Handle With Care - Clare County

The Handle With Care (HWC) program promotes safe and supportive homes, schools, and communities that protect children and help traumatized children heal and thrive. HWC promotes school-community partnerships aimed at ensuring that children receive appropriate interventions to help them achieve academically at their highest levels despite whatever traumatic circumstances they may have endured. HWC programs support children exposed to trauma and violence through improved communication and collaboration between law enforcement, schools, and mental health providers, and connects families, schools, and communities to mental health services.

The “Handle With Care” Model:

If a law enforcement officer encounters a child during a call, that child’s name and three words “handle with care” are forwarded to the school before the school bell rings the next day. In scenarios that occur during the day, law enforcement forwards the message to the school as soon as possible to inform the school of the HWC right away. The school implements individual, class, and whole school trauma-sensitive curricula so that traumatized children are “Handled With Care.” If a child needs more intervention, on-site trauma-focused mental healthcare is available at the school.

HOW HANDLE WITH CARE WORKS

Law Enforcement

• Law Enforcement officers are trained to identify children who have been exposed to trauma at the scene of a call.

• The child’s name and three words “handle with care” are then sent by Law Enforcement in a confidential notice to the child’s school before the child starts school the next day - there is no other information given.

Schools

• Teachers, many of whom have been trained on the impact of trauma on learning, incorporate interventions to mitigate the negative impact of trauma for the identified student(s), including:

  • sending students to the nurse/clinic to rest (when a HWC has been received and the child is having trouble staying awake or focusing)

  • re-teaching lessons

  • postponing testing

  • small group counseling by school counselors

  • referrals to counseling, social service, or advocacy programs

Counseling

• When identified students exhibit continued behavioral or emotional problems in the classroom, the counselor or principal refers the parent to a counseling agency which provides treatment and potentially trauma-focused therapy

• Once the counseling agency has received a referral and parental consent, students may then receive on-site counseling

• Counselors and mental health therapists may provide assessments of child’s needs, psychological testing, treatment recommendations, accommodation recommendations, and status updates to key school personnel as authorized by the child’s parent or guardian

WHY HANDLE WITH CARE IS IMPORTANT

The ultimate goal of HWC is to help students to suceed in school - research demonstrates that trauma can undermine children’s ability to learn form relationships, and function properly in the classroom

A recent national survey of the incidence and prevalence of children’s exposure to violence and trauma revealed that sixty percent of American children have been exposed to violence, crime, or abuse. Forty percent were direct victims of two or more violent acts. Prolonged exposure to violence and trauma can seriously undermine children’s ability to focus, behave appropriately, and learn in school. It often leads to school failure, truancy, suspension, or expulsion, dropping out, or involvement in the juvenile justice system.

For more information on Handle With Care: Michigan Initiative - visit here