The State Government of Victoria in Australia has produced this attractive and easy-to-use guide. It is "a prompt for busy workers to integrate knowledge from child development, child abuse and trauma and importantly offer pratical, age appropriate advice as to the needs of children and their parents and carer when trauma has occurred."
The Klinic Community Centre in Winnipeg has published this 96 page tool kit packed with definitions, information and strategies to promote trauma informed practice. It includes two simple checklists titled "Is Your Work Trauma Informed?" - one for providers and one for organizations.
The Safe Start Center has just released two new issues briefs as part of its series Moving from Evidence to Action: The Safe Start Series on Children Exposed to Violence. Issue Brief #1: Understanding Children's Exposure to Violence describes core concepts used in programs addressing children's exposure to violence while Issue Brief #2: Pediatric Care Settings outlines strategies, such as universal screening and integrating mental health services with pediatric careings, that can be implemented by pratitionners in pediatric settings to meet the needs of children exposed to violence. Both briefs can be downloaded from the Safe Start Center website.
"Parenting is one of the hardest jobs in the world", says trauma expert Kay Saakvitne, PhD. Parents and caregivers who are survivors of early childhood trauma and/or are involved in domestic violence have an even more challenging role. Two excellent resources available free on the web can provide guidance for parents who are survivors of trauma and domestic violence, and for professionals who work with them. Click here for Dr. Saakvitne's Parent Resource Handbook: Support for Survivor Parents. Click here for Parenting After Violence: A Guide for Practitioners written by Darla Spence Coffey, MSW, PhD for the Institute for Safe Families.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has two recent publications that support trauma informed practice by promoting protective factors. Promoting Safe Stable and Nurturing Relationships (SSNRs): A Strategic Direction for Child Maltreatment Prevention outlines a five year vision for preventing child maltreatment. The overall strategy is to promote SSNRs which are the antithesis of child abuse and neglect. School Connectedness: Stragegies for increasing protective factors among youth reviews research that suggests that students are more likely to engage in healthy behaviors and succeed academically when they feel connected to school. Four factors that can increase school connectedness are identified: adult support, belonging to a positive peer group, commitment to education, and school environment. Six strategies to increase school connectedness are recommended.
In this article, Beth Maschinot, PhD, identifies the need to rethink how culture is defined and used in early childhood educational settings. Although culturally-sensitive and family-focused practices have become a focus in the field, Maschinot reasons that the definition of culture needs to be widened. Introducing an expansion of the definition of culture in seven distinct ways, the article discusses research findings related to language acquisition, the influence of ethnicity and class on cognitive development, the impact of bilingualism on language development, and the differences found in interdependent versus Individualistic cultures. Further book and research article resources are provided at the conclusion of the article.
Patricia Wilcox, LCSW writes this wonderful blog which depicts real-life stories of children affected by trauma and practical solutions to help them. She also provides excellent recommendations for how to get started becoming a trauma informed organization.
The link below provides video presentations from a conference on The Childhood Roots of Adult Disease: Exploring the Biology and Psychology of Early Life Stress, held at Children's Hospital Boston April 2008. It features Takao Hensch, Harvard Faculty of Arts and Sciences and Children’s Hospital Boston; Laura Kubzansky, Harvard School of Public Health; Charles A. Nelson III, Harvard Medical School, Harvard School of Public Health and Children’s Hospital Boston; and moderated by Jack P. Shonkoff, The Center on the Developing Child at Harvard University
This 43 page report, prepared by the California Education Collaborative for Children in Foster Care, provides a summary of research, as well as recommendations for three areas important to improving educational outcomes for foster children and youth: school readiness, school success and data sharing. The report includes compelling statistics on the impact that being in foster care and a history of trauma have on children’s educational success.
This article provides practical steps for conducting a simple agency assessment to identify strengths and weaknesses of being able to effectively address trauma, as well as active steps programs can take to avoid retraumatizing women in treatment programs
The Center was founded in July 2006 on the belief that the vitality and sustainability of any society depend on the extent to which it equalizes opportunities early in life for all children to achieve their full potential and engage in responsible and productive citizenship. Stated simply, the Center views healthy child development as the foundation of community development, economic prosperity, and a secure nation, and its mission is to advance that vision by leveraging science to enhance child well-being. Drawing on the full breadth of intellectual resources available across Harvard University’s schools and affiliated hospitals, the Center is designed to generate, translate, and apply knowledge in the service of closing the gap between what we know and what we do to support positive life outcomes for children, particularly those who are vulnerable, in the United States and throughout the world
The Birth to Five Policy Alliance was established in 2005 to help shift the odds for very young children and narrow the achievement gap. ZERO TO THREE is an organizational partner of the Alliance, along with 12 other national early childhood organizations. The Alliance was created through funding from the Buffett Early Childhood Fund, which continues to fund the Alliance's work along with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the Children’s Initiative: a Project of the JB and MK Pritzker Family Foundation, the George Kaiser Family Foundation, the Irving Harris Foundation, and an anonymous donor.
American Humane has a long and established history of protecting children from abuse and neglect. AHA supports the development and implementation of effective community, state, tribal, and national systems to protect children and strengthen families. AHA provides consultation, training, research and evaluation, advocacy, and information dissemination.
A project of
The Health Federation of Philadelphia
