Everyone pays a price for child trauma. Children, families, neighborhoods, schools, communities, service systems, andnot least of alltaxpayers are all negatively affected when child trauma is left unaddressed.
Untreated child trauma is a root cause of many of the most pressing problems that communities face, including poverty, crime, low academic achievement, addiction, mental health problems, and poor health outcomes. The cost of these problems is felt not only in human terms, but also in dollars and cents.
The National Child Traumatic Stress Network has created materials to help policy makers understand the scope and nature of child trauma. These guides and briefs are for all those who work to develop and implement policies for child and family-serving systems, including federal, state, and local policymakers; agency and center staff; mental health clinicians, researchers, and service providers; child advocates; and families and consumers affected by trauma.
In order to view and print some of the materials provided, you will need Acrobat Reader. If it is not loaded in your computer, you can download it for free by visiting www.adobe.com.