Children Now has released the 2020-21 California County Scorecard of Children’s Well-Being , an interactive tool that delivers data on how kids are doing in each of California’s 58 counties, and tracks 39 key indicators of children’s well-being – over time, by race/ethnicity and relative to other counties – from prenatal to the transition to adulthood. This year, we’ve added 11 new indicators to provide a more comprehensive whole-child view, including the percent of youth who identify as...

In the spring of 1982, Susan Burton turned to alcohol and drugs to cope with the death of her 5-year-old son, who had run into the street and was hit by a vehicle driven by an off-duty police officer . Over the course of the next 17 years, Burton was in and out of prison. “Each time I left, I felt a little more broken,” she told me recently. What would have made a difference, she said, was “if there could have been a way to have therapy from traumatic childhood events, disappointments and...

From San Mateo County Office of Education Facebook page : Our Wellness Wednesdays series is now meeting on Thursdays from 3:30-4:30pm starting January 21, 2021. Take advantage of this opportunity to focus on your well-being and experience our shared humanity through mindfulness practices, simple creative exercises, and restorative listening circles. Register at https://bit.ly/3bsbOaz

Licensed clinicians to embed with police in Daly City, San Mateo, Redwood City and South San Francisco Jan. 12, 2020 Redwood City – Health professionals will team with police to help people in a mental or behavioral health crisis in San Mateo County’s four largest cities. The pilot program approved today by the San Mateo County Board of Supervisors seeks to defuse volatile 9-1-1 calls and provide appropriate care for non-violent individuals. The licensed mental health clinicians will join...

We're excited to share this behind-the-scenes story of how the Ready4K team collaborated with First 5 Del Norte to create the country's first trauma-informed text message support program! Hear directly from Angela Glore, executive director of First 5 Del Norte, about how she and her partner organizations worked together to connect the dots between community health goals and early learning opportunities. It's a fascinating story of how this rural community set out a big, hairy, audacious goal...

Becoming ACEs Aware in a Challenging Year Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) and toxic stress represent a public health crisis that has been, until recently, largely unrecognized by our health care systems and society, but there is hope. On January 1, 2020, eligible Medi-Cal providers began to receive a $29 payment for conducting qualifying ACEs screenings for children and adults up to age 65 with full-scope Medi-Cal. As many of you know, this is part of the ACEs Aware initiative , a...

By Rosemary Tisch, Psychology Today, January 1, 2021 We should be very worried”, states Dr. Jack Shonkoff, Director of Harvard University’s Center on the Developing Child : · Risk for child abuse increases during economic crises. · Parental job loss due to the pandemic can have negative consequences on young children, including increased risk for psychological and physical abuse at the hands of their parents. · Emergency Room doctors are reporting more severe abuse cases, although child...

Virgie Hoban November 19, 2020 It was a racist policy enacted over 80 years ago, but its aftermath dribbles on — all the way to the babies born today, new research shows. Using historical maps and modern birth data, UC Berkeley researchers have found that babies born in California neighborhoods historically redlined — denied federal investments based on the discriminatory lending practices of the 1930s — are now more likely to have poorer health outcomes. The study was published open access...

By Maddy Weinberg, California Magazine, December 2020 As California’s first-ever surgeon general, how do you hope to shape the position? Dr. Nadine Burke Harris: Governor Newsom established the position of California Surgeon General with the understanding that some of the most pernicious, but least-addressed health challenges are the upstream factors that eventually become chronic and acute conditions that are far more difficult and expensive to treat. As the first California Surgeon...

By Karen D'Souza, EdSource, December 14, 2020 California became the first state in the nation to offer parents Paid Family Leave in 2014. Now, more than a quarter million parents use this lifeline to take care of their newborn babies every year. Low-income parents, however, are often the least likely to take advantage of paid leave, research shows. California’s new Master Plan for Early Learning and Care is a 10-year blueprint for gradually reforming early childhood and education at a cost...

Some of us here at ACEs Connection were interviewed on film and/or on background and we are eager to watch this four-part series.

This short and practical paper explains how relationships are vital to health, and what you can do as a health provider to help children and families be healthy in the face of increasing stress and physical distancing. The fear and social isolation associated with COVID-19 are worsening existing chronic stressors, as well as creating new ones for families who are experiencing new kinds of adversity. People are feeling isolated and alone and have less emotional support than they did prior to...