Tagged With "foster parents"
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Effects of Preterm Birth
A baby born prematurely often spends that crucial time for attachment and development of neural pathways in the NICU
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Family Border Separation Policy Has Long-Term Effects on Child Health [medicalbag.com]
Despite a reversal of the Trump administration family separation policy, as of July 2018, more than 2000 children remain separated from their parents or legal guardians. 1 In an article published in JAMA, Howard A. Zucker, MD, JD, and Danielle Greene, DrPH, of the New York State Department of Health, suggest that child-parent separation during an already tumultuous and emotionally strenuous event may exert greater long-term physical and mental health effects on children than is currently...
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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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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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Growing Resilient Kids
Resiliency is defined as the ability to bounce back from stressful events we encounter in life. When something we encounter is so overwhelming to us that we become stuck in it, that is one definition of trauma. Resiliency can be viewed as the antidote to trauma. In fact, when we effectively process trauma we have experienced, we often come out the other side far more resilient than before. Our nervous systems have a higher stretch capacity, so to speak. How do we help our kids stretch and...
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Harvard and RWJF report on child care scarcity and its consequences for parents
One of the most stressful questions a new parent confronts is, "Who's going to take care of my baby when I go back to work?" Figuring out the answer to that question is often not easy. When NPR, along with the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, surveyed more than 1,000 parents nationwide about their child care experiences, a third reported difficulty finding care. For the full story, read Child Care Scarcity Has Very Real Consequences For...
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Helping Children in Emergencies: Keep Your Child’s Developmental Stage and Temperament in Mind
By Karissa Luckett, RN, BSN, MSW Common reactions to stress will fade over time for most children. Let’s be honest: Your exploring, tactile toddler won’t suddenly start keeping their hands to themselves. Your continually forgetful preschooler won’t suddenly start hand-washing properly just because you’ve told them it’s important. Depending on their ages, stages and temperaments, some children will require more reassurance or more time to shift than others. This situation is unique, and so is...
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Helping Parents Develop Positive Relationships with their infants to toddlers (National Partnership to End Interpersonal Violence,NPEIV).
Zero to Three Resource- extracted from website and with discussion text by Karin Hecht (September 14, 2018) Bonding activities between parent and child can be a great way to help a child’s development and strengthen the relationship. The Zero to Three website has great resources for child-centered activities to help little ones learn and grow. One particularly useful resource for parents and care providers are a collection of stage-by-stage age-based tips and what to expect as your baby...
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Re: Helping Children Birth-5 Rebound from Traumatic Experiences: Create Classrooms that Support Recovery
Thanks for sharing this wonderful program. If we take the brain research seriously, that is, that the last trimester to 18 months is the period in which the right brain (which is the center for social /emotional development) is rapidly developing and is foundational to all later development (per Dr. Allan Schore), then this should be the period in which we also strongly support the birthing family, both practically and emotionally, promote healthy birthing and bonding/attachment practices...
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75 Calm Down Strategies for Kids
I came across this webpage and wanted to share with my parent and caregiver small groups. My intern typed it up into a handout. Feel free to share.
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8th Annual Water Cooler Conference - Stronger Together: Transforming Opportunity for Every Child
On February 22-23, 2016, our friends at Advancement Project will be hosting the 8th Annual Water Cooler Conference at the Sheraton Grand Sacramento Hotel. Don't miss out on this chance to hear keynote speakers Paul Tough, author of How Children Succeed: Grit Curiosity, and the Hidden Power of Character ; David B. Grusky, the Director of Stanfords Center on Poverty and Inequity; and Dr. Patricia K. Kuhl, the Co-Director of the UW Institute for Learning & Brain Sciences. Panelists...
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A community-based approach to supporting substance exposed newborns and their families
This information brief highlights a community-based approach to supporting families and newborns affected by substance use. MA EfC developed this brief to address the profound intersection between the Massachusetts opioid crisis, Federal mandates for the development of Plans of Safe Care for substance exposed newborns, and, the MA EfC focus on increasing social connectedness as a means to reduce child maltreatment.
