Tagged With "child law"
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Research Review: Childhood Trauma and its Effects on Mothers in Home Visiting Programs [Prevent Child Abuse America]
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
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Some 350 Florida Leaders Expected to Attend Think Tank with Dr. Vincent Felitti, Co-Principal Investigator of the ACE Study; Expert on ACEs Science
Leaders from across the Sunshine State will take part in a “Think Tank” in Naples, FL, on Monday, August 6, to help create a more trauma-informed Florida. The estimated 350 attendees will include policy makers and community teams made up of school superintendents, law enforcement officers, judges, hospital administrators, mayors, PTA presidents, child welfare experts, mental health and substance abuse treatment providers, philanthropists, university researchers, state agency heads, and...
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States weigh bans on shackling jailed moms during childbirth [AP News]
SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — Michelle Aldana gave birth to her first child chained to a hospital bed. Then serving time at the Utah state prison on a drug charge, she says she labored through the difficult 2001 birth for nearly 30 hours, her ankles bleeding as the shackles on both her legs and one arm dug in. “I felt like a farm animal,” she says. The practice of keeping inmates shackled during childbirth was once common around the United States, but that’s gradually been changing after women began...
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The prevalence and clinical correlates of adverse childhood experiences in a cross-sectional study of primary care patients with cardiometabolic disease or risk factors (BMC)
From the article: To our knowledge, this is the first study to investigate the incidence and clinical correlates of ACEs in primary care patients who already have cardiometabolic disease or are at elevated risk based on conventional risk factors. Open Access LINK to article Background Adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) are associated with risk of poor adult health, including cardiometabolic diseases. Little is known about the correlates of ACEs for adults who have already developed...
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‘This is not a child safety crisis. It’s a poverty crisis, a racism crisis.’ – A social worker and former foster youth featured in HBO’s ‘Foster’ shares her vision of societal and system change (www.risemagazine.org)
Excerpts from article by Sarah Harris from Rise Magazine . Q: What led you to work in the foster care system? A: I am a former foster youth and I’ve been a social worker at the L.A. Department of Child and Family Services for 5 years. I entered foster care through probation, and I got into probation through survival. I was breaking the law for clothes and food. In foster care, I bounced around a lot. For the most part I was AWOL. I was in group homes but I stayed with family or friends.
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TIC: News and Notes for November 2019
ACEs, Adversity's Impact Podcast: Dr. Nadine Burke Harris Vital Signs: Estimated proportion of adult health problems attributable to adverse childhood experiences and implications for prevention - 25 states, 2015-2017 Animal study shows how stress and mother's abuse affects infant brain LGBTQ, traumatized homeless youth more vulnerable to being trafficked: Report How do these pediatricians do ACEs screening?Early adopters tell all When family relationships become toxic: The trauma of...
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Toxic Stress: Issue Brief on Family Separation and Child Detention [immigrationinitiative.harvard.edu]
By Jack P. Shonkoff, Immigration Initiative at Harvard, October 2019 Background The separation of children from their parents and their prolonged detention for an indefinite period of time raise profound concerns that transcend partisan politics and demand immediate resolution. Forcibly separating children from their parents is like setting a house on fire. Preventing rapid reunification is like blocking the first responders from doing their job. And subjecting children to prolonged...
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Untreated Postpartum Depression and Anxiety Costs California Billions, Report Concludes [CA Health Report]
Untreated mood and anxiety disorders associated with pregnancy are costing California billions of dollars in health care spending, social services expenses and productivity losses, according to a new report. The study , conducted by the research firm Mathematica with funding from three foundations including the California Health Care Foundation, estimates the cost of untreated perinatal mood and anxiety disorders (PMADs) in California at $2.4 billion for all births in 2017. This includes...
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What a Pediatrician Can Do for a Child Seeking Asylum-And What She Can't [newyorker.com]
By Rachel Pearson, The New Yorker, October 8, 2019 On a cool spring afternoon, in a clinic that serves refugee and immigrant families, I sit across from a teen-age girl. She is otherwise known as an unaccompanied alien child, or U.A.C. She left her home in Central America, crossed the southern border, and was detained for a week—in Texas, she thinks—in a facility where breakfast was a cold bean burrito, lunch was a cup of microwavable noodle soup, and dinner was a cold bean burrito. She says...
