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Calculating a Child-ACE score is not necessary for using the Whole Child Assessment to screen and counsel families. However, because we know some providers for different reasons may want to calculate a score, we have simplified and updated the scoring guide at the bottom of the WCA forms and provided scoring instructions. No changes to any questions were made. https://lluch.org/health-professionals/whole-child-assessment-wca

Many people use the phrase CPTSD to stand for PTSD from complex trauma. To me, C-PTSD means cancer and PTSD. I have cancer and I’m a trauma survivor. I’m a survivor with cancer but not yet a cancer survivor. Will I be a survivor squared?

By Dani McClain, The Atlantic, November 21, 2019 Jessica Black is a Pittsburg, California, mother of two black teenagers, both of whom have been disciplined multiple times at their middle and high schools. Her daughter has been suspended more than once, and teachers often deem her son’s behavior out of line, reprimanding him for not taking off his hoodie in class and for raising his voice. In observing her own family and others, Black has noticed a pattern: Behaviors that many black parents...

By Cara Natterson, The New York Times, December 3, 2019 As long as I have been a pediatrician, boys have told me — usually in not so many words — that they feel the exact same body pressures girls do, just in different directions. This body-sense emerges earlier than we might expect thanks to the younger onset of puberty, which has moved squarely into the elementary school years, yes for both boys and girls. The difference is that female body changes tend to be obvious from the start; not so...

By Soumya Karlamangla, Los Angeles Times, December 1, 2019 Mia St. John’s cellphone lit up with a message from the psychiatrist treating her son. The voicemail shimmered with hope, the first she had felt in months. The doctor said Julian, admitted to a psychiatric facility with schizophrenia, seemed more cheerful, was talking more with other patients and would soon begin a new art project. “Very happy to see he’s coming around a bit,” the doctor said. It was November 2014, and Julian, 24,...

By Erika Edwards, NBC News, December 2, 2019 Extremely hot weather appears to prompt early labor, leading to as many as 25,000 early births every year in the U.S., according to a study published Monday. The research, published in the journal Nature Climate Change, analyzed data on 56 million births from 1969 to 1988, matching the birth dates to weather events in the counties where babies were born. "We saw a spike in births on hot days," said study author Alan Barreca, an associate professor...

By Bill Plaschke, Los Angeles Times, November 27, 2019 “Moon! Moon! Moon!” they cried. Enveloped by his brothers, Brenden Moon didn’t notice. “Really, they chanted my name?” he said. “Oh my. Really? Oh my goodness.” As he spoke, his eyebrows rose along with his voice, his boyish face brightening, the toughest of them all overcome by the wonder of it all. [ Please click here to read more .]

Children don’t come to live with their grandparents or relatives because everything is going great. The transition can be tough for the new family. As a grand“Parent” guardian of my grandson, I’ve written previously about the sad stuff, the tough stuff, and there’s a lot of it. It’s easy to get sucked into the negative, rehashing the entire past, the guilt, the anger, and projecting into an ugly future. Today is the last day of National Adoption Month. It is a month I celebrate, not as a...

Healing Our Ghosts is a new podcast created by filmmaker, Ana Joanes who describes it as follows: Cissy White Victor Lee Lewis, MA Elizabeth Kemler Joyelle Brandt

A summary of what to expect during the Wrestling Our Ghosts podcast where @ana joanes (director and podcast host) interviews @Joyelle Brandt (activist, artist, author, and guest) from the Wrestling Ghosts website:

According to the CDC , the number of 10 to 14 year-olds who took their own lives nearly tripled from 2007 to 2017. In the U.S., suicide is the second leading cause of death among children and adolescents ages 10-24, and the third leading cause of death among 12-year-olds. In at least one state, Ohio, suicide has become the leading cause of death for kids ages 10 to 14. It seems unfathomable that so many kids so young could want to end their own lives, much less actually do so, but that's the...

A recent paper by two UConn researchers and their colleagues highlights the importance of examining factors outside the family that contribute to child neglect. This research strategy could help policymakers and social agencies design programs to reduce child maltreatment – specifically, neglect. Neglect reports are a major concern for the child welfare system. About three quarters of all child maltreatment referrals nationwide allege neglect, and eighty percent of maltreatment-related child...