Tagged With "Alive and Well Communities"
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RESOURCE: Parent guide information
Please share the with the families you serve the attached a 2-page document for parents and caregivers about the parent guides that Yolo County Children's Alliance has produced as a project of the Yolo County Child Abuse Prevention Council (CAPC). All of the guides are available at www.yolokids.org/forfamilies . There are some hard copies of the following guides and we would love for them to get into the hands of parents. Please let me know if you would like some of these materials!
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Resources for Parents
Grand Resources: A Grandparent’s and Other Relative’s Guide to Raising Children with Disabilities Link: https://s3.amazonaws.com/pushbullet-uploads/ujzNDwQrsR2-e9bzzqRW17gTKJfeJd1zxrArTZrlgITZ/2013-grandfamilies-GrandResourcesFULLGUIDE.pdf...
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Resources for Supporting Children's Emotional Well-being during the COVID-19 Pandemic [childtrends.org]
By Jessica Dym Bartlett, Jessica Griffin, Dana Thomson, Child Trends, March 19, 2020 The following guidance, recommendations, and resources are provided by child trauma experts at Child Trends and the Child Trauma Training Center at the University of Massachusetts. The Center is housed at the University of Massachusetts with Child Trends as the lead evaluating agency, with funding from SAMHSA and the National Child Traumatic Stress Network and additional support from HRSA. While the Centers...
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Save the Life of Your Child
Some of my colleagues and I have developed a process and program called, "Design Thinking Suicide Prevention," that we have been presenting at mental health conferences . The reason for it is that we have discovered that certain words scare too many people who don't have to deal with mental issues in their family (although that number is becoming smaller and smaller). In fact, just the word "mental" causes people to run for the hills unless it directly affects them or a family member. Design...
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Self-Regulation and Toxic Stress [Administration for Children and Families]
This report builds on the previous report in this series, Foundations for Understanding Self-Regulation from an Applied Developmental Perspective, which describes a theoretical framework that is utilized in the present review of empirical...
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Shared Grief: If my daughter could know me it would help her understand her own suffering (www.risemangazine.org)
Rise Magazine is one of the few places I know of that gives voice to the experiences of parents who have children involved with child welfare. About Rise: Every year almost 300,000 children enter foster care nationwide. Media coverage of foster care focuses on tragic child deaths, the need for foster and adoptive parents, and the experiences of young people who age out of foster care at 18 or 21. Less understood is that more than half of children in foster care return home to their parents...
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Sharing Data to Benefit Kids: A Guide for Child Welfare and Education Systems [aecf.org]
Re-sharing this blog post from the Annie E. Casey Foundation where they shared a guide for data sharing linkages between child welfare and education - the Roadmap for Foster Care and K-12 Data Linkages . ...Successful data linkages mean agencies are able to draw on all the publicly collected information to create a more complete picture of individual students in foster care, helping inform interventions that are more effective. “Data sharing between foster care and educational agencies is...
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So you know about ACEs...Turn your AHA! into Action!
Spring is the time for rebirth and new beginnings! As we look around, we can observe nature around us awakening after a long winter sleep. A true sign of resilience. At Origins , we have been lucky enough to create a space for growth and learning for both groups and individuals who work towards creating environments of healing and resilience over the winter months. After completing the first round of The Resilience Champion Certificate of 2018, we have 23 graduates putting their action plans...
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Social policies to prevent adversity -- see Open Access link (until July 1) to “A Critical Assessment of the Adverse Childhood Experiences Study at 20 Years”— in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine
The ACEs research by Drs. Felitti, Anda and colleagues focused attention on the important consequences of childhood adversity for adult health. Of course, as many in the resilience-building movement recognize, adversities affect children’s health and life trajectories as well. When we recognize the powerful impacts of harsh life circumstances for children and families, it becomes clearer that social policies to strengthen household and community resources are needed as well as...
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Social Policy Report The Biological Embedding of Child Abuse and Neglect Implications for Policy and Practice
Each year within the US alone over 770,000 children are victimized by abuse and neglect (US Department of Health and Human Services, 2010), and this figure is likely to underestimate the extent of the problem. Researchers have long recognized that...
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Social Workers Study Trauma to Better Serve Children [BlueRidgeNow.com]
The North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services, Division of Social Services has developed a trauma-informed child welfare system! Through the support of a five-year grant awarded by the Children's Bureau, public child welfare in North Carolina has transformed to be a trauma-informed workforce. Presently, social workers and supervisors statewide are being trained on trauma-informed practices as well as self-care strategies to minimize the impacts of compassion fatigue. Two of the...
