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Editor's note: The National Pediatric Practice Community on Adverse Childhood Experiences , part of the Center for Youth Wellness, included the following information in its newsletter that may impact your patients access to health care: "Make Your Voice Heard & Comment re: Proposed Limits to Food, Housing The Department of Homeland Security proposed new definitions of public charge , which marks a significant departure from its current policy. The changes pose risks to immigrant families...

“Images and news reports of tear gas being used on children and families seeking asylum at our border have stunned and shaken pediatricians just as they have so many others across the country. Our objection to this type of treatment of children and their parents is grounded in our own policy: “The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends that all immigrant children and families seeking safe haven are treated with dignity and respect to protect their health and well-being. Children who are...

Cissy's note: Melissa Merrick, PhD (pictured above), is a Senior Epidemiologist with the Surveillance Branch in the Division of Violence Prevention at CDC’s National Center for Injury Prevention and Control. She will be the keynote speaker at the Massachusetts Essentials for Childhood summit and share about new ACEs data (see below) about which populations have the highest levels of ACEs on average. An except from this article published on the JAMA Network can be found below. Please follow...

On a Saturday afternoon in Houston, Dennis Rivera-Sarmiento crossed a stage donning a green graduation gown. The 19-year-old was proud of this moment—one he wasn’t sure would happen. Just months before, a scuffle with a classmate near Stephen F. Austin High School threatened his future in the United States. Charged with assault, he was arrested by campus police, sent to county jail, then held in three different Texas immigration detention centers, including one located more than an hour from...

The new Trauma-Informed Care Implementation Resource Center offers a one-stop information hub for health care providers and other stakeholders interested in learning about and implementing trauma-informed care.

Self-directed free play is vital for the healthy development of children. Here we see 43 science-backed benefits it brings.

There’s now a growing body of research showing the positive health effects of nature. At a recent conference in Oakland, CA, clinicians who prescribe nature to help buffer ACEs and toxic stress experienced by children and families shared findings from their own research and others.

When Sabrina Bugget-Kellum walked into a neighbourhood clinic in New York for a routine appointment in in 2016, she was desperate. Her son was in prison. She was trying to look after his two young children, who were aged one and two. Their mother was emotionally unstable. Bugget-Kellum did not want the chaos of the adults’ lives passed down to another generation. “We didn’t know if they would be safe with their mother,” she recalled recently. “I began to pray, please God, I need some help.

Penn State Scranton assistant professors of psychology Karin Machluf and P. Douglas Sellers II, along with their colleague, Christopher Aults from King's College in Wilkes-Barre, have found in a study that heart rate reactivity is a biological moderator between peer victimization (bullying) and internalizing problems (anxiety/depression) in adolescent girls. The researchers' paper, titled "Adolescent Girls' Biological Sensitivity to Context: Heart Rate Reactivity Moderates the Relationship...

Effective Discipline to Raise Healthy Children [Pediatrics] Addressing the social emotional needs of children in chronic poverty: A pilot of the Journey of Hope [Children and Youth Services Review] From Child Maltreatment to Adolescent Substance Use: Different Pathways for Males and Females? [Feminist Criminology] Adverse Childhood Experiences and Justice-Involved Youth: The Effect of Trauma and Programming on Different Recidivistic Outcomes [Youth Violence and Juvenile Justice] Quality of...

Adolescents with a particular variant of an opioid receptor gene have less response in a part of prefrontal cortex that evaluates rewards, compared to those with the other version of the gene, say researchers at Georgetown University Medical Center (GUMC). For the study, presented Monday at Neuroscience 2018, the annual meeting of the Society for Neuroscience (abstract #7517), the investigators scanned adolescents who have never used drugs or alcohol with functional magnetic resonance...

ACEs, Adversity's Impact Adverse childhood experiences increase prediabetes markers in adulthood How parenting affects antisocial behaviors in children Documentary broken places uses archival footage to tell stories of ACEs and resilience over time NYC's first lady urges reporters to tackle mental health issues A guide to toxic stress The quest to find biomarkers for toxic stress, resilience in children - A Q&A with Jack Shonkoff Parent-child bond predicts depression, anxiety in teens...