The Adobe Flash Player is required to view this multimedia interactive. Get it here.

After witnessing violence, children need safety, reassurance

Parade to mark Memorial Day in Lebanon
6:01 p.m.
Lebanon updates law banning vicious dogs
5:59 p.m.
Emergency response team offers training
5:57 p.m.
4-H Club helps erect flag pole at Bentley Woods
5:55 p.m.
City honors life of Lebanon marshal
5:47 p.m.
> More headlines

By Justin McClelland, Staff Writer Updated 12:38 AM Sunday, March 14, 2010

LEBANON — The 8-year-boy who saw his mother being stabbed to death last week in Lebanon is the second child in the area recently forced to watch their parent’s killing.

While friends and relatives struggle to deal with their own shock over the senseless acts, experts say the slaying will have deep repercussions for the child that could take a long time to fully play out.

Shena Nolan, a mother of two young boys, was stabbed more than 40 times by Troy Wolverton, an ex-boyfriend, on Wednesday, March 10, while her son was in the apartment they shared, Lebanon police said. The boy, who was not related to Wolverton, is staying with a grandmother, authorities say.

In February, Rhonda Wyatt, 32, a mother of three children was shot to death, allegedly by her husband according to Trenton police. Police said the couple’s 3-year-old son was at home, and that Wyatt’s two daughters soon returned home, one calling 911.

Joy Miceli, a child psychologist at Children’s Hospital in Dayton, said children feel a rush of different and sometimes conflicting emotions, including grief, anger and fear when they witness a violent act.

“Children who have witnessed a violent trauma have a greater risk for social, emotional and behavioral problems,” Miceli said. While each case is different, she said children will need individual counseling to help work through conflicting emotions.

Miceli said children can often feel ashamed of what happen and blame themselves.

“Children will often think they did something that caused the event and they need to be reassured that it isn’t their fault,” Miceli said.

Teresa Wiles, manager of the Warren County Child Advocacy Center, said children who witness violent crimes need an environment where they can feel safe and secure, the primary needs for any child.

“Adults need strategies about how to respond,” Wiles said. “Sometimes that means just being a good listener. Adults don’t need to feel like they have to provide an answer.”

Wiles said children need to be able to express themselves and can do so in a variety of ways beyond talking, including drawing, writing, and creating stories.

Wiles said it also is important to reassure children that their dead loved ones haven’t been forgotten.

“It’s important that children know they can talk about their parents and to spend time remembering good memories and why that person loved them and was special,” Wiles said.

Children also face the unwanted notoriety that comes with being related to a murder victim. Miceli noted that a return to school can be difficult because the child is then faced with uncomfortable questions or prodding from other children.

Gregg Tracy, principal at Lebanon’s Bowman Primary School, said in situations where a student’s family member dies unexpectedly, a crisis team is formed consisting of school administrators, counselors, psychologists and the individual student’s teachers. Information is shared with the staff, counselors are made available to students and meetings are held in classrooms “where kids directly know the child,” Tracy said.

Staff Writer Richard Wilson contributed to this report.

Share this article