On April 27, King County Executive Dow Constantine proposed his Best Starts for Kids ordinance to the County Council. The proposed levy is focused on supporting children to “put every child on a path toward lifelong success.” This is an exciting opportunity and Constantine gets it right!
All the recent research on brain science and child development supports this message: Prevention in the early years of life will dramatically influence later life outcomes and a child’s potential to thrive.
Consider the landmark Adverse Childhood Experiences study that linked several key challenges that families with physical and behavioral health problems face throughout life. What this study glaringly shows is that these adverse childhood experiences are influenced and driven by the adults and communities that shape the child’s life. In other words, kids are raised in families and communities, so in order to achieve best starts for kids, we have to strengthen families and communities by investing in a holistic set of services. Issues such as domestic violence, addiction, incarceration, hunger and homelessness add stress and trauma to the life of a child, and these require support for the adults in children’s lives as well as for the children themselves.
[For more of this story, written by Merril Cousin and Carrie Vanzant, go to http://realchangenews.org/2015...eve-best-starts-kids]
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