Rachel Tobin-Smith is executive director of SCAN, which serves to prevent child abuse and neglect in 23 northern Indiana counties. She wrote this for The Journal Gazette.
I’m standing in the kitchen getting coffee; two school-age children hop through the door.
They look up at me and get big eyes and sheepish smiles. I say, “So, who do you to belong to?” Around the door comes a father with five Tupperware containers of food and a case manager. They point to him. I say, “Is this Dad?” They nod. I say, “It looks like he brought you a great lunch!” They nod again, and then one of the children grabs Dad’s arm and pulls him toward them. I say, “This looks like a great Dad.” She grins ear to ear, grabs her Dad’s hands and says, “Yup.”
This is just one of 150 to 200 children who rely on SCAN each week to visit with their parents because they have been removed from their home due to child abuse or neglect.
As I reflect on the 31 years I have worked in the field of child maltreatment, we have learned some key things. Children love their parent no matter how much abuse or neglect they endure. Connecting with their parent is essential to their emotional well-being, their ability to have good relationships throughout life, and to their ability to grow and thrive. It helps them form the self-esteem necessary to function as an adult.
[For more of this story, written by Rachel Tobin-Smith, go to http://www.journalgazette.net/...s--not-ACEs-12545414]
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