Police and schools teaming up to help kids with trauma

DOVER, Del. – A new bill was signed into law on Friday that will help kids dealing with trauma. The idea is that if police know a child witnessed a traumatic experience, they can alert the child’s school so they get the attention they need.

“Our roll is to recognize that the child witnessed something that may have been traumatic and then to make the notification to the school district,” says Captain Joshua Bushweller with Delaware State Police.

Delaware police and schools are joining forces thanks to House Bill 74. The bill, which was signed into law Friday, allows police to work with schools to help kids who might have had a traumatic experience.

“We will find out what school district that child goes to and make a notification from our headquarters communication section to that school district,” says Captain Bushweller.

Officials tell 47 ABC the hope is that schools will be more aware of the situations that some kids deal with outside of the classroom.

“It’s just a simple notification that goes to the school that allows the school to know that something may have happened to Josh Bushweller last night. So if Josh is in class and he’s despondent and he’s falling asleep or he hasn’t eaten, there’s probably a reason from something that may have happened,” says Captain Bushweller.

And experts say trauma can be a major distraction, especially for kids.

“Traumatic experiences anyone when they are going through a traumatic experience it prevents you from being able to learn, it prevents you from being able to focus, it prevents you from being able to adjust well in the classroom,” says Daphne Warner, the Deputy Director with Delaware’s Division of Prevention & Behavioral Health Services.

Supporters hope this partnership will help educators better understand why a student might be acting a certain way.

“If we can give adults a little bit more information about maybe that child has experienced something and it’s not just they are acting out or they’re a bad child. They are struggling with some real challenges and emotions and hopefully we can provide some support around those emotions,” says Warner.

Advocates say this will hopefully keep kids on track by giving them the support they need.

“Sometimes we are limited in what we can do when the child is just a witness. This is a great tool that gives us an opportunity to make sure that we can help a child especially the day following when they need to be in school to be successful in school,” says Captain Bushweller.

The partnership will be piloted in Smyrna this fall because the teachers and police are already trained there. Officials say the pilot will run for one semester and then they will look into expanding into places like Georgetown.