CID-COPS
Child Intervention & Development
Community Oriented Policing Services
Children who witness violence or are exposed to trauma can react in many different ways. Violence can have a negative effect on a child’s sense of confidence and self-esteem. Seeing frightening or distressing events can take away a child’s basic sense of security. This can change the way children feel about themselves and the world around them.
As a parent/guardian, understanding what your child feels is the first step in helping them recover from the harmful effects of violence. You can help your child cope with frightening events and re-establish feelings of pride, safety and confidence.
What Can You Expect?
Children communicate their upset feelings in many different ways. In the days and weeks following a traumatic event, you may see the following reactions in your children:
- Frequent nightmares or waking in the night
- Wanting to stay close by their parents
- Bedwetting or problems with toileting
- Easily startled, jumpy, or uneasy
- In imaginative play, repeating the events over and over
- Seeming more quiet, withdrawn, upset
- Fighting with peers or adults or not being able to get along
- Irritability, fussiness, difficult to soothe
- Tearfulness, sadness, talking about scared feelings or scary ideas
- Problems paying attention or behavior problems at home or at school
- Daydreaming or being distracted
After a violent event, people often try hard to forget. But for many children, forgetting doesn’t work. Instead, they can show their distress in behaviors that cause problems for themselves and the adults around them. This can be the worst time for parents and children.
How Can You Help?
For some children, going over the events with the adults they trust can help them feel less alone. Giving them time to talk about their questions and concerns can be very helpful.
For other children, talking about what happened may be very hard. They may show their distress in other ways, such as upsetting behaviors.
Recognizing your child’s many different reactions can be the most important
beginning to helping your child recover.
If you think your child is having difficulties or you have questions about
how your child is doing, there is a place to turn for help.
How Can We Help?
We can:
- help you think about how your children are coping and how to assist them
- provide evaluations
- offer referrals
If you would like further informaton about CID-COPS, please contact:
Sitka Tribe of Alaska |
747-2669 |
Sitka Police Department |
747-3245 |
The Child Intervention & Development – Community Oriented Policing Services program was created in April of 2002 with the assistance of the Safe Start Initiative, a grant awarded to the Sitka Tribe of Alaska from the United States Department of Justice. The program is a national model of collaborative alliance among law enforcement, juvenile justice, domestic violence programs, mental health professionals, child welfare, schools, and other community agencies. The goal of the program is to heal the wounds that chronic exposure to violence inflicts on children and families.
Members of the team: Sitka Police Department, Sitka Tribe of Alaska, Sitkans Against Family Violence, Sitka School District, Office of Children Services, Office of Juvenile Justice, Haa Toowoo Haakw Hit, Sitka Counseling and Prevention Services, and Youth Advocates of Sitka.