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Some 350 Florida Leaders Expected to Attend Think Tank with Dr. Vincent Felitti, Co-Principal Investigator of the ACE Study; Expert on ACEs Science
Leaders from across the Sunshine State will take part in a “Think Tank” in Naples, FL, on Monday, August 6, to help create a more trauma-informed Florida. The estimated 350 attendees will include policy makers and community teams made up of school superintendents, law enforcement officers, judges, hospital administrators, mayors, PTA presidents, child welfare experts, mental health and substance abuse treatment providers, philanthropists, university researchers, state agency heads, and...
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Some Thoughts on Oprah (www.attachmenttraumanetwork.org)
Laura Dennis wrote about why so many adoptive parents, as well as teachers, survivors, and advocates, were glued to the TV last night. Here's an excerpt:
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Sponsorship Opportunity to Help Community Resilience Initiative
CRI is seeking various levels of sponsors for our Fourth Annual Beyond Paper Tigers conference. We would love if you would consider partnering with us to assist our community's education, best practices, and treatment strategies. Sponsorships will help pay for speakers, meals, supplies, and conference activities. To partner with us at our highest gift level- as a lead sponsor- would bring profound impact to our conference. We would be grateful for the honor of calling you our lead sponsor,...
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Standing Strong – The knowledge, skills and peer support parents need to lead (www.risemagazine.org)
Cissy's note: I admire the work of this parent-led and parent-focused organization. I read everything they post. For those not familiar with what they do, this is a recent interview with three staffers and gives a really good look at what and how they work to support families and make systems change. Here's an excerpt. The full piece is here. To read more of this piece recently published in Rise Magazine, go here.
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Strengthening Families Framework TRAINERS
Thirty more individuals in the states of California, Indiana, and Alabama were just trained to be a trainer of the Strengthening Families Framework from the National Alliance of Children's Trust and Prevention Funds. This is HUGE! That makes slightly over 1,000 total from the 50 states. But what happens now? We have newly trained trainers trying to reach out and converse with everyone and anyone, with local Health and Human Services Agencies, with local schools, fire departments and police...
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Supporting Brain Development in Traumatized Children and Youth
This Administration on Children and Families (ACF) bulletin summarizes the effects of early trauma on brain development and looks at steps child welfare professionals can take to screen for developmental delays and identify the trauma-affected children and youth in their care. It also looks at ways to access cross-sector, therapeutic, and evidence-based treatment to encourage healthy recovery for trauma-affected children and youth. HERE TO ACCESS MATERIALS. Document attached.
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Supporting Older Youth Beyond Age 18 [Child Trends]
Examining Data and Trends in Extended Foster Care During the transition from adolescence to adulthood, youth achieve important developmental milestones, such as learning decision-making and coping skills and becoming more independent. Older youth often rely on family and other supportive adults to help them during this transition by providing guidance as well as a financial and emotional safety net. However, these supports are often unavailable to older youth who are leaving the foster care...
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Systems Integration: Child Welfare and Juvenile Justice
This resource from the National Center for Juvenile Justice focuses on how policies and practices addressing the challenges posed by dual-status youth in both the child welfare and juvenile justice systems have changed within the past decade. It...
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Talks that celebrate sweet dads [ted.com]
Beautiful talks by wonderful fathers and the children who love them. A father’s healthy relationship with his children is a cornerstone of resilience. I came across this TED playlist of nine talks that celebrate sweet dads . This resource share is not only a collection of inspirational TED Talks honoring the role of the father. The talks are both fathers, and children who love them. Each of these talks could be applicable to a variety of situations for professionals to share inspiration and...
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Telling a more complete story about child welfare
A new study from Berkeley Media Studies Group found that coverage of the child welfare system omits important context and connections to other issues. Here are four steps practitioners can take to improve the news.
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The Absence of Punishment in Our Schools
Where to begin... My heart is full of hope and joy as I watch the trauma-informed schools movement swell across our nation and planet. The science of ACEs is mind-bending to say the least and we are now able to open up a much deeper dialogue about human behavior and health. Ultimately this work is about healing… All. Of. Us. A new consciousness is taking root around ending the “us vs them” construct. The idea is growing that we’re all on this journey together and that no matter where our...
