Health and Human DATA

These numbers are based on data contained in Adverse Childhood Experiences Study, National Survey of Children’s Exposure to Violence , The Report of the Surgeon General’s Conference on Children’s Mental Health, the National Survey of Child & Adolescent Well Being, SC Kids Count 2013, National Center for Health Statistics 2010, National Violence Against Women Survey – 2000, US Census 2010, The Fourth National Incidence Study of Child Abuse and Neglect (NIS-4) and the National Clearinghouse on Child Abuse and Neglect.

Poverty

·  68% of our students receive Medicaid, TANF, SNAP, Foster Care, Homeless, or migrant students

·  Median Family Income is $51,388

·  Federal Poverty Level 2016 $24,250

·  9th highest in the nation or 27.5%

·  19% of children in South Carolina have gone to bed hungry because there is a lack of food

·  6% have no family vehicle

Early Beginnings

·  35.5% live with a single parent

·  2.5% of our children are born to mothers under 18

·  17% of our children are born to mothers with less than a high school education

Family, Social, & Emotional

·  25% children have sleep problems

·  2.5% of children are depressed

·  19% of our child are diagnosed with one or more serious mental health or Development Disability and rising

·  6% live with grandparents

·  In high school 19% of boys and 31% of girls say they have been so sad they have stopped their usual activities for more than two weeks.

·  9.4% of high school students attempted suicide one or more times.

Adverse Childhood Experiences Study

·  16.2% of children live with an adult who has a serious mental health crisis.

·  20.1% live in Domestic Violence

·  25% of children live with an adult who has is an alcoholic or has a serious drinking problem

·  11.7% live with someone who uses illegal street drugs or abuses prescription drugs

·  9.2% live with someone who has been in jail

·  31% children had parents who were separated or divorced

·  14% of children have experienced physical abuse

·  32% of our children live with an adult who swears at them, Insults them, or puts them down.

·  12.8 % of children in South Carolina have experienced sexual abuse. 1 in 10 Nationally

ACES rates for South Carolina

Location / Number of indicators present / Percent /
South Carolina / At least one ACE / 62.2%
No ACEs / 37.8%
One ACE / 23.6%
Two ACEs / 12.1%
Three ACEs / 8.9%
Four or more ACEs / 17.6%

Adverse Childhood Experience Study

The original Adverse Childhood Experiences Study was conducted by Kaiser Permanente from 1995 to 1997 in two waves of data collection and sampled 17,000 members. What they found changed the practice of medicine. They showed how ACES are strongly related to the development of risk factors for disease.

The ACE Pyramid represents the conceptual framework for the study:

What increased health risks are associated with an ACE?

The young brain is especially vulnerable to stress. When prolonged stress occurs during infancy and childhood, the stress hormone cortisol is released throughout the young brain and body. The stress hormones compromise normal brain development and the immature immune and nervous systems. The ACE Study demonstrates that early stress is a strong factor for developing the following national health problems.

·  Cardiovascular Disease

·  Cancer

·  Heart Attacks

·  High Blood Pressure

·  Stroke

·  Diabetes

·  Weight gain

·  Exhaustion

·  Reduced Growth Hormone Levels

·  Compromised Immune Function

·  Bone Loss

What can you do ….

Use methods that increase Resilience and have a trauma informed approach to your work as an educator.
A Classroom in Aiken County

Classroom Size

·  17 Students

Gender

·  51% males /49% Females

Race and Ethnicity

Actual from ACSD

·  59% Caucasian

·  35% African-American

·  5 % Hispanic

·  1% Asian American/Other

What does all of this mean in your classroom?

·  2 and some classes will have 3 students in your class have or will experience SA. And since most abuse happens when they are young elementary teachers are not exempt from this number, 8 years old is when most of the children tell.

·  2 to 3 have been disciplined so harshly it qualifies by description as a Physical Assault/ Physical Abuse.

·  2 of the children you serve did not see a doctor for regular preventive medical care as a baby.

·  12 are low income or under 200% of poverty

·  4 to 5 of your students in each class you teach live in poverty

·  3 have gone to bed hungry because there is not enough food in the home

·  10 of them have had an experience with violence this past year, either as a witness to a violent act; by learning of a violent act against a family member, neighbor, or close friend and many have had more than 1 experience.

·  3 to 4 go home to a family where violence in their family is an ongoing experience.

·  4 to 5 of the students in your class go home to someone who suffers with substance abuse

·  2 to 3 of the children will go home to a parent who suffers from Mental Illness.

·  2 students are receiving treatment for a mental illness.

·  1 to 2 students you teach do not live with a parent.

·  By High School, 1 or 2 students in each class have attempted suicide

·  11 students have at least 1 Adverse Childhood Experience and 3 students have had 4 or more

Compiled by: Peggy Ford, M.Ed

Children’s Place, Inc.