[children laugh joyfully]
- Price: It's really about taking on that whole philosophy
and really embedding that.
- Narrator: Child welfare agencies, courts, schools,
and workplaces across Wisconsin are starting to take on
the philosophy of trauma-informed care.
- Erica Becker: It first began with, right, the number one goal
that we're not going to place any children with a stranger.
- Narrator: Child Protective Services staff in Waupaca County
describe how they now work,
- Cristin Bauch: I think of how many families would say,
"Don't take my kids away!"
the first time I met them.
I said, "Whoa, I don't even know you!
[laughs uncomfortably] "I don't even know who your family is.
"That's why I'm here today to figure out
who you guys are, what you do."
- Alisha Haase: So, we're entering homes, not giving off judgment,
really wanting to welcome them
into a role or our services.
Building that trust with them
as far as just taking time, you know,
figuring out what it is that they could use help with.
You know, not shaming or blaming them.
Obviously, I don't think anybody wakes up in the morning
and says, "I want to hurt my child."
And so, really identifying
that we know that they love their kids
and that they just need help in this situation
and trying to find a way to partner with them.
- Is the safety issue present in the home most of the time?
Or, is this something that happened once because,
you know, dad lost his cool?
And now, how can we get it to support him in the home
so that next time when this comes up,
he's not responding in that way?
- Narrator: Waupaca County's child welfare agency
can measure the success of its new model.
- Price: We've seen
a pretty significant reduction
in the amount of placements that we're doing
outside of the parental home.
And so, when we're talking about foster care,
our foster care numbers have been down.
My first whole thing with trauma-informed care
was about: how are we gonna treat
the folks coming through the front door
better than they've ever been served
and with a whole different understanding
of traumas and adversities that they're bringing
and not to further traumatize folks.
- Narrator: Human Services Director Price
first learned of trauma-informed care
when former first lady Tonette Walker was touring the state
promoting her "Fostering Futures" platform.
- Tonette Walker: It's talking about
what happened to someone
and really moving on from that point.
Not staying there in dwelling on that,
but really saying, "You know what?
"We know that you can--
we can teach you resiliency,
"we can change the way that you act,
that you can change your behavior,"
and moving forward.
And so, for us, it's a philosophy change.
- Narrator: And given her position,
Walker was able to get trauma-informed principles
incorporated into seven state agencies.
- Elizabeth Hudson: I know
that people across the country
are calling us
and they're asking us how we're doing this.
We are getting attention internationally.
We have a voice that is saying,
"This is important."
And definitely, within our governmental structures,
this is unheard of.
- Walker: We brought the three branches of government together.
We had judges and legislatures together.
Republicans, Democrats.
We never even asked if we were Republican or Democrat.
It doesn't matter.
- Narrator: Waupaca County was able to save costs
by not placing children
in expensive treatment centers.
The shift allowed for more staff and less turnover.
It meant hiring in-home parenting aides
to help families learn and heal.
With that number one goal being to keep families together
because experts acknowledge repeated out-of-home placements
result in new traumas.
- Carey Sorenson: I think that's the hard thing about trauma
I think a lot of people--
I hear a lot of people say,
you know, "Just get over it,"
or "Just go through it," or "Just get done with it."
That is not the way it is.
Trauma sits with you.
- Narrator: Carey Sorensen
cares for a boy Waupaca County placed with her
after removing him from his own home.
She's a relative, so he's not with his parents,
but he's also not with strangers in foster care.
- Sorensen: It became very evident that they understand trauma,
they understand how to help people with trauma,
they understand how to come into a home
and be respectful of every player in the situation.
No judgment was ever felt.
[Wendell Waukau speaking Menominee language] - Posoh mip, good morning.
How we doing? All right!
- Posoh mip, posoh mip, good morning!
Posoh! Hey, good morning!
Hey, we got time for a shoe tie?
- Narrator: Every morning,
the superintendent of the Menominee Indian School District
greets grade school students at the front doors.
- Wendell Waukau: Why can't our kids,
before they even walk into the classroom,
why can't they be greeted by caring adults?
- Good morning, guys.
Good morning!
- Hello there, smiley.
Good morning.
- Narrator: A social worker and trauma coach
also man the bus arrivals.
- We're both out on buses at the end of the day,too.
When the kids come out and we're all, you know,
"Have a good night, we'll see you tomorrow,"
just to remind them that we'll be here tomorrow,
and we welcome them back again.
- Narrator: The school works in many
of what they call "positive touches"
that happen before the students even open a book.
[speaking in Menominee] - Margaret Snow: Pon- waepenon.
Posoh, waewaenen. Posoh mip!