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THE ASSOCIATION OF CHILDREN’S RESIDENTIAL CENTERS [Together The Voice]
Call for Papers - NOW OPEN THE ASSOCIATION OF CHILDREN’S RESIDENTIAL CENTERS 64th ANNUAL CONFERENCE San Diego, CA • April 7-10, 2020 CALL FOR PAPERS Several broad topics will illuminate the theme. Proposals that relate to the suggested topics will be considered as well as papers focusing on other topics that reflect innovative and effective practices. We seek presentations in the form of a 90-minute workshop as well as in a poster format for our poster presentation session. Both are an...
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The foster care system, trauma, and resilience - a panel discussion
Trauma often does its greatest harm when it occurs during the impressionable stages of our youth. Losing one's parents, moving from different schools, living in an unstable environment - all of these are issues that can break into a child's world and cause difficulties well into adulthood. What can we do? What has research shown to be the current best practices? What is the science behind this aspect of foster care, and how does it relate to our faith? I was honored to be a part of a panel...
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The Hello It’s Me Project comes to Pittsfield: Dr. Claudia Gold at the helm of initiative to create healthy bonds between parents and infants (www./theberkshireedge.com)
Cissy's note: I am a huge fan of the way @Claudia Gold works with those of us Parenting with ACEs . The first time I read her writing I relaxed. She was speaking with and for parents not about or at us. Unfortunately, her approach is rare. Fortunately, she just launched a new project she's been dreaming of for years. I love the way she supports all families and how she centers the role of all parents in the lives of all children - especially those - not all except those...
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The implicit bias of, “Mental Illness” and “mentally ill”, a lexicon of hurt.
How can we heal from the implicit bias of “ Mental Illness ” and “ mentally ill ”? I hear these words and it sounds like fingernails scraping down the chalkboard. “ The stain of dehumanization colors the mind, body and spirit and it is not so easily washed away.” - Michael Skinner Recently I read a blog post at the ACEsConnection website, “Erasing My ACES” by Sirena Wheeler. It was posted on April, 19, 2020. It struck a chord with me, many in fact and it put me on a spiral down memory lane.
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The Kids Aren’t All Right [theatlantic.com]
COVID-19 doesn’t appear to be a major concern for children’s health, but the youngest among us will still bear the larger burdens of trauma and economic fallout. One of the lonely silver linings of the COVID-19 pandemic is that the disease doesn’t appear to be that bad for kids. Although children are certainly not immune, and a study of the outbreak in Wuhan indicates that infants are susceptible to severe complications, most healthy kids don’t seem to face a significant risk of death. So...
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The Trauma-Sensitive Parenting Summit & Commentary
"Having a history of trauma or loss does not by itself predispose you to have a child with disorganization. It is the lack of resolution that is the essential risk factor. It is never too late to move toward making sense of your experiences and healing your past. Not only you but also your child will benefit." That's a quote from the book Parenting from the Inside Out: How A Deeper Self-Understanding Can Help You Raise Children Who Thrive, which was published fifteen freaking years ago. It's...
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Therapy Dogs and Service Dogs: What Are They and Why Are They Important?
Therapy dogs are used in a wide variety of environments and circumstances but, broadly speaking, they are dogs whose presence is designed to help alleviate stress, promote feelings of well-being and sometimes help with a process of rehabilitation or healing in humans other than their owners.
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Toxic Childhoods [politco.com]
Often times, a pediatrician or medical professional well-versed in the effects of ACEs or toxic stress can be the initial bridge to services, support, and building resilience for children, youth and families served by child welfare. It's exciting and encouraging to read about more and more pediatricians grounding their medical practice within ACEs framework. A toddler came into my examination room recently at Bayview Child Health Center in Bayview Hunters Point, an underserved, largely...
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Trauma-Informed Care as a Universal Precaution: Beyond the Adverse Childhood Experiences Questionnaire [jamanetwork.com]
By Nicole Racine, Teresa Killam, and Sheri Madigan, JAMA Pediatrics, November 4, 2019 Experiences of childhood adversity are common, with more than 50% of adults reporting having experienced at least 1 adversity as children and more than 6% exposed to 4 or more adverse childhood experiences (ACEs). There is currently a controversial debate in the medical field as to whether the ACEs questionnaire, which asks about abuse, neglect, and household dysfunction before age 18 years, should be...
