Five of a Kind (Family Protective Factors) Always Beats a Pair of ACEs

Written by Tim Buckley, February 2024

Imagine Salem and Keizer as a swimming pool the size of a football stadium.

Then picture how adversity pokes holes in the pool and lets the water drain out. Despite constant filling by outside supply hoses like education, healthcare, human services, police, and housing assistance, the massive pool never seems full.

Dr. Wendy Ellis calls those adversities “The Pair of ACEs”. One ACE – Adverse Childhood Experiences – includes factors such as domestic abuse, maternal depression, incarceration of a parent, substance abuse and neglect of other kinds. The other ACE - Adverse Community Environments – includes poverty, discrimination, violence, lack of opportunity and poor housing quality and availability.

CBEL’s Building Community Resilience project started more than four years ago, and relies on five Family Protective Factors that act like plugs in Salem and Keizer’s social needs reservoir. They are designed to strengthen individuals,  families and communities, thereby plugging the holes in the reservoir.

A few years ago, Oregon Health Authority issued a difficult-to-read report on the first of two ACEs. It said that more than 37,000 Salem and Keizer children are enrolled on the Oregon Health Plan. Of that number, about 15,000 children (40%) have lived experience with three or more of the following adversities:

• Child physical abuse

• Child sexual abuse

• Child emotional abuse

• Emotional neglect

• Physical neglect

• Mentally ill, depressed, or suicidal person in the home

• Drug addicted or alcoholic family member

• Witnessing domestic violence against the mother

• Loss of a parent to death or abandonment by parental divorce

• Incarceration of any family member for a crime

The following Five Protective Factors can strengthen families and mitigate or prevent these things from occurring. Here’s a link to a handy reference chart.

1. Building parental resilience - managing stress and able to function despite facing adversity.

2. Having vital social connections that provide personal, emotional, and perhaps even spiritual support.

3. Ability to apply knowledge of parenting and child development that nurtures emotional closeness for the family, while also supporting each child’s physical, cognitive, language, social and emotional development.

4. Having tangible, reliable support in times of need, from family but, just as importantly, from the neighborhood. Outside physical and emotional support in times of family need creates bonds of trust and belonging that helps minimize the stress of life’s challenges.

5. Making sure the children have social and emotional competency, meaning that they are ready for the cognitive and emotional challenges of kindergarten and elementary school.

Local residents attend a We, Parents Flourish Together class in 2023 that taught lessons on mindfulness and trauma-informed care practices, as well as financial literacy

Where the Five Protective Factors are Being Applied

1. Parental resilience – CBEL’s class We Families Flourish Together is offered throughout the year, hosted by the neighborhood family councils. The class offers a variety of skills, from financial wellness to mindfulness, from compassionate communication to trauma resilient strategies.

2. Social Connections – Dozens of NFC sponsored events take place annually, where many hundreds gather for food, fun, celebrations, and learning.

3. Parenting and Child Development. Marion-Polk Early Learning Hub partners with NFCs to help parents become their children’s first teacher. Training parents includes taking educational toys and books home to start with their toddlers.

4. Tangible support in times of need. Fostering Hope Initiative partners with NFCs to help families with immediate needs. Another CBEL partner - The Strong Families Fund can also respond to periodic emergencies, whether to fix a broken auto, help with transportation or bridge a difficult month with a bit of cash for food or rent.

5. Children’s social and emotional competency. CBEL’s partner Early Learning Hub, mentioned earlier, also involves training that supports social and emotional competency. Likewise NFC-sponsored Community Cafés are geared to support the social and emotional competency for parents too.

To learn more about how to build Strengthening Families Protective Factors in your own family and in the community mark your calendar and plan to attend the CBEL Collaborative May 2, 2024 from 8:00 AM till 9:30 AM in the Bonaventure Room at the Seymour Family Services Center. The address is 3737 Portland Road NE 97301 at Catholic Community Services.