Some days just seem to swallow you whole and the only thing you can do is keep pushing through it knowing that tomorrow will (hopefully) be a new start. Yesterday started with child abuse and ended with a physics exam.
A little boy, who is barely over 2, is getting punched in the face at home. There I said it. I am sure there is more than one child going through this, but this little guy I know personally. What a world to live in where we must hear this, betray none of our internal horror, and then hand the child back over to the parents at the end of the day? Sure, mandated reporting has placed him on the radar of state authorities, but since he goes to this facility that is specifically designed to serve children who are at risk and their families, he was probably already on their radar to begin with.
How can I tell him he is safe at school, help him feel secure, when I still must send him home at the end of the day? How to I address seeing a child just under the age of two bind his hands so tightly together that they turn purple before throwing himself backward (a very violent action against his own body, and something that he should not be familiar with at his young age)? One of our most basic biological instincts, protecting our young, is now useless in a society so large and anonymous that the people who witness and know what is going on in the home (teachers) are not the same ones to address the issues (case workers, other state employees). How is this considered functional?
