If the populations of Knoxville and Chattanooga were combined, they still wouldn't equal the number of adults in Shelby County who experienced some form of abuse, neglect, or household dysfunction as a kid.
A new privately funded task force recently administered an Adverse Childhood Experience (ACE) survey, and it showed that 52 percent (an estimated 361,200)of adults in Shelby County had at least one adverse childhood experience. These are categorized as things like child abuse, domestic violence, neglect, and alcoholism in the family.
For those who encountered adverse childhood experiences on a more consistent basis, the likelihood of them being unemployed, abusing drugs, having poor health, contracting sexually transmitted infections, or attempting suicide was significantly higher.
To intervene with kids who may be at risk of heading down a similar path, twoUniversal Parenting Places will be opened here this spring. The goal of these centers will be to aid and educate parents whose children are exhibiting negative behaviors on how to combat these issues before they progress.
[For more of this story, written by Louis Goggans, go to http://www.memphisflyer.com/me.../Content?oid=3812214]
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