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For decades, if people on Medicaid wanted to get treatment for drug or alcohol addiction, they almost always had to rely solely on money from state and local sources. Now, in a dramatic shift, the federal government is likely to chip in, too. The agency that governs Medicaid is proposing to cover 15 days of inpatient rehab per month for anyone enrolled in a Medicaid managed care plan . But in Pennsylvania, those who work in the addiction field aren't happy with that news. While it's a good...

The first day back from winter break can be restless. Many children are still coming down from the excitement of the holidays. Two unstructured weeks away from school — with strange food, rituals and relatives — can be overwhelming for many children, especially when it grinds to a halt after the new year and normality resumes. But for students whose families are struggling in poverty, time away from school isn't an exciting blip on an otherwise calm school year. For them, it can...

A time for healing, a call for community action # North Wasco County School District turns 13 years old in 2016. It may sometimes be difficult to realize how young it is because, in most cases, children are taught in schools that have educated generations of children before them. # This district was formed as an entirely new organization at the same time that the two earlier districts were dissolved. So, in many ways, the school district today is still in its childhood. # Over the past...

Adults who have witnessed domestic violence as children or were victims of abuse are often treated later in life for what are ultimately the effects of the abuse rather than for the underlying causes. When we encounter someone who is depressed or struggles with addiction, we too often pose our questions from the wrong angle. We ask, "What's wrong with you?" rather than "What happened to you?" Chronic distress, such as witnessing domestic violence, can actually cause structural changes in the...

The lowest of 31 grades issued in the  2016 California Children's Report Card released on Wednesday was for dealing with the effects of childhood trauma. In Children Now's biennial assessment of the status of California kids, researchers gave the state a "D-" for how it deals with childhood trauma. The report contends that children who experience traumatic problems such as abuse, neglect and witnessing violence at home can suffer serious long-term consequences, including health...

The calm and sometimes curt-sounding voices on the other end of 911 calls are often choking back tears. A little over a month ago, 911 call-taker Erin Falkenberg clicked on one of the nine computer screens in front of her at MedStar’s communications center and answered the hardest call she had ever taken. Through her headset, she heard a man in his 60s say that he was in his bedroom and was having difficulty breathing. The computer screen prompted Falkenberg to ask more questions, but...

A merica’s prisons have become warehouses for the severely mentally ill. Under the guise of punishing criminality, these inmates may be subject to cruelty from corrections staff, physical constraint up to and including lockdown or solitary confinement, and shocking physical and sexual abuse from other prisoners. They may receive inadequate treatment and poor supervision, and many will commit suicide while in prison. [For more of this story, written by Dahlia Lithwick, go...

Michael Nash’s 30-year career as a jurist has mostly been focused on trying to make life better for Los Angeles County’s children. He is widely credited by lawyers, child advocates and other judges as having measurably improved the juvenile courts in Los Angeles, where he spent two decades serving alternately as the presiding judge of the Los Angeles Juvenile Court and supervising judge of the Juvenile Dependency Court — the latter oversees the fate of Los Angeles foster...

Here’s the problem. Since you are reading this on ACES Connections, you are likely not the type of person who questions ACES. Like me, when you first heard about ACES, you shouted “Eureka!” or felt the heavens open up or maybe simply thought “Well, that makes sense.” Writing this blog, I’m preaching to the choir.  After all, there is so much scientific evidence to support ACES, doesn’t everyone believe it? Well, working in Public Health...

Legislation to replace the 14 year-old No Child Left Behind law—The Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) signed by President Obama on Dec. 10—was widely praised by the administration, legislators of both parties in the House and Senate, and the organizations concerned about education policy from the NEA to the Education Trust. The consensus is that the bill is not perfect but provides a needed recalibration of federal authority over the states in education policy while protecting...

In December, a hung jury resulted in a mistrial in the Freddie Gray case. The death of the 25-year-old Baltimore black man while in police custody , and the protests that followed, brought to light the long history of strained police-community relations in the city’s highly segregated, very poor neighborhoods. Poor black kids growing up in Baltimore’s high-poverty neighborhoods are least likely to escape their circumstances compared to other U.S. cities, according to research...

On a typical morning, the first to wake is 6-month-old Nathaniel. He doesn’t always sleep through the night, so by the time his mother, Cierra Thomas, sits up in the twin bed she shares with her husband, Tony Gardner, she’s already dreading the day. “I’m mad that I woke up here,” she says. “Here” is the Gardner family’s room in a 135-bed shelter for homeless families. Their space, bright and painted beige, is the size of a modest kitchen.