Tagged With "Jail Bookings Down Significantly"
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37th Annual Child Abuse Prevention Symposium Recap
"Speak Out! Confronting the Culture of Child Sexual Abuse and Secrecy" was the theme of Santa Clara County's 37th Annual Child Abuse Prevention Symposium which featured a Keynote conversation with Olympic Gold Medal winning gymnast and current UCLA Assistant Gymnastics Coach Jordyn Wieber. Jordyn, and other athletes and survivors of former USA Gymnastics team doctor and serial child sex abuser Larry Nassar, earlier spoke to a U.S. Senate Subcommittee about a “culture of silence” more...
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A fast, easy way for pediatricians to screen kids for ACEs...and other health issues
Last November, the California Department of Managed Care gave its stamp of approval to a new version of Whole Child Assessment 2.0 , a tool that screens for children’s adverse childhood experiences (ACEs). It was recommended as part of recently passed legislation calling for trauma screening for children in California. But the Whole Child Assessment 2.0 (WCA) does more. It also queries patients about other critical safety and health issues, including whether they have enough to eat, whether...
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A Health Problem and An Opportunity: Screening for Adverse Childhood Experiences [medium.com]
By Dayna Long, Medium, May 19, 2020 A consensus of scientific research demonstrates that cumulative adversity, especially when experienced during critical and sensitive periods of development, is a significant contributing factor to some of the most harmful, persistent, and expensive health challenges facing our nation. Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) are highly prevalent, experienced in all communities, and are likely to increase during the COVID-19 emergency [i] [ii] [iii] [iv] [v].
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A South LA high school steps up effort to help students besieged by trauma [centerforhealthjournalism.org]
Along with books and backpacks, the teens who walk through the hallways of Washington Preparatory High School in South Los Angeles also carry secrets and fear. Some have seen moms or dads arrested or taken away by immigration agents during early morning raids. They've watched as loved ones and friends were gunned down or stabbed to death on the sidewalks in front of where they live. Others dread going home to an adult who hurts instead of heals. Trauma, depression and anxiety weigh heavily...
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Attorney General Kamala D. Harris Unveils Bureau of Children’s Justice
LOS ANGELES On February 12, 2015, Attorney General Kamala D. Harris unveiled the Bureau of Childrens Justice within the California Department of Justice that will work to ensure all of Californias children are on track to meet...
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Bipartisan trauma resolution passes the House unanimously
In the late afternoon on Feb. 26, the House of Representatives unanimously passed H. Res. 443 , a resolution recognizing the importance and effectiveness of trauma-informed care and calling for a national trauma awareness month and trauma-informed awareness day. The impetus for the resolution resides with the First Lady of Wisconsin, Tonette Walker, who has taken a strong leadership role in advancing trauma-informed policy and practice statewide through Fostering Futures , and has elevated...
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Board of State and Community Corrections Awards $96m In Prop 47 Grants
SACRAMENTO (June 13, 2019) – The Board of State and Community Corrections today approved grant awards from a voter initiative that reduces from felonies to misdemeanors certain low-level crimes and directs state savings to programs primarily focused on mental health and substance-use disorder treatment. It is the second round of Proposition 47 funding approved by the Board, to which voters allocated the bulk of the state savings for rehabilitative grants targeting Prop 47-impacted...
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Building Community Health
Dr Sandy Escobar is transforming healthcare in East Palo Alto, one family at a time.
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Building Resilience Through Understanding Substance Use Disorders and Their Impacts on Others
The reach of substance use disorders in America is far more significant than people think. 21+ million Americans struggle with substance use disorders. Their substance use and addiction-related behaviors impact 100 million more Americans. These are the moms, dads, husbands, wives, children, brothers, sisters, grandchildren.... Together, these two groups represents more than one-third of the American population!
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CA announces robust perinatal depression prevention for Medi-Cal recipients
Melinda Coates experienced a tumultuous pregnancy. “I was really mentally upset literally from day one (of the pregnancy),” she says. (Melinda Coates is a pseudonym. To protect her and her children’s privacy and safety, we are not using her real name.) Coates had hoped to get counseling last October, when she was seven months pregnant. That’s when she enrolled in the state’s Medi-Cal program, shortly after she and her abusive husband moved to California, “but nobody was able to get me in...
