There are more than 11,000 kids in foster care in Missouri. Additionally, more than 41,000 juvenile court cases were heard in one year, according to state data.
Josh Varner and the Missouri Juvenile Justice Association believe that offering kids trauma-informed support and education is the best way to reduce those numbers.
Varner advocates for at-risk students, and now teaches communities the science behind trauma, how to recognize it and how to set up safe spaces. As a liaison for educators, health care professionals and lawmakers, Varner said he connects these systems to help them work together.
The association has spent more than 40 years uniting professionals dedicated to improving the Missouri juvenile justice system and serving as a consultant for state lawmakers.
The association’s role “is to present examples and best practices of trauma informed strategies, and take those to the courts, to law enforcement, to social services, to our community mental health providers, and introduce them to those practices and encourage them then to engage in best practice,” said Tammy Walden, trauma and delinquency coordinator for the organization.
Change starts from within. As an experienced school counselor, Varner has learned to change his outlook from “what’s wrong with them?” to “what have they been through?”
Through his profession, Varner has seen how kids who had disciplinary problems struggled. Along the way, he realized that “the problem isn’t the trauma, it’s that they’re alone with the trauma.”
Trauma-informed education is based on the idea that children with trauma need safety more than subjects. When a child’s brain is adapted to trauma, a safe and loving school environment feels unfamiliar and scary, Varner said in a lecture he presented to the association last week.
“Teachers have to teach kids how to feel safe and connected before they can learn math,” Varner said.
The association assists Missouri schools in implementing trauma-informed education through its program Handle With Care. If a law enforcement responds to a scene where a child may have experienced trauma, the program connects them with their school. The system notifies educators to “handle a child with care,” without giving personal details of the event.
The program has had more than 1,100 notifications, with less than 5% of law agencies in Missouri participating. The association hopes to expand the program to help more educators make trauma-informed decisions.
“I am most proud of the work we do in terms of educating professionals in the area of best practice in juvenile justice and child welfare,” Walden said. “Our mission is to promote justice for children, youth and families, and any activity that we do complements that mission statement.”
The state is already in a special place with “the nature of the juvenile justice system in Missouri, which is unique across the U.S., where we have a family support team approach, where we bring all these different practitioners together to formulate a strategy that is in the best interest of the child,” said Jeff Barlow, executive director of the Missouri Juvenile Justice Association. “That’s always the focus.”
Alongside finding ways to navigate the legal system, understanding the science of trauma is also important. Varner explained his simplified psychology during the lecture, showing that traumatized children spend most of their time in a fight, flight or freeze response, in which the brain operates automatically and unconsciously in times of survival. This is when kids need co-regulation: something crucial for their development of self-regulation, Varner said.
Co-regulation, which assists in helping a child regulate their emotions, involves three steps: relax, reconnect and reteach, Varner said. First, relax yourself and then regulate the child. Second, connect with a child before correcting, and third, teach them how you want them to respond next time.
“Every time (a person) is dysregulated, they are giving you a puzzle piece,” Varner said. “Once you start looking, they’re easy to find.”
He continuously echoed his motto, “get curious, not furious,” throughout the lecture.
About 55% of all juveniles who are referred to the criminal justice system enter it at age 12 or younger, according to the 2024 Missouri Courts Annual Juvenile & Family Division report. Neuroplasticity is especially malleable if a child is younger, Varner said. He encouraged the audience to act fast with school-age children.
By having parents, bus drivers, teachers and principles on a mission to recognize these children’s experiences, they have the opportunity to grow and find a safe space within the school system, he said.
“People become what has been said to them,” Varner said. He encouraged the audience to make small, meaningful connections with vulnerable children.
“What happens is when you get a file on a kid, and everything says ‘disorder, disorder,’ … nobody wants to interact with this kid. Well, what happens when we make it simple and easy?” Varner said. “And people go, ‘well that kid’s in fight response, that kid’s in freeze,’ and now they feel like, ‘all I gotta do is smile. I gotta just say hello. I can just be kind.’ That stuff really works.”
Small actions add up in vulnerable children’s lives, Varner said. From the bus driver to the principal, every interaction matters. Varner’s message relies on the feeling of safety and connection between children and professionals.
“We are just like everything on the planet,” he said. “If our needs are met, we thrive.”