Sec. 2. Findings

414 words·~2 min read·/bill/116/hr/8544/ih/section-2

A research copy — for the controlling text, always check the official state or federal source. Not legal advice.

Congress finds that— childhood trauma is a pervasive public health issue with long-term negative effects that costs the United States thousands of lives and billions of dollars; addressing childhood and adolescent trauma requires a comprehensive Federal approach that recognizes its severe impact and prioritizes trauma-informed prevention and treatment that is reparative, healing-centered, gender-responsive, culturally specific, and community-based; adults who have suffered from adverse childhood experiences are at much greater risk of death, including as the result of heart disease, lung disease, cancer, substance use disorder, and suicide; childhood and adolescent exposures to adverse childhood experiences are generational and persistent and can lead to complex trauma and toxic stress impacting brain development and triggering epigenetics; any Federal effort to prevent and treat trauma must acknowledge and address the impact of historic and systemic causal factors, which include, but are not limited to, the trauma of— historical and ongoing systemic racism, sexism, xenophobia, homophobia, transphobia, and ableism that have led to generations of violence and injustice and have robbed communities of their health, freedom, and peace of mind; police brutality, racial profiling, and criminalization, as well as heightened police activity and surveillance in some areas with higher police-reported crime, whether as a result of community violence or of racial profiling; poverty and other systemic inequities, including lack of health care, housing instability, poor housing conditions, hunger and food instability and the accompanying malnutrition, and environmental injustice resulting from generations of racist policies, historic redlining, lending discrimination, and workplace discrimination; gender-based violence, including sexual harassment and assault and discriminatory school discipline policies, especially for Black girls and girls of color; western colonization and systemic divestment in native communities; family separation policies, including zero-tolerance immigration enforcement policies that have resulted in the deportation or the threat of deportation for countless immigrant families and have led to community mistrust and fear of reporting injustices; and war and military presence, including the increased militarization of local, State, and Federal law enforcement agencies; and the COVID–19 global health pandemic has increased and exacerbated the trauma inflicted on young people, specifically young people who— live in communities with higher rates of infection and mortality; have parents who are essential workers or first responders; have parents who have lost their sources of income; have witnessed death; have had their education interrupted; are living without access to green space and space for physical exercise; have become housing insecure and lack access to nutritious food; and are isolated amidst increased domestic violence and sexual assault.