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Paid leave for parents during COVID-19 Emergency
Paid leave for parents during COVID-19 emergency
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Petaluma Health Center leads effort to link women to services
Sonoma County was one of six sites selected nationally to participate in a CityMatCH practice collaborative to prevent substance exposed pregnancies. In 2012 Rebecca Munger CNM, PHN the Sonoma County Maternal, Child, Adolescent Health Coordinator lead a broad coalition of reproductive health champions who worked across sectors and settings to develop a trio of strategies to reduce substance exposed pregnancies. The first strategy developed with CDC and WHO technical support was a bundled...
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When getting mom and baby to the right hospital is a matter of life or death [centerforhealthjournalism.org]
The U.S. has some of the best perinatal care on earth, but kids die before the age of 1 here at a higher rate than the most of the developed world. A big part of the problem is that high-risk pregnant women and newborns aren't getting the right care during their time of need. That's a problem lawmakers across the country are increasingly trying to address. Indiana, for instance, recently passed a law establishing a system that rates hospitals on the complexity of neonatal and maternal care...
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Whole People Series & Study Guide (www.pbs.org)
There's a fantastic five-part series, Whole People , done by PBS, " spotlighting the impact of Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACES) through personal and community stories. It explores the long-term costs to personal well-being and our society. While much work needs to be done, there are many innovative developments to prevent and treat ACES. We all play a role in becoming a whole people." It's amazing. The five topics covered are as follows: Childhood Trauma Healing Communities A New...
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Why Reducing Toxic Stress can Improve the Health of an Unborn Child [pbs.org]
By Stephanie Sy, Public Broadcasting System, December 17, 2020 Researchers are trying to better understand the biology of stress and its impact on child health. Now, data suggests those connections may form as early as the womb, with studies indicating frequent and prolonged adversity for pregnant women can affect the development of their babies. Stephanie Sy reports on a program aimed at easing the stress and struggles of mothers and their unborn children. [ Please click here to read the...
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World Premiere: Stress & Resilience: How Toxic Stress Affects Us, and What We Can Do About It [developingchild.harvard.edu]
By Center on the Developing Child, Harvard University, November 13, 2019 When the stress in your life just doesn’t let up, and it feels like you have no support to get through the day—let alone do everything you need to do to be the best parent you can be—it can seem like there’s nothing that can make it better. But there are resources that can help, and this kind of stress—known as “toxic stress”—doesn’t have to define your life. In this video, learn more about what toxic stress is, how it...
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Beyond Paper Tigers is Back!
Back for the second year, Beyond Paper Tigers conference will take place June 28th and 29th in Walla Walla, WA. Featuring Dr. Ken Ginsburg from Children's Hospital of Philadelphia as the keynote speaker, BPT builds on the story of one community and how they've learned that embracing trauma-informed care and implementing ACEs science truly takes a village. Operationalizing the latest in brain science, BPT will provide concrete strategies for intervention with youth, families, and communities...
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Beyond The Preventing Maternal Deaths Act: Implementation And Further Policy Change [Health Affairs]
By Katy B. Kozhimannil, Elaine Hernandez, Dara D. Mendez, Theresa Chapple-McGruder. Feb 4, 2019, Health Affairs Maternal mortality is a death that occurs during pregnancy or within one year postpartum from “a pregnancy complication, a chain of events initiated by pregnancy, or the aggravation of an unrelated condition by the physiologic effects of pregnancy.” In the United States, maternal mortality is a clinical, public health, and social crisis. Between 1990 and 2013, maternal mortality...
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Call for Abstracts for NCHDV 2020 conference
The National Conference on Health and Domestic Violence (NCHDV) seeks submissions that highlight research reports, practice innovations, advocacy initiatives, educational advances, and/or community programs that address one or more aspects related to domestic/sexual violence, other forms of violence, and health. The Call for Abstracts (CFA) invites leaders working in the fields of health and domestic/sexual violence to present their work at the 2020 Conference. Submission Deadline: Monday,...
