I have had several
children in my classroom that have experienced different stressors this past
year in my classroom. For example, I had
at least one who as experienced a possible case of sexual abuse, one child with
a possible case of physical abuse, and one case of neglect.
The best experience I can give
you is how I handle each situation. First, the case of sexual abuse information was not
given to me, but was told to the administrator by the parent, and I was not
told anything by the administration, however
I was told by the parent a few weeks later.
Well, according to the law we are supposed to report this information to
the administration, which I did.
Unbeknown to me however, the administrator had been informed already by
the parent. The child was a sweet one who
ended up leaving me in the middle of the school year. I wonder what this child is going through
often, and hope he is okay.
Next, was the case was physical abuse. The child had told our assistant that his
father spanked him or her really hard after wetting the bed. The child was
taken to the principle’s office and questioned.
From that point, I do not know
what went on.
Finally, there is neglect, and this
one is actually common. I found out that
a child was going home to an empty house.
Now, at four or five sometimes they do not realize that someone would be
there by the time they got off the bus, but this child could not tell you anything. It was very sad. The funny thing is the child was pulled from
the records several days later after just being admitted into my classroom.
ACE and Prevalence
As Adults
According to the
Center for Disease Control, early childhood stressors can have adverse health effects
on these children as adults. A study was
done called Adverse Childhood Experiences Study (ACE), and the ACE made great
strides in linking stressors and risky behaviors or health problems in adulthood. If you would like to research this topic
more you can go to the site: http://www.cdc.gov/ncipc/pub-res/pdf/childhood_stress.pdf . This
site clearly shows a somewhat high prevalence of these stressors reappearing in the adults.
France and Child Abuse:
France and Child Abuse:
On June 17, 1998, Law 48-468 was put into
place by France to increase protection against sexual predators toward minors. The law mandates physical and psychological
evaluations for children who have been sexually abused. The law also mandates psychological evaluations
and medical treatment for sexual offenders/convicts, which is to help prevent
the abuse happening again. The measures
provided by the court maybe upheld to ten years. The convict can also be put under
surveillance by the court also. A sexual
offender could spend up to 10- 20 years imprisoned for his or her offence, but
will be made to 2-5 if the obligations brought on by the court were not
met.
It is really sad, some of the things that we see in the classroom. Even sadder is the fact that as soon as we get them in our rooms, sometimes they are whisked away before we can make a difference in their lives. Those children were probably still being abused and were moved around from place to place so no one would be able to do anything about it. Those poor babies!
ReplyDeleteI also had a student a few years ago who was sexually abused. The administration did not say anything to me until this child was trying to experiment with another one of my students. It was then brought to my attention. It's really hard to have full control of a situation in your classroom when you do not have all of the facts. I understand the need for confidentiality, but I would have been able to handle the situation differently if I had known, AND I would have been able to keep a closer eye on this child before anything else occured. It was very frustrating.
I wish there was a way for us to know if our previous students were "Ok" after they left our rooms. I work on a military base with students moving in and out all the time, so I always think about how those who have moved are fairing. Thanks for the great information!
I completely agree with you about how to handle a situation when not having all the facts, and I understand that the principals are just doing their job, but sometimes it would help if we were kept in the loop.
ReplyDeleteI have many children in my program who have experienced child abuse and neglect, as well as sexual abuse. I can recall one child in our program who was 4. She loved to draw. She was very intelligent. She would always draw pictures of herself with band-aids all over the paper. I would ask her why she had band-aids on (in her picture), and she would say, "cause it hurts Ms. Se, it hurts". I spoke to her mother, regarding my concerns, and when examining the situation, it was discovered that her older brother was molesting her. I am very grateful that I took action, and communicated with the family, and more grateful that the mother was accepting to the reality that things had to change.
ReplyDeleteHi Kelly, I like the information you gave about France and sexual predators. It is always good to see that other countries are on the same page when it comes to sexual predators and children. Good post...
ReplyDelete