SCHOOLS SHOULD SCREEN FOR ABUSE/MENTAL HEALTH

I have taught school for thirty years.
We require that all children have their shots before entering public schools.
We provide testing for eyes and ears for every public school child annually.
If a child is having learning problems, every public school system has a department that tests and tries to identify the specific learning problems and then provides special education services for those children.

Yet, we do nothing to test or screen for psychological problems, for child abuse problems.

We have certified, licensed school counselors on just about every campus of every school I have ever been affiliated with.  Yet, most of their time is spent in scheduling classes for the students.

This needs to change.  If we began screening early for abuse, behavior problems, mental health--we could provide services early for students and their families.  Health insurance, the lack thereof, the exorbitant cost, would no longer be a factor.  If we spent the same amount of money we spend on our sports programs on our children's mental health, so many problems could be identified and addressed early.

I can give you one important example of how our society abuses our children.  We place children in foster care, until age 18.  All services for these children end at age 18.  They become homeless at age 18.  I worked at a ranch where boys were placed, sometimes by parents, more often by the courts.  At age 18, they were "kicked out".  The boys were returned to their old neighborhoods, their families who did not want them as children or who were unable to care for them as children, or to families that abused them physically and sexually as children.  And for you Southerners, there were as many white boys as black boys. 

At age 18, these children, young adults, still needed assistance with acquiring housing, job skills, education.  Even those smart enough for college had no way to attend college--no one to help with applications, no where to live, no food, no transportation, no job skills. 

And for those who had low IQ's, nothing. 

And when they get arrested, there is no compassion!  As a society, no one shares in the blame for their failures. 

I worked with a young girl - she was in one of my reading special education classes.  She had a severe learning disability in math.  She read on a college level.  She had severe personality problems.  She was bullied unmercifully. 

She quit high school because of the bullying.  She could not pass the No Child Left Behind math section.

I talked to her several times after she turned 18.  Her mother was moving to Dallas and she was not allowed to go.  Her mother was giving up her government housing.  This 18 year old told me she had two choices--she could get pregnant and thus qualify for government housing.  Or she could go to a shelter for abused women and lie about being abused by a boyfriend.

She found part-time work as a housekeeper at a local motel.  She could not pay rent. 

And our society blames her for her failures!