Wednesday, May 12, 2021

Today, many children across the UK get off to a very difficult start. Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) during the early years, such as abuse and neglect, can do lifelong harm. Until we succeed in preventing ACEs, we cannot hope to seriously reduce entrenched social problems such as violence, mental illness and homelessness.

 

What prevention of ACEs means

Adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) can affect children at any point in their young lives, while trauma can affect adults at any age. However, a child is most likely to experience adversity during their earliest years. Because of the way the brain develops, harm caused during this time is also more likely to be severe and long-lasting.

If an infant is raised in a safe, nurturing environment that is free from persistent stress, he or she will become a healthy, resilient person. An infant raised in a dysfunctional, stressful or dangerous environment will most likely see their social and emotional growth severely impaired. The earliest years of a child's life offer both enormous opportunity but also the risk for lifelong disadvantage.

 

How to prevent ACEs in the crucial early years

• Identify where risk factors exist in households (primarily mental illness, domestic violence, addiction and parents’ histories of trauma) and work with parents to mitigate and resolve the risks as soon as possible during the ante-natal and post-natal periods.

• Implement programmes and systems that assess children’s development during their early years, particularly for attunement and attachment, and provide evidence-based support to parents where helpful.

Other factors that would be beneficial to this preventive approach include spreading awareness about ACEs and trauma among parents, including through parenting classes; discussing parents’ own histories of trauma with them; a trauma-informed early years’ workforce; and establishing a trauma-informed community.

 

 

 

What is possible with prevention?

• Reduce trauma and costly health problems: Any attempt to avoid children experiencing trauma is a worthy goal in its own right. But there are strategic reasons why focusing on prevention is a wise move. Damage caused during infancy is more likely to be severe, long-lasting and harder to resolve later on than if it occurred at any other time. Science shows how traumatised people have many more chronic health problems during their lifetimes. Early childhood provides an opportunity to build strong emotional foundations, strengthening one’s ability to withstand traumatic incidents.

• Release more taxpayer's money for schools, roads, hospitals and libraries: The evidence shows a strong economic case for prevention, especially for the local authorities who would fund and lead such an initiative. Only c.3% of public spending on children is spent on prevention of child harm. The result is that c.£23 billion is spent every year on the social problems arising from early childhood adversity. 

The Christie Commission Review of local government spending, stated in 2011, that up to 40% of local government expenditure is incurred because of 'failure demand' – in other words, because of a failure to prevent issues further upstream.

Our 2018 report into severe and multiple disadvantage shows that ACEs lie at the root of many problems that local authorities have to deal with, including homelessness, school exclusions, juvenile crime, drug-taking and so on. They are contributing significantly to ever increasing demand which is costing councils, health bodies, police and other services far too much. Budgets are dwindling, many local services are no longer affordable, and councils are going into the red.

 

Prevention saves money. Prevention saves lives.

UK and US economic analyses show that for every £1 spent on prevention, the savings will be between £5-10. We must prevent ACEs during the earliest years. We must help children develop healthily and help them become pro-social citizens. 

When residents and services understand the impact of trauma and adapt their approaches to handle trauma effectively  then we will make lasting social transformation. We need to start now.

 

If you would like to learn about our 70/30 Campaign to prevent childhood trauma:

CLICK HERE

 

WAVE is seeking funding to help persuade the Government to implement key reforms in how babies are supported. If you would like to support

CLICK HERE