As parents, grandparents, aunts and uncles, neighbors and community members, we all know children and care about their well-being. Likely all of us know at least one child who struggles in school, who acts out in class or shuts down and withdraws, who often goes to the nurse or goes home sick, and who shows up at school late many days — if at all. Perhaps we find ourselves wondering what is the most likely cause of all these different problems and what we can possibly do to help. The good news is that there is an answer to that question and there are things we can do to make a difference.
What decades of research nationally and here in Alaska show us is that really hard times in childhood (known as "adverse childhood experiences" or "ACEs"), such as abuse and neglect or exposure to toxic stress from sources like domestic violence and substance abuse in the household or severe bullying and discrimination in the community, can have negative impacts on children that last into adulthood and even into the next generation. These impacts include most social and physical health problems you can think of, ranging from addiction and suicide to cancer and heart disease to lower graduation rates and workplace productivity. The Alaska Mental Health Board estimates that ACEs cost Alaska an estimated $447 million per year in costs related to healthcare and lost productivity.
But it doesn't have to be this way. As one of the doctors who led the first adverse childhood experiences study says, "What is predictable is preventable." We can prevent children from experiencing ACEs and we can support the children and adults who have experienced them so that their trauma does not have to lead to negative outcomes. We can stop the cycle.
The Senate has the opportunity, in the next week or so, to take a momentous step forward by passing House Concurrent Resolution 2, which addresses ACEs. By adopting this resolution, the Legislature would be building upon its previous work for children and families and making a strong commitment to consider the science of ACEs and brain architecture when crafting legislation and budgets that impact children and families.
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Read the full article by Laura Norton-Cruz from 5/3/2018 here:
Title image: The Alaska state Capitol in Juneau gets some early-morning sunshine Friday, March 30, 2018. (Nathaniel Herz / ADN)
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