ACEs Messages for Testing (24IP)

Attachment 8. ACEs Messages for Testing

The messages below are organized by construct and by audience. There are 5 audiences, including CDC Partners, Direct Service Providers, Parents/Caregivers, Trusted Adults, and Consumers. A construct represents the main idea behind each group of messages. The 5 constructs are as follows.

1. Adversity is harmful, but we can prevent and mitigate it.

2. We can prevent adversity from harming children.

3. Safe, stable, and nurturing relationships and environments

4. Prevention strategies

5. Positive childhood experiences

Construct: Adversity is harmful, but we can prevent and mitigate it.

Audience	Updated Main Message (Harmful, Preventable, Remediable)	Supporting Message 1 (Primary or Secondary Prevention)	Supporting Message 2 (Counterbalances)	Supporting Message 3 (Urgency)
CDC Partners	When adversity happens, it can derail children’s healthy development. As a society, we can steer most harm away from kids. To keep kids on track, we need to prevent harm when we can, and respond quickly when we can’t. vs Adversity is harmful to children, but we can prevent and mitigate it.	Research shows that when families and communities are under severe stress, it can overload their abilities to provide safe and nurturing environments. Policies that reduce financial stress can increase the capacity to meet children’s needs. Vs As a society, we can prevent most childhood adversity by building economic and social wellbeing in communities.	Adversity can weigh on children’s wellbeing, but it doesn't have to. Positive environments and caring relationships can counter-balance the weight of negative life experiences.	Because childhood experiences build our brains and bodies, early adversity can have long-term effects on health and wellbeing. One of the most powerful strategies for promoting public health is guiding and supporting children through adversity. vs Preventing, reducing, and addressing childhood adversity is one of the highest-impact strategies to promote public health and community wellbeing
Direct Service Providers	When adversity happens, it can derail children’s healthy development. To keep kids on track, we need to prevent harm when we can, and respond quickly if we can’t. vs Serious adversity is harmful to children. As a society, we can prevent most adverse childhood experiences. When adversity happens, we can reduce its negative impact.	Supportive, caring relationships with adults make a remarkable difference for children who have experienced adversity.	Positive childhood environments --like quality childcare settings and engaging kid-friendly spaces -- help to counter-balance the weight of adversity and support families’ needs.	Timing matters. When childhood adversity happens, it's important that the adults in kids’ lives provide support right away.
Parents	When adversity happens, it can derail children’s healthy development. To keep kids on track, we need to prevent harm when we can, and respond quickly if we can’t. vs Serious adversity is harmful to children. As a society, we can prevent most adverse childhood experiences. When adversity happens, we can reduce its negative impact.	Children can be resilient in the face of adversity if caring adults are there to help them cope. Support from parents, caregivers, and other trusted adults makes a remarkable difference.	Positive childhood environments --like quality childcare settings and engaging kid-friendly spaces -- help to counter-balance the weight of adversity and support families’ needs.	Timing matters. When childhood adversity happens, it's important that the adults in their lives provide or get them the support they need right away.
Trusted Adults	When adversity happens, it can derail children’s healthy development. To keep kids on track, we need to prevent harm when we can, and respond quickly if we can’t. vs Serious adversity is harmful to children. As a society, we can prevent most adverse childhood experiences. When adversity happens, we can reduce its negative impact.	Children can be resilient in the face of adversity, but they need help from adults in their lives. Support from trusted adults, like family, neighbors, coaches, or teachers, can counter-balance a heavy experience.	Positive childhood environments --like quality childcare settings and engaging kid-friendly spaces -- help to counter-balance the weight of adversity and support families’ needs.	Timing matters. When childhood adversity happens, it's important that the adults in their lives provide or get them the support they need right away.
Consumer (Issue-Oriented)	When adversity happens, it can derail children’s healthy development. To keep kids on track, we need to prevent harm when we can, and respond quickly if we can’t. vs Serious adversity is harmful to children. As a society, we can prevent most adverse childhood experiences. When adversity happens, we can reduce its negative impact.	Research shows that when families and communities are under severe stress, it can overload their abilities to provide safe and nurturing environments. Policies that reduce financial stress can increase the capacity to meet children’s needs. Vs. As a society, we can prevent most childhood adversity by building economic and social wellbeing in communities.	Adversity can weigh on a child’s wellbeing, but it doesn't have to. Positive environments and caring relationships can counter-balance heavy life experiences. Vs While adversity can affect a child’s future well-being, it doesn't have to. Positive experiences, healthy environments, and caring relationships can counter-balance the impact of adversity.	Because childhood experiences build our brains and bodies, early adversity can have long-term effects on health and wellbeing. One of the most powerful strategies for promoting public health is guiding and supporting children through adversity. vs Preventing, reducing, and addressing childhood adversity is one of the highest-impact strategies to promote public health and community wellbeing.

