Tagged With "Family First Scholarship"
Blog Post
71 ACEs Initiatives Join ACEs Connection in 2019
We are proud to celebrate the 71 community initiatives that joined the ACEs Connection network in 2019. They are listed below, and can be found along with all existing ACEs Connection communities via the ACEs Connection map. Communities in the United States: Midwest ACEs Indiana Coalition Ardmore (OK) Behavioral Health Collaborative: BOUNCE - Jefferson County (KY Chisago County (MN) ACEs Initiative Franciscan Health ACEs Connection FH–Jasper & Newton Counties (IN ) FH–LaPorte County (IN)...
Blog Post
Addicts Among Us - a hopeful documentary about ACEs and addiction in Humboldt County, California (YouTube Video)
Addicts Among Us is a hour-long documentary investigating the connection between childhood trauma in Humboldt County and the region’s skyrocketing addiction rates. Addiction experts have zeroed in on adverse childhood experiences as a cause for addictive behavior. By examining local lives and stories, KEET examines this connection and efforts in the community to see this addressed. The associate producer of the video, James Faulk - one of the central interviewees of the film - attended First...
Blog Post
Aligning Systems for Health: 2019 Call for Proposals [rwjf.org]
By Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, November 1, 2019 Required Components Aligning Systems for Health will explore the degree to which health equity is impacted or results from current models of collaboration incorporating health care, public health, and social services. Gaps in health are large, persistent and increasing, and RWJF is committed to a system that meets people’s goals and needs and addresses these gaps that many populations face. Studies should include a focus on health equity by...
Blog Post
AMAR Doula Program Celebrates Its First Graduating Class (The Burke Foundation)
Community Updates, December 19, 2019 With the support of the Burke Foundation, in early 2019 the Children’s Home Society of New Jersey (CHSofNJ) launched AMAR, a community-based doula program , to improve prenatal, labor, and postpartum support for Hispanic women in the City of Trenton. Now, the organization is thrilled to see the first group of trainees graduate from the program. New Jersey has the fifth highest maternal mortality rate in the country. To address this significant challenge...
Blog Post
‘Becoming a mother broke me’: For a woman collecting pandemic postpartum stories, the work is personal (Washington Post)
By Theresa Vargas, March 25, 2020, Washington Post Ariane Audet grows quiet on the phone. She is usually the one posing questions about motherhood, and now, she’s not sure how to answer one I’ve asked her. What do you think would have happened if you had to give birth now? She stays silent for so long that I glance at my phone’s screen to make sure we didn’t get disconnected. “I’m afraid to say it,” she finally says. “But I don’t know if I would still be alive.” Three years ago, Audet gave...
Blog Post
Birth in a pandemic: 'You are stronger than you think' (BBC News)
By Kirstie Brewer, April 1, 2020 for BBC News The coronavirus crisis is throwing many pregnant women's birth plans up in the air and leading some health trusts to increase home births. The image captured hearts on social media 10 days ago. Faolán, Gaelic for "little wolf", was born in Drogheda in Ireland on Saturday 14 March and a few days later his grandfather dropped round to see him - through the window. He stayed for 10 minutes, gazing at his first grandchild. It was hard to have family...
Blog Post
Consequences of Military Sexual Trauma for Perinatal Mental Health: How Do We Improve Care for Pregnant Veterans with a History of Sexual Trauma?
Sharing our recent editorial which includes a call for TIC in maternity care: "Nevertheless, there are ways in which VA may be able to augment the maternity care pregnant veterans receive to empower and facilitate more trauma-informed approaches to obstetric care. These include investing in programs to ensure peer support, possibly through use of mobile health technology; facilitating collaboration with maternity care providers through provision of handheld/electronic maternity records...
Blog Post
Family First Scholarships for 21st Annual Families and Fathers Conference
21st Annual Families and Fathers National Conference February 24-27, 2020 Hilton Los Angeles Airport 5711 West Century Boulevard Los Angeles, California 90045 I am honored to announce The Family First Scholarship supported by the Annie E. Casey Foundation as a Title Sponsor and State of California First 5 as a Co-Sponsor for the 21 st Annual Families and Fathers Conference, Next Level 2020! the terms "putting family first" and "it takes a village to raise a child" parallels with why we have...
