New initiative to support children who have experienced trauma

Hidalgo County will implement a new initiative, “Handle with Care,” which aims to help support children who have experienced traumatic events by allowing direct communication between police departments and school districts.

Hidalgo County Judge Richard F. Cortez announced the initiative during a news conference on Oct. 27. 

Nancy Razo, aprofessor of practice in the UTRGV Department of Human Development and School Services who spoke during the news conference, brought the program to the attention of Cortez.

The program started in West Virginia in 2013.

In 2022, Razo became aware of the program while preparing for a conference.

“At that conference, there’s a combination of community members, education people and law enforcement, and so I did ask if they had heard about it and if they had implemented it and nobody had really volunteered that they were,” she said.

From there, Razo started pushing for the program. 

“[I brought] that information back to my bosses here at the university to see if this was an initiative that we could take on through my program and my college,” Razo said. “That’s how it came about.”

She told Cortez and other county officials about the initiative.

“I’m a part of the Hidalgo County Mental Health Coalition, through Judge Cortez’s office, and everybody was really excited,” Razo said.

Cortez said the “program is really simple.” 

“You hand the child a slip and, from there, other people are aware of the trauma that the child has experienced and how to approach dealing with that child,” he said.

Children can experience traumatic events in the form of “any situation law enforcement might come across,” Razo said, including car accidents, fires and homicides.

“With children of divorce, it’s common,” Cortez said. “The parents are yelling at each other and the child blames themselves.”

Razo said anytime a child is exposed to traumatic situations, it is at the discretion of law enforcement to file a “Handle with Care” notification.

The program has also been implemented by both the Harlingen and Brownsville police departments.

“We want to make sure that we intervene,” said Miriam Anderson, Harlingen Police Department lieutenant.

Martin Sandoval, public information officer for the Brownsville Police Department, said the program is already in place. 

“Instead of moving to discipline … we can have the counselor come in and speak to the child,” Sandoval said.

Psychology sophomore Danna Serna said she likes that they are taking extra steps to figure out the child’s mental health.

“As young as a child might be, they will always remember what happened in their life,” Serna said.

Razo detailed the effects of trauma.

“A child might act up, and what’s the first thing that schools sometimes do?” Razo said. “Discipline. That’s what we are trying to avoid. If students do have a reaction to a trauma, then we’re giving them some trauma-informed care.”

Razo spoke on how to best deal with children who have experienced traumatic events. 

“It’s very individualized, but you can have behavioral problems, you can have kids being distracted, kids reliving the traumatic experience, and of course, a traumatic experience is very personal,” Razo said. “Something that may be traumatic to you may not be traumatic to me. … It varies among the children.”

Serna spoke about these events when referring to the goals she hopes the program will achieve.

“As a child grows older,  we don’t want … this trauma to stay with them,” Serna said.“Yeah, it will still be there, but as [the] process is going, as they get older, maybe [it] will not stay with them as strongly as when they were younger.” 

Razo explained how trauma can cause behavioral issues that may be hard to spot. 

“It may not just be behavioral, it may be internal,” Razo said. “Instead of talking to people about it, they become more introverted, they become more withdrawn, sadness, all kinds of symptoms.”

Because trauma can be such a broad term that can refer to many situations, along with current Texas privacy laws, the “Handle with Care” slip does not give the school district detailed information regarding the events the student has witnessed. 

“If students are exposed to trauma, mainly indirectly, that their school gets [notified], not with any details of the traumatic incident, just with details to handle with care,” Razo said.

Razo said her goal for the initiative is to go Valleywide. 

“In our research about this program, we found out that Brownsville’s already implementing it with Brownsville ISD,” Razo said. “We also found out that Harligen CISD is already implementing it. … Cameron County is already doing it.”

Anderson said she is excited that this program has been implemented elsewhere.

“It’s been successful for us,” she said.

Sandoval expressed a similar sentiment.

“It is a great policy that we have,” he said.

In regard to her work in getting this program Valleywide, Razo is optimistic. 

“We are just offering the information, whether [the local police departments] want to pick it up or not is up to them,”  Razo said. “We already have districts who are already wanting to promote it … who are already interested in the program.” 

Razo said Hidalgo County, and the Rio Grande Valley in general, could be ahead of a statewide movement.

“There is conversation that at the state level, it might be required come some years [or] months.”