Supporting Children Through Trauma with Humane Education

By Minhhan Takemoto, Program Manager, and Danielle Works, Community Engagement Manager

Every day, animal shelters and domestic violence advocates witness the profound bond between children and their pets. For many children, pets are not just companions – they are protectors, confidants, and emotional lifelines in homes marked by instability or abuse. When that bond is disrupted by violence, children suffer deeply, and the trauma can have lasting effects. The following article explores the link between family violence and animal cruelty, its impact on children, and how shelters can play a role in breaking the cycle through humane education. By integrating programs like RedRover Readers, we can build empathy and resilience in children while promoting safety for both people and pets.

Children and Pets

Pets play an important role in the lives of children. They offer physical and emotional comfort, opportunities for play, and teach children valuable lessons about responsibility, trust, and patience. Animal companionship also plays a critical role in social development. Positive relationships with pets can aid in the development of non-verbal communication, compassion, empathy, and self-esteem.¹ Studies indicate that early adolescents raised with pets are more likely to join social clubs and engage in group activities.²

For many children, a pet is not only a playmate but a reliable and trusted friend. They offer a sense of safety, serving as trustworthy recipients of childrens’ secrets without the possibility of judgment or emotional backlash.¹ This social and emotional support takes on additional importance for children experiencing trauma.³

The Link

When children experience trauma in the home, their pets often experience trauma alongside them. Numerous studies have documented a direct connection between animal cruelty and other types of family violence. In many households, pet abuse precedes or co-occurs with domestic violence, elder abuse, and child abuse. This connection is commonly referred to as The Link.⁴

Sadly, children’s close emotional attachments to their pets, particularly in times of stress, make animals convenient targets for exerting power and control. A survey found that 71% of pet-owning women entering shelter, reported that their abuser had injured, killed, or threatened a household pet.⁵ By leveraging a pet’s safety, abusers can further intimidate their victims and even prevent them from seeking help.

Meanwhile, a survey of pet-owning families under investigation for physical child abuse found that animal cruelty was present in the home 88% of the time.⁶

Pet Abuse and Trauma

When pet abuse occurs, children are often forced to bear witness, and the resulting harm to their emotional health is significant. Studies indicate that between 50% and 76% of animal cruelty in the home occurs in the presence of a child.¹³ Abusers may harm or threaten to harm household pets to punish a child’s misbehavior or force them to comply, resulting in significant emotional distress.⁷

This distress can lead to a variety of psychological problems, including desensitization, decreased empathy, and unresolved feelings of anger, fear, and resentment – placing the child at greater risk of perpetrating future violence.⁸ Children who have been exposed to violence in the home are three times more likely to be cruel to animals than children who have not.⁹ Similarly, children who exhibit cruelty towards animals are more than twice as likely to have suffered maltreatment themselves.¹⁰ A 2003 study found that children who experienced sexual abuse were five times more likely to abuse animals.¹¹

Intervention Through Humane Education

Amid the troubling realities of children exposed to domestic violence and pet abuse, humane education stands out as a hopeful and evidence-based solution.

Research shows that social and emotional learning (SEL) programs – especially those that incorporate animal-focused stories and discussions – can improve children’s cognitive competence and increase empathy.¹²

Programs that integrate humane education have also been associated with reduced aggression, improved emotional regulation, and stronger interpersonal skills. One study found that animal-assisted humane education programs improved children’s empathy and reduced hyperactivity.¹² Another noted that positive relationships with animals help children develop compassion, trust, and nonverbal communication skills – foundational tools for healing and connection.¹

By providing children a safe space to reflect on animal emotions and perspectives, humane education helps them build the emotional vocabulary and self-awareness needed to process their own trauma. For children who may struggle to trust adults, connecting with animals through story-based learning can be a powerful step toward emotional recovery.

Implementing RedRover Readers at Your Shelter

Shelters looking to support families in crisis can easily integrate the RedRover Readers program as a tool for both humane education and emotional healing. The program is accessible and flexible, making it suitable for a range of settings, whether you’re a domestic violence shelter, a community animal shelter, or a family resource center.

