Blog

Sitting across a Baker's Square table from my birth-brother, sipping coffee and eating pie grateful slowly turned to guilt. I first met my birth brother, 5 years younger than me, 20 years ago. We met when the State agreed to open my closed adoption record to help me learn more about my medical history. I met him, my birth sister, and birth mom at a restaurant outside of Chicago- a middle point for us to meet as we lived in different states. When I walked into the restaurant I almost ran into...

Young, living in the country illegally and alone, Hector Estrada was initially unsure about trauma therapy after immigrating to the United States from Mexico following the death of his brother. But after taking advantage of the services provided by the Berkeley-based nonprofit Partnerships for Trauma Recovery, or PTR, Estrada was able to open up. “(Refugees) want a feeling that somebody cares about them,” he said. “You feel safe, you know, they helped me so much with the trauma, with feeling...

In America, health outcomes are far too often dictated by the color of your skin. There is an almost 40% gap between the quality of care received by whites and African-Americans in the United States, and the disparity persists even when insurance status, education levels, and income are taken into account. That accounts for much of the U.S. life expectancy gap of 3.4 years between whites and blacks. 40% The gap between the quality of health care received by whites and African-Americans in...

Now it’s a scientific fact that foster kids have a hard-knock life. Children in the U.S. foster care system suffer significantly higher risks of emotional and physical health problems, the journal Pediatrics reported Monday, such as depression, asthma and obesity. University of California, Irvine sociologists surveyed more than 900,000 children. They found those in foster care were seven times more likely to be depressed, five times more likely to be anxious, and six times more prone to...

Scott Web, an ACEsConnection member who works at the Wisconsin Department of Health Services, sends out this list of links every couple of weeks. Most of the links are from posts on ACEsConnection, and, as you can see, they're organized by category. Some of you have asked if the summaries and links we post can be put into categories. Thanks so much, Scott, for sharing this with the ACEsConnection community! ACEs, Adversity's Impact How childhood trauma can cause premature aging Why parents...

[Note from Jane] --Cissy White wrote this for the Parenting with ACEs group. I've cross-posted it to the main network because I think many people who aren't members of Parenting with ACEs would be interested. And if you're interested in helping develop tools for how parents can educate other parents about ACEs, or their communities about ACEs, I invite you to join the group! I have a friend going through a rough patch. She was physically sick with a back to back virus which is no fun for...

I have never really been good at relationships. Intimacy scares me, and trust is something that is earned. When I travel now, speaking about the lasting effects of my trauma and the scars of the foster care system, I spend lots of talking describing how difficult it can be to have a relationship with me. “You have to do lots of the heavy lifting, because I’m just not going to,” is what I think. People are often confused by this seeming contradiction. I’ve been in a relationship with my...

Children who have been in the U.S. foster care system are at a significantly higher risk of mental and physical health problems - ranging from learning disabilities, developmental delays and depression to behavioral issues, asthma and obesity - than children who haven't been in foster care, according to a University of California, Irvine sociologist. "No previous research has considered how the mental and physical well-being of children who have spent time in foster care compares to that of...

Hundreds of prisoners live in solitary confinement in Los Angeles County jails. On average, they spend at least one year in a cell the size of a wheelchair-accessible bathroom stall, leaving only a few times a week, one at a time, for showers or exercise. Meals arrive through a slot in the cell door. Between the long hours in isolation and the steel doors, a prisoner might go days, or longer, without looking another person in the eye. Solitary confinement costs taxpayers 2 to 3 times more...

When I first came to Baltimore, I had a series of "listening tours." One of the most poignant experiences was with a group of youth — some no more than 8 years old. I asked them to share the single biggest issue on their minds. Their answers shocked and saddened me; the biggest problem these children saw was mental health. They didn't say those words, but what they spoke about was trauma — trauma of watching people they loved being shot and killed; trauma of not knowing whether they would...

“Everyone here is either bullying someone or being bullied. The teachers say if you have a problem, go see them — but they do nothing about it.” “They say they have a zero tolerance for bullying which is A COMPLETE LIE. People are bullied, they try to get help, and then they get NO HELP and continue to get bullied.” “I think that the school should be more controlling on cyber-bullying. They are not aware that their students are being bullied or harassed on social media.” “I wish that the...

The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) is awarding up to a total of $38.6 million in Resiliency in Communities After Stress and Trauma (ReCAST) over the next five years to help people and communities recover from, and build resiliency to trauma. ReCAST grants help communities provide services and supports to youth and families exposed to trauma through natural or man-made disasters or civil disturbances. The grants promote resilience and equity through...