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CA Could Reduce Its Prison Population By 30,000, Says Report (witnessla.com)
A new report outlines strategies the state of California could employ that would reduce its prison and jail populations by 30,000 and save approximately $1.5 billion in prison spending. In 2016, there were over 200,000 people were locked in California’s prisons and jails. According to the report, lowering the incarcerated population by 30,000—by reducing the length of prison time for the majority of inmates by 20 percent—would make it possible for the state to close five prisons. The report,...
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CA Governor's 2020-21 Budget Proposal Summary
Governor Newsom proposed his 2020-21 budget on Friday. Here are some highlights from the perspective of support for children and families from Children Now. See attached for the full summary report that summarizes funding related to child welfare, health, K- 12 education, early childhood, emergency preparedness and response, and adverse childhood experiences. The Governor’s budget proposes a number of initiatives, investments, and restructuring to transform the health care system to better...
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CA pediatrician develops, tests, gets state OK for whole-child assessment tool that includes ACEs
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...
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CA pediatrician develops, tests, gets state OK for whole-child assessment tool that includes ACEs
[Editor's note: This blog was first posted in April 2017. Dr. Marie-Mitchell updated the assessment by modifying a few of the questions, so we are republishing with the new assessment, one in Spanish and one in English.] 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...
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CA Senate unanimously approves ACEs reduction resolution
On August 18, the California Senate unanimously approved Concurrent Resolution (ACR) No. 155 to encourage statewide policies to reduce children’s exposure to adverse childhood experiences. As reported on ACEs Too High , the resolution is modeled after a Wisconsin resolution that encourages state policy decision-making to consider the impact of early childhood adversity on the long-term health and well being of its citizens. Since the resolution does not require...
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ACEs | Alcohol's Harm to Others | Secondhand Drinking
It is likely most readers know someone or they are the someone who has personally experienced alcohol's harm to others | secondhand drinking. The tragedy is we hardly talk about it in ways that can change the lives of those affected -- especially the lives of children. In other words, we hardly talk about it in ways that can prevent, intervene, or treat adverse childhood experiences (ACEs). Alcohol’s Harm to Others | Secondhand Drinking and the ACEs Connection One of the 10 ACEs measured in...
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ACEs Champion Julie Kurtz Gives Every Child (and Adult) a Voice
Julie Kurtz hasn’t stopped creating ways to build and promote resilience in herself and others who have experienced trauma since she left her family home for college at age 18. Although she experienced four types of adversity during her childhood, the CEO of the Center for Optimal Brain Integration has traveled a complex journey to mitigate those adversities by recognizing her own internal resilience, building skills to buffer her toxic and traumatic stress, uncovering her voice through...
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ACEs champion pediatricians talk about life and practice in a COVID-19 world
With the advent of the COVID-19 pandemic, healthcare providers everywhere are changing how they care for their patients. I asked a few members of the ACEs in Pediatrics community what they’re doing differently. Dr. R.J Gillespie, pediatrician at The Children’s Clinic in Portland, OR. Dr. R.J. Gillespie Gillespie says that, as much as possible, they’re switching to virtual visits, which allows them “to comfort and reassure our patients face-to-face as much as possible without risking their...
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ACEs screening in CA — a Q and A with Dr. Dayna Long
Last year, the California Department of Health Care Services rolled out its plans for universal screening for trauma among its pediatric and adult Medicaid population. Beginning January 1, 2020, California physicians were able to receive an incentive payment of $29 for each pediatric patient screened for ACEs using the PEARLs ( Pediatrics Adverse Childhood and Resilience Study) tool. Dr. Dayna Long talked with ACEs Connection staff reporter Laurie Udesky about ACEs science, what led to the...
