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When Frank Biro walks into a class of second- or third-graders these days, there are almost always a couple of girls who look different than the rest. “There will be quite a few girls that look like they’re going into early puberty,” says Dr. Biro, a professor of pediatrics at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center who gives talks about puberty at schools occasionally. Dr. Biro researches a phenomenon that has increasingly captured the attention of researchers: Puberty appears to be...

In their neighborhood, teens Shanice and Estherica Seman are considered members of the old guard. When new neighbors move into Fairview public housing in Bremerton, the sisters are among the first to greet the arrivals, often with food. On Friday night, they extended that practice in a unique way. The girls helped prepare and serve a meal to seniors living in public housing as part of Teen Challenge, a leadership and mentoring program that aims to provide resources for at-risk youth in...

At the U.S. Capitol today, United States Senators Tim Scott (R-SC) and Cory Booker (D-NJ) delivered remarks on “the bipartisan commitment to ensure that the effect of incarceration on children and families is not lost in the national debate on criminal justice reform,” as announced by the Annie E. Casey Foundation. Patrick McCarthy, president and CEO of the Casey Foundation, reviewed the findings and recommendations of the KIDS COUNT policy report, A Shared Sentence: The Devastating Toll of...

It's sardine time,” says Aleida Diaz (Elizabeth Rodriguez), scanning the overcrowded cafeteria at Litchfield Penitentiary in the Season 4 premiere of “ Orange Is the New Black .” “We a for-profit prison now. We ain’t people no more. We bulk items.” When the series, created by Jenji Kohan and based loosely on Piper Kerman’s memoir, debuted on Netflix three years ago, interest in subjects like the privatization of prisons was largely confined to academics, activists and journalists. Not...

This story originally appeared in ACES Too High . Although it’s too soon to tell if integrating trauma-informed and resilience-building practices based on adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) sciences is making a difference for the teens living at Home on the Range , a residential treatment center in Sentinel Butte, North Dakota, it’s made a huge difference for the people who work there. They now understand that kids aren’t born bad. “ACEs has enlightened us,” says Mike Gooch, clinical...

[Image by Krzysztof Pacholak ] Even proponents of educational technology admit that a lot of software sold to schools isn’t very good. But they often highlight the promise of so-called “adaptive learning” software, in which complex algorithms react to how a student answers questions, and tailor instruction to each student. The computer recommends different lessons to different students, based upon what they already know and what they still need to work on. Wonderful in theory, but does it...

We hear too little from men about having survived childhood abuse and even less about how that abuse impacts their fathering. This series about fathering as a survivor is helping to change that. The Trigger Points Anthology editors have done a complete interview with Raymond Charles and shared it online. Here's an excerpt. 7. What would you tell another survivor father who is expecting their first child? You have 9 months and counting to help yourself to try and climb out of your own issues...

We hear from Jasmine, who struggled with depression at the University of Chicago. She went to the student counseling center to ask for help (she makes it clear she was not suicidal). They made her get in an ambulance, says Jasmine, “which was really embarrassing.” She was kept in a psychiatric ward for two weeks. She then met with school officials who informed her she had to move her stuff out of her dorm “within 48 hours,” and that she was no longer a student there. “Did you feel it was...

Adolescence is a time of great opportunity, but also turmoil. As many as two-thirds of all teens face the additional challenge of coping with traumatic events such as life-threatening accidents, injuries, illness, disaster, or violence or sexual or emotional abuse and exploitation. That figure rises to closer to 100 percent for those who live in families or communities in which violence, poverty, neglect, racism or discrimination based on gender, gender identity or disability are prevalent.

The lives of children improved by some measures during recent years, but their opportunities still are constrained by persistent family and neighborhood poverty, says the 2016 Kids Count Data Book . The annual report by The Annie E. Casey Foundation looks at measures of child well-being at the state and national level in four categories. Broadly, this year’s findings show gains in education and health — but some setbacks in measures of economic well-being and family and community, according...

[Image by masha krasnova-shabaeva ] Adverse childhood experiences and sleep disturbances interfere with immune system regulation, shows research from the University of Eastern Finland. These changes were observed in a population that already carried a significant burden of psychological symptoms such as depression. Major depressive disorder (MDD), adverse childhood experiences and sleep disturbances are all characterised by increased physical morbidity and changes in the way our immune...

Before I gave birth, I made three calls: one to Oscar, my health-insurance company; one to the New York state exchange through which I receive my insurance, thanks to the Affordable Care Act; and one to Child Health Plus, New York’s “ health insurance program for kids ,” through which my toddler daughter receives her coverage and with which I wanted to enroll my son. No problem, a representative of Oscar assured me. My infant would be covered under my plan for the first 48 hours. No problem,...