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Child Law Penalizes Moms for Abusive Partners [capitalandmain.com]
By Angelika Albaladejo, Capital & Main, October 16, 2019 Ingrid Archie thought she was doing everything right to protect her children. She got a restraining order against her abusive partner and moved into a domestic violence shelter with her kids. Then Archie got arrested for child endangerment. It had been only a month since she’d left the relationship and she was struggling to get back on her feet. She was stressed out and trying to run errands with her two youngest daughters. One of...
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CMS Issue Brief: Improving Access to Maternal Health Care in Rural Communities
In an ideal maternal health system, all women would have access to comprehensive, seamless medical care with links to behavioral, economic, and social supports. Additionally, they would be engaged with this system before, during, and after pregnancy. Across the United States, many women are not receiving care in this ideal system, and women in rural communities face unique challenges that make it harder for them to reach this ideal or any care at all in some cases. Because maternal health...
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Council for a Strong America - Brain Science Speakers
Council for a Strong America is a national, bipartisan nonprofit that unites five organizations comprised of law enforcement leaders, retired admirals and generals, business executives, pastors, and prominent coaches and athletes who promote solutions that ensure our next generation of Americans will be citizen-ready. Council for a Strong America has a 20-year track record of strengthening families, communities, the economy, and our national security. One if of the programs, ReadyNation is...
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Fairness for Breastfeeding Mothers Act of 2019 Signed Into Law [Cal WIC]
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Fairness For Breastfeeding Mothers Act of 2019’’ A bill just signed into law by President Trump will require federal buildings that are open to the public and have public restrooms to also have designated lactation rooms for breastfeeding. The rooms will be available for use by members of the public as well as federal employees. The Fairness for Breastfeeding Mothers Act ( H.R. 866 ) was sponsored in the House by Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) and...
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First Round of Grants Awarded from Preventing Maternal Deaths Act [ACOG]
August 16, 2019 Washington, DC -- Ted L. Anderson, MD, PhD, president of the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG), released the following statement regarding the announcement by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) that 24 awards, supporting 25 states, were made for the Enhancing Reviews and Surveillance to Eliminate Maternal Mortality (ERASE MM) Program: Legislation signed into law in December 2018 funds maternal mortality review committees “The...
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Home Gun Safety Queries in Well-Child Visits [jamanetwork.com]
By Carole H. Stipelman, Greg Stoddard, Kyle Bata, et al., JAMA Pediatrics, October 28, 2019 Firearms are a leading cause of death in US children, and the rate of suicide by firearms in people aged 10 to 19 years has increased since 2008.1 In the United States, 4.6 million children (approximately 7%) live in households with at least 1 gun that is stored loaded and unlocked.2 Safe storage of guns and ammunition may decrease the occurrence of self-inflicted or unintentional firearm injury to...
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A community-based approach to supporting substance exposed newborns and their families
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.
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As Kentucky’s Only Black Woman in the Legislature, I Have a Plan to Address Racial Maternal Health Inequities (River City News)
March 30, 2020, River City News The following op-ed is written by State Rep. Attica Scott (D-Louisville) As the only Black woman member of Kentucky’s state legislature and single mother of two, I know the importance of representing all of my constituents and leaving no one behind. Far too often in Frankfort, bills are passed and signed into law that will actually harm children who look like mine, hurt moms like me who know what it’s like to live paycheck-to-paycheck or no check-to-no check,...
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Association of Exposure to Civil Conflict With Maternal Resilience and Maternal and Child Health and Health System Performance in Afghanistan [jamanetwork.com]
By Nadia Akseer, Arjumand Rizvi, Zaid Bhatti, et al., JAMA Network Open, November 8, 2019 Key Points Question: Is conflict severity associated with the performance of health systems and population health outcomes in Afghanistan during the 2003 to 2018 reconstruction period? Findings: In this survey study of 64 815 women in Afghanistan, notable health and health system improvements were made despite increasing conflict after 2010. However, regions with greater conflict had lower gains in...
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Re: Research Review: Childhood Trauma and its Effects on Mothers in Home Visiting Programs [Prevent Child Abuse America]
This was great. Thanks for sharing. Makes me think more about increasing social supports for parents and we need the village to do that!!
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You're Invited: “A Call To Action, A Call To Heal: Understanding the Impact of Complex Trauma in Communities" June 17 and 18.