Hello, early. [laughs]
- Narrator: Identity that may have been stripped
through the generations is reinforced.
- Snow: I teach Menominee language and culture.
Pianon, come on!
And I like to introduce myself in my native language.
Margaret Snow eneq aes wihseyan
mohkomaneweqnaesen.
My English name is Margaret Snow.
- Narrator: Reinforced to help heal from historical trauma
which traces back hundreds of years.
- Waukau: One term I heard from an elder was,
you know, basically, what happened to us is
we got an "ethnic cleansing."
We were told we were no longer Menominees.
And today, we addressed that by going back
and honoring our ancestors who endured all of that--
that pain and suffering
that allowed us to be here today.
Take the example of kids who were taken,
removed from their homes
and then placed in boarding schools.
Well, essentially, what happened was
you took away the parent's right to parent.
They were learning their language,
their culture, their identity
and you took that away from them.
This was passed on
through generations.
- Michelle Frechette: When you live in this community and you work in this community,
I think that we don't realize
how deep the trauma can be
for some of our students.
- Isaac Webster: But when it comes down to it,
our community is really broken.
- Deziray Sanapaw: Drinking and drugs and alcoholism,
and, like, it repeats itself a lot
and, like, it affects the kids growing up
because you have to deal with it.
The school helps us.
You get in trouble,
they won't yell at you or tell you.
They'll question you and let you talk to them
and they want to know how you feel.
- Narrator: Wendell Waukau went to these schools
and later returned as superintendent.
- Wendell Waukau: I am from the Menominee Nation.
Proud.
- Narrator: Ten years ago,
Waukau set out to address factors
like adverse childhood experiences
that he believes result in his district
having some of the lowest student achievement rankings
in the state.
He says tribal leaders embraced
the concept of healing and resiliency
in partnership with the State initiative.
Waukau says, "It's a community public health effort--
not just 8 to 3 during the school day.
- Class: For four years. - Kate Mikle: For four years.
How long is four years? - Class: Forty eight months.
- Narrator: But in the schools,
the work is deliberate and encompassing,
reaching from the high school.
- Mikle: If they're five minutes late
or a half an hour late, it's still,
"Hi, I'm glad you're here,"
not "You're late. Where were you?"
- Narrator: To the grade school.
- Myrtle Mahkimetas: Last week, we were doing our state testing
and one came in,
and out of the ordinary,
he had his hood on.
And he sat and I could tell there was something wrong.
I knew from all the training
that we had that we weren't going to get any results
from this test that we needed.
Pretty much all he needed was just some time
to say, "It's Okay.
"Whatever happened this morning,
it's done, it's not here at school."
- Narrator: In this fifth grade classroom,
students arrive to calming music and dimmed lights.
- Teacher: Posoh mip!
[bell rings] Make sure you check in.
- Narrator: In time, they're asked to check in.
This means they register how they're feeling that morning
by marking on a computer
whether they're in the front seat of a car and ready to go
or in the trunk, feeling bad and not ready to learn.
- Teacher: Okay, I can't push this child so hard today.
There's something going on in his or her life
that I need to be more understanding
of what's happening with them today.
- Teacher: Thank you.
Miguel and Darren,
would you guys please be sure to go check in
so I know how you're doing today?
- Narrator: In the younger grades,
the children put a stick in a colored pot.
Green for good,
yellow for not so good,
and red for feeling bad.
- Teacher: Hey, I saw that you were on yellow.
What's going on? What's the matter?
Come here.
- Narrator: The teacher immediately responds,
asking about the student's family.
The child says she's hungry
and so, it becomes snack time.
- Teacher: Who would like to start
and tell me what made them happy?
- Narrator: The classrooms have safe zones and calm down boxes
and children can go to them at any time.
- Ryan Coffey: We're finding out that kids from trauma,
when they come into schools, they have walls up
because they have trust issues sometimes
and so we need to build those relationships first,
before any learning can take place.
- Narrator: Ryan Coffey is the trauma coach on staff
at the grade school.
His office is always open for children
who need more help understanding their feelings.
It's called the "Peace Room."
I talk about a time that I felt lonely,
and then, they spin it,
and they'll talk about the time that they felt whatever.
It's part of the coping process.
They need to know what it is inside
and how or what the best strategy is
to deal with those feelings.
I mean, we want them to know that
no feeling that they ever have is bad.
Feelings are good,
and they're there for a reason.
- I go out to the Student Health Center every Wednesday
to talk to somebody.
- Narrator: For students in all grades who need additional help,
the health center is right on school district grounds,
staffed by behavioral health professionals.
The schools also provide dental care.
