A Community’s Responsibility to Children in Preventing Child Abuse, Essay Example

When we consider a community’s responsibility to children in preventing child abuse, one of the first places we should be looking is at the schools.  Children spend the majority of their time in their schools.  This is often the one place where they can feel safe and connect with a trusted adult.  By providing therapeutic and preventive services in schools children are more able to attend consistently.

Although the schools are an obvious service provider, they are not providing these needed services.  School district budgets make it difficult for them to employ enough school psychologists and adjustment counselors to provide services for the daily needs of all of their students and school districts are becoming increasingly resistent to letting outside community providers provide needed mental health services within their school buildings.

In Massachusetts, all children who have a disability-including mental health- are entitled to receive MassHealth insurance.  This is not only provided to children based on parent income.  MassHealth provides in-home therapy as well as therapeutic mentoring to children with mental health issues from ages 0-21.  These services can be provided within school settings to help children identified to be at high-risk for maltreatment.  The majority of school districts are currently not allowing these outside mental health clinicians to work with the children during their school day.  These services are totally funded through the child’s MassHealth insurance and in no way negatively impact the school districts budget.  School districts currently receive funding for other services for children receiving MassHealth insurance who are identified as special needs.   

In order to provide better community supports to children, all children’s service providers need to find a way to collaborate on services for children and families.  System of Care meetings are being held monthly across the state to help form these collaborations but school districts in some areas are resistent to participating on these committees.  Time constraints are often cited by school staff as a reason not to attend.

DESE (the Department of elementary and secondary education) may be able to help by educating school administrators on the very important role that the schools could play in helping to protect the children they educate.