April 2019

Evictions are destabilizing events that increase families’ financial stress and strip away the psychological and physical security of having a home. These effects are particularly traumatizing for children, who often suffer emotionally and academically. While these negative consequences are well researched , little evidence exists to estimate the number of children who are evicted during childhood. To help fill this knowledge gap, this study calculates the proportion of children born in...

Greg Grey Cloud stands in the middle of the arena, thumbs in his hip pockets, beside a black-and-white Paint who wanders and roots aimlessly in the dry sand. The space is slightly smaller than a high-school basketball court, walled in particle board with an arched roof of white plastic that seals in the warmth from the overworked radiant heaters on this chilly northern prairie morning. Mud from the pens outside clings to Grey Cloud's boots and to the bottoms of his jeans. He closes his eyes...

There have been dozens of mass shootings in the United States since Columbine. (For a graphic on major U.S. mass shootings, see: https://tmsnrt.rs/2IaGL5h ) In the United States from 2000 to 2017 there were 250 active-shooter incidents, resulting in 799 deaths and more than 1,400 people wounded, according to the FBI. But the number of people left to deal with the lasting effects of gun violence is far more difficult to track. The Rebels Project, a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization...

Last month, an article titled “The Tragedy of Baltimore” in the New York Times Magazine described the upsurge in violence in a city long known for its “blight, suburban flight, segregation, drugs , racial inequality, [and] concentrated poverty.” At the center of the storm are transition-age youth, who too often face long odds and challenging futures in the communities where they live. I recently had the opportunity to talk with Patricia Cobb-Richardson , MS. For the past 20 years, she has...

[Daun Kauffman photo.] ____________________________________________________________ This morning, I thought about taking a sick day—a mental health day. Yesterday was a rough day in the classroom, a day that ended with a parent-teacher conference after school hours. It was a day that I laid my head on my desk during my planning period and resorted to my hidden candy stash in my bottom desk drawer. This morning, I thought, “I’ll take my first sick day.” I’d been saving them for months, coming...

As of early April, imprisoned Americans stand to gain easier access to a higher education. Senators Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii) and Mike Lee (R-Utah), and Representatives Danny Davis (D-Illinois), Jim Banks (R-Indiana), and French Hill (R-Arkansas) introduced a bipartisan piece of legislation to restore Pell Grant access to the incarcerated. If the bill passes, 463,000 prisoners will become eligible for federal financial support toward earning a college degree, which experts argue could go a...

Long before I heard of ACEs or the phrase “childhood adversity,” I started to write a book; my first. Now, hot off the press, my memoir isn’t the book I set out to write. But who am I kidding? It’s exactly the book that had to be written. It finally gnawed at me, dared me, to excavate for truth. My book was supposed to be about walking the Camino de Santiago Compostela in 2013. After I’d hiked nearly 1000 kms of trails across Spain, I told my family and friends that I would write a book...

"Self-care is proving to be difficult to master and weave into our teachers frantic lives. As human beings we must prioritise our own well-being and as teachers as well we can begin to place the same emphasis on staff well-being in our schools as we do for the mental health of the children we teach. Self-care starts with you and small acts every single day. Imagine connecting to and feeling the magic you work so hard to create in the classroom and in your life. Imagine the impact on those...

By P. Berman, K. Hecht , & A. Hosack , NO....it’s today! I can’t. I don’t want to. I must ! Claire h ad a knot in her stomach . She was holding her pillow against her stomach and trying to go back to sleep. She didn’t want to wake up. If she did, she would have to take the National Dental Hygienist Examination . It included 350 test questions ! Despite all her hard work, it was t his test that would determine if Clair e c ould get a job as a dental hygienist . Claire would need a score...

While many kids in Contra Costa County are thriving, others lack basic health, education, and financial supports they need for well-being and long-term success. Since countywide statistics can mask such issues, regional data is useful for highlighting disparities and targeting resources. That’s why Children Now collaborated with the Contra Costa Economic Partnership , The Lesher Foundation , and First 5 Contra Costa to develop an infographic to help illustrate the need to close the...

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Do you have specialized expertise in trauma-informed care and education? Has your school taken the journal toward becoming trauma-sensitive ? The Attachment & Trauma Network (ATN) is looking for workshop presenters from a variety of backgrounds: educators (at all levels), counselors, social workers, clinicians, community leaders and others to present at our 2020 conference, February 16-18, 2020 in Atlanta, GA. You will be speaking at the LARGEST gathering of trauma-informed educators in...