Tagged With "First 5 California"
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2018 Policymaker Education Day on Childhood Adversity - REGISTER NOW!
The California Campaign to Counter Childhood Adversity (4CA) invites you to participate in our 2018 Policymaker Education Day on Childhood Adversity. Last year, we had over 100 4CA representatives who participated in the day-long event. Policymaker Education Day is an opportunity to come together as advocates to educate policymakers about childhood adversity, the long-term consequences of childhood adversity on communities, and garner support for 4CA endorsed legislation. Please register...
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2019 Economics of Child Abuse in Mendocino County
Mendocino recently shared 2019 data related to the economic impacts of child abuse. The attached documents are in a printable format.
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5 Key Elements to Trauma-Informed Care [relias.com]
Unfortunately, implementing a trauma-informed framework at your organization is not as simple as bringing in experts, gathering staff for training and then riding the wave of motivation and excitement into the sunset. It involves a cultural shift at your organization, ongoing focus and training, and a commitment from leadership.
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5 Steps for Brain-Building Serve and Return (Center on the Developing Child)
Serve and return interactions are fun, easy, and an excellent way to build a strong foundation in a child's brain for future learning and development. Is a child pointing at something? Babbling or moving those little arms and legs? That's a serve! By returning a serve with a simple acknowledgement or smile, you are rewarding a child's interest and curiosity. Want to learn how serve and return can be a part of your daily interactions with children? Check out our new, practical, how-to video...
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5 Ways Trauma-Informed Care Supports Children's Development
Happy Friday! Below is an excerpt from an article by Child Trends about how trauma-informed care supports children's development. I think it's a nice overview for the trauma-informed work that you're doing - why it's so important, and how it connects to the broader initiative. To see the full article click here . TIC helps service providers, parents, and systems recognize and respond to the needs of children who experience trauma. Each child reacts to trauma differently, but experiencing...
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7 Ways to Help a Child Deal with Traumatic Stress
Traumatic stress feels awful. Thankfully, there are small things we can all do to help relax a hyperaroused nervous system.
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A Guide to Creating “Safe Space” Policies for Early Childhood Programs [CLASP]
From the Center for Law and Social Policy Early childhood programs play an important role in the lives of young children and their families. But in our current immigration policy climate, families across the country are questioning whether it’s safe to attend or enroll. Providers can take steps to protect families’ safety and privacy by implementing policies that designate their facilities as a safe space from immigration enforcement. This guide explains federal agency guidance related to...
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A Message from DSS: CCB 18 - July 2019 Reports are Due Oct 7th 2019!
Good afternoon CCB 18 County Contacts, This email is to inform FY 2019-20 Bridge Program opt-in counties of revised CCB 18 report and instructions via All County Welfare Director Letter dated August 23, 2019. The CCB 18 (7/19) report takes effect for the July 2019 report month. The July 2019 report’s due date has been extended to October 7 th . July and August report months will be due on the same day. Feel free to submit the July 2019 report at any time before the due date. Due to...
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A New Suite of Data on Safeguards for Youth
Safeguards for Youth is a compilation of the latest data on promoting California children’s health and well-being. The data describe protective factors and supportive services, both of which are critical to building a solid foundation for life and addressing the effects of childhood adversity. Protective factors highlight the importance of preventive health care, a strong start in education, and a nurturing school community. Supportive services address adverse experiences such as health...
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A Trauma-Informed Approach to Supporting Families Impacted by Addiction
RFQ ANNOUNCEMENT: Celebrating Families! California Expansion Project Update: Due to the expanding ACEs response in California, and subsequent interest in Celebrating Families! we are extending the due date for proposals to May 24 th. Invitation to Expand Celebrating Families!™ Statewide The California State Office of Child Abuse Prevention (OCAP) recognizing the effectiveness of Celebrating Families! (CF!), has awarded Prevention Partnership International (PPI) a $100,000, 2-year challenge...
