Child-Abuse Awareness In Schools

http://missoulian.com/news/state-and-regional/montana-legislature/child-abuse-survivors-advocate-for-bill-to-encourage-awareness-education/article_1cbde36c-0ef8-505e-b1f2-2b259e878522.html

After going through many articles about the education system, there is one to stand out from the rest. The reason why it stands out so much is due to the fact that I never really thought about having this awareness put into schools. I think I did not think about it because of how hard it may be to implement. It may be hard to implement because of how touchy the subject is and how many factors need to go into making it a success.

According to the article, this law does exist in other states throughout the country, which go by a different name. In Helena, "House Bill 298 would require the Office of Public Instruction, in coordination with the Department of Public Health and Human Services as well as experts on childhood trauma, to develop sample policies, education plans and related materials..." These materials would cover things like "safe touch" and such to educate students on the ways being touched inappropriately can come about. They also state that it is important for the students to know that their teachers can be a safe place to go to if things like this are happening to them at home. Not only do they say that the students need this type of education, but it states that is is crucial for the teachers to know and understand trauma. For example, they need to know how certain phrases can trigger a trauma response in children. Also, being able to recognize behaviors in the children can be a key factor as well. 


I find it to be important to also state that teachers and everyone in the educational system need to protect the victims of this type of abuse. In other words, it is critical that this information is not made public to those around them. This type of abuse is not something that these children want to be known by their peers, which means that it needs to be kept confidential. If the information gets out, they can be bullied by their peers and often times, these children have to possibly move schools.

I really enjoyed this article. I find that since this type of law has been implemented in other states, it must mean that it has been successful. I agree that educators need to be educated on how trauma impacts a child. I also agree that the children need to know that they do have a safe person they can go to in order to talk about these things. Hopefully, the children that would remain silent about this abuse would go and allow themselves to be heard. I could not imagine going through a trauma such as this. Knowing that this abuse often comes from a family member is heartbreaking! We need to be a voice for these children and the schools is such a good start. It is a good start because it is one of the first places that we come into contact with these children. Getting these children help early on can definitely change the path of their lives!

-- Jennifer Lampinen