Blog

May is National Foster Care Month. If foster youth are not reunified with their families or adopted by age 21, youth “age out” of the state’s foster care system and services often end abruptly. In 2015, more than 14,000 California foster youth—nearly a quarter of all those in care statewide—were between the ages of 16 and 20 years old.

Dr. McCaw describes the genesis and evolution of Kaiser Permanente's Family Violence Prevention Program

Stagnant state funding, rising costs and possible cutbacks in federal support are threatening the viability of California’s subsidized after-school programs, which serve 859,000 low-income students in 4,500 schools across the state. Besides offering a safe place for children while parents are working, after-school and summer programs provide homework help, hands-on science and arts projects, field trips, sports, social-emotional support and meals. The programs are free to parents of...

More foster and relative homes are needed across the country. One barrier is child care access. A new bill seeks to solve this problem by providing a child care bridge program with a trauma informed training component. http://www.sacbee.com/opinion/op-ed/soapbox/article147546504.html

Over the last dozen years or so, many pediatricians, astounded by the ramifications of the science of adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) on the children they care for, began integrating this science into their practices. The most common approach has been to ask parents about ACEs using a questionnaire, and to use this information to counsel parents and identify resources for the family. Different practices have been using different questionnaires: Some ask parents for their ACE scores...

Being an extrovert is a double-edged sword. I can speak confidently in my college classes and in front of large groups. But everyone seems to think I’ve got it all under control, and I rarely feel that way. There’s a ticking clock always in the back of my mind. I need to graduate and become financially independent before the support I get from the foster care system disappears. [For more of this story, written by Noel Anaya, go to ...

Violence was a mainstay in George Galvis’ life from as far back as he can remember: His earliest memory, from age 3, is of witnessing his father savagely attacking his mother. So it’s no surprise that he brought what he learned at home to the streets. That ended at age 17, when he was incarcerated for multiple felonies, including attempted murder for his involvement in a drive-by shooting. Once he left prison, Galvis began a healing journey that led him to embrace his American Indian roots...

In recognition of Child Abuse Prevention Month, the California Departments of Public Health, Health Care Services and Social Services, and multiple community partners welcomed Dr. Kenneth Epstein to speak about his work highlighting trauma and resilience-informed practices. The event was also co-sponsored by ACEs Connection Network, Kaiser Permanente, and UC Davis Medical Center. Dr. Epstein leads the San Francisco Department of Public Health’s (SFDPH) Trauma-Informed Systems Initiative,...

Paula Braverman of the The Center on Social Disparities of Health writes: In 2009-2011 and 2014 The Center on Social Disparities of Health worked with the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) to produce a series of issue briefs on the social determinants of health that would have solid scholarship but be aimed at a wide, non-technical audience. A number of people who teach graduate or undergraduate courses are using these issue briefs as core curricular materials. RWJF and we would be...

In California, AB 254 authored by Assemblymember Tony Thurmond (D-Richmond) will ensure access to health and mental health services for all students. The bill passed the Assembly Health Committee this afternoon. “We cannot continue to allow children that suffer from health conditions to fall behind in school and slip between the cracks,” said Thurmond. “All students, regardless of economic circumstances, deserve an opportunity to pursue an education and get the healthcare they need to remain...

California’s Central Valley stretches from Bakersfield in the south to Redding in the north. The Valley encompasses a great deal of the state’s interior, and includes major cities including Sacramento, Stockton, Modesto, Visalia and Bakersfield. Though it is not as densely populated as the major cities of California, the valley’s substance abuse and addiction rates are well above those in the metropolitan areas. Drugs are Abundant in California’s Central Valley Though much of Central Valley...

California education officials last week bragged about the seventh consecutive year of improvement in the statewide high school graduation rate, which reached 83.2 percent for the class of 2016. That was 0.9 percentage point above the previous year. However, behind that omnibus number is a world of variety, both among ethnic groups, school districts and individual high schools. EdSource has created a database that families and educators can use to look up how well their districts and schools...