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Each month Prevent Child Abuse America's Chief Research and Strategy Officer, Dr. Bart Klika, does a quick run-down of emerging research related to child abuse and neglect prevention. In this inaugural installment, Dr. Klika walks through some of the recent research into the effects of childhood trauma and how the lasting effects of this trauma is impacting mothers who participate in home visiting programs. Watch the video here

Children in troubled families are often destined for troubled lives — unless they get help before their brains become “hard-wired for stress.” That’s what scientist Katie McLaughlin says happens when children endure abuse or neglect, homelessness or hunger. McLaughlin, director of the Stress and Development Lab at the University of Washington , said there are scientifically proven ways to help, but getting those services to children and families is a challenge. To end the cycle, Tucson is...

Oklahoma has one of the highest rates of young children with adverse experiences, such as domestic violence, sexual assault and poverty. Research has shown a connection between those types of adverse experiences and poor health, which might explain why Oklahoma consistently ranks as one of the worst states in a variety of health outcomes, including teen pregnancy, smoking and heart disease. The goal behind a public summit this Wednesday is to not only better understand that correlation but...

Our kids have tried to wake us up before In 2014, after Michael Brown was tragically shot and killed in Ferguson, MO, area students were yearning for a constructive outlet to voice concerns. However, for those who were listening, their voices were calling out about more than one tragic incident. The voices were calling about race, yes. Equality, yes. Acceptance and safety, yes. Days after the first protest erupted, I founded a program called Gateway2change . Working with leaders across St.

Foster care is an imperfect system , often criticized for its failures, bureaucratic inefficiencies, and poverty and racial bias, leading to the harmful and unnecessary removal of children from their homes, disproportionately from homes of poor families of color. Nevertheless, foster care can be a lifesaving intervention as a system of last resort that we depend on to ensure the safety of the most endangered children. As we face the third drug epidemic in recent decades that threatens to...

On the afternoon of April 13, 2014, Dontre Hamilton was lying on the ground near a bench in a Milwaukee city park. A police officer on patrol walked over to Hamilton and asked him to stand up. Their encounter would end in disaster. The officer patted Hamilton down for weapons — which the police chief later said was not in line with department policy as Hamilton posed no apparent danger — and Hamilton, who had a history of mental health issues, grabbed the officer's baton. The officer in turn...

The man was living alone with his two dogs, in a remote area outside San Antonio, when someone called the Texas state hotline to report that a supposed friend was financially exploiting him. So the state adult protective services agency sent a caseworker to the man’s home. She found an 86-year-old Vietnam veteran in a dirty, cluttered house full of empty liquor bottles. His legs swollen by chronic cellulitis, he could barely walk, so he used a scooter. He missed doctor’s appointments. He had...

Our mental health and personal well being are tied up in the quality of our personal relationships. The more closely we are connected to the people we love, the happier we feel and the more personal satisfaction we have in our lives. Most people rate moments of connection and shared enjoyment with their loved ones as their most important life experiences. These important relationships not only include family and personal friends but also the wider groups and communities we belong to. Forming...

I am in an auditorium with 200 other people, staring into a stranger’s eyes, and I am crying. As part of our Science of Mindfulness and Self-Compassion workshop , clinical psychologist Shauna Shapiro had asked participants to turn to the person next to them and imagine all her pain—her struggles and losses, her sorrows and setbacks. I’d done mindfulness and compassion practices before, of course, but this was different. This was visceral. [For more on this story by KIRA M. NEWMAN, go to...

In the aftermath of the shooting at Marshall County High School in January that claimed the lives of two students and injured many more, state Rep. Will Coursey has filed legislation that would call on all public school districts to have mental-health professionals on staff by the start of the 2018-19 school year. They would be hired to support students and school staff and to guide violence-prevention efforts. Rep. Coursey, D-Benton, said he filed House Bill 604 “because I think this is a...

This report provides a comprehensive overview of high school dropouts and completers in the United States. It draws on a wide variety of data sources to examine high school dropout and completion rates for 2014, as well as data on long-term trends. The report describes the characteristics of high school dropouts and completers, including race/ethnicity, sex, socioeconomic status, disability status, recency of immigration, and outcomes in the labor force. [To access this report, go to...

I am starting a project with the aim of developing two products, an app and companion website, for people who've experienced ACEs. The purpose of the products is to support people living their lives as positively and fruitfully as possible by enabling them to work with alleviating the effects of their ACEs on a continuous basis. The products are currently named "Hugged," as I believe that compassion and loving-kindness towards oneself can be a bearer of personal development throughout life.