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Advancing a System of Prevention to Achieve Health Equity [preventioninstitute.org]
What does it take to realize the vision of health, safety, and wellbeing for all? Drawing from successful initiatives that dramatically increased the length and quality of people’s lives, Prevention Institute developed the System of Preventionframework to support health leaders and their partners to delve into systems-level work as they innovate, build practice, advance policy and systems changes, and generate momentum for comprehensive prevention and health equity. Now available in print...
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Advancing Parenting
Visit www.advancingparenting.org. We are all about taking the long view when it comes to preventing child abuse. What we mean is this. Unsupportive and harmful parenting is a risk factor for child abuse. That is...children who experience unsupportive and harmful parenting are at a greater risk for becoming adults who hurt children and others. In an effort to prevent unsupportive and harmful parenting five, ten, twenty, fifty years down the road we are pioneering a new kind of parenting...
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Adversity and resiliency: The case for integrating ACEs and Strengthening Families approaches
Attached is the PowerPoint that was presented by Diane Kellegrew, Jane Stevens and Katie Albright in a webinar April 16. And below is the slide that ID's the presenters.
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Advocate for Early Childhood Programs in Your School District
California’s funding model for school districts is known as the Local Control Funding Formula (LCFF). Under LCFF, school districts have flexibility—and an unprecedented opportunity—to spend district dollars on early childhood education. Researchers, economists, and educators all agree: early childhood programs set kids up for success in school and in life. Now is the time for district leaders to make sure that students in your community are getting off to a strong start. And you can help...
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Alternative IHEBA with ACEs for California (and Other) Pediatricians
If you are a pediatrician serving Medicaid managed care patients in California, then you are required to use the Staying Healthy Assessment or an alternative IHEBA (Individual Health Education Behavioral Assessment) at all well-child visits. The bad news is that getting approval to use an alternative IHEBA is a tedious process. The good news is that as of October 27, 2016 the Whole Child Assessment (WCA) is available for use in English and Spanish. Most importantly, the WCA has been...
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An artist built seesaws into the U.S.- Mexico border and invited kids to play on them (upworthy.com)
A set of bright pink teeter-totters extend into both the U.S. and Mexico through the barrier between the two countries. Children and adults on both sides of the border play together, seesawing up and down, their view of one another partially obscured by the vertical steel slats that separate them. Ronald Rael, professor of architecture at the University of California, Berkeley, and Virginia San Fratello, associate professor of design at San José State University, came up conceptual drawings...
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An Opportunity the Office of Surgeon General Can't Pass Up
I don't know about you, but I've talked to dozens of people applying for the ACEs Aware RFP, due Feb. 10. Watching myself and my colleagues hustle and brainstorm on how to work together to submit ideas for this opportunity has been very inspiring. Although we have no idea how many grant awards will be made, we know that only a fraction of what must be hundreds of RFP submissions will be funded this year. It would be a tragedy to waste the efforts of those who will have spent many hours on...
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Announcing a New Parenting and ACEs Blog from Stress Health, an Initiative of the Center for Youth Wellness
Research shows that the right kind of support and care can mitigate the impact of toxic stress in children and help them bounce back.
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Are ‘zero tolerance’ policies for misbehavior at Sacramento-area schools a thing of the past? (sacbee.com)
Local public schools suspended and expelled far fewer students last year as they continued to shift away from punishment and toward prevention and positive reinforcement, according to the latest figures from the California Department of Education. Sacramento County school districts issued about 27,000 suspensions during the 2016-17 school year, down by 18,000, or 40 percent, from the 2011-12 school year. Districts expelled 160 students, down by 108, or 40 percent, from 2011-12. Despite the...
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As California Moves to Screen Children for Childhood Trauma, Poverty Has To Be Part of the Equation
In California, we are coming full circle in recognizing the connection between poverty and health.
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Attending the 2018 ACEs Conference? Wondering how to Connect with ACEs Connection at the Conference?