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Trauma, Opiates, and Child Welfare: How Family Serving Agencies Can Do Better. [chronicleofsocialchange.org]
We all know far too well the devastating effects of the national opioid crisis, and specifically, the ever-present role of opiate addiction in child welfare. Follow here to read a piece by Nico’Lee Rohac, a foster care alumni and Social Worker, published 9/18/17 by The Chronicle of Social Change. By all outward appearances , I grew up in a normal American family. My parents had respectable jobs in construction and nursing, a four-bedroom home, family dog and a playhouse my father built from...
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Trauma Sensitive Approaches to the COVID -19 Response
We at Alive and Well Communities wanted to take a moment to present some considerations for how our community responds to COVID-19, through the trauma lens. These suggestions assume that additional core institutions will close and/or must limit the ways they typically engage with community members. It is also assumed that a number of community members will have to self-quarantine and “shelter in place.” These suggestions are guided by the principles of trauma informed care: trustworthiness,...
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Treating trauma's steep toll on native youth remains challenge for courts [inforum.com]
Of the many reaches of trauma-informed practice, a trauma-informed court room seems to be one of the most impactful. The court is an instutution which holds tremendous power, through the work of trauma-informed courts, judges are uniquely positioned to use this power to help traumatized youth who appear before them. What this means is a more accurate assessment of what a traumatized youth may need as far as mental health, behavioral, and social-emotional support. When trauma-informed systems...
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Trump’s Top Child Welfare Official Speaks [ChronicleofSocialChange.org]
by Daniel Heimpel , November 6, 2017 In June, the Trump administration hired Jerry Milner to lead the federal agency within the Department of Health and Human Services that oversees federal child welfare funding and policy. The Administration for Children, Youth and Families (ACYF) was established in 1977 and oversees the Family and Youth Services Bureau as well as the much larger Children’s Bureau, which was created by President William Howard Taft back in 1912. As acting commissioner of...
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Two giant child welfare systems effectively admit the obvious: They confuse poverty with “neglect” (socialjusticesolutions.org)
FLORIDA: CANDOR FROM THE ATTORNEY GENERAL’S OFFICE In Florida, the admission was explicit. WFLA-TV, the same television station that broke this outstanding story about a child taken because of poverty only to die in foster care has followed up. In this story, they found state officials who admit that children are held in foster care solely because the children lack decent housing. As the version of the story on the WFLA-TV website puts it: NEW YORK CITY: A FOOD PANTRY THAT TELLS A STORY In...
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What Does Trauma-Informed Mean to Foster Youth? [JJIE.org]
For three decades, I have listened in awe to the brave voices of children, youth and families who have shared, in anguish, their past experiences — experiences that anyone would objectively call “adverse” and ones that can have lasting effects on health and well-being. The seminal ACEs (Adverse Childhood Experiences) study opened my eyes to how pervasive their stories were and how these findings might influence the development of effective interventions and treatment, especially for...
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Why Do Child Welfare Agencies Keep Demanding Poor People Raise Their Kids ‘Independently’ When No One Else Does? [youthtoday.org]
I’ve just caught up with an excellent 2014 story from ProPublica on how child welfare systems deal with parents who have mental illnesses. The story looked at two cases in which parents really did have some sort of mental illness (putting them in the same company as an estimated 43.8 million Americans in any given year). That sets the point of the story apart from another major problem in child welfare — quick-and-dirty “psych evals” that mislabel parents mentally ill largely because they...
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Why We Need To Collect Data on LGBTQ Youth in Foster Care [chronicleofsocialchange.org]
In the United States , the Adoption and Foster Care Analysis and Reporting System (AFCARS) collects demographic and other types of information on all youth who enter the foster care system. This practice allows the government and the public to track how well the system is meeting its ultimate goal — to place all children into stable and loving homes. In 2016, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ (HHS) Administration for Children and Families (ACF) made a final rule that would...
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Re: Child Protection Agency in Australia Introduces Digital Memory Boxes for Kids in Foster Care
Originally Posted by Tina Marie Hahn, MD: One of the lead child protection agencies in Australia, Barnardos Australia , has introduced a resource for children and youth in foster care : a digital “memory box” called MyStory . The purpose of the digital memory box is to give children and youth in foster care a place to store their photos, report cards, drawings, letters, and other documents without fear of losing them while in foster care. In doing so, the agency hopes to provide a sense of...
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Will the Pandemic Have a Lasting Impact on My Kids? [greatergood.berkeley.edu]
By Diana Divecha, Greater Good Magazine, May 18, 2020 Massive unemployment. Stunning loss of life. Disrupted education. An economy in freefall. These are the ingredients for tectonic social shifts that alter the arcs of human lives. Parents are always at the fulcrum of such pressures, protecting their families while trying to hold together a semblance of normalcy. For 100 years, developmental scientists have studied how families and children respond to disasters, manmade and natural. From...
