Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-mlc7c Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-05T15:55:34.910Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

All the ACEs: A Chaotic Concept for Family Policy and Decision-Making?

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  23 April 2019

Sue White
Affiliation:
Department of Sociological Studies, University of Sheffield E-mail: [email protected]
Rosalind Edwards
Affiliation:
SSPC, University of Southampton E-mail: [email protected]
Val Gillies
Affiliation:
Social Sciences, University of Westminster E-mail: [email protected]
David Wastell
Affiliation:
Nottingham University Business School E-mail: [email protected]

Abstract

This article will consider Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) as a chaotic concept that prioritises risk and obscures the material and social conditions of the lives of its objects. It will show how the various definitions of ACEs offer no cohesive body of definitive evidence and measurement, and lead to a great deal of over-claiming. It discusses how ACEs have found their time and place, locating a variety of social ills within the child’s home, family and parenting behaviours. It argues that because ACEs are confined to intra-familial circumstances, and largely to narrow parent-child relations, issues outside of parental control are not addressed. It concludes that ACEs form a poor body of evidence for family policy and decision-making about child protection and that different and less stigmatising solutions are hiding in plain sight.

Type
Themed Section: Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACES) – Implications and Challenges
Copyright
© Cambridge University Press 2019 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Bales, S. N. (2004) Making the Public Case for Child Abuse and Neglect Prevention, Washington, DC: FrameWorks Institute.Google Scholar
Bellis, M. A., Lowey, H., Leckenby, N., Hughes, K. and Harrison, D. (2014) ‘Adverse childhood experiences: retrospective study to determine their impact on adult health behaviours and health outcomes in a UK population’, Journal of Public Health, 36, 1, 8191.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bellis, M., Hughes, K., Hardcastle, K., Ashton, K., Ford, K., Quigg, Z. and Davies, A. (2017) ‘The impact of adverse childhood experiences on health service use across the life course using a retrospective cohort study’, Journal of Health Services Research and Policy, 22, 3, 168–77, doi: 10.1177/1355819617706720.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Boardman, J., Dogra, N. and Hindley, P. (2015) ‘Mental health and poverty in the UK– time for change?’, BJPsych International, 12, 2, 27–8.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Broadhurst, K., Alrouh, B., Mason, C., Ward, H., Holmes, L., Ryan, M. and Bowyer, S. (2018) Born into Care: Newborn Babies Subject to Care Proceedings in England, The Nuffield Family Justice Observatory: Nuffield Foundation, London.Google Scholar
Bonell, C., Jamal, F., Melendez-Torres, G. J. and Cummins, S. (2014) “Dark logic’: theorising the harmful consequences of public health interventions’, Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health, 69, 95–8.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Broer, T. and Pickersgill, M. (2015) ‘(Low) Expectations, legitimization, and the contingent uses of scientific knowledge: engagements with neuroscience in Scottish social policy and services’, Engaging Science, Technology, and Society, 1, 4766.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bruer, J. T. (1999) The Myth of the First Three Years, New York: Free Press.Google Scholar
Bywaters, P. (2015) ‘Inequalities in child welfare: towards a new policy, research and action agenda’, British Journal of Social Work, 45, 1, 623.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) (2017) Households Below Average Income, 1994/95-2015/16, Table 4.14ts.Google Scholar
Couper, S. and Mackie, P. (2016) ‘Polishing the Diamonds’ Addressing Adverse Childhood Experiences in Scotland, Scottish Public Health Network, https://www.scotphn.net/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/2016_05_26-ACE-Report-Final-AF.pdf [accessed 17.02.2019].Google Scholar
Coyne, J. C. (2017) ‘In a classic study of early childhood abuse and neglect, effects on later mental health nearly disappeared when ….’ https://www.coyneoftherealm.com/blogs/mind-the-brain/tagged/ace [accessed 17.02.2019].Google Scholar
Fahmy, E., Williamson, E. and Pantazis, C. (2016) Evidence and Policy Review: Domestic Violence and Poverty, Joseph Rowntree Foundation, https://research-information.bristol.ac.uk/files/128551400/JRF_DV_POVERTY_REPORT_FINAL_COPY_.pdf [accessed 17.02.2019].Google Scholar
Featherstone, B., Gupta, A., Morris, K. and White, S. (2018) Protecting Children: A Social Model, Bristol: Policy Press.Google Scholar
Felitti, V. J., Anda, R. F., Nordenberg, D., Williamson, D. F., Spitz, A. M., Edwards, V., Koss, M. P. and Marks, J. S. (1998) ‘Relationship of childhood abuse and household dysfunction to many of the leading causes of death in adults: the Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACE) study’, American Journal of Preventive Medicine, 14, 4, 245–58.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Finkelhor, D. (2017) ‘Screening for adverse childhood experiences (ACEs): cautions and suggestions’, Child Abuse and Neglect, 85, 174–9.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Gillies, V., Edwards, R. and Horsley, N. (2017) Challenging the Politics of Early Intervention: Who’s ‘Saving’ Children and Why?, Bristol: Policy Press.Google Scholar
