POV: You’re a parent or guardian and your kid is becoming curious about their gender or has already come out. Maybe you yourself haven’t had much exposure to queer and trans communities, but you still want to be as supportive as possible as your kiddo navigates their gender identity.
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Art by Kristi Comuzzi for TexProtects
Building Resilience and Other Solutions for Texas' High Rates of Childhood Adversity and Trauma
Adverse experiences early in life, known as Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs), can result in trauma that potentially affects the brain architecture of developing children. In 2016, an estimated 3.4 million Texas children had one or more ACE. Child maltreatment in its many forms makes up half of the recognized ACEs. Advocacy group TexProtects, Champions for Safe Children, estimates child maltreatment cost Texas over $55 billion in 2017, in a new report ACEs Uncovered: Powerful preventative strategies to promote resilience and brain health for a better Texas tomorrow.
Read MoreSubstance Use and Family Preservation Services In the Texas Child Welfare System
Some of the papers I have been working on the past few months for TexProtects have been published! Pamela McPeters, our Vice President of Public Affairs gave testimony on Thursday, Aug. 9, to a joint hearing of the Texas House Committees on Public Health and Human Services on the impact substance use has had on the Child Protective Services (CPS) system and the children and families it serves. I helped work on the two written testimony briefs we submitted to legislators at the hearing. I am very proud of the work we're doing at TexProtects to advocate for the state's most vulnerable children and families. Below are a sampling and links to the briefs.
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