Trauma-Responsive Care for Infants and Toddlers in Child Care: A Training for Trainers Overview

This series provides rationale and guidance for implementing trauma-responsive care in child care settings that serve infants, toddlers, and their families. It is based on the following understanding of trauma:

• “Childhood trauma occurs when a child experiences an actual or threatened negative event, series of events, or set of circumstances that cause emotional pain and overwhelm the child’s ability to cope” (Bartlett & Steber, 2019, para. 5).
• Young children are most vulnerable to the adverse effects of trauma and are at the highest risk for exposure to trauma.
• Trauma has the potential to negatively affect all areas of an infant or toddler’s growth and development and can have lifelong impacts.