FrameWorks Institute Report: “Reframing Childhood Adversity: Promoting Upstream Approaches”

Preventing, identifying, and responding to early adversity is one of the most impactful things we can do to improve our nation’s health and well-being—but it can be difficult to build the public understanding and political will necessary to support the work. While Americans agree that child maltreatment is unacceptable and are more likely than ever to consider child development an important policy issue, as communicators we encounter persistent dilemmas in deciding what to say, how to say it, and what to leave unsaid.

This brief seeks to work through framing challenges like these, offering guidance on positioning, emphasis, and explanation. It is intended for professionals who communicate about child wellbeing and adversity—a broad field that includes advocates, researchers, and practitioners working on issues including child abuse and neglect, family violence, (ACEs), early trauma and trauma-informed care, and toxic stress. The guidance has implications for a wide variety of communications goals and contexts, but it is most relevant for efforts designed to educate the public about strategies that work at the community and policy levels.