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Floor Speech

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Ms. DeLAURO. Mr. Speaker, it is with my profound gratitude and deep admiration that I rise today to pay tribute to my good friend, Dr. Steven Marans, as he celebrates his retirement from a distinguished career is psychiatry including more than four decades of extraordinary leadership and service at the Yale Child Study Center and in the field of child trauma.

We know that trauma affects the human mind in a multitude of ways and there is no predicting how one might process a traumatic event--the number of different reactions as numerous as there are individuals. This is particularly true for children, all too often too young to fully understand the violence, stress, or trauma they may be experiencing. There are few, not only in this country but in this world, that understand that better than Dr. Steven Marans.

Some of my first real interactions and discussions with Dr. Marans came when he founded the Child Development-Community Policing Program. This pioneering effort was based on the collaboration of mental health and law enforcement professionals in responding to children and families exposed to violence and trauma. He found a better way to help children and their families in their darkest hours. It is a program that I was proud to secure federal funding for and one that has since been replicated in communities both here in the United States and abroad. Dr. Marans went on to become the Director of the Yale Child Study Center as well as the cofounder of the Child and Family Traumatic Stress Intervention, an evidence-based, early intervention that has been disseminated nationally and internationally, improving outcomes for countless children and families.

Over the course of our careers, I have often sought his counsel, turning to him for advice and as a resource when our communities and our Nation faced traumatic events. From the attacks on 9/11 to the Sandy Hook shooting; from the impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic to the forced separation of families, Dr. Marans has only ever been a phone call away, and he has never not answered the call. I am not the only policymaker or community leader to have benefitted from his expertise and knowledge. Indeed, in addition to all of his work, Dr. Marans has also dedicated countless hours as a professor, a mentor, and advocate, educating not only new generations of mental health professionals, but also those in government, the private sector and academia. I, like so many others, consider myself fortunate to have been able to learn from him, and even more so that I can call him a friend.

Dr. Marans has dedicated his professional career and much of his personal life to researching and developing innovative approaches to interventions and treatments that best meet the needs of children. His work has impacted the lives of countless souls and he has been an invaluable resource to communities across this country and throughout the globe. His work has changed the way we as psychiatrists, as communities, as policy and decision makers, and as a society, view and address child trauma. It is a remarkable legacy that leaves an indelible mark.

Today, as he marks the end of his career at the Yale Child Study Center, I extend my deepest thanks and heartfelt appreciation to Dr. Steven Marans for his many years of friendship and support as well as my very best wishes in whatever pursuits he takes on. I have no doubt that he will continue to make a difference.

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