More than one in five North Carolina children experience poverty, which can lead to a higher likelihood of incarceration and exposure to violence later in life. Children who grow up without enough food or shelter are also less likely to be employed and less likely to have health insurance. All of which are reasons to consider poverty an adverse childhood experience.
Child abuse and neglect impact tens of thousands of North Carolina children each year, with the effects ranging from toxic stress to death. Even when the worst doesn’t happen, the consequences of child abuse can impact a child and his or her family and community for the rest of their lives, as evidenced by research into adverse childhood experiences (ACEs).
Adverse experiences in childhood can lead to many negative health outcomes later in life, but for many kids the problems can start much earlier. In the current issue of the North Carolina Medical Journal, Denise Presnell, a school social worker, writes about efforts in Watauga County to address childhood trauma.