Looking for your regional community facilitator? Seeking to meet and connect with people who are creating a more peaceful and trauma informed world? Have a book, webinar, conference to share? The ACEs Connection team will be at the 2018 ACEs Conference. We're eager to meet you, hear your ideas, support your work, and to learn and share the latest ACEs and Resilience Sciences. We'll be looking for you in San Francisco to help you Meet your Community Facilitator and others from the ACEs...
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Cal WORKs Training Academy: Compassion Fatigue
Front-line and case workers for the TANF program (Temporary Assistance for Needy Families) are at high risk for compassion fatigue. They hear approximately 30 stories of trauma, abuse and hardship each day. Complaints from workers vary from “How many stories of torture will have to I hear.” “It feels like I am spitting at a forest fire.” “After 12 years in the field, I am now on blood pressure medication.” This year the Cal WORKs Training Academy featured a workshop on compassion fatigue...
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California Adds Its Clout to States Battling High Drug Prices [nytimes.com]
Gavin Newsom dived into the highly charged debate over prescription drug prices in his first week as California’s governor, vowing action on a topic that has enraged the public but has proved resistant to easy fixes. His idea: Find strength in numbers. Within hours of taking office on Monday, Mr. Newsom signed an executive order proposing a plan that would allow California to directly negotiate with drug manufacturers. The state would bring to the bargaining table not just the 13 million...
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California Air Quality: Should You Wear a Face Mask for Wildfire Smoke [nytimes.com]
By Sarah Mervosh, The New York Times, October 28, 2019 With wildfires raging up and down the state of California on Monday, smoke filled the air in many places, ash fell from the sky, and residents were once again left to wonder whether the very air they were breathing was safe. The largest, the Kincade fire in Sonoma County north of San Francisco, nearly doubled in size in 24 hours and was just 5 percent contained on Monday, prompting volunteers downwind in the Bay Area to scramble to hand...
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California Allocates $1 Million to Improve Mental Health of Native American Youth (calhealthreport.org)
While mental health resources for Native American youth are sparse throughout California, the state has taken a modest step to support Albers and his peers by earmarking more than $1 million for Native American youth as part of the first-ever statewide Youth Reinvestment Fund. The fund, which Gov. Jerry Brown signed into the 2018-19 budget, aims to keep vulnerable youth populations out of the criminal justice system by instead supporting more community and health interventions. While there...
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California Assembly unanimously approves resolution to reduce ACEs
On August 11, the California Assembly unanimously approved Concurrent Resolution (ACR) No. 155 to encourage statewide policies to reduce children’s exposure to adverse childhood experiences. The resolution passed with bi-partisan support and added 68 members as coauthors (there are 80 members of the Assembly). The California proposal encourages state policy decision-making to consider the impact of early childhood adversity on the long-term health and well being...
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California considers prohibiting immigration enforcement at public schools and hospitals (latimes.com)
California would create "safe zones" prohibiting immigration enforcement on public schools, hospital and courthouse grounds under a new bill by state Senate leader Kevin de León (D-Los Angeles) that is sure to clash with the tough enforcement plans of President-elect Donald Trump . By also proposing to bar state and local law enforcement from enforcing immigration laws, De León is doubling down on the issue at a time when Trump has threatened to withhold federal funding from “sanctuary...
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California Is Giving Doctors Incentives To Ask Patients About Childhood Trauma [capradio.org]
By Sammy Caiola, Capital Public Radio, December 9, 2019 California health officials want children and adults on Medi-Cal to get screened for traumatic childhood events that can cause negative health effects down the line. Now the state has started giving doctors and nurses tools to do the screenings. People who experience adversity early in life have much higher chances of substance abuse, depression, or chronic diseases than their peers, according to national research. Gov. Gavin Newsom’s...
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California Jails use Kinder Approach to Solitary Confinement [sfchronicle.com]
By Don Thompson, San Francisco Chronicle, December 27, 2019 An inmate in solitary confinement at a California jail was refusing to leave his cell. The jailers' usual response: Send an “extraction team” of corrections officers to burst into the cell and drag him out. But not in Contra Costa County, one of three in the state using a kinder, gentler approach in response to inmate lawsuits, a policy change that experts say could be a national model for reducing the use of isolation cells. So the...
