Samantha McVey brought her 4-month-old daughter, Ruby, to The Children’s Clinic for a routine check-up and vaccinations. But within minutes of sitting down with Dr. R.J. Gillespie, McVey was describing her turbulent childhood with a drug-addicted father who spent time in prison.
“How do you think that affects your parenting now?” Gillespie asked.
“I don’t want my kids to have to go through that,” said McVey, 23.
McVey told the doctor she considers herself a good mom but occasionally loses her temper and yells at Ruby’s 5-year-old sister, Madison. “Sometimes I get to the point where I’m crazy,” she said.
Gillespie is among a growing number of pediatricians across the country going beyond the typical well-child visit and delving deeper into the history of families like McVey’s. The goal is to prevent children from experiencing traumatic events that can interfere with their brain development and increase their risk of physical and emotional problems in adulthood.
[For more of this story, written by Anna Gorman, go to http://khn.org/news/stemming-t...s-for-the-kids-sake/]
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