As an observer of the ACE Study's usefulness and application, I think that this issue, posed by Margo Buchanan, is very relevant: "Are there any resources out there that can help me to understand more about why we wouldn't necessarily use the ACE calculator in all human service or educational organizations and what other ways people are tackling this issue[?]"
Here is my 'answer' from way out in left field: Everything is "energy." How do we use it, and witness the way it is used by others? The ACE evaluation is a tool by itself. When someone (of any age) answers it, the result is a snapshot of their status in the moment. It seems that giving the assessment to a child and using the result to build data, write a label, create a 'treatment' plan, or "do something with" is wrong. Adults should be able to access the evaluation, answer it for themselves and pursue some avenue of 'healing' that is a good fit for them.
Everyone is born as "gold." Everyone turns to "lead" in some way--just as any car starts depreciation the moment it is driven off the lot by a new owner.
Again, it is a matter of "energy."
If we start at this lowest common denominator and assume that everyone has some sort of ACE, some sort of inherent betrayal just because they became a human being in this wide, strange, beautiful, ugly, shades-of-light-and-dark-in-contrast world, then everyone should be taught to tap into their own ability to find compassion first for self, then for others.
Moving now from my post of observation, my personal belief is that traumatic events become the energy of "hurt." Hurt gets held in the body's overall memory ability as a quanta of energy. There are ways to locate and discharge this kind of energy, to neutralize it, and make it a fact that does not continue to radiate. I do not know how this happens, but I suspect that bringing a memory to consciousness and dealing with it gets it to a place where it can be neutralized.
This process is very personal! It is still quite mysterious. I've been working to figure it out since I first learned about the ACE Study in 2010, and I will stay with this mission for the rest of my life. Maybe even beyond my life if that is what it takes.
The human spirit is miraculous. The ACE Study is a gift to humanity. I wish "good energy" to all those who observe it, discern it, "use" it, and who--because of it--practice both the Golden Rule (treat others the way you want to be treated) and the Platinum Rule* (treat others the way you see that they want to be treated).
*Tony Alessandra, Ph.D.