How to recognize and prevent child abuse in school

How to recognize and prevent child abuse in school
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How to recognize and prevent child abuse in school

The cases of maltreatment unfortunately some children at school can happen. There are a lot of situations delicate, which must be handled with great care caution e sensibility, without rushing to hasty conclusions when in doubt, but at the same time without letting go when caught warning signs. We talk about it with Ilaria Maggi, President of The Via dei Colori Onlus, with which we explored the topic of how to prevent teacher burnout.





In this article

How to recognize abuse: the signs to be grasped

The sudden changes. "The common denominator of the many cases we have handled and are handling is the sudden change e apparently unmotivated - Explains Ilaria Maggi -. It can be negative, but not necessarily. For example, a child with a good appetite who stops eating at any moment, as well as a child with a lack of appetite who always starts to feel hungry; one who usually sleeps and begins to wake up, or vice versa.



The sixth sense. "Parents have a certain sixth Sense: you realize when your child "does not come back", when he is there something wrong. It is important to pay attention to the game, where children tend to put back in place un behavior that they have seen someone do, almost always a adult: learning and emulation are unlikely to take place between companions.

Small but continuous news. "We must then be careful if our child comes home and begins to express himself with new words that none of the parents used to use, to put in place unusual gestures who in the house may not have seen, or still to speak with a accent different. Of course we are not talking about a day of oddities, but about behavior ongoing or that comes suddenly ".

What questions to ask children and how to do it

"It is useless to ask how school went: the school day is long and there are too many stimuli. The most important thing is build a dialogue. Of course, this should be done first: you don't start talking to her when something is wrong. A good idea may be to choose one dedicated moment to "confidences", for example in the evening, when you are calm and you can to chat. The right strategy is narrow down the questions to a limited time frame: what game did you play in the garden today, how did your nap and so on. You will notice that the child will tell some moments with ease, while compared to others, if there is something wrong, he will start to escape with the look, Sara elusive. He will often use expressions like "I don't remember, I can't tell". At that point, contrary to what would be natural to do, it is necessary stop asking questions. Don't insist. We must tell the child that we understand that something has happened that made him uncomfortable and that we would like to know, but that he will be able to tell us. when he wants. It will be important to reassure him that in any case we will believe him and whatever happened we will be always available to listen to him. But be careful: more interpretation e never ask suggestive or closed questions, "feeding" the answer. And no to bursting questions or to which you can answer with a "yes" or a "no" ".



Read also: Cameras in kindergartens, the law approved in Lombardy

The techniques not to be used

"There are techniques to try to understand if the maltreatment actually took place, such as the best known one of asking children to disegnare. However, these are techniques that come used by professionals: better don't be investigators. We are parents. And we are too involved. You are likely to don't be lucid, to see clues where there aren't. So, if we accidentally pick up on something suspicious let's make a mental note of it, but never subject the children to these forms of investigation. Let's not ask them to repeat phrases already said, let's not photograph them or film them while they speak (unless they can't notice it), let's not force their hand in any way because this would contribute to increasing their discomfort ".

Read also: Children abused in school, parental fears

The next steps to take

"If there is a reasonable suspicion of mistreatment, we recommend that you not ptalk to the school about it in the first instance. Not for malice or lack of trust, but because in 97% of cases it does not lead to a resolution: the managers, the teachers and the auxiliary staff are public officials and / or persons in charge of public service; for this, faced with a hypothetical crime report, they should make themselves a exposed. This unfortunately it doesn't happen may. What can happen is that the teacher is told to be more careful (which, however, will not eradicate the problem), maybe a person joins him, and so the problem just drags on. Or worse, more rarely, the teacher comes moved to another school however, endangering other children.

Furthermore talk on whatsapp groups or in meetings and assemblies of what we suspect, it could set up the crime of slander and defamation of suspicious persons and thus come back to haunt us.

So what we recommend doing is contact an expert in infrastructural abuse who has previously dealt with cases of abuse within educational facilities or to our toll-free number. Eventually we or other professionals will guide the parents towards a complaint, in the most serious cases, or in the management of the relationship with the school or with whom they are competent. As for instead what to do with the baby, whether to move it to another school, keep it at home for a period, or leave it in the same school, there is no single answer: you have to evaluate case by case. The sure thing is that no, first of all, I will force you to leave the child at school to act as a "guinea pig" for the investigations ".

Read also: How to prevent teacher burnout and avoid child abuse at school

Psychological damage and how to help children overcome it

"The signs that remain unfortunately they are very important. It is thought that two slaps do not hurt anyone, but we often find them permanent damage and not only on children directly affected by this crime. We have examined dozens of children with tests involving the whole family, the balances change completely and the damage remains permanently. Unfortunately, I also know this from personal experience. Furthermore, the damage extends to the whole society, because teachers risk being viewed negatively as a result of news stories that are detrimental to an entire category. The path to follow to ensure that the child and the family regain confidence it is long and different depending on the specific situation, which is why we always recommend be accompanied by personnel experienced in "infrastructural mistreatment" which are very different from the so-called intrafamilial ones ".

The interviewee

Following the discovery of the tragic events of the Cip-Ciop kindergarten in Pistoia where his son was involved, Ilaria Maggi founded The Via dei Colori Onlus, of which he is president, to offer support for victims of maltreatmentwith particular specialization in those that take place within school, educational and care facilities. The Onlus is the only national point of reference for minors and minorities who are victims of abuse or infrastructural mistreatment. It works to provide support to children, the disabled or the elderly who are abused in schools, hospitals, nursing homes or in any case by those who should take care of them. La Via dei Colori provides free first-level consultancy through the toll-free number 800-98.48.71 and legal, medical and organizational support for all members, through the Scientific Committee directed by Dr. Francesca Ribaudo. In the first eleven years of its existence, the association made its contribution in over 200 trials throughout the country, following more than 1000 offended parties. In 2022 he received the International Juvenile Law Award. In the same year it established the Observatory on Educational and Care Relations (OREC) in the digitalization phase, which to date collects, monitors and studies the dynamics of about 500 cases of "infrastructural mistreatment" by carrying out scientific research on the phenomenon and on all the variables that contribute to its onset.

The first scientific research promoted by the Hogrefe Publishing House and by La Via dei Colori Onlus, relating to "Strengths and weaknesses in the personality of the parents of the child allegedly victim of infrastructural abuse" was presented in 2022 at the IV National Conference of Legal Psychology of of the city thanks to the work done by Ilaria Maggi and by Drs Francesca Ribaudo and Monica Rea.

TAG:
  • mistreatment
  • mistreatment asylum
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