Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) are an increasing area of interest among researchers, practitioners, and policymakers. As this field of study grows, an equity lens can facilitate a greater understanding of the structural, historic, and systemic contexts that relate to limited ACEs data for American Indians and Alaska Natives (AI/ANs), as well as disparate exposures to ACEs among this population. Three factors are important to consider in support of more equitable outcomes: AI/AN population characteristics, historical trauma and resilience, and tribal sovereignty.
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First, characteristics of the AI/AN population require concerted efforts by researchers to include this population in the rapidly developing ACEs field. The population’s size and diversity, age distribution, and percentage of children living in poverty underscore this consideration. In the United States, an estimated 5.6 million people (1.7 percent of the total population) self-identify as AI/AN alone or in combination with one or more other races, and there are currently 573 federally recognized tribes.

[Read more here.]

By Melony Williams

Two years ago I attended The Prevent Child Abuse America Conference in Ohio and during the lunch hour, they screened the film, “Resilience.” I was amazed by how well the film presented the effects of Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) and thought about how much I wanted to show this to parents and providers in my community.

I feel that knowledge is power and if we are able to help people understand how their past experiences affect them today, they can have more empathy for themselves and others and also make healthier choices about their own lives as well as their parenting.

I remember excitedly telling our Executive Director about “Resilience.” She researched how we could show it here and at this point we have done a number of screenings followed by discussions about how we can use the information we gained to inform our parenting, our work and our interactions in our communities.

I also started to dream about bringing Miss Kendra to the children in NH and wondered what the effect of a program that teaches kids about the norms of child safety, empathy, feeling identification and expression could be on our schools and the community as a whole.

I was recently trained with Stacey Hammerlind, Family and Community Coordinator/Family in Transition Coordinator for SAU No. 43, by the ALIVE (Animating Learning by Integrating and Validating Experiences) staff at The Posttraumatic Stress Center in New Haven, CT to facilitate the Miss Kendra’s List Program.

The Legend of Miss Kendra is a story about a woman who has experienced her own adversity, the death of a child, which inspires her to help other children and listen to their worries. In the story, Miss Kendra gives read beads to children who are brave enough to share their worries so they have a symbol of their own strength to overcome challenges. Miss Kendra’s list came out of all the worries the children shared, and is comprised of 7 rules about how children should be treated and 5 explanations of what can happen when children do not get what they need. These common sense ideas became her mantra, and were shared with teachers and other adults as a way to keep other children safe as well.

Working with the Kindergarten students in Newport, alongside their teachers and paraprofessional staff, will give these children the opportunity to learn about how children need to be kept safe, to understand their worries, to express them to caring adults and to hopefully be able to set them aside so that their minds and hearts are more open and ready to learn about academics as well as to form healthy social connections.

I am so happy that there is a “Red Bead Club” that will be offered at least twice throughout the school year. This club will enable parents to come to the school with their kindergarteners so they can also experience the positive benefits that the Miss Kendra curriculum has to offer and to help the parents to understand the program so that they are able to talk with their children about what they are learning and put the skills learned to use.

It is exciting to think about the positive effects that could happen through the partnership between TLC, the Richards Elementary Staff and the parents while we roll out the Miss Kendra's List curriculum in NH.

To learn more about this work, check out traumainformedschools.org/miss-kendras-list-and-child-safety-classroom-activities.

The 9th annual Born to Run 5K, which will be held on Saturday, September 22, would not be possible without the support of our many sponsors! We want to also thank our honorary chair, Mayor Charlene Lovett, for her support of our organization.
 
Crownpoint Cabinetry
Mascoma Bank
Wellsense
Baystate Financial
CCI Managed Care
Delta Dental
Valley Regional Healthcare
Amerihealth Caritas
Larry Reed
Lake Sunapee Region VNA and Hospice
CASA
Ameriprise
Bar Habor Bank and Trust
Newport Rotary Club
Reed Trucking
Claremont Savings Bank
Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center
Clark-Mortenson Insurance
King Arthur Flour
Sugar River Bank
The Richard’s Group
 
Thank you so much for supporting our event and our organization!
 
For more information about the race and to register, click here.

By Tamara Halle and Van-Kim Bui Lin

​The early care and education (ECE) and home visiting (HV) fields both provide services directly to children and families and refer families, as needed, to community resources to support children’s development and family well-being. Greater cooperation between the ECE and HV fields can help more families connect with services to support positive outcomes. The following suggestions can guide practitioners toward realizing this goal.

1. Strengthen early childhood networks. The HV and ECE fields each have strengths and weaknesses in referring families to services. Home visitors are well aware of the services available in their communities because they regularly provide referrals (e.g., mental health services, housing resources, or job assistance). However, home visitors see families once or twice a month and may be less familiar with families’ needs than ECE providers, who see families more regularly. Conversely, although ECE providers know families well, they may not be aware of available community services for families.
Strengthened connections between home visiting networks and child care providers could leverage the respective strengths of these fields to improve referrals for families. Efforts to connect ECE with HV are starting to emerge—from the federal level, with the Early Head Start-Child Care Partnerships; to the state level, with the inclusion of home visiting programs in quality rating and improvement systems.

2. Identify effective, individualized referral strategies. Studies show that home visiting models are effective at referring families to necessary community services, but the home visiting field can still improve its referral process. Identifying effective, individualized referral strategies could greatly improve families’ receipt of services. Previous research on Early Head Start (EHS), which includes a home visiting component, found that EHS families were more likely to access early intervention services than families who did not receive EHS when they were offered an individualized strategy (e.g., when home visitors used translators for non-English speakers or accounted for the family’s cultural norms). Further research can focus on identifying which referral strategies used in child care settings and home visiting programs are most effective for different populations. Precision research is a new research method that could help identify these individualized strategies.

3. Make a habit of following up on suggested referrals. Families may react positively to referrals from ECE providers because of the strong relationships between providers and families. However, ECE providers may be reluctant to ask parents whether they followed through on a referral for fear of hurting their relationship with the family. ECE providers could look to HV for effective strategies on following through with referrals without jeopardizing their relationships with families. For example, home visitors may contact the service provider on behalf of the family (warm referrals), or even sometimes accompany families to service providers. Depending on their specific relationship with a family and the capacity of staff, these strategies may work for ECE providers, too.

Both the ECE and HV fields aim to improve child and family well-being, partly through referrals to necessary community services. When home visiting and ECE providers work together, families are more likely to have their needs identified and obtain successful referrals to community-based services. Early childhood stakeholders can build a coordinated early childhood network via collaborations between home visiting and ECE at the federal, state, and/or community levels. This stronger early childhood system will better connect families to the services they need to ensure healthy child development.

Reprinted from www.childtrends.org.