Handle with Care - Thomas Dromgoole, ESC Region 11, Fort Worth Police Department, and Fort Worth ISD
Collaborative Community Partnerships

In 2022, the Fort Worth Police Department partnered with the Education Service Center (ESC) Region 11 and the Fort Worth Independent School District to implement the Handle with Care program, which promotes law enforcement, school, and community partnerships aimed at ensuring that children who are exposed to trauma receive appropriate interventions. When officers encounter a child during a traumatic incident, they send the child’s name and age to ESC Region 11 who then notifies an administrator at the child’s school to “Handle (student’s name) with care.” No other information or details are provided. The email simply gives the school a heads-up that the child has been exposed to trauma and that any unusual behavior should be met with appropriate support from the child’s school.

Thomas Dromgoole, a web application developer at ESC Region 11, designed the system that facilitates the program and enables ESC Region 11 to serve as an intermediary between police departments and school districts.

The program has been so successful in Fort Worth that ESC Region 11 has expanded the program and offers the service at no cost to Region 11 districts. The partnership with Fort Worth ISD and the Fort Worth PD also serves as a model that has resulted in ESC Region 11 assisting in the spread of the Handle with Care program throughout the state.