Over 40% of children in New Jersey—more than 782,000—are estimated to have experienced at least one Adverse Childhood Experience (ACE) and 18% are estimated to have experienced multiple.
In response to this crisis, the Burke Foundation joined The Nicholson Foundation and Turrell Fund to establish The New Jersey Funders ACEs Collaborative. On July 30th, The Collaborative released its new report, Adverse Childhood Experiences: Opportunities to Prevent, Protect Against, and Heal from the Effects of ACEs in New Jersey. The report details the challenges New Jersey faces in addressing Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) and calls for a coordinated statewide response to mitigate their lasting effects on children’s health and well-being.
The report includes information on:
- ACEs – defined as stressful or traumatic events, which include abuse, neglect, parental incarceration, domestic violence, household mental illness, household substance misuse, and parental separation or divorce. These experiences and the impact of toxic stress on children can profoundly affect the development of the brain and cause lifelong harm to children’s physical, mental, and emotional health.
- Prevention – ACEs can be prevented, and when they do occur, concrete steps can be taken to help children heal. Healthy parent-child relationships, or other supportive relationships, can serve as a protective buffer, and help children foster resilience and thrive.
- Five Areas of Opportunities – the report identifies five Areas of Opportunity for further investigation and action to inform a strategy to help prevent, protect against, and heal from the effects of ACEs in New Jersey:
- support parents and caregivers (family members and others involved in the day-to-day care of children)
- provide training and professional development in trauma-informed care
- promote community awareness of ACEs
- advance policies and practices that help children and families thrive
- collect, analyze, and share data and findings from research and practice
- Call for a Statewide Plan – as we move forward, we will be convening key stakeholders, including families, community leaders, policymakers, health and education professionals, and judicial leaders, to develop and finalize a set of recommendations to develop a statewide action plan.
While the research is clear that the impact of ACEs can be severe, it also shows that ACEs are not inevitable; furthermore, they do not have to determine the destiny of a child who experiences them.
Together, we can prevent, protect against, and heal from the effects of ACEs in New Jersey and across the country.