This gesture is nice….but please don’t display blue pinwheels and claim to be against child abuse for the public eye, while treating victims with hate in private!
I recently saw a school from our past, bragging about how much they care about this issue. Sadly, the AoA kids attended there during the worst of the abuse they endured from the dad. Brother had mental breakdowns at school as a result, and Little AoA was experiencing severe anxiety. How the school supported them was to say that they would be refused to attend there if they didn’t get “fixed”! It was shortly after that comment, that I moved them to a different school. I was working at the school too, and quickly looked elsewhere in my county for another teaching position. I truly hope that there are now advocates in the school who truly care about this!
The abuse was real… A judge finally saw through it all, and ordered any future visits be in a therapeutic supervised setting. It took tons of therapy and lots of time to recover and settle into a new reality of safety. The kids are still not completely recovered, but they have come a very long way.
If you suspect that a child is being abused, threatening them is not appropriate!
Several schools in our county now have a trauma focus. This is a step in the direction of truly supporting victims of abuse. The movement is in the early stages, informing and educating school staff about ACES and childhood trauma. It has a long way to go, but in the more educated schools, there is more understanding and empathy shown when kids are truly distressed.
Far too many children live with abuse. Become trauma informed…learn about ACES, and how to help a child.
~AoA
Army of Angels: Part 2 
We have to dig deep to see the real face of people and organizations. Sending my love.
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