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California Lags In National Report On Child Well-Being [KPCC Public Radio]
Priska Neely | June 17, 2019 The 2019 edition of the annual KIDS COUNT Data Book shows that California is behind a lot of other states when it comes to education, health and well-being for its children. The report from the Annie E. Casey Foundation, shows that the state ranks 35th overall, 46th for economic wellbeing -- with high rates of child poverty and high housing costs -- and 36th for education. Listen to full audio report
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California Legislation to Increase Supports in Schools
The HEARTS team met folks from Californians for Safety and Justice (CSJ) in April last year when they contacted us about AB2701 , a bill that sought to create a state-wide grant program for providers of school-based trauma services using the HEARTS program approach as a model. Dr. Joyce Dorado and I worked with the team just before it was presented and I was excited to testify at a hearing about the bill. I went to Sacramento the day before to see another hearing taking place, and spent...
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Updated Community Health Assessment now available [Humboldtgov.org]
The Community Health Assessment (CHA), a comprehensive overview of the health of the Humboldt County community, was presented at the Board of Supervisors meeting this afternoon. The Humboldt County Department of Health & Human Services (DHHS) Public Health report looks at traditional public health measures of illness, mortality, nutrition and physical activity in the community. The CHA also includes data about income, housing status, community safety and access to care, as underlying...
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Violent Crime Up & Property Crime Down In CA & The U.S., Say New FBI Stats: But What Do The Numbers Mean? (witnessla.org)
On Monday, the FBI released its full crime stats for 2016, which showed violent crime up 4.1 percent in the U.S. over the FBI numbers for 2015. Pfaff, a Professor of Law at Fordham University Law School, was one of several academic and law enforcement figures who took part in a Monday morning conference call about the FBI stats. The call was sponsored by the Criminal Justice Policy Program at Harvard Law School, and Fair and Just Prosecution , a project that supports and inter-connects...
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We love science!
(click to download) We love science at Echo. It has been my greatest pleasure to share the science about the impact of trauma, including the changes that happen to the various systems of the body in our Trauma and Resilience trainings . The list is pretty exhaustive, and to try to make sense of it all, we’ve developed another of our popular infographics. Nervous system: This is where we focus a lot of our attention in trauma and recovery. The nervous system takes a beating when we live with...
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Webinar: Building Resilient Communities with Elaine Miller-Karas
This webinar will explore integrating a biological based model to reduce the impacts of toxic stress for children and adults. It is a model both for prevention and to use in the aftermath of adverse event.
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Webinar: Building Transformational Resilience for Climate Change Traumas and Toxic Stresses
Live Webinar: Building Transformational Resilience for Climate Change Traumas and Toxic Stresses Monday, October 28 th , 2019 12:00-1:30 PM PDT You will learn: how climate change creates personal, family, and community traumas and toxic stresses; how those traumatic stressors trigger feedbacks that expand and aggravate ACEs and many other person, social, community, and societal maladies; why current approaches are woefully inadequate to address what is already occurring and rapidly steaming...
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Webinar Recap: Health Equity and COVID-19: Opportunities to Improve Child Wellbeing through Policy with Dr. Flojaune Cofer
On May 13, 2020, the California Essentials for Childhood (EfC) Initiative held a webinar entitled, “Health Equity and COVID-19: Opportunities to Improve Child Wellbeing through Policy” and heard from special guest speaker, Dr. Flojaune Cofer, Senior Director of Policy with the All Children Thrive (ACT) California project . This interactive webinar examined what success could look like to address COVID-19 by describing equity concerns arising for children and families that have been...
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Webinar recording available: Making Meaningful Change—Addressing ACEs through Public Policy
On February 18, 2020, nationally recognized experts discussed policy and advocacy strategies on local, state, and national levels using evidence from studies they have conducted with legislators and the general public. Speakers shared advocacy and messaging "how to’s" including communicating the effects of structural racism as an ACE, fostering equity as an essential component of resilience, and leveraging the power of community-based ACE, trauma and resilience networks to inform policy.