Child welfare. Juvenile justice. Education. Healthcare. Adverse childhood experiences impact every sector and system, and it should follow that advocacy and policy efforts to prevent and mitigate the impact of childhood trauma should seek to do the same.
The advocacy efforts in Iowa to address ACEs and the impact of trauma have been coordinated by the Iowa ACEs Advocacy Coalition. Co-chaired by Sarah Ramsey from United Way of Central Iowa and Mary Nelle Trefz from Child and Family Policy Center, this diverse coalition focuses on policy priorities to support the overall health and well-being. Both Sarah and Mary Nelle emphasize the importance of the cross-disciplinary nature of the coalition.
“Bringing together a diverse array of organizations to form the policy coalition was important because it helped us consider the diverse sectors impacted by ACEs and formulate policy priorities that touched on these different areas,” states Mary Nelle.
Coalition members spent many hours leading up to the Iowa Legislative Session meeting with elected officials, key committee leaders, legislative staff and government departments to discuss possible policy priorities. The feedback from the meetings, in conjunction with policy examples from other states, led to the development of the attached policy brief.
The brief takes a public health approach in presenting the policy recommendations, including priorities that focus on primary prevention/screening, targeting interventions, and evidence-based treatment. The brief has accompanied two legislative presentations thus far, and has had broad use by coalition members and other advocates in the state.
A special thank you goes to Blank Children’s Hospital for their work in designing the brief.
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