[ { "type": "paragraph", "content": "In the heart of Minneapolis's Columbia Heights neighborhood, the impact of the 2018 immigration enforcement surge is still felt. When schools such as Valley View Elementary turned to virtual learning to keep children safe amid a flood of officers, the absence of classroom rituals amplified the silence inside many homes." }, { "type": "paragraph", "content": "Social worker Nicole Herje has begun a quiet, communal healing directed by a therapy dog she named Sage. The soft‑coated golden‑dog has become a focal point for listening, as Herje invites students to share feelings that surface from the echo of arrests that shook families in the neighborhood." }, { "type": "paragraph", "content": "A young girl who once lived in Ecuador finds comfort in Sage’s gentle touch and says, I liked it. In Ecuador, I had a dog. Herja’s question— How does it feel when you pet Sage?—is a small test of resilience against a background in which the landscape of child safety has shifted." }, { "type": "paragraph", "content": "The children’s voices echo experiences of sudden detentions and the loss of parents amid a law‑enforced crackdown. Four kids in the school are already among those who were detained in a Texas detention center, followed by a community scandal of shots fired and a lost citizen in the motion of law‑enforcement." }, { "type": "paragraph", "content": "The pandemic and the crackdowns each added layers of trauma to a generation of children who might not yet understand the weight of such disruptions, but still develop symptoms— reduced appetite, sleeplessness, and integrated trauma within their brains. Psychology experts explain such responses as a survival re‑configuration of the nervous system." }, { "type": "paragraph", "content": "The whisper of distant helicopters over South Minneapolis produced fragmented home routines. One child found sheer fright when the words “garage” wandered on a night’s dream. Stories by families converge: a mother who lost relatives to deportation, a father who moved houses to avoid ICE, and a father who shoots in a local park with no warning." }, { "type": "paragraph", "content": "Statistical estimates show over 4.6 million U.S. citizen children live alongside parents with uncertain legal status, and more than 200,000 children have experienced a parent’s detention or deportation in the Trump years. The psychological implications ripple across academic performance and social integration." }, { "type": "paragraph", "content": "In five‑grade classrooms and circle‑talks after closing a cafeteria, Herje, guided by Sage, pairs supportive moments with cultural literacy—the children read an emotionally resonant story, “The Color Monster.” During the session, they describe what lifts moods, what drags them down, drawing from home memories." }, { "type": "paragraph", "content": "An emerging finding in child mental‑health research points to the benefit of shared empathy. When a child says, My grandma in Ecuador is far away, the teacher picks up a thread: the child’s sense of belonging, the affection of the physical presence of relatives, and the thread of community that was pulled many steps back." }, { "type": "paragraph", "content": "Returning to in‑person learning has become a fundamental healing milestone. The teacher notes some children re‑establish their primary relationships and celebrate their earliest moments of contact. Creating a warm space for storytelling pairs with community pictures of teachers, family, one who received an unprecedented sign of help." }, { "type": "paragraph", "content": "Vendors for online learning continue out of the office, but health‑and‑social leaders can find hope both in an animal’s warm presence and in curriculum that encourages children to see that they belong, that they have friends, and that they can express love—no longer a secret or an answer that they keep alone." }, { "type": "paragraph", "content": "— Balingit, Beryl, reports from Washington." } ]}