'The kids are not alright': After ICE surge and Annunciation school shooting, how can we help kids heal?
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Betsy Bissonette was at Kenny Park in southwest Minneapolis last week with her two young daughters, when she overheard two other girls having a conversation on the playground. And it struck Bissonette as painting a tragically perfect picture of what her community is experiencing.
Bissonette estimates the girls were middle-school aged. One asked where the other went to school. She replied, “Annunciation, you know the one where there was the school shooting,” referring to the August tragedy that killed two children and injured 28 others.
“I don't mean to be a downer. It was just really scary,” the girl continued.
Bissonette said the other girl replied with, “I understand scary. ICE took my dad away.”
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Overhearing the girls reveal their trauma, Bissonette wiped away her tears under her sunglasses, and tried to bring some joy to the two girls. She offered to be the hot lava monster in the classic playground game.
Bissonette has since retold her story on social media, with the video going viral, amassing nearly one million views across Instagram and TikTok.
“The kids are not alright,” she declared in the video.
Ana Mariella Rivera agrees. Rivera is a licensed clinical social worker and therapist who works with kids. She told MPR News guest host Kelly Gordon that this shared recognition that children are being traumatized can bring us closer and help support children better.
“I think what this video kind of centers is that need that children have to process their experiences, and for us as adults, too,” said Rivera.
Bissonette’s post has resonated with people across the world and validated the experience of parents locally. One Annunciation parent commented on her video saying the trauma is “never ending.”
Rivera said healing starts by both letting children have these conversations organically, like Bissonette witnessed, but also by making intentional spaces to help kids process.
“What we're seeing is that children are carrying experiences that are developmentally too big for them,” said Rivera.
She adds that sometimes kids don’t have the full picture of a situation or developmentally their brains can’t make sense of it.
“And that's when adults can step in,” Rivera said, “and sort of ask them, what do you know? What have you heard? What are kids talking about? Because kids are talking about it.”
Rivera said as long as adults show up with empathy and good intentions, like Bissonette did on the playground, it can help lead kids on a path towards healing.
Bissonette believes her video was able to bring some hope that the community is showing up for each other, even when media attention has slowed down. Ultimately, Bissonette wanted the world to know that even though a majority of the 4,000 federal agents have left, the trauma is lasting.
“The damage is still done,” said Bissonette, “being a micro influencer for a second to keep the momentum behind Minneapolis and getting kids help is awesome.”
