In recent years, increased attention has been given to screening children and adolescents for adverse childhood experiences (ACEs). ACEs include growing up in homes involving violence, abuse, neglect, mental health or substance abuse issues, parental separation, or incarceration. Researchers have found that ACEs negatively impact mental and physical health in adulthood and can limit life opportunities (CDC, 2020). Through screening, social workers can identify these experiences in a childs life and then consider methods to prevent or mitigate the negative effects. Some screening tools have even been expanded to include related life events that contribute to toxic stress, in order to get a broader picture of a childs experiences.
For this Assignment, you act as a social worker screening Juan Hernandez Jr. for ACEs and related life events. You then consider what you learned from the screening and how you would work with the family.
Reference:
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2020, April 3). Adverse childhood experiences (ACES).
To Prepare
- Review the Learning Resources on adverse childhood experiences (ACEs).
- Review the Hernandez family case in the Social Work Case Studies interactive media.
- Download the Pediatric ACEs and Related Life Events Screener and use it to complete this Assignment.
Submit
Complete the Pediatric ACEs and Related Life Events Screener for Juan Jr.
Then, in a 1- to 2-page paper, analyze what you learned from the assessment and how you might use it in practice. In your paper, address the following:
- What plans would you make for working with this family based on the identified ACEs?
- How would you administer the ACEs assessment in this case or other cases involving young children?
Please use the Learning Resources or other scholarly resources to support your analysis.
Resources
Zastrow, C. H., Kirst-Ashman, K. K., & Hessenauer, S. L. (2019). Understanding human behavior and the social environment (11th ed.). Cengage Learning.
- Chapter 3, Psychological Development in Infancy and Childhood (pp. 95158)
Finkelhor, D. (2020). Child Abuse & Neglect, 108.
National Pediatric Practice Community on Adverse Childhood Experiences. (n.d). .
- Download and use the PEARLS tool – Child (Parent – Caregiver Report) for the Assignment.
