Introduction to the Special Issue

Applying a CARE Framework to Trauma-Informed Schools

Abstract

Trauma-informed approaches have become widely adopted in schools as a response to growing student mental and behavioral health needs. While these approaches have shifted educator responses from punitive discipline toward relational and supportive practices, they have often failed to address the structural and identity-based conditions that produce and exacerbate trauma, including racism, cultural invalidation, and inequitable access to resources. This special issue advances a Culturally Responsive, Anti-Racist, and Equitable (CARE) framework as a necessary evolution of trauma-informed education. Drawing on a diverse set of empirical and conceptual contributions, the articles collectively position trauma not only as an individual psychological experience but also as a response to systemic inequities embedded within school policies, practices, and power structures. This introduction synthesizes key themes across the issue, highlighting how CARE-oriented trauma-informed work requires structural reform, relational trust, shared power with students and families, and adult critical consciousness.