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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Goderich Signal-Star, 1978-10-26, Page 26Teac to rec�: ers learn, ways ll;Y JOANNE BUCHANAN Teachers are obligitted under the Child Welfare Act, to report any suspected or known child abuse, mental or physical, to the proper authorities and at a special :geducation program held at St. Joseph's school in Kingsbridge last Wed- nesday, a group of teachers learned more about such obligations, signs to look for to con- firm any suspicions of abuse and ways to deal with the abused children themselves., Norma Jeffery, an RN social worker on a child abuse team at Huron County's Family and Children's Services, told the teachers at the special education program, that people who work 'with children must really listen to them carefully and they must also show them that they care. If a child comes to school poorly dressed, is not working up to potential or has injuries for which he has no satisfactory explanation, he may be an abused child, said Mrs. Jeffery. Physical abuse is ac- tually the easiest form of abuse her agency has to deal with„ she explained. It is the easiest to detect. But it's surprising the amount of sexual abuse , which also goes on in the county, she said. And then of course, there is emotional abuse which is very difficult to detect. Teachers, because they spend a large part of the day with children every day, may be able to detect emotional abuse more readily than someone else, simply by paying careful -attention- to a child's behaviour. Mrs. Jeffery en- couraged teachers who A • suspected abuse, to call Fankily arid' Children's Services. She said she would be prepared to come to the school, talk it over and investigate if necessary. If a tea was really , unce ain about his or her suspicions, a heal t nurse might be the per; on to contact first, she sai . . Principal of St. Joseph's School, Dave Zyluk, said he hoped that if any of his teachers had. any doubts or suspicions that they would come and talk to him and he would stand behind them. Several teachers ex- pressed xpressed their concern about remaining anonymous. They said they feared being ver- bally or even physically attacked by the" parents of children which they reported to the agency. Even though it would put the social worker in a difficult position not to reveal the source from which her investigation stemmed, the teacher and school's name could be kept anonymous, said Mrs.. Jeffery. • POOR IMAGE - Mrs. Jeffery said she was concerned about the poor image of Family and Children's Services. The agency has been trying to erase this image by changing its name from Children's Aid Society to Family and Children's Services, the latter name showing that the agency tries to work with the whole family and do more prevention work as well. "Parents are still people and abusing parents often have., reasons for what they do. Theile are positive things ,s >. , ize abuse which go on in some abusing families as well," explained Mrs Jeffery. It is not necessarily the goal of the agency to go into the home and split families up. Instead, the whole family gets help and the agency tries to bring them closer together if possible. However, when an abused child is returned to his family after help has been given, the social worker always has a nagging thought in his or her mind, "Will the child be safe?" If something happens, it is usually the agency which suffers, even though detecting, reporting and helping to prevent child abuse is the responsibility of the whole community, said Mrs. Jeffery citing the Kim Ann Popen case in Sarnia as an example. - People who know about child abuse, but , don't report it, are almost as guilty for the child's harm than the one who is inflicting it. Under the Child Welfare Act, it is stated that every person (including teachers, doctors, neighbours, friends, anyone) having information on child abuse (of any kind), shall report to the Children's Aid Society or Crown Attty. In ' order to make this responsibility hit home even more, said Mrs. Jeffery, the government is now trying to pass further legislation which would place a penalty, perhaps a fine of - $1,000 on persons who know about child abuse but do not report it. If passed, it may be a difficult law to enforce though. It's hard to prove that someone did or did not_ knew about . a child abuse situation and it's difficult to define child abuse too, said Mrs. Jeffery. Some people believe in a certain amount of physical discipline while others don't. But perhaps the new legislation will make the pub c more aware of its r • : ' onsibilities. In a film presented to the teachers at the special education program, it was stated that mental and physical child abuse is wide- spread. In fact, oiiie-tenth of the families throughout the world, are involved in , child abuse. Child abuse is often a vicious circle, the film stated, with many abusive parents being abused as children themselves. The respect and love that parents have for themselves, will reflect on their children; it was stated. There is a fine line between disciplining and ever -disciplining one's child and a parent must, know • how to dif- ferentiate, the film said. The film went on to state that there was hope for the abused child and help for the abusive parents. It reported on a Home Emergency Line for Parents (HELP) program which was one method for frustrated parents to get help before doing something drastic. HELP AVAILABLE After the film, Mrs. Jeffery said that child abuse in Huron County, which has a population of about 55,000, is average and compares with urban centres. It covers all economic and social stratas. However, unlike the cities, there are not as many places one can go for help. The Children's Aid Society or Family R.K. PECK APPLIANCES. "In The Heart of Down Town Varna" • Vacuum Cleaners - Stoles and Service of nit makes • CB Radios and Accessories • SltiiidQiutlen Appliances ' Maifaf Appliances • Stnieike Seniors joined trinhts rind Fly Killing Units • H'andcroftedtkiffs Vistroo,Ont. pftdrtilit48t-71 and Children's Services is often all • there is and there isn't enough staff to handle all the crisis situations let alone, do prevention work. One reason why it 'is difficult for abusive parents to get outside help: other than the CAS, is because of the rural aspect of, the county. In larger centres, people are able to organize programs like Parents Anonymous because a central location can be picked and one can take a bus to that location from almost anywhere in the county. However, in Huron County, explained Mrs. Jeffery, the families are more spread ot and isolated and it wo Id be too difficult to organize a group and get them together. You can't always force people to get help either, she says. They must be willing and want help. And sometimes_ you question the