Construct: We can prevent adversity from harming children.

Audience	Updated Main Message (Prevention Matters)	Supporting Message 1 (Primary prevention)	Supporting Message 2 (Secondary Prevention)	Supporting Message 3 (Process/How)
CDC Partners	If we can prevent a serious problem, we should. Research shows what works to steer adversity away from children and families. Let’s act on it. Vs. Together, we can build stronger, healthier better communities by preventing early adversity.	When communities are strong, children are less likely to face serious adversity. Policies that build community wellbeing and wealth are the best way to prevent and address childhood adversity.	When children have heavy life experiences, it can start to weigh them down in other ways. It’s vital to counter-balance adversity with timely support and positive experiences.	Supporting families and positive childhood experiences can prevent adverse experiences and help lessen their effects when they do happen. Vs Adding supports and positive experiences can counterbalance the weight of adverse experiences.
Direct Service Providers	Building healthier communities starts with building better childhoods.	Relationships are the roots of resilience. Children’s caregivers, educators, and service providers cultivate wellbeing and protect against harm.	When young people have safe, nurturing relationships, they are more protected from adversity, and can cope better when they face hardships.	When we know about childhood adversity, we can do what we do best: support children and families to help young people thrive. Vs When children experience life’s storms, it’s important that adults act quickly to shelter them from harm. Timely support after adversity makes a difference.
Parents	Together, we can build better childhoods by preventing early adversity.	Parents and families can protect children from many forms of adversity by offering stability, safety, and caring.	When children experience unpredictable events or face hardships, healthy family relationships help kids cope.	When children experience life’s storms, it’s important that adults act quickly to shelter them from harm. Timely support after adversity makes a difference. vs Learning about childhood adversity helps us all to build environments where children thrive.
Trusted Adults	Building healthier communities starts with building better childhoods.	People who connect with kids, like coaches, mentors, and neighbors, are key to preventing childhood adversity.	When young people are supported in safe, trusting relationships, they are more protected from adversity, and can cope better when they face hardships.	When children experience life’s storms, it’s important that adults act quickly to shelter them from harm. Timely support after adversity makes a difference. Vs When adults in children's lives know about adversity, we can do what we do best: step up and help young people thrive.
Consumer	Together, we can build healthier communities by preventing early adversity.	As a society, we can prevent most childhood adversity by building economic and social wellbeing in communities.	Serious adversity can affect children's health and wellbeing. When it happens, we have a shared responsibility to buffer the impact.	Supporting families and positive childhood experiences can prevent adverse experiences and help lessen their effects when they do happen. Vs Adding supports and positive experiences can counterbalance the weight of adverse experiences.

