On October 15, 2014 David Boyer of the PDA attended a Health and Resilience Symposium entitled “Growing a Trauma-Informed Community.” Here is his response:
The principle concept behind the expert presentations at the symposium was Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACE) and their impact, after the fact, on that individual’s life.
As an interesting side note, during a break, I was approached by an individual whom I didn’t know. He stopped in front of me and looked for an extended time at my name tag which, identified me as a representative of “The Parental Defense Alliance.” He pulled his eyes up from my tag and without further introduction, commented that “the best way to prevent child abuse was to prosecute the responsible parents and put them in jail.” End of story. I have had persons in the past make comments insinuating that I was “evil” for defending those accused of abuse or neglect of children, but this was the first time I had been directly confronted by a “professional” therapist in the community.
I personally, am proud of the job each of us does in the defense of our clients. Though our valiant efforts, those who are innocent of the charges waged against them find relief from wrongful prosecution. Equally important, through our efforts, those clients who truly struggle with parenting, mental and physical health and substance abuse can be directed to those professionals and programs that can help them overcome those challenges.
Later in the symposium I was impressed that the results of the ACE study are being used to develop therapy techniques to reduce the negative effects of ACE’s on the individual and in so doing, reduce the “cycle of abuse” which we, as parental defense attorney’s are all aware exists.
WHAT IS THE ACE STUDY?
"The ACE Study is ongoing collaborative research between the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta, GA, and Kaiser Permanente in San Diego, CA. With over 17,000 Kaiser patients participating in the study, the Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACE) study is one of the largest investigations ever conducted to assess associations between childhood maltreatment and later-life health and well-being. From 1995 to 1997, the Kaiser participants underwent a comprehensive physical examinations, and chose to provide detailed information about their childhood experience of abuse, neglect, and family dysfunction. See www.cdc.gov/violenceprevention/acestudy and www.acestudy.org
DETERMINE YOUR OWN ACE SCORE
Knowing your ACE Score might make information you read about the Study's findings more relevant for you.
Use The ACE Score Calculator at www.acestudy.org to find out! The ACE Score attributes one point for each category of exposure to child abuse and/or neglect included in the Study. Add up the points for a Score of 0 to 10.
The higher the score, the greater the exposure, and therefore the greater the risk of negative consequences. These consequences are discussed throughout the publications available for download.
The ACE Score Calculator will not reflect all forms of abuse, neglect, and trauma that can be experienced during childhood, only those included in the ACE Study.
MAJOR FINDINGS
Childhood abuse, neglect, and exposure to other traumatic stressors which are termed adverse childhood experiences (ACE) are common. Almost two-thirds of the study participants reported at least one ACE, and more than one of five reported three or more ACE.
The short- and long-term outcomes of these childhood exposures include a multitude of health and social problems:
• Alcoholism and alcohol abuse
• Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD)
• Depression
• Fetal death
• Health-related quality of life
• Illicit drug use
• Ischemic heart disease (IHD)
• Liver disease
• Risk for intimate partner violence
• Multiple sexual partners
• Sexually transmitted diseases (STDs)
• Smoking
• Suicide attempts
• Unintended pregnancies
• Early initiation of smoking
• Early initiation of sexual activity
• Adolescent pregnancy
CONCLUSIONS
It is interesting that adverse childhood events can have such a strong impact on our overall health. The higher the ACE score the larger the impact. For additional information see: http://mbcc.mt.gov/News&Events/Conferences_Training/CrimePrev/2013/Breakout%20Sessions/Now%20that%20you've%20got%20your%20score.pdf
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