Buzzwords Explained: Trauma-Informed Care

Trauma can affect how the brain develops, and responsive care can support healthy development.

Learn how trauma-informed care supports healing and healthy development for babies and toddlers by creating safety, connection, and stability in early relationships.

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Key Takeaways

Trauma-informed care helps adults understand how traumatic experiences may affect young children and respond with supportive care.
The six principles of trauma-informed care emphasize safety, trust, collaboration, empowerment, peer support, and cultural awareness.
Trauma-informed practices help caregivers recognize distress, prepare children for changes, and create predictable environments.
Co-regulation helps babies and toddlers manage strong emotions through calm, reassuring support from trusted adults.
Parents and early childhood professionals can work together to provide consistent routines and emotional support.
Persistent behavioral or emotional concerns may warrant additional guidance from a pediatrician or qualified healthcare professional.

What is trauma-informed care for children?

Trauma-informed care is an approach that recognizes how traumatic experiences may affect children and uses that understanding to create safer, more supportive relationships and environments. In childcare and early childhood education, this means recognizing signs of distress, responding with care, preparing children for changes, and working with families.

The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) describes four key parts of a trauma-informed approach: understanding trauma’s impact, recognizing possible signs, responding with that knowledge, and working to avoid retraumatization, or causing further harm.

We now know that trauma can affect a baby’s developing brain. Adverse childhood experiences, including abuse or neglect, can create traumatic stress that affects how infants and toddlers feel, learn, and respond to the world around them. Even babies and toddlers can have a traumatic experience, although they may express distress through behavior rather than words.

That’s why it’s critical that early childhood professionals understand what trauma-informed care looks like. When children have the support of caring adults after traumatic events, those relationships can help them feel safe, manage stress, and support their recovery.

What are the key principles of trauma-informed care?

SAMHSA identifies six key principles of trauma-informed care. These principles help parents, caregivers, and early childhood professionals create supportive environments while reducing the risk of retraumatization, or causing further distress.

Safety: Create an environment where children feel physically and emotionally safe. Familiar routines and reassuring interactions can help build that sense of security.
Trust and transparency: Be consistent, explain changes in simple language, and follow through on what you tell children and families.
Peer support: Encourage connections among parents, caregivers, and professionals so they can share experiences and support one another.
Collaboration: Work with families and other caregivers to understand each child’s needs and provide consistent support across home and childcare settings.
Empowerment and choice: Give children age-appropriate choices and opportunities to express their needs, helping them develop confidence and a sense of control.
Cultural and historical awareness: Respect each family’s culture, background, and experiences. Avoid assumptions about how children or families respond to trauma.

Together, these principles guide how adults recognize children’s needs and respond with care, particularly during stressful or unfamiliar situations.

What are the key principles of trauma-informed care?

Safety: Create an environment where children feel physically and emotionally safe. Familiar routines and reassuring interactions can help build that sense of security.
Trust and transparency: Be consistent, explain changes in simple language, and follow through on what you tell children and families.
Peer support: Encourage connections among parents, caregivers, and professionals so they can share experiences and support one another.
Collaboration: Work with families and other caregivers to understand each child’s needs and provide consistent support across home and childcare settings.
Empowerment and choice: Give children age-appropriate choices and opportunities to express their needs, helping them develop confidence and a sense of control.
Cultural and historical awareness: Respect each family’s culture, background, and experiences. Avoid assumptions about how children or families respond to trauma.

Together, these principles guide how adults recognize children’s needs and respond with care, particularly during stressful or unfamiliar situations.

This is what trauma-informed practices look like:

For some children, a change in caregiver may be disconcerting. For children dealing with the effects of childhood trauma, that same common occurrence can be destabilizing.

Let’s take a look at a typical toddler classroom in a program that provides transportation for students:

Each day, the same van driver shows up to take the same group of students home. This particular day, that driver is sick. When the van shows up with a new driver, all of the students show concern about this unplanned change.

The teacher, who has built trust with the students, explains that the usual driver is sick, introduces the substitute driver, and tells the children what to expect on the ride home. This reassures most of the students, but one young child, who has experienced several traumatic events, quickly becomes dysregulated. For this child, that looks like hitting peers and yelling. The child is unable to board the van and requires over an hour to calm down.

For this child, the unexpected change may be a trauma reminder. Similar behaviors can have other causes, so a reaction alone does not establish a trauma history.

But because they attend a trauma-informed early childhood center, the staff is able to:

Recognize the child’s distress and consider whether the change was a trauma reminder
Offer calm reassurance and help the child settle while keeping everyone safe
Examine why the trigger may have occurred given their knowledge of the child’s history
Plan ahead for the next time this trigger may occur

In this instance, the staff communicated with the transportation company that they would like to be informed of driver changes ahead of time if at all possible so they can prepare their student. The next time a change occurs, they have more time to help their student prepare for an unexpected change in their routine. Over time and with consistency, the student may learn that they can trust the various van drivers that may take them home — because they have been supported through a triggering situation in a trauma-informed manner. This is what trauma-informed care for children looks like.

What does trauma do to a baby’s brain?

Young children learn how to regulate their emotions in the context of a relationship and if you don't have a stable relationship you don't learn that.

Dr. Joy Osofsky

Trauma-informed care gives kids security:

Whether in a classroom or home setting, caregivers who are aware of the effects of trauma are better equipped to help young children process those negative experiences. Learn how you can implement trauma-informed practices in early childhood settings.

Caregivers who are trauma-informed are more sensitive to how behaviors may connect to emotions in young children. When a child has had traumatic experiences, triggers in the environment may contribute to distress or challenging behavior. Trauma-informed caregivers learn to be on the lookout for these triggers so they can help kids navigate their big emotions safely. A reassuring response might be as simple as saying, “I know this feels upsetting. I’m here with you.”

Trauma-informed caregivers know what dysregulation looks like and can use co-regulation to help young children settle. Co-regulation means offering a calm voice, staying close, and helping a child manage strong emotions with an adult’s support. Dysregulation can look like yelling and shouting. It may include physical aggression. It can also look like hiding or withdrawing. Caregivers can offer comfort while maintaining safe, consistent limits. Learn more about co-regulation strategies for infants and toddlers.

In classroom or clinical settings, trauma-informed early childhood professionals can structure the environment in a way that encourages regulation and reduces triggers. Indirect lighting, organized play materials and a consistent schedule may help children feel more comfortable and know what to expect, providing a sense of safety. At home, parents can use familiar routines and prepare toddlers for changes, such as a different caregiver picking them up.

Parents and early childhood professionals can also work together to provide consistent support. Educators can communicate with parents about what helps a child feel safe, while families can share familiar routines or calming strategies that work at home.

Access our research article about specific approaches to trauma-informed care in early childhood education.

When should parents and professionals seek additional support?

Trauma-informed care helps adults respond to children’s needs, but it isn’t a diagnosis or a substitute for professional mental health treatment when needed. A child who becomes withdrawn, upset, or overwhelmed hasn’t necessarily experienced trauma. These behaviors can have many causes.

If your baby or toddler continues to struggle with strong emotions or changes in behavior, talk with your child’s pediatrician. They can help you understand what you’re noticing and whether additional support or assessment may be helpful. You can also learn more about when to seek help for toddler behavior.

Early childhood professionals can support families by sharing specific observations, listening to parents’ concerns, and working together on consistent responses. When concerns persist, they can encourage families to seek guidance from an appropriate healthcare professional.

Trauma affects every child differently, but there is one common truth. The more we support children who have had traumatic experiences, the better their chance of thriving.

Safe Babies Works to Promote Trauma-Informed Child Welfare Systems