Society absorbs a lot of costs that are associated with childhood inflicted trauma (ACEs). Yet we fund programs regularly, and don’t really require solid data on results. That just seems to be a byproduct of people managing programs. We commit to results, secure funding based on that commitment, then do everything we can to prove that we have results. We secure data that suggests progress, and hide any data that then problem might be getting worse (at least in my experience).

Fortunately, we actually have good data that community-based interventions addressing childhood trauma works, from a financial and results standpoint. State-funded Family Policy Councils in Washington State were evaluated using a unique circumstance. Because of budget cuts, about half of State Policy Councils had their funding cut. The study compared data from funded and unfunded Councils and determined that funding the councils produced an average annual societal savings of $27 million above the funding provided. [LINK HERE]

As we advocate for policy changes in our respective states, we need to understand what story our politicians are following. One story stresses personal accountability, picking yourself up by your bootstraps and just making a decision to do better. This story supports more criminal laws, reducing support services and punitive intervention policies. The countervailing story stresses the impact of toxic stress and trauma. This story supports more targeted intervention and support services, especially those proven to reduce state expenditures. One sub-story to this one is that results are not immediate, so the cost savings can’t be budgeted in the same year as appropriations are made. And many of the cost savings accrue to society, and not to the state budget.

I would love to see a dialogue the includes proposals for how we can effectively get the second story out to our legislators and state administrators. As we have that dialogue, we also need to consider how we fund the efforts to put together that story and market it to our legislators. We have a lot of outstanding discussion on ACEsConnection about trauma and its impact on society. We need to shift to ideas about how to change policy.

By the way, I don’t want to let the public sector off the hook with their participation. Washington State has an excellent public private partnership that assumed responsibility for the Family Policy Councils after the State of Washington cut their funding. We need to understand the stories being shared in the private sector and figure out an effective strategy to reach them with our story as well.