Some angrily lash out without provocation. A few can't eat properly. Others zone out, withdraw, become unaware of what they're doing.

        Quite a few are hyperactive. Some misbehave sexually. A few are suicidal.

        They're 3, 4, and 5 years old, but they've suffered more than enough for a lifetime: abuse, neglect, starvation, sexual assault, violence. Their parents are usually addicts and/or mentally ill; their homes are danger zones.

        About 80 of these youngsters a year are referred by child protection workers to a program called Therapeutic Interagency Preschools, or TIPs. TIPs provide early childhood mental health therapy in a day care setting.

        Four TIPs operate in Hamilton and Butler counties; the first opened 13 years ago.

        A recent afternoon visit revealed surroundings resembling any typical preschool but with vast differences.
       

Learning to play

        The kids play in a totally enclosed playground. The school's location and the kids' identities are secret. Except for teachers, no adults, especially parents, are allowed.

        In most cases a judge has ordered the child's attendance, but a bus picks up and drops off each toddler.

        Monday through Thursday, the kids are free to be kids, not somebody's punching bag or sex toy.

        The “teachers” are specially trained early childhood specialists and therapists. Each child regularly sees psychiatrists or psychologists; a few take medication.

        It can take a child up to a year to learn to deal with adults and each other in healthy ways. One little boy was finding that hard. He grew frustrated waiting in line to play outside, so he suddenly raised his fists, boxing style, ready to bean a little girl in front of him. A staffer hugged him quickly, calming him and getting him to talk about what he was doing.

        Several times that afternoon staffers held him close, putting his hand over his rapidly beating heart, to calm him.

        “We have to teach these kids how to play,” says Julia Henderson, a TIP administrator and teacher. They've seen and experienced too much, she says. In a nearby dollhouse, a male and female doll rest atop each other in bed; a kid placed the dolls that way.

        “Their trauma plays such a huge role in their lives, that they openly discuss what happened to them,” she says. “Here, it's OK that they're different. We're not shocked by too many of the things they tell us. We listen.”
       

Too few programs

        There aren't enough of these kinds of programs for these smallest victims, says Jane Sites, TIP's director; the waiting lists in Hamilton and Butler counties are huge. “We're a drop in the bucket.”

        Funding shifts also make it hard to promise the youngsters that their preschool will always be there, even if their families and homes aren't, Ms. Henderson adds.

        Nevertheless, on Wednesday,TIP representatives will try to spread their philosophy and research to about 200 agency representatives and child protection professionals coming from throughout southern Ohio to a symposium at Cincinnati Children's Hospital.

        The idea is to encourage other counties to create similar safety nets and to encourage training and funding to set them up properly.

        Child abuse knows no geographic, economic, education or racial boundaries, Ms. Sites says.

        There are many more lost children out there.

       Call Denise Smith Amos at 768-8395, or e-mail damos@enquirer.com.

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