There are many stressors that a child may encounter in their life which could have a negative impact on their social, emotional and cognitive growth. I was a Center Director for an early learning center for 10 years and unfortunately witnessed many stressors in my tenure. There is one family that comes to mind that had the biggest impact on me. (Names are fictional)
Drew and Ryan were seemingly happy boys, ages 6 and 8 when I first met them. They would come into the center each morning, typically dropped off by mom, and always had smiles on their faces. The story would go that their smiles were smiles because they were finally in a happy place. I don’t want to go into too much detail because of the fact that this is a public blog but these boys suffered from severe abuse at home, maltreatment and neglect. We had to call CPS on this family on numerous occasions and it took almost 2 years before they were finally removed from the home. It was a pretty serious event that finally caused removal. Thank goodness, they were ok.
These boys came to my center every day with a smile on their face and I believe that they coped by being with us, going to school. Coming back to the center and thriving on the positive interactions that they could get throughout the day. They knew once they went home it was going to be different. They coped by being strong for each other, the older brother always looking out for his younger brother. They coped by talking to us about how they wish they could live at our center (so so sad). The coped by drawing pictures and keeping journals about all the happy things that they did have in their lives. They coped by knowing that we were doing everything in our power, by law to make their lives better. We lived up to our promise to them and eventually succeeded in having them removed from their home.
ecepassion 
It’s so sad to read stories like that! The poor boys. I’m happy that you provided such a safe and happy environment for them that they always smiled when coming to the centre. Sometimes it’s hard to get the attention of someone who can help and sometimes by the time you do its too late, it sounds like a success story for the little boys. They are lucky they had someone like you to step in and get help for them.
Thank goodness they had a safe place to go! What a difficult journey for you and your staff to take, watching each day and trying everything in your power to make their lives better. As sad as this story is, it is wonderful to know that there are childcare workers out in the world that are watching out for children.
It is unimaginable to me how children can be subjected to such awful circumstances for 2 years! Thank goodness they had the childcare center to come to for one positive in their lives. The fact that they had smiles on their faces and hopefully the abuse did not break that happy spirit in them. It always amazes me when you have people that complain about menial things and then you have others that are dealing with the imaginable and they have a smile on their face because they are thankful for the little bit of good they do have.
I think that it is great that you are sharing these boys story. I know that calling CPS is not an easy task, as I have had to do this many times in the last couple of years. One of my students too would come to school smiling, happy, and ready to learn. I later found out that her mom was crazy, literally (I don’t know what her diagnosis is) and there her home life was terrible. She even wanted to stay at school after we had our Kindergarten graduation. We do make a difference in these children’s lives.
Your right, I believe they you were their sanctuary, their place of refuge if only for a few hours. Sadly this is true for too many children. Not always due to the stress of their abuse but abuse between parents,the stress of not having a working toilet. I pray we always think of our centers and programs as safe places for children to flourish and keep in mind this may be the only time they feel safe.