For kids who have lived through, or are currently living through, the trauma of domestic violence, school can be the last thing on their minds. How can one concentrate on long division, Catcher in the Rye or the periodic table of elements when their life is in upheaval? It’d be a lot to ask of an adult, and it’s an impossible ask for most children.
It’s why kids of childhood domestic violence, or CDV, can sometimes act out or shut down. It’s why they can’t trust teachers and may lash out. It’s why they’re defiant, angry or completely withdrawn. And in Austin, Texas, a pioneering school, accurately called the SAFE School, is looking to address that.
Started in 2001 by The SAFE Alliance, the kindergarten through 12th grade charter school is for those children who are living or have previously lived in a SAFE residential facility, including their emergency shelter or transitional housing. While the University of Texas Charter system provides the academics, SAFE supplies the advocates and counselors to give kids the social, emotional and behavioral support they so urgently need.