Finding a path forward to help educators prevent child abuse and neglect
Sharon Norman, the prevention education director for the CAN Council (which stands for Child Abuse and Neglect Council) was looking for ways to provide support for educators in the Michigan school systems that she worked in. The organization works to prevent child abuse and neglect through education, intervention, and advocacy — and teachers and schools play a big role in that. But teachers already have a lot on their plates.
“The reality of them having to always look for or watch out for things for their students had wear and tear on their own abilities to educate in a way that they felt got the most out of their students,” said Norman.
Last year, she went to a training with Children’s Trust Michigan and she learned about the HOPE framework that centers around promoting positive childhood experiences (PCEs) for children and their families.
It “was like the collective exhale. Finally, something to give to educators,” she recalled. “This is a path forward.”
Promoting positive childhood experiences across districts in Michigan
Now, a HOPE Champion, she is spreading the framework in every way she can. At the start of this school year, during professional development week for educators and staff in schools, she was able to introduce the HOPE framework to over 600 educators across four districts. In one school, she held a training for 112 educators and staff: everybody from the superintendent to the janitor to the bus driver to the teacher. She was struck by their “eagerness and their excitement” to learn the tools to promote positive childhood experiences.
The Four Building Blocks of HOPE, or the key types of PCEs, support educators to have a nuanced approach to looking out for the well-being of their students. For example, the Building Block of environment: There are many ways to interpret the meaning behind a child coming to school without socks, says Norman. It could be neglect, she says, but it also could be poverty, which is an environmental factor.
“Could it be that they just need some socks for the kids, because they spent all their money on a backpack…or they had to buy other clothes, or there’s multiple children?”
For many educators, their traditional training teaches them that not having socks is neglect. But Norman says that when educators are thinking through the HOPE framework, it allows them to “slow down” and not jump to conclusions. The difference between abuse and neglect is significant, and is worth taking the time to consider. In the case of abuse, Child Protective Services has to be called, and this can be a traumatic experience for everyone involved. For neglect, it can be a matter of connecting families to more resources.
Bringing the HOPE framework in parent education
Norman has many plans to bring the HOPE framework to schools, some of which she has already set in motion. This year, she is piloting the Safe Schools Initiative, and that includes HOPE trainings for educators as well as for parents. Educators get continuing education credits for being part of the HOPE trainings.
In Michigan, Title I schools are required to do parent education, and many schools do that in the form of “Parent Cafes,” a space for parents to get support and tangible items that they need, like cleaning supplies, clothes, etc. Through CAN Council’s Safe Schools Initiative pilot, they will partner with two schools to provide a range of resources, including “HOPE Cafes” where parents get exposed to the HOPE framework in addition to the typical programming.
They’ve already started HOPE Cafes in other environments, one at a local hospital for new and expecting parents and another for parents who are homeless or who are in supportive housing.
For the Safe Schools Initiative, they will take measurements before the program starts and then after the year ends. They will look at the climate for the educators and their students, and include metrics such as academic discipline and attendance to see if there is improvement after the first year.
“One of the things we don’t do is prescribe what a school should do. What we hope is that we teach them the Four Building Blocks, and then we ask them, what does that look like in your school?”