Blog Post
Giving birth in rural Oregon [The Bulletin]
By Carol Cruzan Morton, August 16, 2019, The Bulletin Health care providers struggle to provide high-quality care in communities with fewer births overall Itzel Wiewel was determined to control the circumstances of her second child’s delivery. Her first daughter’s birth at an out of state hospital was fraught with complications, evoking fear and helplessness. Her daughter spent a week in neonatal intensive care. Wiewel had a different vision for her next birthing experience. As her due date...
Blog Post
Midwifery Is Having A Net Positive Impact On Maternal Health [Forbes]
Midwifery is growing in the United States . It is already an enormous presence in Europe. Furthermore a recent study found that the more a state’s health care laws allow the integration of midwifery, the better the well-being (measured by healthy and monitored pregnancy, presence of birth complications, health post-partum) of mother and baby tend to be. As for the future, I always like to check the past first . The past tells us that midwifery has been the norm for all of history across all...
Blog Post
New ROOTS, Beyond Medicalization: Midwives and Maternity Care in America (Jewish Healthcare Foundation)
By Alyce Palko, April 30, 2020, Jewish Healthcare Foundation. Introducing the Jewish Healthcare Foundation's new ROOTS publication, Beyond Medicalization: Midwives and Maternity Care in America . Under the threat of the COVID-19 pandemic, the world is rapidly moving into a new era of healthcare delivery. Across the country, maternal healthcare policies are changing daily in order to ensure birthing families have access to safe care. Hospitals are making rapid decisions about whether birthing...
Blog Post
Opinion: To End Intimate Partner Violence, We Must Focus on Racial Justice and Healing [calhealthreport.org]
By Marc Philpart and Jacquie Marroquin, California Health Report, November 13, 2019 Like millions of Californians, the crisis of intimate partner violence has had a profound impact on our lives. The violence our family members experienced has created a ripple effect, setting us each on a unique journey for healing—as individuals, as families and as a community. While our journeys have been distinct, they have led to a similar understanding: Ending domestic violence is possible, but only if...
Blog Post
Paid leave for parents during COVID-19 Emergency
Paid leave for parents during COVID-19 emergency
Blog Post
Power of Family Resilience to Protect Children From Bullying [sciencedaily.com]
By American Academy of Pediatrics, Science Daily, October 25, 2019 Studies show that children exposed to childhood trauma known as adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) are at increased risk of being bullied or bullying others. New research being presented at the American American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) 2019 National Conference & Exhibition suggests that family resilience -- the ability to work together to overcome problems, for example -- reduces this risk. The research abstract,...
Blog Post
She Hoped to Shine a Light on Maternal Mortality Among Native Americans. Instead, She Became a Statistic of It. [nbcnews.com]
By Elizabeth Chuck and Haimy Assefa, NBC News, February 8, 2020 The twins were scheduled to be delivered on Aug. 21, 2019, and Stephanie Snook was nervous. Her pregnancy had not been planned. Snook was born with a heart condition; after her first two children, she had been told getting pregnant again could put too much stress on her heart. Nonetheless, Snook, 37, a warehouse clerk in food services at the Seattle Mariners’ ballpark, trusted she was in good hands. [ Please click here to read...
Blog Post
She’s the ‘street doula’ behind the Homeless Humans of Tacoma. ‘They’re just like you and me’ (Tacoma News Tribune)
For roughly 40 years, Patti Ramos was a doula, assisting with more than 3,000 births. Now, Ramos has something new to consume her. There’s no paycheck involved this time — the 66-year-old gets by on Social Security income — but the hours are still long and the connections are still intimate. Today, Ramos, 66 and retired, considers herself a “street doula.” That’s because Ramos is the one-woman force behind the Homeless Humans of Tacoma project . For the last four years, she has spent her...
Blog Post
The First Body-Positive Children’s Book Just Came Out, and It’s Exactly What the World Needs Now (msn.com)
Chances are, if you’ve taken a stroll through the children’s-book section of bookstores or libraries recently, you’ve seen a lot of bright colors and catchy titles. You saw some good lessons on friendship and manners, some lively adventure stories and some cute animals. You also saw a lot of pictures of straight-size white girls. While children’s literature now features far more diverse stories than it did even a couple of years ago, there is still one movement that hasn’t gotten a foothold...
