Children's Services
Practice
Л/0ГЕ5
For North Carolina's Child Welfare Workers ►
From the NC Division of Social Services and the Family and Children's Resource Program
Volume 1 7, Number 2
May 20 2 TRAUMA-INFORMED CHILD WELFARE PRACTICE
This publication for child
welfare professionals is pro¬
duced by the North Carolina
Division of Social Services and
the Family and Children's Re¬
source Program, part of the
Jordan Institute for Families
within the School of Social
Work at the University of North
Carolina at Chapel Hill.
In summarizing research, we try
to give you new ideas for refin¬
ing your practice. However, this
publication is not intended to re¬
place child welfare training, reg¬
ular supervision, or peer consul¬
tation — only to enhance them.
Let us hear from you!
To comment about something
that appears in Practice Notes,
please contact:
John McMahon
Jordan Institute for Families
School of Social Work
UNC-Chapel Hill
Chapel Hill, NC 27599-3550
jdmcmaho@unc.edu
Newsletter Staff
Mellicent Blythe
Lane Cooke
John McMahon
Laura Phipps
Tiffany Price
Special thanks for help with
this issue goes out to
George Ake, III
Holly McNeill
Jeanne Preisler
Visit Our Website
www.practicenotes.org
Recent research has given us a richer un¬
derstanding of just how maltreatment and
other traumas hurt children. As Tullberg
(201 1) summarizes, studies have revealed
trauma can negatively affect children's:
• Brain development
• Sense of personal safety
• Ability to trust others
• Sense of the future
• Behavior and social relationships
• Ability to navigate life changes, and
• Learning and school performance.
Trauma's footprint can be huge. Success
or failure in these domains profoundly af¬
fects the trajectories of children's lives.
Children are also affected when par¬
ents are traumatized. Tullberg cites a study
of child welfare-involved mothers in New
York in which 92% had experienced at least
one type of traumatic event (e.g., domes¬
tic violence); 35% of these mothers thought
trauma symptoms affected their parenting
or their relationship with their child. Trau¬
ma stress reactions — symptoms can in¬
clude difficulty concentrating, detachment,
anger, and others — can
make it hard for parents to
engage with the child welfare
system.
If we want to be effective
as child welfare profession¬
als and make a lasting dif¬
ference to families and children, we must
ensure our work is guided by what we know
about trauma and how to respond to it.
We'd like to support you and your agen¬
cy as you seek to learn about and engage
in trauma-informed child welfare practice.
Therefore, this issue includes information
about how trauma affects the developing
brain, identifies trauma-informed concepts
and practices that are already part of child
welfare policy in North Carolina, describes
the way trauma affects our work with birth
parents, and offers concrete steps you can
take to make your work with families more
trauma-informed and therefore more ef¬
fective. ♦
How we think
about and
respond to
trauma matters
a great deal.
BASICS ON CHILDREN AND TRAUMA
Traumatic Experience
• Threatens the life or physi¬
cal integrity of a child or
someone important to that
child (parent, grandparent,
sibling)
• Causes an overwhelming
sense of terror, helpless¬
ness, and horror
• Produces intense physical
effects such as pounding
heart, rapid breathing,
trembling, dizziness, or loss
of bladder or bowel control
Source: Tullberg, 2011
Three Types
Acute: a single event that
lasts for a limited time
Chronic: multiple events,
often over a long period
Complex: multiple events
beginning at a very young
age; caused by adults
who should have been
caring for/protecting child
Trauma Adds Up
It is cumulative — each new
traumatic event compounds
the last.
Neglect Counts
Failure to provide for basic
needs is seen as a trauma
by infants or young children,
who depend on adults to
survive. Neglect also opens
door to other traumatic
events, and may reduce a
child's ability to recover from
trauma.
Reactions Vary Widely
Based on the child's level of
exposure to trauma, access
to supportive caregivers,
previous history of traumatic
events, and other factors