help they are getting, she says. Child abuse is a big topic but Family and Children's Services has available, for the next ten months, a community . child abuse worker,` Kathy Pryde, who is available to schools, service clubs, church organizations or just about any group, to speak on the topic of child abuse and answer any questions people might have. Through a government grant, Mrs_ Pryde, who has her Masters degree in social work from Wilfrid Laurier University, has been hired to do public education on child abuse. Besides speaking to groups on the topic, she will be pulling together new films and ,educational tools for others to use when she is gone_ She also hopes to hold some inter -agency meetings, perhaps bet- ween the schools and the medical profession, etc. The thing that she regrets though, is the fact that she'll just be getting started and her funding will run out. AIM Gg.DERICIR§II NAL -S" AA,.THUS` ., 4 OCTOBER R 26, t978-43AcE 7A - You don't have to give it a i the cold shoulder lust because you're trying to lose weight. Well show you how to outsmart it, and still enjoy delicious food. It's all part of our own Behavior Modification method, especially designed for us by world-renowned behavioral psychologist, Dr. Richard B. Stuart. So loin a Weight Watchersa meeting today. Then youll be able to face your refrigerator. And yourself. Kathy Pryde, community child abuse worker and Dave Zyluk, princip.of St. Joseph's School, Kingsbridge look over the Child Welfare Act following a -special-education -program held' at the school Iasi .Wednesday `on the responsibilities of the public (and in particular teachers) in reporting cases of child abuse. Mrs. Pryde is available for the next ten months to speak to groups in the community on child abuse. (Photo by Joanne Buchanan) GODERICH MacKAY HALL NELSON ST. ENTRANCE S bureau helps 200 families BY JOANNE BUCHANAN It may be a bit premature for some people to start thinking about Christmas but those at the Christmas Bureau at Huron County's Family and Children's Services have already been thinking about it for many months now. While most people have only • one or two families to think about at Christmas time, The Christmas ' • Bureau has about 200 families to consider and that's the reason `for their early thoughts of preparation. Marian Hindmarsh, social worker and overall co-ordinator of the volunteer Christmas Bureau, explains that, through the bureau, each needy family is sent a cheque of $5 for each child in the family and if help is needed with Christmas dinner, an amount for the food is added to that '-cheque in proportion of the family's size. The money that allows the bureau to do all this comes from the people in the communities of Huron County. Last year $7,000 was donated to help 180 families and this year the bureau hopes to raise about $9,000 as they 'expect to have many more families on ,their list. The co-ordinators under Mrs. Hindmarsh in each of the five county towns, set up and man depots in their towns where toys, clothes, books, skates, tricycles and anything a family could use, may be, deposited by people. In Goderich the depot will be at The Salvation Army at .18 Waterloo Street White Rodgers' ENERGY-SAVING THERMOSTAT Special model for working families. Cuts heating and cooling costs from 4%to 20%and more. • In winter automatically reduces temperature during day while family works. • daises temperature just before family gets home ... reduces it scion while family sleeps. .,... • Raiser temperature again before family arises. * In summer, raises temperature during day .. towers et night while family asleep. Automatically. • No additional wird ... replaces existing ifisnnot+trts in minutes. EDWARD' FUELS i l 262 N 00011 eel s4. „.ate. ' from December 4 to 8. All recipient families will be contacted between December I1 and 15 and the parents of the families may then go to the depot iii their town and select Christmas gifts for their children. Over half the children in the families being helped are teenagers, says Mrs. Hindmarsh, so more than just toys are needed. Too often peeple think of Christmas is only for children and they forget the older ones in the family, she says. CO-ORDINATE'D FOR SEVEN YEARS As a co-ordinated ef- fort, i` The Christmas Bureau has been ino operation for about seven years now. Before this, several volunteers would pitch in and help pack Christmas parcels for families in need and then, volunteer Dorothy Scott, would visit every known needy family in the county, taking the par- cels to them. "This was an enormous amount of work in often grim driving conditions," says Mrs. Hindmarsh. The Christmas Bureau, because it is now a co- ordinated effort, saves duplication of,, work, explains Mrs. Hind - marsh. The families who need help get help and they also get what they need. Families who are in need at Christmas can either be referred to the Christmas Bureau 'or they can contact the bureau directly them- selves. Letters are sent _ ..Qu:..,., to ah,,,,;,,agencies working with families in order to get referrals. Letters are also sent to service clubs and other groups asking for help or donations. "People have been very generous with thejr donations and the service clubs and church groups have been very good too," says Mrs. Hind - The Kinsmen in par- ticular have been a big help to The Christmas Bureau. They man toy boxes set up at various locations around town and then give the toys collected to the bureau to be distributed. Dorothy (Dot) Scott is the co-ordinator of the Christmas Bureau's depot in Goderich and she BIG PUMPKIN DRAW 25 PUMPKINS TO BE GIVEN AWAY GODERICH STORE ONLY Between October 25th & 28th any child, under 12 years of age, and accompanied by their Parent is eligible to fill out a coupon. Winners will be notified by Zehr's and all winners will have their pictures taken by Goderich Signal Star, Sat„ October 28th at 2:00 P.M. fine markets . of fine food,, will get assistance from the Kinettes. Yarn is available this year from Dianne Armstrong and the bureau is asking that people do some volunteer knitting for the depots this Christmas. If anyone wants to give a donation of money, it can be mailed or taken to Family and Children's Seryices, Christmas Bureau, 46 Glouchester Terrace in Goderich. Whether you give your time as a volunteer at the bureau, perform a labour of love by knitting something for the bureau, deposit toys, etc. at the Salvation Army depot Or send a gift of money, your help is deeply ap- preciated by both the bureau and the families who benefit from it directly. "The families are so' grateful for the help they? get," says Mrs. Hind - marsh. There- 'are so many Turn to page 8A • E•f Il • FOR CLASS INFORMATION CALL LONDON 1-519-455-5100 ENROLL AT ANY CLASS First meeting Fee $10 all other meetings $4. 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