Blog Post
Through a Trauma Lens: The Need for Doulas
Trigger warning: trauma, doctors, hospital, birth, sex It is very important to me to approach all of the work that I do from a trauma-informed perspective. Whether it is asking for consent before touching a student in yoga class, offering self-regulation skills to those I work with, or preparing clients for potential triggers*, I do my best to incorporate my on-going learning in the field of trauma into my professional practices. Recently, I began taking trauma classes for professionals...
Blog Post
We Have to Better Understand What Foster Parents Need [chronicleofsocialchange.org]
By Ross Hunter, The Chronicle of Social Change, October 11, 2019 As a new leader in the child welfare space, I thought it would be worth my while to do some listening before I made any big changes. So I went on a tour all over the state of Washington. I talked to caseworkers, foster parents, birth families, judges, prosecutors, defense attorneys and anyone else I could find who had an opinion. I got an earful. “Everything is broken.” “I had a great experience.” “The caseworker never called...
Blog Post
We Need to Help Relatives Navigate Their Child Welfare Options [chronicleofsocialchange.org]
By Jenny Keefe and Nikeyah Flagg, The Chronicle of Social Change, November 21, 2019 A new data project focusing on foster care capacity has illustrated a growing reality across the nation’s child welfare system: relatives are increasingly stepping up to provide care for children removed from their parents. The newly released data, compiled and analyzed by The Chronicle of Social Change, shows that the most recent surge in youth entering foster care is over. It also finds that a majority of...
Blog Post
Welcome to ACEs Connection!
Welcome to ACEs Connection! ACEs Connection supports communities to accelerate ACEs science. ACEs Connection is a social network that supports communities to accelerate the global ACEs science movement, to recognize the impact of adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) in shaping adult behavior and health, and to promote trauma-informed and resilience-building practices and policies in all communities and institutions — from schools to prisons to hospitals and churches — to help heal and to...
Blog Post
Experts Fear Increase in Postpartum Mood and Anxiety Disorders [nytimes.com]
By Pooja Lakshmin, The New York Times, May 27, 2020 After going through a harrowing bout of postpartum depression with her first child, my patient, Emily, had done everything possible to prepare for the postpartum period with her second. She stayed in treatment with me, her perinatal psychiatrist, and together we made the decision for her to continue Zoloft during her pregnancy. With the combination of medication, psychotherapy and a significant amount of planning, she was feeling confident...
Blog Post
The birth of a coronavirus carrier's baby in Australia was different, for all the right reasons (The Sydney Morning Herald)
By Aisha Dow, April 27, 2020, The Sydney Morning Herald. Australian doctors who delivered a coronavirus carrier's baby say they have achieved what could be a world first – by keeping an infected mother together with her newborn. Overseas, infants and mothers with the disease have been physically separated for 14 days after a scheduled caesarean section and prevented from breastfeeding. But when a 31-year-old woman with coronavirus gave birth at the Gold Coast University Hospital last month,...
Blog Post
What's Missing in the Effort to Stop Maternal Deaths [nytimes.com]
By Austin Frakt, The New York Times, July 13, 2020 According to the best data available , as summarized in a report by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the United States could prevent two-thirds of maternal deaths during or within a year of pregnancy. Policies and practices to do so are well understood; we just haven’t employed them. A first step is measuring maternal death rates, which is harder than you might think . The death needs to be directly related to the pregnancy or...
Blog Post
Recording available for Health and Wellness Town Hall: How ACEs Impact Black, Brown, Indigenous, and other Communities of Color
If you missed The League of Extraordinary People's first Town Hall, or would like to watch it again, it is available here ! Health and Wellness Town Hall: Adverse Childhood Experiences 101 Class How ACEs Impact the Black, Brown, Indigenous, and other Communities of Color This event will be led by Alfred White. Alfred is the founder of The League of Extraordinary People. After nearly 40 years experiencing homelessness, Alfred swallowed a 1/4 ounce of crack cocaine in 2004 and nearly died. He...
Blog Post
COVID-19 amplifies racial disparities in maternal health Advocates, lawmakers are working to make changes to curb maternal deaths (rollcall.com)
By Sandhya Raman, May 14, 2020, rollcall.com. Days before her death, Amber Isaac tweeted about her negative experiences receiving pregnancy care at her local hospital in the Bronx. Isaac, a 26-year-old black woman pregnant with her first child, raised concerns about "incompetent doctors." She worried about her low platelet count and felt her concerns were not being heard at Montefiore Medical Center, where her mother Renita Isaac has worked for 25 years, her partner Bruce McIntyre told CQ...
