Huntingdon initiating new child protection program

HUNTINGDON COUNTY, Pa (WTAJ)– The Huntingdon Borough Police Department is initiating a new program that’ll help detect unreported child trauma victims sooner.

This program is called the Huntingdon Endangered/At-Risk Youth Response Team (HEART). It was created by Huntingdon Borough Police Chief Charles Streightiff and Huntingdon Area High School Assistant Principal Kristen Streightiff.

The duo noticed an underserved community of children labeled as “problems” when there could be an underlying issue. After attending a summit in Atlanta, Charles came up with the “Handle with Care” approach.

“Handle with Care” is an alert to school districts from law enforcement and Children and Youth Services if a child experience traumatic events. The school would not receive details on the traumatic event once the alert is sent.

From there, the designated school liaison would notify a staff member with an educational connection to the child to monitor the child’s behavior through guided steps. The goal is this could eventually lead the child to receive counseling or be placed into the school’s assistance programs sooner.

“That would give school districts the red flags to monitor and observe and start building the resources to refer that particular youth into like an SAP program or a school counselor,” Charles said. “And give them the option to start talking.”

Kristen said this approach steers away from labeling a child as bad. It’s a common theme that children get sent to the office for behavioral issues, which could turn into a detention or school suspension.

The hope is this program brings awareness to a child’s needs. Once they receive services, they can flourish academically.

“Too often, students are labeled giving an office referral that could be a behavioral problem when we’re seeing those non-verbal cues that come in these situations,” Kristen said. “So we’re hoping that HEART will call attention sooner, and we can meet their needs.”

“Instead of referring that child to the office for discipline issues, the school district is going to have resources available for them to understand that there may be something more going on,” Charles said. “And instead of detentions, ISS, OSS, we need to look at what services we can funnel into to help the children.”

Before the “Handle with Care” alert, school districts were not notified from outside sources of any child endangerment. The only students that would receive services are the ones identified by the school or are enrolled in the Multi-Tiered System of Supports or Student Assistance Program.

A Multi-Tiered System of Support (MTSS) helps educators create academic and behavioral strategies that help students with various needs. The Student Assistance Program (SAP) is a state initiative that services learners whose academic, behavior, or emotional issues affect their learning.

Kristen wants to ensure this program doesn’t allow any child to slip through the cracks. The duo presented the program to the Pennsylvania Family Support Alliance and Children Advocacy Center of Pennsylvania.

The state agencies called the HEART program a missing element in detecting child abuse or endangerment. If successful, it could serve as a model for the state in investigations.

Locally, the duo presented to the Huntingdon Area School District, Huntingdon Borough Council, and Mainstream Counseling. Charles said they’ve received positive feedback.

The goal is to have this program go county-wide. But Charles said it’s vital this helps give services and assistance to the hundreds of child abuse victims that are unidentified in the county.”

“If a kid is never identified to be referred into those services in the first place, they’re never going to get them,” Charles said. “I’m now calling this a pre-early warning system cause it’s grasping that demographic a lot earlier or even grasping them when they weren’t even identified, to begin with.”

The duo is presenting to the Mount Union School District Monday evening. So far, no district has adopted the program.