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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 Connection Webinar: The trauma toll on pediatric immigrants, refugees and their families
The trauma toll on pediatric immigrants, refugees and their families Date: Friday, December 14, 2018 Time: 10:30-11:30 am Pacific Time/1:30-2:30 Eastern Time Central American asylum seekers, including a Honduran girl, 2, and her mother, are taken into custody near the U.S.-Mexico border in June in McAllen, Texas. John Moore/Getty Images Please register here for this webinar. News accounts say it all: “Families Are Still Being Separated at the Border, Months After ‘Zero Tolerance’ Was...
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ACES Science 101 (FAQs)
What are ACEs? ACEs are adverse childhood experiences that harm children's developing brains so profoundly that the effects show up decades later; they cause much of chronic disease, most mental illness, and are at the root of most violence. ...
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Addressing Trauma in Early Childhood: (Issue Brief 61 - (CHDI) Child Health and Development Institute of Connecticut, Inc.)
ARC Supports Parents in Helping Young Children Recover from Trauma Through a five year SAMHSA grant awarded to CHDI as part of the National Child Traumatic Stress Network (NCTSN), the Early Childhood Trauma Collaborative (ECTC) is helping to address this gap by training clinicians to use Attachment, Self-Regulation and Competency (ARC), 5 an effective treatment for young children who have experienced trauma and their caregivers. ARC is a behavioral health treatment that supports parents (or...
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Book review: "Once I was very, very scared," a book on childhood trauma
The past few years have brought a wealth of evidence for the impact of childhood trauma on lifelong health. The AAP has recognized the importance of childhood trauma with conferences (2015 Violence, Abuse and Toxic Stress: An Update on Trauma-informed Care in Children and Youth) and resources ( AAP Trauma Toolbox for Primary Care .) Like many pediatricians, I have been grateful for the attention to and evidence base for an area of pediatrics I see on a daily basis but for which I have felt...
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Breaking the Silence on Early Child Care and Education Costs: A Values-Based Budget for Children, Parents, and Teachers in California
By Elise Gould, Marcy Whitebook, Zane Mokhiber, and Lea J.E. Austin, Center for the Study of Child Care Employment, July 23, 2019. What this report finds: California’s child early care and education (ECE) system is underfunded, and California policymakers have not been willing to acknowledge the true cost of creating a comprehensive ECE system. Proposals for ECE reform have focused primarily on improving access and affordability for families but have ignored the elephant in the room: Early...
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CA to reimburse for only one of three ACEs screeners
California health care providers will soon begin to learn how many of the 13.2 million California children and adults in the state’s MediCal program have been exposed to adverse childhood experiences (ACEs). But the state’s proposed decision to reimburse only one of three recommended options for screening children has drawn mixed reactions from pediatricians. “If we have mandated legislation that only looks at one screening tool, it really limits the opportunity to improve that screening...
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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 Data Dashboard: Child Adversity and Well-Being
A product of the CA Essentials for Childhood Initiative, the California Data Dashboard contains up to 23 select indicators of child adversity, health and well-being, utilizing data available on kidsdata.org. The dashboard below includes state-level indicators. We have also created data dashboards for California counties ( CLICK HERE to see if your community has one and if not, how you can get one for your community!). For more information about this project please go here. The California...
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California gets boost from federal government to expand early learning [edsource.org]
Though California has been at odds with the federal government on many fronts, the state is getting a boost from the Trump administration to lay the groundwork for expanding preschool and child care programs. California was one of 45 states to receive a Preschool Development Birth through Five Grant this year for improving access to child care and early learning for infants and children. California received $10.6 million. The grant will not create any new child care slots, but will help in...
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California Looks To Lead Nation In Unraveling Childhood Trauma [californiahealthline.org]
Imagine identifying a toxin so potent it could rewire a child’s brain and erode his immune system. A substance that, in high doses, tripled the risk of heart disease and lung cancer and reduced life expectancy by 20 years. And then realizing that tens of millions of American children had been exposed. Dr. @Nadine Burke Harris, California’s newly appointed surgeon general, will tell you this is not a hypothetical scenario. She is a leading voice in a movement trying to transform our...