Blog Post
Infant Feeding During COVID: Strategic Planning for Pregnancy, Postpartum and Beyond [ucsf.edu]
Nationally, Black women have the lowest rates of breastfeeding initiation in comparison to any other racial/ethnic groups. Black babies are dying at twice the rate of White babies and according to the CDC, increasing breastfeeding among Black women can decrease infant mortality rates up to 50 percent. In honor of Black Breastfeeding Week (August 25th – 31st), we partnered with the BreastFriends Mommy Group in West Oakland to explore why these rates look different for Black women and...
Blog Post
SF announces pilot program to provide basic income to pregnant Black and Pacific Islander women [sfgate.com]
By Tessa McLean , SFGATE Updated 3:30 pm PDT, Wednesday, September 16, 2020 Mayor London Breed announced today the launch of a new pilot program that will provide a basic income to Black and Pacific Islander women during pregnancy and after giving birth. The 150 women chosen will receive a monthly income supplement of $1,000 for the duration of their pregnancy and for the first six months of their baby’s life, with the goal of eventually providing a supplement for up to two years...
Blog Post
A new program in Mississippi is helping Black mothers breastfeed. Here's why it's crucial. (upworthy.com)
The Delta Baby Cafe in Sunflower County, Mississippi is providing breastfeeding assistance where it's needed most. Mississippi has the third lowest rate of breastfeeding in America. Only 70% of infants are ever-breastfed in the state, compared to 84% nationally. There are multiple reasons why Black women are less likely to breastfeed their children. First, according to the CDC , maternity wards that serve large Black populations are less likely to help Black women initiate breastfeeding...
Blog Post
Experiences of breastfeeding during COVID‐19: Lessons for future practical and emotional support (Journal of Maternal & Child Nutrition)
By Amy Brown & Natalie Shenker , First published: 23 September 2020, https://doi.org/10.1111/mcn.13088 The COVID‐19 pandemic and subsequent lockdown and social distancing led to changes to breastfeeding support available to women in the United Kingdom. Face‐to‐face professional support was reduced, and face‐to‐face peer support was cancelled. Anecdotal media accounts highlighted practices separating some mothers and babies in hospitals, alongside inaccurate stories of the safety of...
Blog Post
Free 2020 Virtual Trauma-Informed Care Conference
Each year, STAR hosts a Trauma-Informed Care Conference to help educate the next generation of leaders and build a strong network of Trauma-Informed professionals in the state of Georgia. The conference will be held on Saturday, October 3rd from 10:00am- 1:00pm EST and Sunday, October 4th , 2020 from 2:00pm-5:00pm EST conducted virtually via Zoom.
Blog Post
COVID-19: Trauma-Informed Perinatal Care and Maternal Health [psychologytoday.com]
By Ann Diamond Weinstein, Psychology Today, September 28, 2020 The experience of life during the pandemic and the impact of COVID-19 guidelines for perinatal care have changed the maternal-fetal experience of pregnancy and birth, as well as the maternal-infant experience during the postnatal period. The neuroception (1) of danger and the potential threat to one’s own life and that of loved ones has been sustained since the magnitude and lethalness of the pandemic was fully appreciated.
Blog Post
New nonprofit breast milk bank launches in San Diego (sandiegouniontribune.com)
San Diego — Every year, about 260 of the tiniest premature babies in California hospitals develop an often-fatal bowel disease known as necrotizing enterocolitis, or NEC. Nobody knows what causes NEC, but a common factor in many cases is the use of formula to feed these very low-birth-weight babies because the mother’s breast milk is not available. Replacing that formula with pasteurized breast milk in every California hospital newborn intensive care unit could be a positive step in reducing...
Blog Post
New nonprofit breast milk bank launches in San Diego (sandiegouniontribune.com)
San Diego — Every year, about 260 of the tiniest premature babies in California hospitals develop an often-fatal bowel disease known as necrotizing enterocolitis, or NEC. Nobody knows what causes NEC, but a common factor in many cases is the use of formula to feed these very low-birth-weight babies because the mother’s breast milk is not available. Replacing that formula with pasteurized breast milk in every California hospital newborn intensive care unit could be a positive step in reducing...
