Breaking the Cycle: Understanding ACEs (Repost from February 2025)

Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) are stressful or traumatic events that happen during childhood (0-17 years) that can have a lasting impact on a child’s health and well-being. Abuse, neglect, housing instability, violence, poverty, discrimination, and parental/familial mental illness, incarceration, substance use, and attempted self-harm or death by suicide are all examples of ACEs, but are in no way a complete list. Studies have shown that ACEs can impact brain development, lead to chronic health problems like asthma, stroke, obesity, and mental health conditions such as depression and anxiety, and risky behaviors, e.g., unprotected sex and substance misuse, in adolescence and adulthood.

ACEs are common—about 64% of adults in the US report that they have experienced at least one type of ACE before age 18, and 1 in 8 adults report having experienced four or more. Anyone is susceptible to experiencing ACEs; however, vulnerable communities tend to have greater (or continued) exposure to them. Studies have also shown that ACEs often repeat in families over generations.

It is important to note, ACEs are not destiny. When children experience or are exposed to trauma, it does not automatically mean that they will encounter increased risk later in life. With proper intervention and care, children can build resiliency after adverse childhood experience. Helping parents and children navigate and access resources to identify, address, and overcome ACEs is at the core of FMF’s multi-generational approach. Breaking the cycle of ACEs is a necessary step in breaking the cycle of homelessness.