Blog

By Christina Caron, The New York Times, November 3, 2020 Families are under an extraordinary amount of pressure right now, and the next few months will provide little relief. The trials of 2020 include economic uncertainty , winter dread , an emotionally charged presidential election and a worrying rise in coronavirus cases . Then there’s the disrupted school year , remote learning and few (or no) options for child care . (That’s an abbreviated list.) Experts are understandably concerned...

English: The California Department of Public Health, Injury and Prevention Branch (CDPH/IVPB) and the California Department of Social Service, Office of Child Abuse Prevention’s (CDSS/OCAP) , Essentials for Childhood (EfC) Initiative , ACEs Connection , and the Yolo County Children’s Alliance have co-created a newly developed resource, “Coping with Stress During the COVID-19 Pandemic” in both English and Spanish. This material is intended for Californian families experiencing the severe...

By Christina Santiago, California Health Report, November 5, 2020 While I was on call in the pediatric emergency department of Harbor-UCLA Medical Center, three firefighters rolled in a gurney with little girl strapped in — but she didn’t look injured. Unlike most kids arriving in an ambulance, she had no obvious injuries, no cervical collar to support her neck, no signs of bleeding and she was alert. Tracy looked to be about 4 years old and was so tiny compared to the gurney. Her...

By Jahnavi Jagannath, Kierra B. Jones, Janeen Buck Willison, Urban Institute, November 5, 2020 Women make up the fastest-growing share of the incarcerated population in the US. Incarceration can be especially traumatic for women, who may experience more harassment and violence while incarcerated and face unique barriers to successful reentry after incarceration. To learn what affects incarcerated women’s feelings of safety and well-being and how prisons can be more responsive to their...

English: The California Department of Public Health, Injury and Prevention Branch (CDPH/IVPB) and the California Department of Social Service, Office of Child Abuse Prevention’s (CDSS/OCAP) , Essentials for Childhood (EfC) Initiative , ACEs Connection , and the Yolo County Children’s Alliance have co-created a newly developed resource, “Coping with Stress During the COVID-19 Pandemic” in both English and Spanish. This material is intended for Californian families experiencing the severe...

I wanted to tell everyone about my new children’s book available in English and Spanish: “Monty’s Day in Court: What To Expect When You Have To Testify In Court”. “Monty’s Day in Court” is the first children’s book written from the perspective of a child who testifies in court against his abuser. Monty’s story serves as a tool for children in learning resilience and as an aid for those on the front lines helping young people through challenging times. To learn more about the book please...

Join us on Friday November 6, 2020 from noon to 1:00 PST as we come together and join Satya Chandragiri MD, Bonnie O’Hern RN, Denise PNP, & Michael Polacek RN for a discussion around the tender issue of suicide. Together we will discuss ways people and providers can support each other and encourage communities to take action to support one another around suicide prevention, crisis intervention, and the layers of culture and structural barriers to care. A special emphasis will be on...

By Rachel Rosenberg and Alaina Flannigan, Child Trends, October 15, 2020 The data provided through the National Youth in Transition Database (NYTD) is critical to shaping the services and supports available to young people as they transition out of foster care and begin to live independently. While earlier briefs in this series have highlighted ways in which the research community can use the NYTD data, survey administrators (state and federal) should also strive for a better understanding...

According to leading research, 99% of children entering the foster care system have experienced trauma in their lifetime, and few of those children receive the trauma-informed healthcare they need to recover and prosper. These children are more likely to not only suffer short-term from their trauma, but long term as well. Children who do not receive effective, holistic healthcare experience a lifetime of mental health disorders, substance misuse, and physical illnesses, including diabetes,...

By Richard Barth, Jill Duerr Berrick, Melissa Jonson-Reid, et al., The Imprint, October 5, 2020 Current calls to eliminate all elements of structural racism in the United States include proposals to abolish child welfare services. Alan Dettlaff and Kristen Weber, in an op-ed published by The Imprint this summer, based their abolition argument on the idea that “the child welfare system causes harm to Black children and we have known this for decades.” Their article has the laudable intent of...

By Cynthia G. Hawkins and Taylor Scribner, University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform, October 1, 2020 It is no secret that the foster care system in America is overwhelmed. Children usually enter the foster care system as a result of neglect, abandonment, or abuse. Many of these children spend years or even the rest of their childhood in foster care separated from their parents and often their siblings without ever having a permanent home. There is a light at the end of the tunnel for...

By Rebecca Vivrette and Jessica Dym Bartlett, Child Trends, September 30, 2020 Children and youth who become involved in the child welfare (CW) system often experience trauma as a result of maltreatment and other adversities while in the CW system, including removal from home and multiple out-of-home placements . Children and youth of color , particularly Black and Native American children, are disproportionally represented in the CW system and are more likely to experience trauma due, in...