The Essentials for Childhood (EfC) Initiative invites your participation in a webinar entitled, “Health Equity and COVID-19: Opportunities to Improve Child Wellbeing through Policy” taking place on Wednesday, May 13, 2020 from 1:00 PM – 2:30 PM for a special guest presentation with Dr. Flojaune Cofer, Senior Director of Policy with the All Children Thrive (ACT) California project. This interactive webinar will examine what success could look like in addressing COVID-19 by describing equity...

By Dr. Robert Sege, 5/7/20, positiveexperience.org Today’s blog is coming from the perspective of Dr. Bob, the pediatrician. Over the past couple of weeks, I have been working with a wonderful team from the American Academy of Pediatrics to develop information for pediatricians around the country. Our goal is to draw pediatricians’ attention to concerns of a possible increase in unreported child abuse during the pandemic. Although child abuse reports are dramatically lower, there are many...

The following information is from a tip sheet created by Sacramento County. To access the tip sheet for the full copy, please access it at the link below: The outbreak of COVID‐19 is a concern on everyone’s mind. While we may be comforted to know that the risk to our children’s physical health from the outbreak itself appears to be low, child and family serving agencies are worried about the increased risk for child abuse and neglect during this time of crisis and economic insecurity .

From Human Impact Parters: A COVID-19 Public Health Response & Recovery Policy Platform Decades of underinvestment in our public infrastructure and neoliberal policies that gutted protections for working people, our healthcare, and our wider safety net are vividly exposing their consequences. People of color — most harshly Black, Latinx, and Native people — are disproportionately experiencing the consequences of these conditions. In this context, directly impacted communities are naming...

By Jack P. Shonkoff and David R. Williams, Center on the Developing Child, April 27, 2020 The COVID-19 virus is ruthlessly contagious and, at the same time, highly selective. Its capacity to infect is universal, but the consequences of becoming infected are not. While there are exceptions, children are less likely to show symptoms, older adults and those with pre-existing medical conditions are the most susceptible, and communities of color in the United States are experiencing dramatically...

Article by Al Donato If you’re an exhausted parent at home right now, you have a friend in Elmo’s dad, Louie. In the latest pandemic programming from “Sesame Street,” the children’s series has released a PSA for parents starring the famous Muppet’s father. In the PSA, Louie reveals that, like many kids cooped up at home, Elmo won’t leave his parents alone. “It is wonderful to spend so much time with our children, but it can also be a bit ...” the older Muppet pauses, before letting out the...

COVID-19, Domestic Violence and the Workplace For some survivors of domestic violence, going to work or school can provide safe haven and respite from the abuse experience at home or in interpersonal and familial relationships. And the added stress of close quarters created by social distancing measure may indeed exacerbate violence experienced at home. The site provides tips on that may help supervisors and coworkers recognize when a colleague may be experiencing violence at home, how to...

By Guest Author, positiveexperience.org/blog, April 13, 2020 Being in nurturing, supportive relationships are critical for children to develop into healthy, resilient adults. This concept forms the first of the 4 Building Blocks of HOPE . The first of these positive childhood experiences is having parents/caregivers who are responsive and interact warmly. Today’s blog is based on an interview with Dr. Heather Forkey and Dr. Moira Szilagyi , who will be discussing vulnerable children, the...

By Victor I. Vieth, Robert J. Peters, Tyler Counsil, et al., Zero Abuse Project, April 2020 Many child protection professionals believe child abuse is likely to increase during the COVID-19 pandemic2 because most abusers are parents3 or siblings4 who now have more complete access to the child victim. In turn, the victim may no longer have schoolteachers, faith leaders or other mandated reporters they can access for help or who may detect a sign of abuse.5 Children may also have reduced...

The California Office of the Surgeon General (OSG) is creating a report to be published in the fall of 2020. The report will feature the public health response to preventing and mitigating Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) and toxic stress—tentatively titled “ Halving the Burden of ACEs and Toxic Stress in a Generation—California’s Blueprint for an ACEs-Aware Public Health Movement .” An important portion of the report will be dedicated to outlining primary, secondary, and tertiary...

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...

By Marisa Lagos Apr 7 Gov. Gavin Newsom opened his daily briefing Tuesday on the status of the coronavirus pandemic in California a bit differently than normal: With a mantra he says his mother used to repeat. "She said, 'Stand guard at the door of your mind,'" Newsom said. "Honestly, it took me a decade-plus to figure out what she was ultimately saying. But she was focused on, more than anything else, our capacity to be resilient and to meet challenges head-on, our capacity as human beings...