting what we think we know. In recent years, there’s been a trend among early childhood researchers to keep moving the focus to earlier and earlier in children’s lives. The storyline might go something like this: Sure, grade school matters, but we need to think about high-quality preschools to level the playing field. Actually, preschool is too late — the interactions kids have with their parents in the first years of life are really what’s crucial for development....
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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 Is Critical to Health Equity [rwjf.org]
The first few years of life are crucial in establishing a child’s path toward—or away from—health and well-being across the entire lifespan. This report, produced in partnership with the University of California, San Francisco, examines some of the barriers to health equity that begin early in life, and promising strategies for overcoming them. Key Findings Poverty limits childrens’ and families’ options for healthy living conditions. Poverty can limit where children live, and can lead to...
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Family Border Separation Policy Has Long-Term Effects on Child Health [medicalbag.com]
Despite a reversal of the Trump administration family separation policy, as of July 2018, more than 2000 children remain separated from their parents or legal guardians. 1 In an article published in JAMA, Howard A. Zucker, MD, JD, and Danielle Greene, DrPH, of the New York State Department of Health, suggest that child-parent separation during an already tumultuous and emotionally strenuous event may exert greater long-term physical and mental health effects on children than is currently...
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Five Things You Wish Your Community’s Early Childhood Programs Knew [CitiesSpeak.org]
By NLC Staff on May 10, 2019 Cities, towns, and villages are places of innovation and solution finding. If you want to improve early childhood wellbeing—local leaders are key partners. The Networks of Opportunity for Child Wellbeing (NOW) Learning Community is a program of Boston Medical Center’s Vital Village. The learning community’s goal is to support local early childhood coalitions and build their capacity to work together with the broader community to improve the wellbeing of our...
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For Low-Income Youth in California, Much is Promised But Little Received with Mental Health Services (chronicleofsocialchange.org)
Mental health disorders in childhood and adolescence are extremely common. Studies estimate between 13 and 20 percent of American children experience a mental disorder in a given year. National survey data indicates that one in five children and teens will suffer a mental disorder that severely impairs daily life. Common mental illnesses include anxiety disorder, depression and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Yet research also indicates that many children in need of mental...
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[Free Webinar] Teaching personal safety in early childhood: Tools for preventing abuse
They say it takes a village to raise a child. This proverb could never be more true than now. To create safe villages for children, every responsible adult—from parents & caregivers, to teachers, staff, aides, specialists, and administrators—needs to work together to understand and teach children the principles of personal safety within the context of developmentally appropriate practice. Join this powerful webinar to learn practical, actionable information, strategies and skills to...
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Free Webinar: Using Culturally Responsive Practices to Ensure Equity for All Children
The State Performance Plan Technical Assistance Project (SPP-TAP) invites you to a Webinar on Wednesday, June 12, 2019 12:00 noon - 1:30 p.m. (PST) Please join SPP-TAP as we welcome Dr. Rosemarie Allen for the upcoming webinar, Using Culturally Responsive Practices to Ensure Equity for All Children focusing on learning environments that are culturally affirming for students in preschool through early elementary grades. Proposed Audience: SPP-TAP invites school and central office personnel to...
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From Compassion Fatigue to Healing Centered Engagement: Turning Trauma Informed Values into Action
To pave the way for a truly strengths-based approach to full healing and recovery for both service users and burned out staff, we must educate them on (1) the central role of primal body responses to trauma (past and present), and (2) the early development of adaptive thoughts and behaviors in response to
traumatic experience.
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From Trauma-Informed to Asset-Informed Care in Early Childhood [brookings.edu]
By Ellen Galinsky, Brookings Institute, October 23, 2019 The focus on “toxic stress,” ACEs (Adverse Childhood Experiences), and trauma-informed care have been game-changers in the field of early childhood development. They have helped us recognize the symptoms of trauma, provide appropriate assistance to children, and understand that prolonged adversity in the absence of nurturing relationships can derail a child’s healthy development. Just look at the media’s and the public’s reaction to...
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Genentech Call for Grants Notification: Advancing the Science behind Childhood Adversity
Grant opportunity from Genentech, for communities deeply engaged in applying ACEs science.
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Gov. Newsom's early childhood advisor describes 'whole-child, whole-family, whole-community' strategy [edsource.org]
For the first time, a California governor has created a position in his office focused on early education. Gov. Gavin Newsom appointed Giannina Pérez as his Senior Policy Advisor for Early Childhood. Peréz previously worked for Early Edge California and Children Now, both well-known children’s advocacy organizations. As an advocate, she worked to expand training for preschool teachers and child care providers to better support children who speak languages other than English at home. She also...
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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 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, especially...
