Robin Karr-Morse

It is impossible to forget the horrific images of violence that we face every day as we worry about the world our children are growing up in. And it is impossible not to wonder what we can do to make it better.

Robin Karr-Morse, with over 20 years of experience in Oregon’s education and child welfare systems, knows firsthand the daunting challenge of raising healthy children. As co-author of "Ghosts from the Nursery: Tracing the Roots of Violence," she offers a shocking but empowering message: to understand violent behavior, we must look earlier - before adolescence, before grade school, before preschool - to the cradle.

Karr-Morse's startling evidence points out that violent behavior is born and cultivated as early as the first months of life. It is well known that the foundations for trust, empathy, a good conscience, and lifelong learning are laid down in infancy. It is also the time when a predisposition towards violent behavior is "hardwired" into the brain, which is a phenomenon strongly influenced by the environment and one's neurobiological make-up. As a family therapist and executive director of The Parenting Institute, Karr-Morse views her work as "building" healthy kids rather than "fixing" broken ones.

Her latest book, "Scared Sick: The Role of Childhood Trauma in Adult Disease," discusses the repercussions of chronic fear in infants - when we are at our most helpless - into adulthood, and how these may trigger common diseases such as diabetes, heart disease, and obesity in adults. Through her talks and publications, Karr-Morse emphasizes the importance of early development in preventing juvenile violence and adult incarceration and in addressing public health crises. She advocates for social policies that support families in raising healthy children to prevent the need for larger systems to manage broken adults. Her professional contributions have been recognized for their insight and impact, as evidenced by positive feedback from organizations like Voices for Children San Antonio and the Idaho Children’s Trust Fund.