Register Now for This Free Trauma Awareness and Trauma Responsive Care Symposium The Collaboration As neighboring Healthy Start partners providing maternal and child health services for Metro Atlanta, the Atlanta Healthy Start Initiative (AHSI) of the Center for Black Women’s Wellness, Inc. and the Healthier Generations Project (HGP) of the Clayton County Health District collaborate on several initiatives to improve perinatal outcomes in the region. The “A Call to Action, A Call to Heal:...
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For Decades, She Blamed Herself for the Abuse. Writing Her Story Was an Act of Survival. Publishing It Was an Act of Rebellion. (Pro Publica)
By Adriana Gallardo, June 27, 2020, Pro Publica. She was still small enough to climb on her mother’s back, too little to step from the family boat without help, when the violations began. “Touching games” led by older men with big smiles at her family’s fish camp, across the water from Kotzebue, a regional hub of 3,000 people known as the “gateway to the Arctic.” From those early years into her adulthood in distant Anchorage, Tia Wakolee, 46, says she was molested, raped or stalked nearly 30...
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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...
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Colleges Must Accommodate Students Who Are Breastfeeding—Even in Zoom Classes (Ms Magazine)
By Autumn Green, October 20, 2020, Ms Magazine. There are multiple laws to protect the rights of pregnant and parenting students—but they are confusing to sort out. Yet, as educators learn to navigate new learning environments, understanding these laws, and how they apply to remote learning during a global pandemic, is critical. This month, CNN published a story about a Fresno City College student, Marcella Mares, who filed a complaint against an instructor who told her that it was...
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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...
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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...
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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...
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Rick Herranz Sr.
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To solve the Black maternal mortality crisis, start with upending racist practices
It’s been all over the news for months: Black women in the United States are dying from complications during their pregnancies or in childbirth at alarming rates, and those deaths are preventable. Less well explored is how systemic racism and historical trauma have been at the core of what’s driven up these rates over several decades. A March 20 conference entitled The Impact of ACEs on Black Maternal Health took an in-depth look into why Black maternal mortality and complications during...
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Pregnant Workers Fairness [abetterbalance.org]
From A Better Balance, May 2021 Every pregnant worker deserves the opportunity to work to support her family without risking the health of her pregnancy. Yet pregnant workers, especially those in low-wage and physically demanding jobs, are routinely forced to choose between their health and a paycheck. We have helped pregnant women secure and enforce a clear right to reasonable workplace accommodations–the same right afforded to workers with disabilities under federal law. We are pushing to...
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Adverse Babyhood Experiences (ABEs): 10 New Categories of Adversity Before a Child's 3rd Birthday (Download Journal Article)
Adverse babyhood experiences (ABEs) are a new construct derived from large bodies of evidence that identify a different group of risk factors from adverse childhood experiences (ACEs). ABEs occur before a child’s 3rd birthday and influence infant as well as maternal morbidity and mortality. ABEs are also risk factors for chronic illnesses and other chronic conditions in the child , symptoms such as postpartum depression and PTSD in parents and offer opportunities for prevention and repair.
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The first ‘Momnibus’ bill was signed into law. Other strides for Black maternal health could follow. [thelily.com]
By Anne Branigin, Photo: Teresa Crawford/AP;iStock;Washington Post illustration, The Lily, December 6, 2021 The day she introduced the “Momnibus” in March 2020, Rep. Lauren Underwood (D-Ill.) warned of a public health crisis that would not abate unless lawmakers took action: Black birthing parents were dying at unacceptable rates, she said. “While maternal mortality rates continue to drop around the world, they are rising in the U.S., leaving behind devastated families and children who will...
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Training Module Focuses on Substance Use Among Pregnant and Parenting Families [cfffutures.org]
A four-part training, Tribal Family Wellness Plan Learning Modules , developed by the Quality Improvement Center for Collaborative Community Court Teams in collaboration with the Tribal Law and Policy Institute , provides guidance for tribal child welfare providers about implementing programs and practices that reduce the impact of substance use on pregnant and parenting families. The goals of the module include reducing the impact of substance use on pregnant and parenting families,...
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Jeoff Gordon sees PACEs science, PACEs Connection playing a vital role in ‘relieving some of the most anguishing pain in our society.’