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Greener Childhood Associated With Happier Adulthood [npr.org]
The experience of natural spaces, brimming with greenish light, the smells of soil and the quiet fluttering of leaves in the breeze can calm our frenetic modern lives. It's as though our very cells can exhale when surrounded by nature, relaxing our bodies and minds. Some people seek to maximize the purported therapeutic effects of contact with the unbuilt environment by embarking on sessions of forest bathing , slowing down and becoming mindfully immersed in nature. But in a rapidly...
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Growing Resilient Kids
Resiliency is defined as the ability to bounce back from stressful events we encounter in life. When something we encounter is so overwhelming to us that we become stuck in it, that is one definition of trauma. Resiliency can be viewed as the antidote to trauma. In fact, when we effectively process trauma we have experienced, we often come out the other side far more resilient than before. Our nervous systems have a higher stretch capacity, so to speak. How do we help our kids stretch and...
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How a story about childhood trauma in Paradise became one of community trauma [centerforhealthjournalism.org]
My project for the Center for Health Journalism’s California Fellowship was focused on childhood trauma, zeroing in on a town in Northern California. In the fall, that town — Paradise, California — burned in a harrowing wildfire. The story quickly changed to one of community loss. The story of trauma in two counties My initial project was about Adverse Childhood Experiences, or ACEs. ACEs are one way to quantify how much childhood trauma a person has experienced before the age of 18. Through...
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How Collaboration Fosters Safer Communities for Kids [RWJF.org]
Oct 3, 2018, 11:00 AM, Posted by Martha Davis Collaborative approaches can help ensure kids grow up with a solid foundation of safety and with a support system for those who are affected by violence. As the executive director of Philadelphia Physicians for Social Responsibility in the late 1990s, I worked closely with the local police department, the Women’s Law Project , and the district attorney. At the time, these forward-thinking professionals were frustrated. They were arresting the...
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How do you tell the story of a huge early childhood program over time? [centerforhealthjournalism.org]
Thanks — for nothing, Mr. Reiner. When I started my reporting on the 20th anniversary of California’s Proposition 10 — now known as First 5 — I fully expected to have filmmaker Rob Reiner’s quotations and retrospective as a central piece of the package . After all, he was the sponsor of the ballot measure that created the tobacco tax-funded system for programs serving young children from birth to age 5. And, he welcomed me into his Beverly Hills office for an interview when the measure was...
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How Does Toxic Stress Affect Low-Income and Black Children? [citylab.com]
John Singleton, the groundbreaking director who died last month at age 51 after suffering a stroke, grew up in South Central Los Angeles. In 1991, at first-night screenings in South Central for his debut film Boyz n the Hood, violence broke out. At least one man was killed. The then-23-year-old Singleton remarked about the stress of it: “I think I lost about five years of my life.” He was channeling a bit of conventional wisdom, that extreme stress has lasting effects on health and...
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How Governor Gavin Newsom’s Plan To Identify Early Childhood Trauma In Kids Might Make Healthier, Smarter Students [capradio.org]
Nurse @Wendie Skala worked with teens who were victims of street violence — and she always felt she was getting to them too late. Eventually, she learned about something called “adverse childhood experiences,” or ACEs : The idea that trauma early in life can cause disruptive and unhealthy behavior. And that’s when Skala says a “huge light bulb” went on. “Instead of saying, ‘What’s wrong with these kids?’ We could finally say, ‘What happened to these kids that they’re ending...
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“I Like to Move It, Move It!” – How Dance and Rhythm Can Reduce the Impact of ACEs (stresshealth.org)
As it is, more and more researchers studying the healing power of rhythmic movement on people who’ve experienced trauma from Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs), such as abuse, neglect, or parental mental illness or substance abuse issues. Among these researchers is Dr. Bruce Perry, a psychiatrist and senior fellow at the Child Trauma Academy in Houston who advocates dance, drumming, walking and other rhythm-based movements to help kids with trauma. In a book about trauma and the power of...
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In the Arena with NOW Podcast Episode, "Cultivating Leaders of Color in Early Care and Education" (27 min)
The Networks of Opportunity for Child Wellbeing (NOW) is excited to share the third episode of In the Arena with NOW , a podcast series that lifts up the voices of community leaders who are “in the arena” -- in classrooms, playgrounds, Congressional halls, hospitals, and neighborhood streets -- working to make sure that all children and families can live healthy, thriving lives. In our third episode, we speak with members of the California Consortium for Equity in Early Care and Education...
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Infancy and early childhood matter so much because of attachment (theconversation.com)
We are born to connect. As human beings we are relational and we need biological, emotional and psychological connection with others . Attachment is the relational dance that parents and babies share together. You can think of this when you see a baby look at their parent and they catch each other’s eyes in a wonderful gaze: the parent smiles and the baby smiles and then the parent kisses and the baby coos. Or, when an infant cries to tell their parent they are hungry, and the parent picks...
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Join 4CA in educating policymakers about ACEs! May 1 in Sacramento.
Join us on May 1 for the 3rd Annual 4CA Policymaker Education Day! Register now: bit.ly/4CA2019Register