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California Wildfires Reignite Old Trauma For Survivors Of Last Year's Blazes [npr.org]
There are 18 wildfires now blazing across California, which means many of the state's residents are waking up to the smell of smoke and hazy skies. The Carr fire near Redding has scorched at least 145,015 acres and killed seven people, and three fires in Mendocino County are all less than an hour away from Santa Rosa — where some neighborhoods burned to the ground last year. Confronting constant reminders of what fire can do has become a terrifying reality for people who survived last year's...
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Calming Your Anxious Mind Through Rhythmic Movement
5 Rhythmic Movement Practices That Can Calm Our Anxious Mind
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Can mental health training for teachers reduce preschool suspensions? [The Hechinger Report]
California is trying to support young children by providing more mental health assistance to their teachers SAN JOSE, Calif. — Chally Grundwag, a mental health consultant, faced three teachers gathered around a pint-size preschool table. “What kind of kids really push your buttons?” she asked the group. The teachers at Kidango’s Dorsa Center in San Jose thought for a moment. “Crying ones,” one responded. “I want to say, ‘Stop crying; you’re going to be OK!’ But I can’t.” A crying toddler may...
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Child Welfare Ideas from the Experts #6: Improving Foster Care for Refugee Minors [chronicleofsocialchange.org]
The Chronicle of Social Change is highlighting each of the policy recommendations made this summer by the participants of the Foster Youth Internship Program (FYI), a group of 10 former foster youths who have completed congressional internships. The program is overseen each summer by the Congressional Coalition on Adoption Institute. Each of the FYI participants crafted a policy recommendation during their time in Washington, D.C. Today we highlight the recommendation of Noor Kathem, 23, an...
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Consulting Position at Strategies 2.0
Are you ready to lead transformative change for children and families in California? Strategies 2.0, at the Child Abuse Prevention Center in Sacramento CA, is looking for a Senior Training and Technical Assistance Specialist who will help grow knowledge and networks for professionals working with families--through impactful consulting to collaborations and organizations, training to direct-service teams, and regional movement-building among family-building and community-building leaders.
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Day Care Centers For The Most Fragile Kids Struggle To Stay Open (californiahealthline.org)
Beth Kemplin said that for the first several months after the birth of her son, Bear, she had no idea he would be severely disabled. She started to notice something was wrong when, at 10 months old, he couldn’t sit up. He didn’t babble or meet her eye. He cried 20 hours a day. Now, at 5½ years old, Bear’s list of medical diagnoses is long: cerebral palsy, autism, a seizure disorder and pica, a compulsion to eat objects like rocks and toys. Kemplin had to quit a job to look after Bear when he...
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Early childhood educators learn new ways to spot trauma triggers, build resilience in preschoolers
A hug may be comforting to many children, but for a child who has experienced trauma it may not feel safe.
That’s an example used by Julie Kurtz, co-director of trauma informed practices in early childhood education at the WestEd Center for Child & Family Studies (CCFS), as she begins a trauma training session. Her audience, preschool teachers and staff of the San Francisco-based Wu Yee Children’s Services at San Francisco’s Women’s Building, listen attentively.
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Early Childhood Is Critical to Health Equity [rwjf.org]
The first few years of life are crucial in establishing a child’s path toward—or away from—health and well-being across the entire lifespan. This report, produced in partnership with the University of California, San Francisco, examines some of the barriers to health equity that begin early in life, and promising strategies for overcoming them. Key Findings Poverty limits childrens’ and families’ options for healthy living conditions. Poverty can limit where children live, and can lead to...
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Economic Empowerment Grant 2nd Edition (Grant Opportunity)
The California Department of Social Services’ (CDSS) Office of Child Abuse Prevention (OCAP) is pleased to announce the release of the Economic Empowerment Request for Application (RFA) for funding beginning September 1, 2018, and ending August 31, 2020. The OCAP is currently accepting applications to fund up to five qualified Applicants to implement grants per the purpose of the Grant Opportunity outlined in the RFA below. Economic Empowerment Grant RFA (PDF) Due Date: April 12, 2018 by...
