PACEs Policy and Advocacy

Current Policy Agendas

• Annie E. Casey Foundation
  From COVID-19 Response to Comprehensive Change:  Policy Reforms to Equip Young Adults in Foster Care to Thrive (September 23, 2021) highlights historical federal child welfare policy achievements and urges policymakers to champion new reforms that promote lasting benefits for all young people in and transitioning from foster care.
   
• Center for Community Resilience (CCR)
  The Center for Community Resilience at The George Washington University has released its 2021 A Resilient Nation Federal Policy Agenda (May 7, 2021) to highlight policy priorities that ensure a pathway to equitable recovery from COVID-19, but also dismantle pervasive issues of inequity that are producing the Pair of ACEs - adverse childhood experiences that occur in the context of adverse community environments. The legislative agenda brings to bear the expertise of the Center for Community Resilience and our network collaborators, who are working to improve the health of communities by enabling cross-sectoral partners to align policy, programs and practice to address the Pair of ACEs.
   
• International Association of Chiefs of Police
  The International Association of Chiefs of Police (IACP) passed a resolution in 2019 (see pages 23-24) “Supporting Awareness of Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) and Developing Appropriate Responses” that “encourages all law enforcement agencies to become well informed regarding the correlation between adverse childhood experiences and numerous negative outcomes…” The October, 2021 issue of the magazine, Police Chief (see pages 30-36) published by the IACP, devoted an issue to empathy, and included an article “Increasing Empathy Through Trauma-Informed Policing” by Becky Haas, Andrea D. Clements, and Wade Gourley. Also see a PACEs Connection post on the article. The IACP and the Childhood Violence Trauma Center at the Child Study Center at the Yale School of Medicine and supported U.S. Department of Justice, are engaged in an initiative to increase the capacity of law enforcement to identify and respond to children exposed to violence and childhood trauma.
   
• Migration Policy Institute
  Some states and localities have developed specialized policies and practices for working with children in immigrant families, though these vary considerably. Immigrant Families and Child Welfare Systems: Emerging Needs and Promising Policies (April 2019) explores this diversity of approaches, drawing on interviews with child welfare officials from 14 states, six counties, and New York City. For each of nine key issues—ranging from agency staffing and training, to language access policies and cooperation with foreign consulates—the researchers identify a recommended approach and discuss relevant policies and practices.
   
• National Council of Juvenile and Family Court Judges
  Linking Systems of Care for Children and Youth was a demonstration project designed to support and document the work of statewide initiatives as they promoted healing for victims of crime by developing and coordinating trauma-informed prevention and intervention services for these children and youth and their families. Four states—Illinois, Montana, Ohio, and Virginia—were selected in a competitive process to participate in planning and implementing reforms. Demonstration projects were intentionally designed to document the work of pioneering communities, which are supported by funding and national experts.