Fort Worth mayor Mattie Parker signs a banner at the C.O.P.E. launch event in September.
Bonnie Armstrong will never forget that call.
It was 1994, and Armstrong was teaching kindergarten when the voice of the school secretary came over the speaker, telling her to come to the office due to an emergency.
“Are you sure?” Armstrong asked.
And with a shaky voice, the secretary simply replied with two words: “Bonnie, run.”
Armstrong’s brother-in-law had shaken and beaten his 2 ½-month-old daughter, Tiffany, with a baseball bat. Tiffany was flown to Cook Children’s and put on a ventilator — her brain swollen, bulging out of her skin. When Armstrong reached Tiffany’s side, Armstrong remembers kissing her niece, telling her that “if she would fight and she would breathe, I would make something good come out of something so very evil.”
Tiffany did, and today, she’s a thriving 27-year-old who enjoys volunteering at animal shelters and competing as a Special Olympics athlete. (Her father, Larry David Fox, was convicted of third-degree injury to a child and received a sentence of 10 years in prison.)
Meanwhile, Armstrong has made good on her promise.
Armstrong is the executive director of Fort Worth-based nonprofit The Shaken Baby Alliance, which she co-founded with Kim Kang and Melonie Caster (two mothers whose children also suffered from shaken baby syndrome under their caregivers) in 1997. The organization focuses on offering support for victims, helping law enforcement with child abuse cases and investigations, and educating others on abuse prevention.
The alliance’s latest initiative is an educational program called C.O.P.E., which recently received a $300,000 grant from the City of Fort Worth’s Crime Control and Prevention District to be taught at schools and other community groups over the next three years. Thanks to staff member Felicia Hernandez, the program is available in both English and Spanish.
C.O.P.E. is meant to be an easy-to-remember acronym for parents and caregivers dealing with an uncontrollable, crying baby: Crying, Overwhelmed, Pause, and Exit. In other words, when a baby is crying and the caretaker is overwhelmed, simply pause and leave the baby alone for a few minutes so both individuals can take a moment to calm down.
“A brain injury is forever. Death is forever. When a baby starts to cry, do the things you know to do, but just remember, it is OK to put the baby in a safe place and walk away,” Armstrong says. “Nobody should feel bad that they put a baby in a safe place and took a 10-to-15-minute break … It’s OK to let a baby cry — and to cope.”
Armstrong says COVID-19 has only exacerbated the issue of child abuse and shaken baby syndrome, with 2020 being their biggest year yet. The Shaken Baby Alliance generally serves an average of 325 – 350 victim family members per year. In 2020, the alliance served 557; this year, it has served 394 as of press time.
According to Armstrong, the holidays are an especially concerning time of year, as cases tend to rise around the week before Thanksgiving and remain high through the beginning of January.
The Shaken Baby Alliance is currently looking for volunteers who can help with teaching, administrative work, social media, or other responsibilities. To learn more or get involved, visit shakenbaby.org.
