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By Rosemary Tisch, Psychology Today, January 1, 2021 We should be very worried”, states Dr. Jack Shonkoff, Director of Harvard University’s Center on the Developing Child : · Risk for child abuse increases during economic crises. · Parental job loss due to the pandemic can have negative consequences on young children, including increased risk for psychological and physical abuse at the hands of their parents. · Emergency Room doctors are reporting more severe abuse cases, although child...

Provider Resiliency Health Net recognizes the incredible challenges to our health care delivery teams under these difficult circumstances, which can be overwhelming. We want to thank you for your important contributions to the health of individuals and communities across California. Please consider dropping in to our new Resilience Tuesday gatherings. The goal is to create a quiet, protected online space for reflection, rejuvenation and connection with others, facilitated by health...

RFQ ANNOUCEMENT: Celebrating Families! California Expansion Project – Cohort 2 Invitation to Expand Celebrating Families! Statewide The California State Office of Child Abuse Prevention (OCAP) recognizing the effectiveness of Celebrating Families! (CF!), has awarded Prevention Partnership International (PPI) a $158,333, 3- year challenge grant to (1) Identify, train and support agencies in California to provide CF! to children and families at high risk for abuse and neglect and (2) Establish...

Becoming ACEs Aware in a Challenging Year Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) and toxic stress represent a public health crisis that has been, until recently, largely unrecognized by our health care systems and society, but there is hope. On January 1, 2020, eligible Medi-Cal providers began to receive a $29 payment for conducting qualifying ACEs screenings for children and adults up to age 65 with full-scope Medi-Cal. As many of you know, this is part of the ACEs Aware initiative , a...

“For decades, survivors have told us that it’s not safe for them to call law enforcement, that they don’t want to be ushered into a criminal justice system,” said Colsaria Henderson, board president for the California Partnership to End Domestic Violence. “What they want is the ability to be safe in their homes and in their families. They want the violence to stop. “It’s really time that we re-center on what the survivors are telling us.” Indigenous and LGTBQ perspectives Immigrant victims...

Re High school ethnic studies – the third version Dan Walters’ accurate review of the evolution of the Ethnic Studies Model Curriculum overlooks serious problems in its third draft . Rather than address racism constructively, the draft applies an ideological litmus test, resulting in one-dimensional misrepresentation of ethnic groups and their role models . Peaceful agents of change, such as Martin Luther King Jr. and the late Rep. John Lewis, are excluded from the list of 154 “Important...

By Laura Kurtzman, December 14, 2020, UCSF Patient Care. As California’s new program to screen Medi-Cal patients for adverse childhood experiences (which are termed “ACEs”) gets underway, experts at UC San Francisco are trying to ensure that the adults and children who report trauma get the help they need. Experts now believe it’s most effective to treat the whole family when traumas occur. But any successful program would need to overcome fragmented payment systems, which usually dictate...

Virgie Hoban November 19, 2020 It was a racist policy enacted over 80 years ago, but its aftermath dribbles on — all the way to the babies born today, new research shows. Using historical maps and modern birth data, UC Berkeley researchers have found that babies born in California neighborhoods historically redlined — denied federal investments based on the discriminatory lending practices of the 1930s — are now more likely to have poorer health outcomes. The study was published open access...

It’s official: California — a state where nearly 40 percent of the population identifies as Latino — will have its first Latino senator. Alex Padilla , California’s secretary of state, has been appointed to replace Senator Kamala Harris when she becomes vice president. And Shirley Weber, a State Assembly member, was tapped to replace Mr. Padilla as secretary of state. She’ll be the first Black woman in the role. For those of you who have been following along , Mr. Padilla’s appointment may...

By Vanessa Delgado, Cal Matters, December 17, 2020 When the stay-at-home order went into effect, schoolteacher Andrea Rivera scrambled to transition her 3 rd grade class material into virtual format. Not only was online learning affecting her students but as an older sibling, it was affecting her 14-year-old sister and 20-year-old brother. Andrea helped her younger siblings by creating email and Zoom accounts, sharing her laptop so they could review weekly lectures, walking them through...

By Somini Sengupta, The New York Times, December 2020 The fires sweeping across millions of acres in California aren’t just incinerating trees and houses. They’re also filling the lungs of California’s children with smoke, with potentially grave effects over the course of their lives. The effects are not evenly felt. While California as a whole has seen a steady uptick in smoke days in recent years, counties in the state’s Central Valley, which is already cursed with some of the most...

Childhood trauma impacts millions of Americans, and its consequences can be devastating. Those experiencing high levels of trauma can see dramatically lower life expectancies, and the CDC estimates it accounts for billions of dollars in healthcare costs and lost productivity. Special correspondent Cat Wise reports as part of our series, “Invisible Scars: America’s Childhood Trauma Crisis." Nadine Burke Harris: We're seeing increased rates of domestic violence, increased rates of substance...