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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 Kaiser pediatrician, wise to ACEs science for years, finally gets to use it
Dr. Suzanne Frank has known about the impact of childhood adversity on young lives for decades. She’s seen the fallout in the faces of young people huddled in beds at a children’s shelter where she worked years ago. She’s seen it as the regional child abuse services and champion for the Permanente Medical Group. And she’s seen it in hospital examination rooms where, as a member of the Santa Clara County’s Sexual Assault Response Team, she’s been called in to examine shell-shocked children...
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ACE-Aha Moments & Parenting: Meet Aprel Phelps Downey
Aprel Phelps Downey What was your ACEs Aha moment? When did you first hear about ACEs and what impact did/does it have on you? How do ACEs impact you as a parent? How is your parenting impacted by past trauma? What’s been most helpful to you as a parent parenting with ACEs? What’s been most challenging for you as a parent parenting with ACEs? What has parenting taught you? What have you learned? How do you manage complex family relationships? What inspires/encourages and helps you? I know...
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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 Science Champions Series: Eulanda Thorne Applies ACEs Science Awareness at School and at Home
Eulanda Thorne and her children (L to R) Sarah, Joshua, Leah, Emmanuel When school counselor Eulanda Thorne discovered the science of adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) in 2018, she felt as if she were on fire. “I felt that I had missed a vital part of my education. Anyone who is in college for social work or teaching, a class on ACEs and trauma should be a required course.” Without an understanding of ACEs, she says, “I would think the students who are sent to me are being defiant or...
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America Has Never Not Had a Childcare Problem [PSMag.com]
“What do you do for a living?” I dread that question. It forces me to face the reality that I am living a life that I had never dreamed of for myself. I define myself as a researcher and a writer. But I spend the majority of my time being a stay-at-home parent and the primary caregiver of my two young children. It is hard to reconcile the fact that, despite my Ph.D., my days primarily consist of changing dirty diapers, washing bottles, cleaning messes, and simply being “mama.” I know what...
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An Invitation to Co-Create Change and Shift Your Mindset
We are not born “normal” or “disordered” or with a “disability” we “are born” and “we develop” in many different ways. Along our path of development we will encounter various influences and each individual will respond to those experiences differently. The brain actually continues to develop well into adulthood!
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Announcing the Parenting with ACEs Monthly Chat Series!
I'm thrilled to announce our NEW Live Chat series!!! Starting in May, once a month, we will have a live Chat Event. It will take online in the Parenting with ACEs Group the second Tuesday of the month at 10 a.m. PST (1 p.m. EST). We'll learn from our featured guests (below) about ACE-related issues. We'll have discussions and share experiences, stories, and resources with each other. Here is who and what we have scheduled for 2017. 2017 Monthly Chat Schedule / Time is Always: @ 10 AM PST (1...
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ASD as a Risk Factor for Disrupted Attachment
When people hear ACES, or, adverse childhood experiences, it is likely that their mind goes to the more obvious types of adverse experiences such as physical abuse, sexual abuse, loss of a parent, or being removed from the home. But what about the less obvious adverse experiences? Those that are small, yet have a cumulative impact on a child’s sense of safety and security. Those that interfere with the essential bonding between child and caregiver. Those that risk or contribute to disrupted...
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BABY ACES: When we consider the traumas that qualify as ACEs, babies need their own list.
Babies are obviously very different from older children developmentally, including their ability to understand and process trauma. Indeed, a baby may be completely unaware of an actual ACE— say, the incarceration of their father— which a middle schooler would be painfully aware of. Yet at the same time, the baby could be much-more-acutely impacted by the secondary effect of this same ACE: a sad, stressed, and distracted mother. Similarly, if a parent dies in a car accident when a child is in...