Construct: Safe, stable, and nurturing relationships and environments

Audience	Updated Main Message (SSNRE MATTER)	Supporting Message 1 (QUALITIES OF SSNRE)	Supporting Message 2 (IMPACTS OF SSNRE)	Supporting Message 3 (PROMOTING SSNRE)
CDC Partners	Children’s brains are built from interactions with the environments where they grow, learn, and play. Positive experiences and supportive relationships in childhood wire the brain for wellbeing and resilience.	Relationships are the roots of resilience. Children thrive when adults express care, provide stability, and tune into the needs that come with different developmental stages.	Strong relationships and close connections can help protect children who experience trauma, and can boost health and wellbeing for all of us.	When it comes to creating safe, stable, nurturing relationships and environments for children, no single sector can do it alone. Working together, we can build the foundation of child wellbeing.
Direct Service Providers	Children’s brains are built from interactions with the environments where they grow, learn, and play. Positive experiences and supportive relationships in childhood wire the brain for wellbeing and resilience.	Supportive relationships with children and youth involve expressing care and tuning in to developmental needs. In the early years, children need lots of predictability and back-and-forth interactions. In adolescence, young people need a balance of challenge and support as they explore and learn.	When children are rooted in healthy relationships, children can grow, thrive, and even stay grounded in difficult times.	When it comes to creating safe, stable, nurturing relationships and environments for children, no family, organization, or sector can do it alone. Working together is the only way that works.
Parents	Children’s brains are built from interactions with the environments where they grow, learn, and play. Positive experiences and supportive relationships in childhood wire the brain for wellbeing and resilience.	Supportive relationships with children and youth involve expressing care and tuning in to developmental needs. In the early years, children need lots of predictability and back-and-forth interactions. In adolescence, young people need a balance of challenge and support as they explore and learn.	Strong relationships and close connections can help protect children who experience trauma, and can boost health and wellbeing for all of us.	When the adults in children's lives tune in to what children need from the relationship, the effect is powerful and long-lasting. Keep learning about what works.
Trusted Adults	Children’s brains are built from interactions with the environments where they grow, learn, and play. Positive experiences and supportive relationships in childhood wire the brain for wellbeing and resilience.	Supportive relationships with children and youth involve expressing care and tuning in to developmental needs. In the early years, children need lots of predictability and back-and-forth interactions. In adolescence, young people need a balance of challenge and support as they explore and learn.	For a child who has experienced adversity, even one caring adult can help to create a safe and predictable environment, build coping skills, and foster resilience.	When the adults in children's lives tune in to what children need from the relationship, the effect is powerful and long-lasting. Keep learning about what works.
Consumer	Children’s brains are built from interactions with the environments where they grow, learn, and play. Positive experiences and supportive relationships in childhood wire the brain for wellbeing and resilience.	Relationships affect health and wellbeing at every stage of life. Children thrive when adults express care, provide stability, and tune in to the needs that come with different developmental stages.	Strong relationships and close connections can help protect children even through stressful times and can boost health and wellbeing for all of us.	Everyone can play a role in building child wellbeing. We can all support community programs and policies that provide positive experiences, supportive relationships, and healthier communities.

Construct: Prevention Strategies

Audience	Updated Main Message: PREVENTING ADVERSITY = PROMOTING WELLBEING	Supporting Message 1: ECONOMIC SUPPORTS	Supporting Message 2: CARING ADULTS AND PURPOSEFUL ACTIVITIES	Supporting Message 3: RESPONSIVE SYSTEMS
CDC Partners	By reducing risk factors in communities and adding protective ones, we can reduce childhood adversity and improve child wellbeing.	Policies that strengthen family finances can shift children’s environments away from adversity and toward wellbeing. Policies that promote secure, sufficient incomes, like child tax credits and paid family leave, boost families’ capacity to provide for children’s needs.	Policies that promote positive opportunities can shift children's environments away from adversity and toward wellbeing. Children and youth thrive when connected to caring adults and purposeful activities. Early learning settings, schools, and out-of-school programs can spark interests, fuel learning, and boost health and wellbeing.	While we can prevent most childhood adversity, we can’t prevent it all. That’s why we need our systems to work to prevent childhood adversity and be prepared to respond when harmful events do occur.
Direct Service Providers	When we multiply positive community environments and reduce traumatic experiences, it adds up to children and adolescents who thrive. People who work with children and families, like caregivers, educators, and social service providers, are all part of the equation. Vs. When we create positive community environments and reduce highly stressful situations, it helps children and adolescents thrive. People who work with children and families, like caregivers, educators, and social service providers, can all help create these positive environments.	When families are financially burdened, it can make caregiving even harder. People who work with children and families, like caregivers, educators, and social service providers, can help to lighten the load. Learn more about how to offer the right support at the right time.	Close connections with adults and peers help young people learn the skills to shape their lives and thrive. When youth face adversity, those close relationships can buffer the impact. Programs that connect youth to caring adults and purposeful activities are vital to youth health, development, and wellbeing.	When children experience adversity, it's important that they get the right kind of support right away. Parents often need support, too. If you know a child has faced hardship, don't wait to offer your support or connect the family with what they need.
Parents	When we multiply positive community, school, and home experiences and reduce traumatic experiences, it adds up to children and adolescents who thrive. Families, neighbors, and other trusted adults are all part of the equation.	When children's caregivers are under serious stress, it can overload their ability to provide stable, nurturing environments. On the other hand, reduced family stress is good for child development. Look for the supports available for families in your community.	Children and youth thrive when connected to caring adults and purposeful activities. Early learning and out-of-school experiences can spark interests, fuel learning, and boost wellbeing. Explore opportunities for your children.	When children experience adversity, it's important that they get the right kind of support right away. Parents often need support, too. People and programs are waiting to help you. Don’t wait to connect with them.
Trusted Adults	When we multiply children’s positive experiences and reduce traumatic experiences, it adds up to children and adolescents who thrive. People who connect with kids, like coaches, mentors, and neighbors, doctors, are key parts of the equation.	When families are financially burdened, it can make caregiving even harder. People who work with children and families, like caregivers, educators, and social service providers, can help to lighten the load. Learn more about how to offer the right support at the right time.	Strong relationships and connections can help protect children even through hard times, and can boost health and well-being for all of us. Learn more about what kids need from relationships with adults.	When children experience adversity, it's important that they get the right kind of support right away. Parents often need support, too. If you know a child has faced hardship, don't wait to offer your support or connect the family with what they need.
Consumer	By reducing negative factors in communities and adding positive ones, we can shift environments away from adversity and toward wellbeing. Vs. Everyone can help kids reach their potential. We can all support programs and policies that shift environments away from adversity and toward wellbeing.	Policies that strengthen family finances can go a long way toward reducing childhood adversity. When families face financial hardship, caregiving become even harder. Policies that promote secure, sufficient incomes, like child tax credits and paid family leave, can relieve the pressure and boost families’ capacity to care for, nurture, and provide positive experiences for children.	Children and youth thrive when connected to caring adults and purposeful activities. Early learning settings, schools, and out-of-school programs can spark interests, fuel learning, and boost health and wellbeing.	While we can do much more to prevent most childhood adversity, some children will still experience trauma. That’s why we also need our health, education, and other systems to be fully prepared to work with children, families, and communities who face adversity.

