Childhood adversity and trauma are national health epidemics, though only recently making headlines. For example, Reactive Attachment Disorder (RAD) has been a largely unknown mental health disorder, but it’s recently become headline news with the migrant border separations.
Here are a few examples:
- Long-Lasting Effects of Family Separation Policy Likely for Children, Public News Service, May 2019
- How the toxic stress of family separation can harm a child, PBS News Hour, June 2018
- I study kids who were separated from their parents. The trauma could change their brains forever, Vox June, 2018
- A Troubling Prognosis for Migrant Children in Detention: ‘The Earlier They’re Out, the Better’, New York Times, June 2018
Over the last couple of years there have been numerous reports of violence perpetrated by youths with untreated mental illnesses, many of whom have spent time in the foster care system.
Here are a few examples:
- Sisters of murder suspect in Cynthia Hoffman case speak out about traumatic childhood, 2 KTUU, June 2019
- Bloodstained man, 21, accused of murdering his five-year-old niece LICKED his ‘filthy’ hands clean in the interrogation room after arrest as the suspect’s grandfather opens about his difficult childhood and says ‘I never labeled him as a murderer’, Daily Mail, May 2019
- Man, 22, is found guilty of raping and murdering his high school friend, 19, after claiming to have no memory of dragging her body into the woods, Daily Mail, May 2019
- NH Couple Fatally Shot by 11-Year-Old, NBC Boston, April 2019
- 13-year-old to be sentenced in murder of 11-year-old brother in Streetsboro, Fox 8 Cleveland, January 2019
- Stillwater Man Given Life Prison Term for Murder at Sequoyah Group Home, 1600Kush.com, December 2018
- Experts say convicted killer’s brain scan was ‘consistent with’ childhood trauma, Sun Sentinel, June 2019
- From behind bars: Son of slain Princeville couple blames his anger on foster care, ABC Illinois, June 2019
The struggles of adoptive families, including the challenges of accessing mental health treatment, have been highlighted on the news and in recent documentaries.
Here are a few examples:
- When Families Un-Adopt a Child, The Atlantic, November 2018
- To get mental health help for a child, some FL parents resort to giving up custody of their child, XTXL, July 2019
- They took her in, then she plotted to kill them, 9News, June 2019
- Adoption: ‘We seem to have to fight for everything’, BBC News, July 2019
- The Isolating Life of Parenting a Potential Psychopath, The Atlantic, Aug 2018
- Half of US Kids with a mental health disorder don’t get treatment, Medical Xpress, Feb 2019
- Metro Detroit family battles to keep adopted son with violent history in psychiatric facility, WDIV Detroit, May 2019
- Father of slain Chanhassen teen fights for police reform on mental health calls, Star Tribune, June 2019
- Custody Or Care: Ohio May Help Parents Deal With Mental Illness, Side Effects Public Media, May 2019
- A Dangerous Son, HBO Documentary, 2018
- The Kids We Lose, PBS Documentary, 2018
Increasingly, there is greater awareness about adverse childhood experiences and the long-term impacts they have on children.
Here are some examples:
- Addressing Adverse Childhood Experiences: It’s Not What You Know but Who You Know, AAP News, July 2019
- California’s 1st Surgeon General Spotlights Health Risks of Childhood Adversity, NPR, July 2019
- Parents talking to kids may blunt negative impact of adversity on schoolwork, KFGO, July 2019
- ACEs Linked to Higher Health Care Costs in Adulthood, AAP News, June 2019
- The Trouble with Unrecognized Trauma, The Jewish News, July 3, 2019
- Oklahoma leads the nation in childhood trauma, Tulsa World, July 2019
- CMU challenges childhood trauma, The Morning Sun, June 2019
- The Truth About Adversity, Forbes, July 2019
- Childhood Trauma And Its Lifelong Health Effects More Prevalent Among Minorities, NPR, Sep 2018
- California Looks To Lead Nation In Unraveling Childhood Trauma, California Health Line, March 2019
- Treating Childhood Trauma Becoming a Public Policy Priority, Governing, Oct 2018
- Childhood trauma is a public health threat. Our kids deserve better, Washington Post, July 2019
Our broken mental health system is frequently covered by the media as both a political and social issue.
Here are some examples:
- America’s mental health system may be unfixable. Fortunately, there’s an alternative, Salon, June 2019
- Mental Health Patients Are Pouring Into Local Emergency Rooms, Voice of San Diego, July 2019
- Kansas Cost-Cutting Forced Kids Who Need Urgent Psych Care Onto Waitlists, KCUR, Jan 2019
- In L.A., Nine in Ten Incarcerated Youth Have a Documented Mental Health Issue, Chronicle of Social Change, June 2019
- ‘Youth violence should be seen as a health issue’, The Guardian, Jun 2019
- ‘They told me it was going to be a good place’: Allegations of abuse at home for at-risk kids, NBC News, March 2019