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Emergency Child Care for Foster Families [saccounty.net]
By Sacramento County, SacCounty News, January 9, 2020 To recruit more loving families for children in foster care, Sacramento County is making it easier to find and afford childcare services for resource families. The Emergency Child Care Bridge Program’s goal is to increase the number of resource families for children in foster care by helping families find the right child care provider, connecting families to long-term child care subsidies, and by providing vouchers to pay for childcare...
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Five Things You Wish Your Community’s Early Childhood Programs Knew [CitiesSpeak.org]
By NLC Staff on May 10, 2019 Cities, towns, and villages are places of innovation and solution finding. If you want to improve early childhood wellbeing—local leaders are key partners. The Networks of Opportunity for Child Wellbeing (NOW) Learning Community is a program of Boston Medical Center’s Vital Village. The learning community’s goal is to support local early childhood coalitions and build their capacity to work together with the broader community to improve the wellbeing of our...
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For Low-Income Youth in California, Much is Promised But Little Received with Mental Health Services (chronicleofsocialchange.org)
Mental health disorders in childhood and adolescence are extremely common. Studies estimate between 13 and 20 percent of American children experience a mental disorder in a given year. National survey data indicates that one in five children and teens will suffer a mental disorder that severely impairs daily life. Common mental illnesses include anxiety disorder, depression and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Yet research also indicates that many children in need of mental...
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Free webinar from Chandra Ghosh Ippen, PhD on "When We Are Scared..."
In this excellent free webinar, Chandra Ghosh Ippen, PhD, Associate Director of the Child Trauma Research Program at University of California, San Francisco, and Director of Dissemination and Implementation for Child-Parent Psychotherapy, talks about how to use her picture story book Once I Was Very Very Scared to help children and families heal from acute and chronic trauma. The webinar will be available in Spanish soon. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DcAPbDpgoso
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Free Webinar: Using Culturally Responsive Practices to Ensure Equity for All Children
The State Performance Plan Technical Assistance Project (SPP-TAP) invites you to a Webinar on Wednesday, June 12, 2019 12:00 noon - 1:30 p.m. (PST) Please join SPP-TAP as we welcome Dr. Rosemarie Allen for the upcoming webinar, Using Culturally Responsive Practices to Ensure Equity for All Children focusing on learning environments that are culturally affirming for students in preschool through early elementary grades. Proposed Audience: SPP-TAP invites school and central office personnel to...
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From Compassion Fatigue to Healing Centered Engagement: Turning Trauma Informed Values into Action
To pave the way for a truly strengths-based approach to full healing and recovery for both service users and burned out staff, we must educate them on (1) the central role of primal body responses to trauma (past and present), and (2) the early development of adaptive thoughts and behaviors in response to
traumatic experience.
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Gov. Newsom's early childhood advisor describes 'whole-child, whole-family, whole-community' strategy [edsource.org]
For the first time, a California governor has created a position in his office focused on early education. Gov. Gavin Newsom appointed Giannina Pérez as his Senior Policy Advisor for Early Childhood. Peréz previously worked for Early Edge California and Children Now, both well-known children’s advocacy organizations. As an advocate, she worked to expand training for preschool teachers and child care providers to better support children who speak languages other than English at home. She also...
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Governor Newsom announces Nadine Burke Harris to be CA's first-ever surgeon general
Governor Gavin Newsom today announced the appointment of Dr. Nadine Burke Harris, a national leader in pediatric medicine, to serve as California’s first-ever surgeon general. There is overwhelming consensus in the scientific community around early warning signs and childhood determinants of serious health outcomes. As surgeon general, Dr. Burke Harris will urge policymakers at every level of government and leaders across the state to consider the social determinants of health, especially...
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Great parenting resource for Strengthening Families 5 Protective Factors
Here is a great website from the Five for Families public awareness campaign that explains the Strengthening Families 5 Protective Factors to parents. It has parent-friendly language, videos, questions to consider, and parenting ideas. https://fiveforfamilies.org/
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Help public radio with a story: How did separation from your parents as a child impact you?
