✔ Suicide attempts (4+ ACEs increases risk 12.5x)
✔ Alcoholism (4+ ACEs increases risk 7.4x)
✔ Missed work (4+ ACEs increases risk 5.5x)
✔ Drug use (4+ ACEs increases risk 4.7x)
✔ Depression (4+ ACEs increases risk 4.6x)
✔ Other health outcomes like diabetes, heart disease, cancer, stroke, COPD, severe obesity, smoking, broken bones, and lack of physical activity.
In Central Oregon, the cost of child maltreatment is calculated (conservatively) at $38 million to $81million per year. Costs are associated with lost wages, healthcare, special education, child welfare, and criminal justice. We know that 35% of Central Oregon Medicaid members report having 4 or more ACEs.
✔ Manageable numbers. In the 12 months ending July 31, 2017, 387 cases occurred where abuse/neglect was established sufficient to warrant transfer to state custody. We know where each of these kids is and 387 is a manageable number with the potential for a huge impact.
✔ Known Audience. We know where Foster Kids live, we have extensive quantitative data available, we have a connected network (FIPSI) of agencies supporting them, and many Foster Families have a trusted advocate (CASA) who knows them qualitatively.
✔ Impact. All involved stakeholders note significant barriers to ensuring Kids in Foster Care thrive. Offering every opportunity for foster kids to thrive can create generations of impact.
✔ Impact: Trauma and Cost Avoidance. In alignment with the triple aim, if we ‘get it right the first time,” we can eliminate downstream life, cost, and community consequences and create conditions that will offer more opportunity for children to thrive and become contributing members of our communities.
✔ Readiness. With the existing efforts, regional players are eager to put the puzzle pieces together into a cohesive approach with babies at the center.
✔ Proven Practices. There are known best practices in this area and by focusing on the babies and their needs, we should be able to create a tiered system of expected support that we could then work to fund and implement together.
"Big Brothers Big Sisters of Central Oregon, which operates in all three counties, is one of the many partners using the Child/Youth Resilience Measure and applying the results to its everyday work. 'We started to get interested in TRACEs three years ago because ACEs (Adverse Childhood Experiences) play such a big part in the people and relationships we foster,' Elysia Kiyija, program director for Big Brothers Big Sisters of Central Oregon, said. Now, they’ve joined more than 20 other TRACEs partners who are using the Child and Youth Resilience Measure (CYRM) or Adult Resilience Measure (ARM) to track individual, relational, and community resilience. Collaborating with TRACEs’ Shared Measures Workgroup has been incredibly helpful for BBBS in understanding the results of the CYRM data and focusing on ways to recognize, understand and overcome ACEs through this more positive and approachable way to look at trauma and resilience. 'TRACEs created an Excel spreadsheet to record CYRM answers and the resulting calculations,' said Kiyija. 'We’re able to put the child’s score in the spreadsheet and it pops up with the areas of highest need for resilience building.' For instance, if a child’s CYRM shows they’ve never had the chance to develop skill mastery, that child will be placed with an adult who has the skill to teach that youth, creating more alignment between “bigs” and “littles” at the start to ensure help the youth in the program gain support exactly where they need it."