Delaware is collaborating with other states to study Adverse Childhood Experiences, or ACEs.
The First State, Pennsylvania, Virginia and Wyoming were chosen by the National Governors Association to be mentored by California, Tennessee and Alaska on how to be more trauma informed.
The collaboration seeks to share and analyze data on ACEs, offer training for state agencies and create collaborations with the public sector.
Aileen Fink with the Delaware Department of Services for Children Youth and their Families says California will relate how it has been able to screen for ACEs and detect them at an early age.
“We are at the very early stages here of looking at whether we will implement any kind of universal screen and what that will look like,” said Fink. “In California the way they approached that is actually to work with the medical community, the pediatricians and family practice doctors and to imbed the screening into routine healthcare.”
Fink says Tennessee will show Delaware and the other three student states how they can use public-private partnerships to respond to childhood trauma.
“There are number of not-for-profit agencies in Delaware who often provide services across state agencies. So, thinking about who those key partners are; what types of opportunities we may have to work together to recognize and respond to childhood adversity,” she said. “That’s something we are definitely going to be working on as part of this collaborative.”
The collaboration will take place via zoom conferences over the next ten months. The first online convening took place in July.
Fink says Delaware’s application for the collaboration relied heavily on spotlighting Gov. Carney’s 2018 executive order to make Delaware a trauma-informed state.
