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CHILDHOOD DOMESTIC VIOLENCE (CDV) THE LIE- I’M HOPELESS; THE TRUTH – I’M GUIDED
Hopelessness: One of the Most Pervasive Lies You Learn Growing up with Childhood Domestic Violence (CDV) With a global pandemic that lingers on, impacting multiple facets of our lives, many may at times feel HOPELESS. But when you grow up with Childhood Domestic Violence (CDV), this may be a familiar feeling that has been with you since your childhood home. You may have always believed that...
This Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, give thanks and even the playing field
On this day, we celebrate our gratitude to Martin Luther King, Jr. His life’s work helped fuel a wave of significant national change towards racial equality, including the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965. On this day, we celebrate our gratitude to Martin Luther King, Jr. His life’s work helped fuel a wave of significant national change towards racial equality,...
Alaskan Children Are Swept Up by a River of ACEs…But There’s Hope & Help
Cathy Giessel is a lifelong Alaskan, registered nurse, Advanced Nurse Practitioner, healthcare services volunteer and board member of Alaska Behavioral Health. To punctuate the gravity of Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) (like Childhood Domestic Violence) in her community, in a recent Anchorage Daily News opinion piece, she likens their impact to a torrential river sweeping up children who...
COVID-19 – CALLED 11TH ACE BY SOME – SETS BACK RESILIENCY-BUILDING FOR AT-RISK YOUTH…BUT SOME COMMUNITIES ARE FIGHTING BACK
Mary Ann Hansen, director of First 5, a nonprofit that supports early childhood development, grew up in Humboldt County and has deep connections with helping families in her community overcome adversity - a daunting task as Humboldt’s rates of Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) are far higher than much of the state. Once she was able to see how ACE studies quantify childhood trauma, Hansen...
Nation’s First Office of Resilience Launched in New Jersey to Combat ACEs
New Jersey’s Pioneering Efforts New Jersey, under the New Jersey Department of Children and Families (DCF), is the first state in the nation to launch an Office of Resiliency. Its goal is to create a community-driven statewide plan to combat major adverse childhood experiences (ACEs)and their traumatic impact. The Office falls under the banner of the NJ ACES Statewide Action Plan, which provides...
Reports of Domestic Violence & Foster Placements Drop During Pandemic: Covid-19 Masking Incidence, Experts Suspect
Kids that experience childhood domestic violence and other adversities at home often prefer school to being at home and many join various extracurricular activities to delay the inevitable even longer. Adrian Tucker, now an instructional assistant at an elementary school in Durham, NC, was one of those kids who experienced violence in his childhood home, against his mother and himself. He shares...
Recent Survey on Childhood Domestic Violence in Ohio Offers Recommendations to Curb Impact
According to the CDC, each year more than 6% of all children in the US are exposed to domestic violence. And strikingly, among the most affected by are the youngest. In 2020, Case Western Reserve University conducted a survey study with over 100 Ohio agencies to better understand the problem and explore potential strategies to better address key service, policy and research needs. A big...
The youngest victims of domestic violence are innocent children, who are often overlooked
This tragic story depicts the devastating culmination of a domestic violence incident and the extensive history of it in the household that led to the death of a 17-year old boy attempting to protect his mother. The consequences of such events are devastating – for loved ones, families, and communities as a whole. Yet, while this is what many would consider an “extreme case” with unfortunate...
Psychology Today Points to Growing Body of Evidence Validating Dire Impact of Growing Up with Domestic Violence (CDV)
In this article in Psychology Today, Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist Blake Griffin Edwards paints a vivid picture of how domestic violence impacts the “unintended victims” – the children in these homes. He cites many well-documented findings regarding the short- and long-term ramifications for children that witness violence between their caregivers in their home, as well as the mitigating...
Effective Early Interventions Can Offset Negative Impact of Major Adversities like CDV on a Child’s Developing Brain and Set Them Up for a Successful Future
According to research from the Center on the Developing Child at Harvard University, the first 3-5 years in a child’s life are critical to fostering their healthy development. This is particularly true for children facing major adversity, as persistent stress changes the brain’s architecture, reducing the number of synaptic connections, which are integral to a child’s metal and emotional...