Abstract
Adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) disproportionately affect children with special health care needs, especially racial , ethnic minority children whose ACEs may be less likely to be identified. As awareness and understanding of the health impacts of ACEs have increased, heightened by the COVID-19 pandemic, several areas of the United States have initiated policy efforts to screen for and address ACEs. However, these policies do not always include mechanisms to account for context-specific adversity or contempo-rary stressors in the lives of children. Stressors most significant in a child's life may include adversities beyond those included in common ACE screening instruments. ACE policy in California will be dis-cussed relative to addressing the social context in ACEs screening. By taking a holistic view of ACEs and thinking beyond deriving ACE scores alone, clinicians can ensure that ACE-related policies are implemented with maximum benefit to diverse children with special health care needs. J Pediatr Health Care. specialIntscript 37, 213-216