Nearly 20 percent of Los Angeles County's children have experienced at least two traumatic events, including abuse, neglect, or poverty. And that number spikes when you're talking about kids in foster care. Nine out of ten children served by the nation's welfare system have been exposed to violence.
When trauma happens to very young children, it can impact their social, emotional, and cognitive development. Early intervention can help, and childcare providers can be an important factor in that early intervention.
The bill to help train providers on how they can better intervene is part of a larger bill designed to increase the number of foster parents who will take in babies and young children by giving them immediate access to subsidized childcare.
"What we've found over the years is sometimes even once we can get young children who have been abused and neglected into our childcare system, they have behaviors and traumatized responses to things that make it challenging for a traditional childcare provider to keep them," said Susanna Kniffen, the director of child welfare policy at Children Now, an advocacy group that supports the bill.
"Every child responds to trauma differently," Kniffen said. "So it's more about teaching people to look for different behaviors, and to create an environment that can work for that child."
To read more of Bonnie Petrie's article, please click here.
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