What's worse is the sort of counsel and psychological assistance available to school kids. My personal experience was I told my mom what was going on at 7 so she called the school. She told them not to talk to me until she was there and upon arriving the principal told her "Publius would not be able to describe the things he did to you unless they were done to him first." However, the school counselor met with me without my mother and determined after one meeting that I was "victimized" but NOT sexually abused, whatever the fuck that means, but the general message was that I had been pressured to do these things but had not had them happen to me. There was no follow up meeting with either me or my mom. She says she still regrets not going to the police but admits it was such a relief to hear I was not actually abused that she believed in it right away. The abuse stopped from there on out, which I give myself full credit for, but the healing did not start and quite frankly I think it should have right then and there.

Now this was back in 1992 but from what I have read and seen and heard from you all things have not nearly improved as much as we might like. The inclination of school officials and services to dismiss, minimize, or straight up ignore abusive situations in their students is staggering. Am I alone in thinking this? Has anyone else had or heard of failures or successes (they are out there they have to be) on the part a school system?

*

i am not even supposed to know that the incident happened. if i try to intervene or ask questions i will get another staff member in trouble for violating confidentiality.

it's making me crazy!

Typical bureaucracy. Outdated, incompetent, ineffective.