District Attorney Jim Martin provided an update on the Handle With Care program that has law enforcement notify schools regarding a child’s exposure to traumatic events.

Handle With Care is aimed at ensuring that school-aged children who are exposed to trauma receive the proper support and resources to help them to address trauma before it takes a toll in the form of academic, emotional and/or behavioral issues.

Law enforcement officials, representatives from the district attorney’s office, educators and officials with the United Way of the Greater Lehigh Valley and Resilient Lehigh Valley met recently to review the first year of the Handle With Care program.

There were more than 200 referrals from law enforcement for the past school year through the Handle With Care program in both Lehigh and Northampton counties.

A number of those referrals came from Whitehall Township Police, who have used Mark43, a new records management system launched last year for law enforcement agencies, to help streamline the process of making a Handle With Care referral.

The success of the pilot year of the Handle With Care program shows the cooperation between police departments and school officials to help children with anything from an extra meal at school to pairing them with resources like counseling, Martin said.

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