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The Journey to Ready4K Trauma-Informed
It began with a request from a small rural coastal town. They needed a new way to support families facing some of the biggest challenges. Their community was experiencing trauma at a higher rate than the surrounding towns. Community members were not getting the services they desperately needed to navigate challenges.
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A Better Normal, Tuesday, June 9th at Noon PDT: Racial Trauma & How to be Anti-Racist
Please join us for the ongoing community discussion of A Better Normal, our ongoing series in which we envision the future as trauma-informed. Protests and riots across the country--and even worldwide--are making it impossible to ignore the racial trauma of police brutality and historical trauma embedded within our society. Many of us are grappling with complex feelings of helplessness and righteous anger. In response to this pandemic of racism in America, "A Better Normal" will hold space...
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The Power of Discord: Quotes & A Better Normal Community Discussion with the Authors
The brand new book, The Power of Discord: Why the Ups and Downs of Relationships are the Secret to Building Intimacy, Resilience, and Trust was the topic of one of our A Better Normal series discussion last week. We were honored to be joined by the co-authors, Ed Tronick, Ph.D., and Claudia Gold, MD. More about each of the authors and the book can be found here and this A Better Normal community discussion is below. The audio from this conversation can be found here and selected q uotes from...
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ACEs Connection Launches New LGBTQ+ Community: the Rainbow Resilience Connection of LGBTQ Survivors
I am thrilled to announce the newest ACEs Connection Community, the Rainbow Resilience Connection of LGBTQ Survivors ! This newest community is a group for anyone who identifies as part of the LGBTQ+ community or who supports the community. You can find the page and join here ! The Community Managers are myself and Mary Giuliani, you can read more about us below! You may be wondering why we chose the name: Rainbow to reflect the colors of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer...
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Resources to Support Children's Emotional Well-Being Amid Anti-Black Racism, Racial Violence and Trauma [childtrends.org]
By Dominique Parris, Victor St. John, Jessica Dym Bartlett, Child Trends, June 23, 2020 Most Black children in the United States encounter racism in their daily lives. Ongoing individual and collective psychological or physical injuries due to exposure and re-exposure to race-based adversity, discrimination, and stress, referred to as racial trauma , is harmful to children’s development and well-being. Events that may cause racial trauma include threats of harm and injury, hate speech,...
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Housing Assistance on COVID-19 Issues [changelabsolutions.org]
By Change Lab Solutions, June 23, 2020 Access to safe, stable, and affordable housing is crucial for community health, and COVID-19 is amplifying its importance. Access to housing helps individuals practice social distancing and maintain adequate hygiene to prevent infection. Housing quality is equally important. Given that families are encouraged to stay home as much as possible during the pandemic, it is critical that individuals have housing that is free of lead, mold, and other harmful...
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Invite: Community of Practice, Early Childhood (online)
For anyone who has access to the internet and a computer. Please share the invite widely! Details Community of Practice ∞ Invite Commitment Form Commitment Due by July 15th I'm thrilled to invite you and yours to join a six month pilot to imagine and actuate Early Childhood Learning & Wellness that more fully benefits all children, families, and communities. I cannot think of better people than you all to help shape this group. Also, I hope it's a helpful option for schools, programs,...
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Do safe, stable, and nurturing relationships work? New research has important findings for responding to ACEs
While we know that adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) can cause risk behaviors, research has told us that the presence of protective factors can help mitigate the effects of ACEs. Common risk behaviors such as smoking tobacco and alcohol misuse can be a result from the trauma of childhood disadvantage. In responding to ACEs, public health research proposes that protective factors such as safe, stable, nurturing relationships (SSNRs) with a caring adult can mitigate the long-term effects of...
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A Better Normal Community Discussion: Rebecca Lewis-Pankratz on Community, Poverty & Parenting with ACEs: Friday, July 17th at 3p.m. EST
Please join us this Friday, July 17th as we speak with @Rebecca Lewis-Pankratz for our next A Better Normal discussion at 3p.m. EST. This conversation, hosted by @Cissy White (ACEs Connection Staff) and moderated by @Alison Cebulla (ACEs Connection Staff) will be about building community, ending poverty, and and parenting with ACEs. Rebecca will share her personal story as well as her work with families, schools, and communities. Click here to register. About Rebecca's Lewis-Pankratz (in her...