Gordon, D. (2011) Consultation Response; Social Mobility & Child Poverty Review, Policy Response Series No. 2, http://www.poverty.ac.uk/sites/default/files/attachments/WP%20Policy%20Response%20No.%202%20Consultation%20Resp%20Social%20Mobility%20%26%20Child%20Poverty%20%28Gordon%20Oct%202011%29.pdf [accessed 17.02.2019].Google Scholar
Hagen-Zanker, J., Bastagli, F., Harman, L., Barca, V., Sturge, G. and Schmidt, T. (2016) ‘Understanding the impact of cash transfers: the evidence’, ODI Briefing, London: Overseas Development Institute.Google Scholar
Hartas, D. (2019) ‘Assessing foundational studies on adverse childhood experiences’, Social Policy and Society, doi: 10.1017/S1474746419000034.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Harold, G. T. and Sellers, R. (2018) ‘Annual Research Review: interparental conflict and youth psychopathology: an evidence review and practice focused update’, Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 59, 4, 374402.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Jerrim, J. and de Vries, R. (2017) ‘The limitations of quantitative social science for informing public policy’, Evidence and Policy, 13, 1, 117–33.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lambert, M. (2016) ‘In pursuit of “the welfare trait”: recycling deprivation and reproducing depravation in historical context’, People, Place and Policy, 10, 3, 225–38.Google Scholar
Kelly-Irving, M. and Delpierre, C. (2019) ‘A critique of the adverse childhood experiences framework in epidemiology and public health: uses and misuses’, Social Policy and Society, doi: 10.1017/S1474746419000101.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Masten, A. S. (2015) Ordinary Magic: Resilience in Development, New York: Guildford Press.Google Scholar
O’Neill, A. (2017) Hate Crime, England and Wales, 2016/17, Statistical Bulletin 17/17, Home Office, https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/652136/hate-crime-1617-hosb1717.pdf [accessed 17.02.2019].Google Scholar
Petrie, I., Ayrton, C. and Tinson, A. (2018) A Quiet Crisis: Local Government Spending on Disadvantage in England, New Policy Institute/Lloyds Bank Foundation: https://www.npi.org.uk/files/7715/3669/7306/A_quiet_crisis_final.pdf [accessed 17.02.2019].Google Scholar
Public Health Wales (2015) Adverse Childhood Experiences and their Impact on Health-Harming Behaviours in the Welsh Adult Population, http://www2.nphs.wales.nhs.uk:8080/PRIDDocs.nsf/7c21215d6d0c613e80256f490030c05a/d488a3852491bc1d80257f370038919e/$FILE/ACE%20Report%20FINAL%20(E).pdf [accessed 17.02.2019].Google Scholar
Reuben, A., Moffit, T. E., Caspi, A., Belsky, D. W., Harrington, H., Schroeder, F., Hogan, S., Ramrakha, S., Poulton, R. and Danese, A. (2016) ‘Lest we forget: comparing retrospective and prospective assessments of adverse childhood experiences in the prediction of adult health’, Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 57, 10, 1103–12.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Rutter, M., Sonuga-Barke, E. J., Beckett, C., Castle, J., Kreppner, J., Kumsta, R., Schlotz, W., Stevens, S. E. and Bell, C. A. (2010) Deprivation-Specific Psychological Patterns: Effects of Institutional Deprivation, Monographs of the Society for Research in Child Development, Ann Arbor MI: Society for Research in Child Development, 75.Google Scholar
Sayer, A. (2010) Method in Social Science: A Realist Approach (2nd edn), Abingdon: Routledge.Google Scholar
Shonkoff, J. P. and Bales, S. (2011) ‘Science does not speak for itself: translating child development research for the public and its policymakers’, Child Development, January/February, 82, 1, 1732.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Stevens, A. (2011) ‘Telling policy stories: an ethnographic study of the use of evidence in policy-making in the UK’, Journal of Social Policy, 40, 2, 237–55.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Stock, L., Corlyon, J., Castellanos Serrano, C. and Gieve, M (2014) Personal Relationships and Poverty An Evidence and Policy Review, Joseph Rowntree Foundation and the Tavistock Institute of Human Relations, http://www.tavinstitute.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/Personal-Relationship-and-Poverty-Final-Report.pdf [accessed 17.02.2019].Google Scholar
Wade, R. Jr Becker, B. D. Bevans, K. B. Ford, D. C. Forrest, C. B. (2017) ‘Development and evaluation of a short adverse childhood experiences measure’, American Journal of Preventive Medicine, 52, 2, 163–72.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wastell, D. and White, S. (2017) Blinded by Science: Social Implications of Neuroscience and Epigenetics, Bristol: Policy Press.Google Scholar
Willems, J. C. M. (2012) ‘It takes a SMECC to raise a child: meeting basic developmental needs of newborn persons: principles and promises in the Convention on the Rights of the Child and the Convention on the Rights of Persons with disabilities’, https://cris.maastrichtuniversity.nl/portal/files/15464004/willems_ittakes_.pdf [accessed 17.02.2019].Google Scholar