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NICHQ . “Maternal and child health programs and professionals have become increasingly more cognizant of how fathers, specifically, affect their children’s health and development,” says NICHQ President and CEO Scott D. Berns, MD, MPH, FAAP. “Moving this conversation forward, and highlighting strategies that support father engagement and involvement, is a critical opportunity to improve children’s health outcomes in the decades to come. This is not because fathers matter more than any other...

Anne Mosle and Jessica Seinfeld, Ascend - The Aspen Institute , May 30, 2019. In fall 2018, Ascend at the Aspen Institute and the GOOD+ Foundation convened fathers, researchers, thought leaders, policymakers, and practitioners to explore “The Father Factor: A Critical Link in Building Family Prosperity.” The convening was born of the recognition that while the important role of fathers in society has been increasingly documented in recent research and by experts working with families, it has...

ArtForce Iowa is a 501c3 non-profit that was founded in 2012 by a group of concerned citizens, with a mission to transform youth in need through art. Working primarily with youth who have had involvement in the juvenile or family court system, or immigrant, refugee and first-generation American youth who have experienced violence and trauma, the ArtForce Iowa staff team recognized in 2017 that they were not doing everything they could for themselves or their students. That is when Executive...

David VanNuys of Shrinkrap Radio interviewed Mark Constantian MD. Doctor Constantian is a plastic surgeon who noticed a subset of his patients who were trying to remove shame caused by Adverse Childhood Experiences by having plastic surgery. Those patients were often dissatisfied when they woke up and their sense of shame was still there and projected blame for that onto the surgeon. This led Doctor Constantian to study ACEs and write a book about how it affects the profession of plastic...

For people with Childhood PTSD and CPTSD, there are a lot of treatments out there. Yet sometimes no matter what we do or how hard we try, we can hit wall. If you've been working hard at your recovery but you're not making progress, it may be time to up-level your healing with a pinch of TOUGH LOVE. In this video I explain three powerful principles that can help you move forward when you're stuck -- if you dare! You can dive in to my full online course, “Healing Childhood PTSD,” here. If your...

By Jennifer Molina for EdSource Take a journey into rural Butte County, California where districts are confronting high rates of students missing school. [Read the accompanying article by David Washburn here. ]

This information brief highlights a community-based approach to supporting families and newborns affected by substance use. MA EfC developed this brief to address the profound intersection between the Massachusetts opioid crisis, Federal mandates for the development of Plans of Safe Care for substance exposed newborns, and, the MA EfC focus on increasing social connectedness as a means to reduce child maltreatment.

It is time to Ban Spanking... Dr. Amy Bacharach has submitted a resolution to the Democratic Committee asking that we ban spanking. Here are the details: https://stopspanking.org/its-time-to-ban-spanking/ RESOLUTION Ending Physical/Corporal Punishment of Children WHEREAS there is overwhelming evidence that spanking is harmful to children and families as it increases aggression and violence long term, impacts normal brain development, and is ineffective in teaching responsibility and...

By K. Hecht, A. Hosack & P. Berman Davy has friends. He looks happy. Claire is doing a good job ….without me. Larry has read his letter three times now. Claire tells him how much Davy is learning at pre-school. Davy has learned to count to 20 and can write his own name. He has a friend that he always plays checkers with at recess named Lucy. She is the little girl in the striped dress. Claire says how cute it is that Davy calls her his girlfriend because “she is his friend” and “she is a...

We’re pleased to announce that B.K. Bose of Niroga Institute has been selected to present at The Institute for Educational Leadership’s 2019 National Family and Community Engagement Conference in Reno, NV! This convening is a wonderful professional development and networking opportunity for state leaders, school and district leaders, administrators, educators, community-based organizations, researchers and families to come together and focus on solutions that enhance and expand engagement...

Renee N. Salas, M.D., M.P.H., Wendy Jacobs, J.D., and Frederica Perera, Dr.P.H., Ph.D. On June 4, 2019, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals will hear oral arguments in Juliana v. United States to determine whether the case will proceed to trial in district court in Oregon. Nearly 4 years ago, 21 children and adolescents between 8 and 19 years of age, including Kelsey Juliana from Oregon, filed suit against the federal government, charging that the government’s inaction on addressing climate...

Sacramento Bee and Propublica, May 28, 2019. A decade ago, so many inmates were crammed into California’s prisons that the sprawling system had reached a breaking point. Prisoners were sleeping in gyms, hallways and dayrooms. Mentally ill prisoners were jammed into tiny holding cells. There were dozens of riots and hundreds of attacks on guards every year. Suicide rates were 80% higher than in the rest of the nation’s prisons. The California prison population peaked at more than 165,000 in...