Please see the post below from Laura Klivans of KQED: KQED is the National Public Radio affiliate in San Francisco, CA. We’d like to hear from adults (18+) who were separated from their parents when they were children. Perhaps the separation was due to economic reasons, war and conflict, incarceration, foster care, or something else. How did that period of separation impact you in the long-run? How has it impacted your connection to others and how you build relationships? If you're a parent,...
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How a story about childhood trauma in Paradise became one of community trauma [centerforhealthjournalism.org]
My project for the Center for Health Journalism’s California Fellowship was focused on childhood trauma, zeroing in on a town in Northern California. In the fall, that town — Paradise, California — burned in a harrowing wildfire. The story quickly changed to one of community loss. The story of trauma in two counties My initial project was about Adverse Childhood Experiences, or ACEs. ACEs are one way to quantify how much childhood trauma a person has experienced before the age of 18. Through...
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How do you tell the story of a huge early childhood program over time? [centerforhealthjournalism.org]
Thanks — for nothing, Mr. Reiner. When I started my reporting on the 20th anniversary of California’s Proposition 10 — now known as First 5 — I fully expected to have filmmaker Rob Reiner’s quotations and retrospective as a central piece of the package . After all, he was the sponsor of the ballot measure that created the tobacco tax-funded system for programs serving young children from birth to age 5. And, he welcomed me into his Beverly Hills office for an interview when the measure was...
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How to Be Your Own Emergency First Responder! (3 minute read)
https://www.optimalbrainintegration.com/post/how-to-be-your-own-emergency-first-responder-3-minute-read How to Be Your Own Emergency First Responder! (3 minute read)
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HUD Admits New Rule on Undocumented Immigrants Could Displace Thousands of Kids who are Citizens [thinkprogress.org]
The Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) submitted a proposed rule to evict all undocumented immigrants from public housing to the federal register Friday, setting in motion the first step towards finalizing a plan that could impact tens of thousands of undocumented parents and their U.S. citizen children. Under this proposed rule, HUD would be prohibited from “making financial assistance available to persons other than United States citizens.” The current rule allows for...
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In the Arena with NOW Podcast Episode, "Cultivating Leaders of Color in Early Care and Education" (27 min)
The Networks of Opportunity for Child Wellbeing (NOW) is excited to share the third episode of In the Arena with NOW , a podcast series that lifts up the voices of community leaders who are “in the arena” -- in classrooms, playgrounds, Congressional halls, hospitals, and neighborhood streets -- working to make sure that all children and families can live healthy, thriving lives. In our third episode, we speak with members of the California Consortium for Equity in Early Care and Education...
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Instructions: Upload December teach back materials
Hi everyone, Please follow the instructions below to upload all of the materials you used at the December 2018 teach back, including your slides, handouts, activities, etc- 1. On the Bridge community homepage, find the 'Resources Download Categories' widget on the right-hand side (scroll down) and click on ' Participant materials from December 2018 teach back '. This is the folder where you can share and view everyone's teach back materials. This is a private folder that only members of the...
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Join 4CA in educating policymakers about ACEs! May 1 in Sacramento.
Join us on May 1 for the 3rd Annual 4CA Policymaker Education Day! Register now: bit.ly/4CA2019Register
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Join your local ACEs Connection community
If you'd like to see trauma-informed care resources and events specific to your city, county, or region, I encourage you to join your local ACEs Connection community! Below is a list of all of the current and upcoming California ACEs Connection communities. Click on the link below to join the community. Alameda County Alpine County (in progress - email Gail - Gkennedy@acesconnection.com ) Amador County (in progress - email Gail - Gkennedy@acesconnection.com ) Berkeley Butte County Del Norte...
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Marin Community Clinics in California screen babies for ACEs, provide support in effort to prevent trauma
When Marin Community Clinics (MCC) first considered screening their patients for adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) they already had decided that if they were going to prevent children from acquiring ACEs, they had to take a radical approach.