What Foster Parents Must Know about ACEs.
Updated: Dec 27, 2022
Why should foster parents care about ACEs? What are they? How are they relevant to me?
ACEs stand for Adverse Childhood Experiences. There was a study in the 1990s called the ACEs study. ACEs stands for Adverse Childhood Experiences. The study was completed by adults. It asked the participants about significant childhood experiences that impacted them. Trust me, you want to create a calm environment for your foster children now. Here's how to do that:
ACEs: What are they?
First off, the ACEs' quiz will ask about neglect, violence, abuse, and general childhood dysfunction.
A survey was done asking for information regarding their childhoods. The survey asked the questions listed here: https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2015/03/02/387007941/take-the-ace-quiz-and-learn-what-it-does-and-doesnt-mean
What is your ACE score? Take the above quiz for yourself to find out.
Next, these scores link adults who had various consequences related to their health and lifestyle. The higher scores mean higher adverse outcomes as an adult. The adverse outcomes were issues like depression, diabetes, smoking, missed work, obesity, STDs, broken bones, cancer, and heart disease to name a few. Even suicide is on the list as significant.
ACEs: What are they?
The crisis comes when we see the links between adverse happenings in childhood to less than productive adults, or adults with multiple types of health crises. Drugs and smoking, and those medical consequences, link adverse childhood experiences to adulthood.
As foster parents, why should I care about these adverse childhood experiences? Well, if you need to ask this question, then I'm speechless at this point and have no answer for you.
If you are immediately concerned about the brief information that I have shared here, then join me in the next several weeks as we dissect the issues and come up with solutions for the children that come into our home. Join me in an ongoing conversation regarding the ACEs that we can have influence over.
Find out what PACEs are and how you can impact the life of the child and their mindset about childhood, adults, and their experiences thus far.
Lastly, tell me in the comments if this study surprises you or confirms what you already knew because of common sense.