RedRover Readers is a story-based program that equips educators and advocates with tools to help children build empathy by exploring and understanding their own emotions, needs, and experiences – and those of others, both human and animal – through interactive reading sessions and guided discussion. The program provides training, downloadable teaching guides, and a curated book list. No prior teaching experience is necessary, just a willingness to engage with children and foster conversation.

Implementing the program can be as simple as designating a quiet space for reading, setting a regular storytime schedule, and inviting families with children to participate. By adding this small but meaningful intervention, shelters can offer children a way to process their emotions, connect with others, and find comfort in the safe, nonjudgmental presence of animals – even if only through stories.

Final Thoughts

When children experience or witness violence in the home, their pets are often caught in the crossfire – sometimes as targets, other times as silent witnesses. This trauma can leave emotional scars that affect how children interact with others, process emotions, and make sense of the world.

By understanding the connection between animal abuse and child trauma, shelters and service providers can take steps to protect both human and animal survivors. Humane education programs like RedRover Readers offer a compassionate and evidence-based way to support healing. With accessible tools and training, shelters can empower children with the skills they need to develop empathy, process trauma, and build healthier relationships with both animals and people.

Learn more about the RedRover Readers program at RedRover.org/Readers. Ready to take the online training? Sign up for free using the discount code EMPATHY at RedRover.org/On-Demand.

Questions? Contact Readers@RedRover.org.

Join Don’t Forget the Pets for a special presentation with RedRover Readers on Healing Through Humane Education online on November 5 >>

Sources

¹ The American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry. (January 2019). Pets and Children. https://www.aacap.org/AACAP/Families_and_Youth/Facts_for_Families/FFF-Guide/Pets-And-Children-075.aspx

² Cassels, M, White, N. (March, 2017). One of the family? Measuring early adolescents’ relationships with pets and siblings. Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology. 10.1016/j.appdev.2017.01.003

³ Melson, G, Fine, A. (May 2015). Animals in the Lives of Children. Handbook on Animal-Assisted Therapy: Foundations and Guidelines for Animal-Assisted Interventions. https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-12-801292-5.00013-4

⁴ National Link Coalition. (n.d.). What is the Link. https://nationallinkcoalition.org/what-is-the-link

⁵ Ascione, F. R., Weber, C. V., & Wood, D. S. (1997). The abuse of animals and domestic violence: A national survey of shelters for women who are battered. Society & Animals: Journal of Human-Animal Studies. https://doi.org/10.1163/156853097X00132

⁶ DeViney, E., Dickert, J., & Lockwood, R. (1983). The care of pets within child abusing families. International Journal for the Study of Animal Problems. https://psycnet.apa.org/record/1984-12470-001

⁷ McDonald S.E, Collins E.A, Nicotera N, Hageman T.O, Ascione F.R, Williams J.H, & Graham-Bermann S.A. (December, 2015). Children’s experiences of companion animal maltreatment in households characterized by intimate partner violence. Child Abuse Negl. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/26520828/

⁸ Animal Legal Defense Fund. (October, 2021). Animal Cruelty’s Link to Other Forms of Violence. https://aldf.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/Animal-Legal-Defense-Fund-Link-Factsheet.pdf

⁹ Currie C.L. (April, 2006). Animal cruelty by children exposed to domestic violence. Child Abuse Negl. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chiabu.2005.10.014

¹⁰ McEwen F.S, Moffitt T.E, & Arseneault L. (March, 2014). Is childhood cruelty to animals a marker for physical maltreatment in a prospective cohort study of children? Child Abuse Negl. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chiabu.2013.10.016

¹¹ Ascione, F. R., Friedrich, W. N., Heath, J., & Hayashi, K. (2003). Cruelty to animals in normative, sexually abused, and outpatient psychiatric samples of 6- to 12-year-old children: Relations to maltreatment and exposure to domestic violence. Anthrozoös. https://doi.org/10.2752/089279303786992116

¹² Ngai J.T.K, Yu R.W.M, Chau K.K.Y, & Wong P.W.C. (March, 2021). Effectiveness of a school-based programme of animal-assisted humane education in Hong Kong for the promotion of social and emotional learning: A quasi-experimental pilot study. PLoS One. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0249033

¹³ Ladny R.T & Meyer L. (July, 2019). Traumatized Witnesses: Review of Childhood Exposure to Animal Cruelty. J Child Adolescent Trauma. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40653-019-00277-x