By Ashley McCarty
In talks with the Defender, community leaders shared their experiences in the field of education for National Child Abuse Prevention Month.
More than 19,800 confirmed reports of child abuse or neglect were recorded in Ohio in 2019 – this is approximately one report every 26 minutes. In 2020, Adams County Children’s Services received 557 reports of child abuse or neglect.
Currently, Adams County Children’s Services has 166 children in the temporary or permanent custody of the agency.
Some of the best vision for battling child abuse and neglect lies within the walls of our education system. In the Adams County Ohio Valley School District, Director of Exceptional Education Tracy Spires carved her path to education with the motivation to produce a positive impact for a happier ending for these children.
“One of the main reasons I wanted to become a school psychologist was the impact of a little boy many years ago that was in the foster care system. He was with a second family of which he called the foster parents ‘Mom’ and ‘Dad’. Due to the lasting effects of abuse and neglect, the little boy had such severe behaviors that the family was unable to continue with him in their home. Years later, my path crossed with this young man,” said Spires.
He had still not found a forever home, as the abuse and neglect had resulted in chronic mental health issues.
“My goal was to work with students just like this little boy, hopefully having a positive impact for a happier ending,” she said.
As a school psychologist, she would often deal with many foster-placed children.
“The majority of these children were in foster care due to child abuse or neglect. I would see affects of child abuse/neglect manifest itself in behaviors, often inappropriate behaviors in the school setting. Behaviors that were viewed as communication in that sometimes children do not necessarily have words to accurately describe how they are feeling,” said Spires.
Now, she sees many more foster-placed students that are in the system due to abuse or neglect.
“The number of students in foster care has significantly increased over the past five years. With students that are showing behaviors due to abuse or neglect, we have to keep in mind that academic learning may not be the primary focus in the beginning. The goal is to develop a safe and trusting environment at school. As educators, we must be mindful that students who have suffered abuse or neglect often worry about things outside of school and completing homework is not likely at the top of the list,” said Spires.
In her work, she often sees the students that have experienced abuse or neglect that require mental health services to help develop coping strategies and social skills.
Hope for these children comes with a structured, stable environment.
“That’s the key,” she said.
West Union Elementary School Principal Ben King has experiences first as a teacher, and then as an administrator.
“You hear about child abuse and it may not be real to you at the moment, because that’s not the world I grew up in, but then as a professional and you start seeing kids suffering from it I think at first your reaction is always awkward, don’t get me wrong; the horrible videos that we would see at the beginning of the year, or the college classes that you would take. A lot of the time it’s kids that you wouldn’t necessarily expect. Kids react differently to it. A lot of the abuse in the last 15 years has been the result of drugs in the household, and that’s probably more of a trigger than anything else, I would say,” said King.
To King, one case of child abuse or neglect is two cases too many.
“There’s numerous cases where we deal with situations both in abuse and neglect; neglect has probably increased more over the last few years. We will occasionally have severe abuse situations we deal with, or allegations from students, but the neglect is probably what we see more of. I would say — I would hate to put a number on it — but I would say, and this is just a guess, five to 10 percent of students experience some sort of abuse. That may be a low-ball number, I would say,” said King.
As the pandemic descended, local schools experienced a lengthy shut down.
“We were concerned last year when we were all out of school and had limited contact with students of what was happening. This year, a number of kids started the year out on virtual learning that we had no contact with. We were concerned because we couldn’t have eyes on the kids, we couldn’t talk to the kids, we weren’t there to provide counseling, provide them someone to listen to if they needed it,” said King.
The main form of expression for the abused or neglected child is through their behavior.
“Behavior is communication, and a lot of people think that behavior is just a child acting out, but if you look at behavior as a form of communication, and whether it goes to the level of child abuse or just a form of neglect at whatever level, a lot of times kids that have significant behavior issues are kids that have issues outside of school and those issues come in the school,” said King.
Every child deals with things differently, he said.
“I can think of multiple kids that have experienced either neglect or abuse that their situation outside of school was horrible. They were removed from those homes, placed in either children’s home or foster care, and you seen a complete turn around in both their academic ability and their behavior. Depending on the situation, depending on the kid, you can see acting out, or it can be an inability to focus because their basic needs are not met,” said King.
In the case of one seventh grader, their behavior dramatically improved when they were removed from the home.
“When I was at the high school, there were all kinds of behavior issues; failing grades, was removed from the home and placed in the Children’s Home. They made A’s and B’s and maybe one C for the whole year the next year, and they had one write-up compared to probably 10 or 15 the previous year,” said King.
King praised Wilson Children’s Home for their involvement in aiding children.
“I know a lot of people think that has a negative connotation — but I’ve seen a lot of kids go in there and do a complete turnaround when they have that support. They do an excellent job in getting them involved in a community, or in sports and supporting that. That’s had a positive impact both at the High School and the elementary. You see behaviors dramatically improve because of that,” said King.
There’s also the unfortunate situations where children can’t be provided the help they need, or they’ve already experienced too much trauma and don’t have the skills to know how to deal with it.
“You see them repeat the same process that their parents may have repeated. I think having the ability to move from the High School is now I’m seeing kids of the kids that I had in school. Sometimes you see a positive experience. We had one situation of a parent that’s doing an awesome job that I would never have suspected would have been a good parent. I’ve had seen other situations where kids struggle, the kids were either abused themselves and now they’re abusing their own kids, or neglect,” said King.
Neglect is a big piece of child abuse that often gets overlooked. While we often look for the horrific cases, where a child is bruised or beaten, neglect is what is seen more.