Note: PACEs Connection is in dire financial straits. We are asking for support, from you, our 57,586 members, to help cover the loss of foundation funding that was promised and did not come through. Pay and hours have been cut for our staff—most of us will be laid off for the month of December. Another grant will pick up in January, but we will still be underfunded. Since sounding the alarm this summer, we’ve raised about $26,000 . Thankfully, about 25% of new donors are making monthly...
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North Carolina moves closer to creating nation's first ACEs-informed courts system
(l-r) Judge J. Corpening; Ben David, district attorney, New Hanover County; Chief Justice Paul Newby; Judge Andrew Heath, executive director, Administrative Office of the Courts of the Chief Justice's ACEs Informed Courts Task Force. David and Heath serve as Task Force co-chairs . “There is not any more important work going on in the State of North Carolina,” said Ben David, District Attorney for New Hanover County and co-chair of the Chief Justice’s ACEs-Informed Task Force . The Task force...
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How much would the NAS poverty reduction packages reduce referrals to CPS and foster care placements? Would they reduce racial disproportionality in child welfare? (nasonline.org).
Because of a collaboration with Columbia University and UW-Madison, we have answers to these questions. By Peter Peter Pecora, Casey Family Programs, March 17, 2023 - Overview The National Academy of Sciences (NAS) recently released a “ roadmap ” to reduce child poverty by as much as half through the implementation of a series of social policy packages. The aim of this study was to simulate the reductions in Child Protective Services (CPS) involvement and foster care placements that are...
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Register Now for Inaugural Statewide Summit: Leveraging North Carolina’s Assets to Prevent Childhood Trauma — Virtually & In Raleigh April 27-28!
Information from Summit Brochure and registration site available here . North Carolina’s first Statewide Trauma Summit – a virtual and in-person summit – will beheld Thursday and Friday, April 27-28, in Raleigh, at The McKimmon Conference and Training Center, Summit leaders announced recently. “Momentum is growing in NC for building trauma-informed systems that strengthen resilience and weed out systemic and often intergenerational sources of child trauma. To advance this work, it is...
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A Letter to Kyle
To mark the anniversary of the passage of the landmark legislation of the Georgia Mental Health Parity Act, we are sharing a letter written a year ago by Roland Behm, Co-founder of the Georgia Mental Health Policy Partnership, Board Member and Former Board Chair, American Foundation for Suicide Prevention (AFSP) Georgia Chapter. The letter is to his son, Kyle, who was diagnosed with bipolar disorder in 2010 as a junior in college and died by suicide in August 2019.
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“Going Way Upstream” - Panelists at Resilient Pender County Conference report on current trauma prevention and healing efforts; look to future
Amy Read of Coastal Horizons introduces the panel following a viewing of "Resilience: The Biology of Stress, The Science of Hope", at the Pender Resiliency Task Force Mini Conference Thursday, June 8 ,at Heide Trask High School in Rocky Point. A "dream team" of subject-matter expert panelists (L-R) were Ryan Estes of Coastal Horizons, Ben David, district attorney for Pender and New Hanover counties, Judge J. H. Corpening, district court judge for New Hanover and Pender counties, Taylor...
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PACEs Research Corner — May 2023, Part 2
[Editor's note: Dr. Harise Stein at Stanford University edits a web site — abuseresearch.info — that focuses on the effects of abuse, and includes research articles on PACEs. Every month, she posts the summaries of the abstracts and links to research articles that address only ACEs, PCEs and PACEs. Thank you, Harise!! — Rafael Maravilla] Domestic Violence – Effects on Children Makris G, Eleftheriades A, Pervanidou P. Early Life Stress, Hormones, and Neurodevelopmental Disorders. Horm Res...
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“Caring for our own” theme emerges at May Meeting of North Carolina Chief Justice’s Task Force on ACEs-Informed Courts
Ben David, co-chair of the North Carolina Chief Justice's Task Force on ACEs-Informed Courts, shares plans to sustain the work done during the two-year term of the Task Force, to "care for our own" speaking of North Carolina's children, youth, families, communities, victims of crimes, members of law enforcement, the judiciary and court officers and staffers. He also shared Chief Justice Paul Newby's hopes of "getting ACEs-informed courts" into the culture, and said a national conference for...
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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...