According to the 2012 Report of the Attorney General’s National Task Force on Children Exposed to Violence, 46 million children living in the United States will have their lives affected by violence, crime, abuse, or psychological trauma this year. The Task Force recommends that every professional or advocate serving children exposed to violence and psychological trauma learn and provide trauma-informed care and trauma-focused services. Child welfare system stakeholders, and the children and families they serve, can greatly benefit from integrating trauma knowledge into their policies and practices and thereby improve outcomes for abused and neglected children. This brief, authored by Eva J. Klain and Amanda R. White of the ABA Center on Children and the Law, highlights the effects of trauma on child well-being and provide practice recommendations and examples of specific initiatives to guide transformation of the system.
