ABSTRACT
In order for schools to be transformed into systems prepared to respond to suffering, the idea of in loco parentis must be redefined within a therapeutic community framework. The already implicit pact between parents and schools, known as in loco parentis, routinely designates teachers as being able to act "in place of the parent". Guided by the in loco parentis premise, schools naturally incorporate parenting. As therapeutic communities, schools can transform this naturally occurring parenting relationship to one of clinical parenting. Commonly referred to as "therapeutic parenting" in available literature on trauma and looked-after children, this form of healing approach is an essential component of highly specialized residential facilities that work with severely traumatized children. Healing from trauma is intricately associated with, and dependent on, healthy attachment. Schools are a child's secondary system of care and so, justifiably, they can be alternative and well-accepted places for healing.