“I realize that there are laws that children’s services have to follow, but I think a lot of times kids being left in the home is one of the challenging things that we face, because their needs aren’t met. I realize that threshold that they have to follow. I’m not blaming anyone; if I had to, it would be the lawmakers. The rules that they have to follow makes it difficult sometimes,” said King.
West Union Elementary Assistant Principal Emily Collett is a veteran of the foster system.
She has fostered for the past 10 years, is a “Certified Trauma and Resilience Practitioner” in the field of Education, a trained volunteer and advocate with Women Helping Women and a volunteer with the Adams County 4-H program.
“As an Assistant Principal, we unfortunately have to deal with child abuse on a regular basis and be reactive to it. I’ve also been an adoptive parent for the past 10 years. My involvement in the school district is what prompted me to reach out and become a foster parent in the first place. Over time, I have fostered over 50 children, and I’ve adopted seven,” said Collett.
Collett has helped to further the cause of both Adams and Brown Counties foster base as a community resource.
“Child abuse is extremely prevalent. Physical abuse is rarer than sexual abuse and the drug abuse that is occurring among the student population and within their household. Drug abuse is by far the most prevalent. The drug abuse is what is causing the home disruption. It’s what’s causing the neglect to happen; obviously the parents are more concerned with using their money for drug use than they are feeding their children or getting coats, socks, anything like that,” said Collett.
So often, students come to school dirty and without proper clothing, she said.
“It reaches into the academic realm as far as them not having help with homework, they’re unable to study appropriately for tests, and we have situations in which a lot of our older elementary and High School students are being caregivers for their younger siblings. Because they are having to step up into that parental role, it greatly hinders their ability to come to school and learn because their basic needs are not being met. When a kids basic needs are not being met, then they don’t worry about things on a broader spectrum, and they certainly aren’t able to prepare for the future or have any goals set,” said Collett.
The future of an abused or neglected child is dependent on the resources the school or community can provide for them. This is one of the things Collett is trying to push at the district level.
“A couple of years ago, we had an Adverse Childhood Experience training. There was a study done a few years ago in which it was determined that out of 10 or more Adverse Childhood Experiences — many of which deals with abuse — if a student has four or more I believe, then they are at a higher risk to have abusive tendencies themselves. Adverse Childhood Experiences have a tremendous impact on future violence victimization and perpetration, and lifelong health and opportunity. We however, can turn this around with empowerment through knowledge. The cornerstone of building a successful future for children who have suffered abuse in its many forms is adults who are trained and available to provide trauma informed care,” said Collett.
It’s important to build the infrastructure in the school system and local organizations to help go out into the community and assist the families, she said.
“It needs to go beyond Job and Family Services and local churches. It really needs to be a whole community and county-wide approach to meet the needs of these families and to provide structure for abused children so that they have people they can reach out to and plan. I’m still in contact with many of the abused children that have come into my care and I’ve adopted or fostered that have moved on from my home. Some abused children that go back into the home are successful, but many are not,” said Collett.
Many repeat the generational cycle of abuse, whether it’s drug abuse, sexually abusing their children, or poverty.
“But, the future for abused children can be very positive. It has been my experience that children that come into my home or come into the school, if they can attach themselves to a caring adult, an adult that doesn’t give up on them, an adult that checks in on them regularly, that talks to them about future and develops a plan to try to give rational steps to that child to get to that goal, whatever that goal may be, such as graduation, college, joining the workforce, joining the military, whatever it may be. One of the problems that we have here at the school district is that we just don’t have enough people dedicated to — as much as we try — dedicated to the career planning portion for the kids,” said Collett.
Despite all of their best efforts with the teachers and with the administration, they need more mentors to help their students make a life plan, she said.
“If a kid has an adult in their corner, an adult that they know they can come to with anything, whether they are abusing a substance themselves, or still suffering their abuse, if they have that trusted adult, that adult can change the world for that child. That’s what I’ve experienced. So, the future can be bright, it can be. I’ve had kids that have been sexually abused, mentally abused, verbally abused. I just got one on Friday that has experienced some pretty severe brainwashing. She’s 16-years-old, she did homeschooling for the entire past year,” said Collett.
The pandemic has really increased the cases of abuse – children are at home, they’re in that abusive environment, and they’re stuck, she said.
“What I’ve experienced most recently is that more older teenagers are crying out for help. I just had a situation here in the school yesterday in which a student came forward and said that she had been sexually abused. This young lady is not one of our oldest students in the building. So, I was able to call children services, I was able to call an advocate for her, I was able to reach out to the community to try to get her services. She’s going to need intensive therapy. She’s going to need someone to follow up on her. My concern is that when she is finished with our school and she transitions to Junior High, or gets a little bit older, that she may fall through the cracks. That is my biggest fear for these kids and their future, is that they’re not going to have that adult,” said Collett.
It is possible to turn them around, she said.
“Abuse is a growing epidemic, the future of our local communities and children are in our hands. It is through dedicated service to abused children, organization of resources and an outpouring of support by trained and caring adults that we can change the face of the future for children in our community. Reach out to your local school, church, Job and Family services, YMCA or other youth organizations. One person can change a life. You do not need a wealth of education, experience or time to change a child’s world; all you need is a caring heart,” said Collett.
Anyone can report suspected child abuse or neglect. If you suspect a child is being abused or neglected contact Adams County Children Services at (937) 544-2511.
For more information about child abuse prevention programs during the month of April and throughout the year or for information on foster care/adoption, contact Dawn Grooms, Adams County Children Services at (937) 544-2511.