Blog Post
My ACEs Affected My Birth
High blood pressure. In your third trimester of pregnancy, you do not want to hear these three words, especially if you are planning to have a home birth. My blood pressure nearly caused me to have an induction for my first birth and transfer to a hospital birth for my second birth. I wish I had known of the ACEs test so I wouldn't have felt so lost and guilty. For my first birth I was clueless. I did not understand why this was happening to me because I ate a healthy diet, went to boxing...
Blog Post
Millions couldn’t afford diapers before the pandemic. Now, diaper banks can’t keep up (Washington Post)
By Hannah Denham, March 1, 2021, Washington Post. Without federal aid, diaper banks struggle to keep up with skyrocketing need and fewer donations Chelesa Presley is deeply familiar with the struggles of young families, first from her years as a social worker and now from running a nonprofit in one of Mississippi’s poorest regions. She’s used to the questions about car seats, nursing and colicky babies, but paying for diapers is always the chronic and most-pressing worry. “I see parents not...
Blog Post
There's a New Pregnancy Discrimination Bill in the House. This Time It Might Pass. [nytimes.com]
By Alisha Haridasani Gupta and Alexandra E. Petri, The New York Times, March 4, 2021 Congress is considering a new bill that could provide women across the country who face pregnancy discrimination a clear channel for recourse. It took only eight years, six legislative sessions and thousands of lawsuits — including one that made it to the Supreme Court — to get to this point. And now it might finally pass. The new bill , known as the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act, or PWFA, was first...
Blog Post
Spreading the Stories of Joyful Black Births [chcf.org]
By Xenia Shih Bion, California Health Care Foundation, August 5, 2021 When Kimberly Seals Allers delivered her first child at a top-rated New York City hospital 21 years ago, her wishes were ignored by doctors and nurses. Feeling disrespected and voiceless, she decided to confront the causes and to advocate for equity in pregnancy and childbirth for Black mothers and birthing people.* A journalist by trade, Seals Allers is author of three books on pregnancy, childbirth, and breastfeeding; a...
Blog Post
The 2023 Creating Resilient Communities Accelerator Program is now Open For Registration
PACEs Connection is excited to kick off our 2023 Creating Resilient Communities (CRC) Annual Accelerator Program.
Blog Post
Review of “First 60 Days” booklet: Leveraging author’s work and movement could spark revolution to prevent and heal trauma, one precious baby, child, and caregiver at a time.
(This is a review of what I believe is an important new resource for the PACEs [for positive and adverse childhood experiences] science movement. Opinions expressed are my own, and are shared as a parent, advocate, author, and longtime student of trauma, healing, and prevention. Thoughts are also shared through my lens as someone who believes, deeply, in the incredible importance of and value in building healthier, more compassionate communities to support and nurture pregnant and new...
Blog Post
What Children Really Need Is Adults That Understand Development
The brain doesn’t fully develop until about the age of 25. This fact is sometimes quite surprising and eye opening to most adults. It can also be somewhat overwhelming for new parents and professionals who are interacting with babies and young children every day, to contemplate. It is essential to realize however, that the greatest time of development occurs in the years prior to kindergarten. And even more critical to understand is that by age three 85 percent of the core structures of the...
Blog Post
Early Relational Health Innovators Partner In Program Supported by PACEs Connection Cooperative of Communities Members in Twelve California Counties
Christina Bethell, Ph.D, MBA, MPH, founder of the Child and Adolescent Health Measurement Initiative (CAHMI), principal author of the groundbreaking study on positive childhood experiences, and creator of the free Well Visit Planner, among other innovations. Two internationally-respected leaders and innovators in complementary aspects of early relational health and childhood and maternal health equity recently launched a partnership they believe will benefit everyone from newborn babies and...
Blog Post
Empathy: Can It Make The Difference?
Emotion has an enormous impact on imprinting memory in our brains. I had an experience when I was 6 years old that included emotion and I have the memory of it all of these many years later. It was a 6 year old birthday sleepover party. There were 7 girls invited that lived near each other and played together most days. A girl new to the neighborhood was invited only due to the requirement of the birthday girl’s mother. I was also invited. I lived a block away but did play with these girls...