Tuesday, August 31, 2021

Overdose Awareness Day


Today, Aug 31, is International Overdose Awareness Day, a day to remember the people who have died, acknowledge the grief of their friends and family, and to continue advocating for an end to these preventable deaths.

Our nation is in the midst of an opioid overdose crisis and Colorado has not been spared. Many of these deaths are due to an increase in the drug supply of the synthetic opioid, fentanyl. Statewide, overdose deaths increased by 38% from 2019 to 2020, with Denver experiencing a 64% increase in fatal overdoses during this same time period. As many of our child fatality review team members and coordinators know too well, this health crisis is also taking the lives of so many Colorado children.

You can listen to an interview with Lisa Raville, the executive director of Denver's Harm Reduction Action Center, on today's episode of the City Cast Denver podcast (16 minutes). Lisa discusses the driving factors of the overdose crisis, the toll it's taking on people who use drugs and the people who love them, the deadly impact of stigma, and prevention measures that we can take to end these deaths. As Lisa says, "everyone is somebody's someone."

One piece of the prevention puzzle is education that is fact-based, non-stigmatizing, and informed by and co-created with young people. The Drug Policy Alliance has a free, harm reduction-based drug education curriculum for high school teachers called Safety First: Real Drug Education for Teens

The Laced and Lethal campaign out of King County, WA is an example of a campaign to educate youth about the dangers of fentanyl and the importance of carrying naloxone to reverse overdoses and save lives.    

Thursday, August 26, 2021

Home Visiting Investment Plan



For the past year, the Home Visiting Investment Task Force at the Early Childhood Leadership Commission (ECLC) has been developing a strategy to expand, improve, and consistently fund a continuum of home visiting services across the state. The recommendations of the task force are now finalized in the following report: Home Visiting Investment Plan.

Home visiting programs are known to have a positive impact on children and families, including reducing child maltreatment, improving child and maternal health, promoting positive parenting practices, reducing sudden unexpected infant death, and increasing children’s school readiness. The Child Fatality Prevention System has consistently recommended expanded home visiting services that meet the cultural and linguistic needs of families as a strategy to prevent child deaths. 

The task force will continue to meet to help make these recommendations a reality. Read the report here: Home Visiting Investment Plan.


Tuesday, August 24, 2021

Webinar Series: Child Maltreatment & ACEs Prevention

Please see this learning opportunity from our friends at the Kempe Center and CO School of Public Health:

PATHWAYS TO PREVENTION
 Translating Child Maltreatment and ACEs Prevention Research into Practice
The Injury and Violence Prevention Center and Kempe Center are pleased to announce a new partnership that aims to connect prevention workers with the latest science on protecting children. 

This program provides free monthly webinars designed for those working in public health organizations, social services, child welfare, and the non-profit sector. These virtual learning experiences feature researchers working on various topics in the primary prevention of child abuse and neglect, as well as Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs). Through these sessions, people working in prevention can learn more about the latest scientific research to apply in their work, while also helping to inform researchers about on-the-ground issues and priorities. This partnership continues the work of the Child Maltreatment National Peer Learning Team that launched in 2017 with support from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. 

The webinars are held on the 3rd Wednesday of the month at 10 Pacific/11 Mountain/12 Central/1 Eastern time. 

If you are interested in learning about future events, please view the website. Upcoming webinars in the series include:  
The Empower Action Model: A Framework for the Prevention of ACEs Through the Promotion of Equity, Resilience and Wellbeing 
Aditi Srivastav, PhD, MPH Professional Profile
Dana Powell, M.Ed. Professional Profile
Wednesday, September 15th: 11 AM (MDT)

The Empower Action Model offers a framework for preventing child maltreatment and promoting well-being for all individuals through the intentional building of protective factors. It is a process and a commitment to building health, well-being, and resilience for children and families in a way that is racially equitable, sustainable, and meaningful. 

