Handle With Care program alerts schools when children are exposed to trauma

On Board Online • February 3, 2025

By Robin L. Flanigan
Special Correspondent

Frank Guglieri was midway through his zuppa di pesce at a restaurant when he got a text from the police informing him that two young children, a brother and sister, had been exposed to a traumatic incident.

Guglieri, who is director of Regional Safety Services at Putnam/Northern Westchester BOCES, stepped away from the table to notify a contact person at the children's school. It's something that Guglieri has done more than 1,000 times since 2019, when the BOCES began participating in a program called Handle With Care.

Here is how it works: A police officer, paramedic, Child Protective Services agent or other first responder encounters a child at the scene of an incident or in the course of an investigation. They are trained to find out where the child goes to school, then notify a designated local contact, such as Guglieri.

The nature of the trauma is kept confidential. No information is shared other than the child's name and the words "Handle With Care."

Guglieri is the contact person for about 150 school buildings in 18 school districts, and he gets a notification every single day. He immediately forwards the information to a designated contact at the school or district level. PNW BOCES is partnered with the Child Advocacy Center of Putnam County, and its mental health and family support resources are available to all of the BOCES' component school districts.

Handle With Care is a federal initiative overseen by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. It started with a pilot program in Charleston, West Virginia, in 2013.

There is great value in quickly alerting school officials to the fact that specific children have been exposed to some kind of traumatic event, according to the West Virginia Center for Children's Justice, which led the pilot program and now manages expansion of the Handle with Care program. According to the center's website, a traumatic event might be "a meth lab explosion, a domestic violence situation, a shooting in the neighborhood, witnessing a malicious wounding, a drug raid at the home, etc."

Or maybe the fire department responded to a false alarm, and the only problem is that the child is groggy in the morning.

At the school level, teachers and staff can be alert for signs of trauma, which manifest as excessive anger, exhaustion, frequent headaches or stomachaches, as well as difficulty concentrating.

The program can help reduce absenteeism by getting help for students who otherwise would be sent home for not feeling well. Teachers might extend a homework deadline or allow a student to postpone a test without penalty.

If students are disruptive or misbehave, school officials who understand that the child has been under extraordinary stress can provide supportive interventions rather than take disciplinary actions or otherwise handle the incident insensitively.

Schools often let parents know about the Handle With Care program when presenting information about their school climate and safety plans.

For a Handle With Care program to be successful in a community, it's essential to have buy-in from all partner agencies, Guglieri said. In Putnam County, the idea has been supported "from the bottom up and the top down," he said. The Putnam County Sheriff's Office plays a key role by gathering reports from police agencies, fire departments and other public safety agencies, then sending them to Guglieri.

Guglieri sees the program as reflecting the social support mission of public schools. "Education has morphed into so much more than teaching," he said. "Students are bringing so much with them to school, which has become a hub to support them in a variety of ways."

For more information on the program, go to www.handlewithcarewv.org . And feel free to contact Guglieri at fguglieri@pnwboces.org.