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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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Brief trauma training videos now available for families & professionals
Trauma Sensitive Approaches for Home and School is a series of three brief (under 10 minutes each) training videos for use by school personnel, families, child welfare and other professionals. Developed by Formed Families Forward, a parent resource center, as part of the Virginia Tiered Systems of Supports project, the videos cover: - Understanding Trauma Awareness; - Responding to Trauma; and - Building Trauma Sensitive Schools One page fact sheets are available to accompany each video.
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Bringing ACEs, Resilience, and Hope to preschool families
This school year, an endeavor of the Franklin Pierce Hewins Early Learning Center (ELC) was to bring Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) and Resilience to the preschool families. What began as a broad idea soon turned into an exciting project: “Rise to Resilience & Hope”. Our ELC has had a Kids at Hope culture for many years – believing that all children are capable of success, with no exceptions. With Kids at Hope, the adults are Treasure Hunters, seeking out and recognizing the...
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Bringing ACEs, Resilience, and Hope to preschool families
This school year, an endeavor of the Franklin Pierce Hewins Early Learning Center (ELC) was to bring Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) and Resilience to the preschool families. What began as a broad idea soon turned into an exciting project: “Rise to Resilience & Hope”. Our ELC has had a Kids at Hope culture for many years – believing that all children are capable of success, with no exceptions. With Kids at Hope, the adults are Treasure Hunters, seeking out and recognizing the...
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California Child Welfare Policy and Progress, Winter Issue
The California Child Welfare Co-Investment Partnership Report This issue of in sights provides an overview of the latest legislative developments in California, including data and perspectives on the policy and practice transformation taking place with the Continuum of Care Reform (CCR). Beyond a comprehensive summary of child welfare state legislation, this issue also includes a discussion on the key provisions of the Family First Prevention Services Act. The issue concludes with...
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California Plans to End 'Lunch Shaming' That Guarantees Meals for All Students [usatoday.com]
By Joshua Bote, USA Today, October 14, 2019 A bill signed Saturday by California Gov. Gavin Newsom plans to cut the recent trend in schools of "lunch shaming." SB 265, which was originally introduced by California state Sen. Robert Hertzberg, will require that all public school students have a "state reimbursable" meal provided by the school "even if their parent or guardian has unpaid meal fees." It amends the Child Hunger Prevention and Fair Treatment Act of 2017, which previously stated...
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Casey’s Trauma Trainings for Foster Parents Hailed as Promising [aecf]
POSTED APRIL 2, 2018, BY THE ANNIE E. CASEY FOUNDATION The families of foster parents and kinship caregivers who participated in trainings from the Annie E. Casey Foundation about managing childhood trauma experienced greater placement stability, according to two recent evaluations by Child Trends , a nonprofit research center. The two training programs assessed — Trauma Systems Therapy for Foster Care (TST-FC) and ARC Reflections — are “promising approaches for i ntegrating trauma-informed...
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CenteringParenting Recognized as Innovative Pediatric Intervention in New Report from The Center for the Study of Social Policy [globenewswire.com]
By Vandana Devgan, Centering Healthcare Institute, November 15, 2019 Centering Healthcare Institute (CHI) is honored to share that its pediatric group care model CenteringParenting®, has been recognized by The Center for the Study of Social Policy (CSSP) as an innovative pediatric intervention in its latest study. "Fostering Social and Emotional Health: Common Threads to Transform Everyday Practice and System" , released as part of the Pediatrics Supporting Parents (PSP) initiative, shares...
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A Better Normal, Community Discussion, Fri., June 5th at 3p.m. EST., on The Power of Discord with Claudia Gold, MD, and Ed Tronick, Ph.D.
Please join us on Friday, June 5th for "A Better Normal’ community discussion with @Ed Tronick , Ph.D., and @Claudia Gold , MD. They will be discussing the work in their new book The Power of Discord, Why the Ups and Downs of Relationships are the Secret to Building Intimacy, Resilience, and Trust , which they co-wrote (details about the authors and the book below). This discussion will be hosted by @Cissy White (ACEs Connection Staff) who is the Parenting with ACEs Community Manager and...