- Waukau: Our promise was that
we would engage the community in a process
that could build and could help heal.
A lot of our social and health determinants
that impact so many, so many things,
education being one of them.
- Narrator: Waukau says the district has moved
beyond trauma-informed to trauma-responsive
and it's working.
- Waukau: We have put resources
into key grade levels,
particularly ninth grade.
Where now,
instead of graduating 60% of our kids on time,
were at 90%.
- Narrator: But slowing down, calming down, talking:
Who can do all that and still teach?
- Waukau: People say, "Well, you won't have enough time."
Well, yeah, but that's all we have.
- Teacher: You guys get to play seven games today.
- Children: Yeah!
- Narrator: And now the Menominee Indian School District
has brought its trauma-responsiveness
into its preschools.
- Waukau: Well, we're not done
because we need to get into the pediatricians' office.
But, more importantly, if this is really going to work
we've got to get this into the homes
because those are where the teachers are.
- Judge Mary Triggiano: We understand so much more about trauma
and its impact on our families
and behavior of our families.
- Narrator: In the state's largest city,
trauma-informed care starts with baby's first breath.
- Judge M. Joseph Donald: You say to yourself, "Well, there's something else.
We have to do something else."
There's another way
at getting at these root causes.
- Narrator: These Milwaukee County judges are getting at root causes
and starting early.
They preside over a healthy infant court,
the first in Wisconsin.
- Triggiano: Babies are the largest population
of those that are removed from parents in our system,
both locally, statewide, and nationally,
and mostly for neglect.
[children laughing]
- Jonisha Neita: I came to lose them
at 20...
...3.
I was 23 when I lost my kids.
I couldn't believe that was me.
I was my mother all over.
- Narrator: Jonisha Neita is a former drug user.
She lost five children to child welfare authorities,
including an infant who is now three.
She was the first graduate of the Healthy Infant Court.
Her children are back home with her,
but by her telling,
going through the court process to regain custody
was not easy.
- Neita: Even when I was referred there,
it still wasn't mentally hitting me.
I'd used to always be the person
sitting in the back with my hood up,
and just sitting there, like,
crying.
Every time I talked to the judge, I just cried.
- Narrator: The court then assigned
infant mental health specialist
Katy Trottier to work alongside Jonisha.
- Neita: Actually, it was the point of my life
where I had to start trusting somebody,
that reality of knowin'
that I have to start trusting.
I had to start believing in something.
And Katy was the person that walked through the door.
- Donald: Because they're like, "Well, wait a minute."
- Narrator: The judges are equipped with expert training
to learn about infant mental health
and signs of toxic stress in babies.
- Triggiano: A child who might cry incessantly for hours and hours
and a parent not being able to comfort them,
or a child who you would think
is going to cry when they're hungry,
but gets sort of this sullen, glassy look to them.
- Narrator: Jonisha's babies showed such signs of stress
and she didn't know how to feed him without a struggle.
She admits she didn't have a good model in her own mother
and there was trauma going back.
My mom was a drug addict.
She got married to an abusive guy, which was my step-dad.
Still is my dad.
- Katy Trottier: It's not just
who that parent and who that child are.
It goes back to how you were parented.
So, what we find so often is there's...
There's ghosts in the nursery.
That's what infant mental health is all about.
There's ghosts in the nurseries.
- Triggiano: When a mother who has been impacted
by years and years
of toxic stress, whether that mother
was a child welfare child herself
or was abused or neglected or sexually assaulted,
they don't create
those procedural memories
that we might have from watching our mothers.
[child jabbers happily]
So, we're actually creating new procedural memories
by helping them work with the infant mental health specialist
to learn how to parent.
- Neita: I say, like, a month
into doing what I was doing with Katy,
it was like he actually started looking at me in my eyes.
- Donald: It's amazing when you actually see the connection,
when there is a strong and healthy bond
between mother and child and father and child
and then the child, when they are secure and healthy,
also develop
the ability to exercise
some self-regulation.
- Narrator: This connection and newly-patterned parenting skills
allow Jonisha to bring her children home.
- Triggiano: We knew that we could protect
the brain development of those children
so that they would have a better chance
of not being pulled deeper into the system.
[children chatting and laughing]
- Narrator: Jonisha says after successfully learning how to parent
all her children are doing well.
- Neita: They're happy.
That's all that matters
that, yep, they're happy.
- Narrator: Her bond with her once-fussy baby is clear.
[Jonisha plants a kiss]
- Trottier: Oh, he is just lovely! [happy laughter]
I love him, I love him.
- Narrator: And so, all across Wisconsin
a growing culture change
toward positive futures for generations to come.