Construct: Positive childhood experiences

Audience	Updated Main Message (Experiences matter)	Supporting Message 1 (Intensity and ubiquity matters)	Supporting Message 2	Supporting Message 3 (Shared responsibility)
CDC Partners	Positive experiences in childhood wire the brain for wellbeing and resilience and can help to counterbalance the effects of adverse experiences.	Children live, learn, grow, and play throughout our communities – at home, in childcare settings and schools, in libraries and parks. The more positive, day-to-day experiences children have in these environments, the better it is for their future health and wellbeing.	Positive childhood experiences include tangible resources like good nutrition, a safe place to live, and quality health care. Intangible experiences, like a sense of belonging, connection, and stability, are also positive for children’s health and development.	Making sure that positive childhood experiences are common and widespread is one of the highest-impact strategies for promoting health and wellbeing. No single sector can achieve this alone. We must work together to build the foundation for child wellbeing.
Direct Service Providers	Positive experiences in childhood wire the brain for wellbeing and resilience and can help to counterbalance the effects of adverse experiences.	The more positive, day-to-day experiences children have, the better it is for their health and wellbeing.	Positive childhood experiences include tangible resources like good nutrition, a safe place to live, and quality health care. Intangible experiences, like a sense of belonging, connection, and stability, are also positive for children’s health and development.	Places that support children – like childcare settings, libraries, parks, or health care providers – can all be places where children feel welcomed, affirmed, and secure.
Parents	Positive experiences in childhood wire the brain for wellbeing and resilience and can help to counterbalance the effects of adverse experiences.	Children live, learn, grow, and play throughout our communities – at home, in childcare settings and schools, in libraries and parks. The more positive, day-to-day experiences children have in these environments, the better it is for their future health and wellbeing.	Words are powerful brain-builders. With a young child, it’s good to talk, imitate, sing, rhyme, or read. Older children need conversations about their interests, their friends, and their challenges.	When children have an abundance of positive day-to-day experiences, the effect is powerful and long-lasting. Positive experiences aren’t all “special occasions.” The little moments in day-to-day interactions can last a lifetime.
Trusted Adults	Positive experiences in childhood wire the brain for wellbeing and resilience and can help to counterbalance the effects of adverse experiences.	The more positive day-to-day experiences children have, the better it is for their health and wellbeing.	Adults who connect with kids – like coaches, healthcare providers, mentors, and teachers – can be a powerful source of positive childhood experiences.	When children have an abundance of positive day-to-day experiences, the effect is powerful and long-lasting. Positive experiences aren’t all “special occasions.” The little moments in day-to-day interactions can last a lifetime.
Consumer	Positive experiences in childhood wire the brain for wellbeing and resilience, and can help to counterbalance the effects of adverse experiences.	Children live, learn, grow, and play throughout our communities – at home, in child care settings and schools, in libraries and parks. The more positive, everyday experiences children have, the better it is for their future health and wellbeing.	Making sure that positive childhood experiences are common and widespread is one of the highest-impact strategies for promoting health and wellbeing.	To foster children’s potential, we can support policies and programs that make sure every child has abundant opportunities to learn, explore, and find their passions and purpose. Vs Children should know that the world is a better place with them in it. To ensure this, we can support policies and programs that make sure every child has opportunities to learn, explore, and find their passion.