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OCAP Strategic 5 year plan 2020-2025
Please see the attached report - The Office of Child Abuse Prevention (OCAP) is a bureau within the California Department of Social Services (CDSS). CDSS is the administrative structure that provides oversight to the California Child Welfare System . The system continually works to improve engagement and service provision that support the safety , permanence and well-being of children and their families. Though historically the child welfare system has focused on tertiary prevention efforts...
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How a Pandemic Could Advance the Science of Early Adversity [jamanetwork.com]
By Danielle Roubinov, Nicole R. Bush, and W. Thomas Boyce, JAMA Pediatrics, July 27, 2020 The reach of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic is global, a health crisis with a ubiquity never before experienced. While the physical health consequences of COVID-19 appear to affect proportionally fewer children compared with adults, its psychosocial consequences may be magnified within families who consistently weather a landscape of severe stressors or adverse childhood experiences...
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Baby courts: A proven approach to stop the multigenerational transmission of ACES in child welfare; new efforts to establish courts nationwide
The organization Zero To Three estimates that in the U.S., a child is taken into the child welfare system every six seconds. “Many of society’s most intractable problems can be traced back to childhood adversity. Being in the child welfare system increases the likelihood of more adversity and criminality. Baby court is a proven approach to healing the trauma of both child and parent, and breaking the cycle of maltreatment,” says Mimi Graham, Ed.D ., director of the Florida State University...
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Seven Steps to Calm an Explosive Child
Are you exhausted by the explosive behaviors of the children you love? First, I want to say I am so proud of you. I know the fatigue and frustration that comes with parenting a child who feels out of control. The fact that you are reading this article means you are looking for support and guidance, and that means you are on your way to helping the children in your life. And believe me, you are probably already doing a better job than you think! Kids need you to show up more than anything!
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Adversity in Early Childhood [americanprogress.org]
By Cristina Novoa and Taryn Morrissey, Center for American Progress, August 27, 2020 Since the World Health Organization declared the COVID-19 outbreak a pandemic on March 11, 2020, the United States has seen a proliferation of cases, record-breaking unemployment, and economic instability. Meanwhile, many public health measures that severely restrict social interactions—including stay-at-home orders and school and child care closures, among others—have been prematurely lifted, with...
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LAUNCH Together Supports Social Emotional Well-Being in Southwest Denver
As the COVID-19 pandemic blurred from days into months, the leadership team of LAUNCH Together Southwest Denver began hearing about the sense of anguish and confusion felt by directors of early-childhood learning centers: Should I re-open? Is that financially feasible? Is it ethical? And how do I decide, in a sea of fast-changing information about a virus scientists are still struggling to understand? LAUNCH Together SW Denver, a collaborative formed in 2016 to boost community capacity to...
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New Resource: Coping with Stress During the COVID-19 Pandemic One-Pager (English & Spanish!)
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...
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New Resource: Coping with Stress During the COVID-19 Pandemic One-Pager (English & Spanish!)
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...
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A Lifetime of Health and Wellness Starts Early
As we sit amidst a pandemic, I marvel at the difference in how each person is navigating this shared traumatic space. What makes some of us carry on with little impact to our mental health and wellness, while others struggle to get through life’s daily tasks? I believe it is Resilience. Resilience isn’t something you are born with. It is complex and developed over time, through personal experiences and environments, through parenting and opportunities, through responses from those who are...
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New Understanding Childhood Trauma Resource for Parents/Caregivers
Please see our new pamphlet for parents/caregivers about childhood trauma (now in eight languages), and share with friends, family and colleagues. Although designed for Massachusetts residents, the resource page can be adapted for other locations. Thank you for your help and any distribution ideas. https://www.frcma.org/about/tr...sources-and-training https://myemail.constantcontact.com/NEW-Understanding-Childhood-Trauma-Resource.html?soid=1135101415145&aid=t6mWQvwx2sA