Child Illustrations
Using Child Illustrations
NCTSN products may contain art developed by children. Children’s illustrations should be used in ways that promote core messages of the NCTSN. When we use children’s art it is so an adult audience can gain new or better insight and understanding into a child’s experiences of trauma and recovery. Children’s art should be linked as closely as possible to the content of the text. This contributes to the reader’s impression that we take the art seriously, and are not using it as a decorative element. Children’s art should be used deliberately and carefully. It should not be cropped in such a way that the content of the stories being told is lost. Nor should we assume that this content is obvious to all readers, captions and a credit line should appear with all illustrations.
Whenever possible, the art used should reflect the wide array of children and adolescents treated by the NCTSN. While young children’s drawings are very appealing, it is also important to show art by school-aged children, and adolescents. Art created by children of various ethnicities reflecting their varied cultural backgrounds should be included. The illustrations we choose to use and how we use them, not only tell a story about children’s experiences of trauma and recovery, they also tell a story about the NCTSN as well. Using children’s illustrations ethically is our first priority. We should err on the side of caution if any child or the child’s treatment could be negatively impacted in any way by our use of the child’s illustration.
Example Child Illustrations
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