Trauma Proof: Healing, Attachment, and the Science of Prevention

From the moment they’re born, babies seek a loving parental attachment. When that connection is absent, it derails childhood development in ways that can last a lifetime. The annual health costs of illness related to child trauma for North America and Europe alone are 1.3 trillion dollars. Child trauma is much more widespread than previously thought and passes from one generation to the next. But that’s not the end of the story-there is overwhelming evidence that this intergenerational transmission can be disrupted.

So why isn’t the eradication of childhood trauma a tier-one public priority, like defense or growth?

Trauma Proof is a rallying call to address child trauma as the public health crisis it is-because we can do better for kids, and we should.

Benjamin Perks is the Head of Campaigns and Advocacy at the United Nations Children’s Fund, based in New York. For twenty-five years, Perks has worked for the UN and UNICEF on eradicating global barriers to child well-being, including poverty, hunger, disease, the mobilization of child soldiers, and population displacement. But he has also been on a personal journey of healing from his own childhood, spent living in the UK’s care system and on the streets.