Indigenous Connectedness for Child Wellbeing
Jessica Saniguq Ullrich,
Inupiaq, MSW, Ph.D. Professional Profile
Wednesday, October 20th: 11 AM (MDT)

During this session, Ullrich will describe her work to develop a conceptual framework that makes visible Indigenous child wellbeing. She states "I fulfill the following roles: Daughter of Cathie and Gordon (both deceased), Granddaughter of Nancy Felton (Senungetuk), Mother of Uiganna and Atqaq, Tribal member of Nome Eskimo Community, descendant of Native Village of Wales. Assistant Professor at University of Alaska Anchorage School of Social Work. Previous Alaska child welfare trainer, supervisor, ICWA specialist, and frontline social worker. Current researcher, educator, and storyteller. Healer of my own childhood trauma. Future ancestor. I love our sacred children."

Substance Use Among Pregnant & Parenting People: Research & Interventions to Promote Wellbeing
Anna Austin, Ph.D. Professional Profile
Wednesday, November 17th: 11 AM (MDT)

During this webinar, Austin will describe research on substance use among pregnant and parenting people, examples from programs in North Carolina, and implications for practice.

Her current research centers on the primary prevention of adverse childhood experiences, specifically child abuse and neglect; substance use among pregnant and parenting people; and population-level strategies, including those that address material hardships, to prevent injuries and violence and promote child and family wellbeing. She has experience and interest in applying advanced statistical methods, linking existing survey and administrative data sources, and partnering with state and local agencies to advance the maternal and child health research and practice agenda.

Building a Trauma-Informed Community: The San Antonio Experience
Colleen Bridger, MPH, Ph.D. Professional Profile
Wednesday, December 15th: 11 AM (MDT)

During this webinar, attendees will learn about how a large city used a systems approach to identifying and mitigating Adverse Childhood Experiences. Colleen Bridger, MPH, Ph.D., formerly the Assistant City Manager and Interim Health Director for the city of San Antonio, will share the innovative work of the South Texas Trauma-Informed Care Consortium, including training and certification programs. Bridger, MPH, Ph.D., started her career in 1990 working with a Migrant Farmworker Clinic in Eastern North Carolina. The bulk of her work has been in local government, leading local health departments in NC and San Antonio.

Heed Neglect to Disrupt Child Maltreatment: Implications for Prevention
Lindsey Bullinger, Ph.D. Professional Profile
Kerri Raissian, Ph.D. Professional Profile
Wednesday, January 19th: 11 AM (MDT)

Raissian and Bullinger will discuss their research on policy approaches to prevent child maltreatment and the importance of addressing neglect in prevention efforts. Russian's research focuses on child and family policy with an emphasis on understanding how policies affect fertility, family formation, and family violence. Raissian’s research is interdisciplinary and draws on principles from program evaluation, economic demography, and applied microeconomics. Bullinger's research examines how public policies affect children and family's health and well-being, especially low-income families.

Racism, Racist Inequities and the Child Welfare System: Implications for Prevention
Alan J. Dettlaff, Ph.D. Professional Profile
Wednesday, February 16th: 11 AM (MDT)

Dettlaff’s work focuses on improving outcomes for children and youth in the child welfare system through examining the factors contributing to racial disparities and improving cultural responsiveness. His research and consultation with state child welfare systems have led to significant policy and practice improvements that have resulted in reductions in the overrepresentation of African American children in these systems. Dean Dettlaff has also conducted groundbreaking research to identify and understand the unique needs of immigrant Latino children and families involved in child welfare. This research resulted in the first national data on the presence of Latino children of immigrants in the child welfare system and their risk exposure.

Monday, August 9, 2021

New Child Maltreatment Data

The Child Fatality Prevention System at CDPHE and the Administrative Review Division at the Colorado Department of Human Services recently partnered in a data-sharing agreement to better understand how early experiences of child maltreatment contribute to child deaths in Colorado.

This linkage has given us much better information about the connections between child abuse and neglect and child fatalities including suicide, homicide, and child maltreatment. For example, through this linkage we learned that nearly 46% of children who died by suicide had a documented history of child maltreatment.  

Cross-agency partnerships like this help underscore the ways that child maltreatment prevention can prevent many other types of adverse and lethal outcomes for children throughout their lives.

Read the one page summary here: CFPS / CDHS Child Maltreatment Data Sharing