The Path to The Path to Healing:Healing:

Treating the Victims of Child Sexual Abuse

Liz EvansPoli-303- Topics in Political Theory,

Death in AmericaProf. Basu

Spring 2005

Child Sexual AbuseChild Sexual AbuseKey Terms and Basic Facts

In Oregon, there are more than 10,000 confirmed child abuse and neglect reports each year.

Nationwide, at least three children die each day as a result of abuse and neglect.

In Oregon in 2003There were 9,500 child abuse/neglect victims, 13% of them lived in Marion County

There were 1,111 confirmed reports of child sexual abuse

14 children died of abuse or neglect

Child Sexual AbuseChild Sexual AbuseKey Terms and Basic Facts

Sexual Abuse: Includes, but is not limited to:

Rape, sodomy, incest, or sexual penetration with a foreign object.

Exposing oneself before a child, or exposing the genitals of a child.

Fondling. Sexual harassment. Forcing, permitting or

encouraging a child to watch pornography or sexual activities.

Under Oregon law there are five defined types of abuse. These include:

Physical abuse Emotional maltreatment

Sexual abuseNeglect Threat of Harm

I have focused on sexual abuse because it is the most prevalent type reported to the

Liberty House.

Liberty House:Child Abuse Assessment Center

Victims: Quick Stats:

Liberty House sees an average of 25 - 30 children every month, both boys and girls, ages 0 - 17.

Preschool aged children (5 and under) account for 45% of Liberty House patients

Nearly 3 out of every 4 are female Children know the offender 87% of the time. Most children are referred by law enforcement, Child

Welfare or medical providers. Children are primarily referred due to concerns of sexual

abuse.

www.libertyhousecenter.com/services

Liberty House:Liberty House:Child Abuse Assessment Center

Funding: Liberty House is a private,

nonprofit organization providing services at no cost to families Donations, private grants, and

other fundraising State grants such as

CAMI (Child Abuse Multidisciplinary Intervention), funded by criminal and traffic fines assessed in Marion County

VOCA (Victims Of Crime Act), funded by federal fines

Liberty House also receives medical insurance payments, including Crime Victims Compensation if the family does not have medical coverage for an assessment.

Liberty House:Liberty House:Child Abuse Assessment Center

Services: A family’s visit to the Liberty House can be nerve-wracking and care-

givers are often in states of grief for the victim and/or abuser. The child is often wary of a medical environment and of talking to strangers. The LH staff are experienced and do everything they can to make the situation as comfortable as possible for all parties.

Child Interview: Child friendly environment Videotaped for evidence

Medical Exam: Over-all health and well-being Check for signs of abuse Routine and non-threatening

Family support: Crisis counseling Education and support to help kids heal Referrals for further support

www.libertyhousecenter.com/services

Liberty House:Liberty House:Child Abuse Assessment Center Service Learning:

Family Support Specialist, Laurie Lorenz-Glantz As an intern at the Liberty House I spent my time in both a service-learning

and job shadowing capacity. Throughout my 25 hours there, I had the chance to listen to and observe all parts of the process from family support to the child’s medical check-up and interview. In addition, Laurie provided me with educational materials and videos from which I could learn. The remaining half of my time was spent updating care provider lists, organized by types of insurance accepted, to be handed out to care-givers to ensure they find continued support for their child.

My experiences at the Liberty House introduced me to the issues surrounding child sexual abuse: The effects this abuse has on quality of life Helping children heal Preventing the abused from becoming abusers

And it made me think about the abusers themselves, their stories and whether the system is taking care of the abused and failing the abusers.

Are Are victimsvictims the the only ones who sufferonly ones who suffer

from from child abusechild abuse??

Monster Or Human? Offenders of Child Sexual AbuseWhy do offenders offend?

Sexual abuse in childhood Veneziano, Veneziano and

LeGrand (2000) found support for the victim to victimizer hypothesis of sexual aggression with 74 sexually abusive youth. Burton, (2000), Burton, Miller, & Shill, (2002) built on their ideas with data from 179 adolescent sexual abusers.

In an examination of relationships, gender, modus operandi, and acts, the sexually abused youth were likely to repeat what was done to them.

Touching problems Liberty House: Child A, 4 year old female

“touched” by Child B, 5 year old male Concerns:

Ensure proper support for Child A Parents of Child B concerned with punishment What’s normal exploration between children of

similar ages? Child B’s touching problem - How likely is he to

offend as an adult? Wilcox, Richards, and O’Keefe (2004)

note that significant proportion of sexual offending is perpetrated by children and teenagers, many of whom continue to offend into adulthood.

They point out the importance of identifying and treating these children in a way sensitive to their rights and welfare, to ensure safer communities.

How many children could have been saved had their abusers been saved themselves in childhood?

Monster or Human?Offenders of Child Sexual Abuse

Jake Goldenflame Interviewed on the Oprah show, convicted sex offender Out on parole for 12 years, Jake now advocates that convicted sex

offenders comply with Megan's Law. Re-offense prevention through counseling- not provided in

prison or by the system Power of disclosure

Registration Laws Megan’s Law requires convicted sex offenders to register with

the state in which they live for the purpose of informing their potential neighbors.

There are currently more than 400,000 registered sex-offenders in the United States

Marion County Sex Offenders Public Opinion- Registration Laws

What kind of neighbor makes you nervous? Should there be a national sex offender registry? Do registration laws make people feel safer?

Monster or Human?Offenders of Child Sexual Abuse

Protest of offenders moving into neighborhoods "They move him here and there and every time they

move him they put the kids in danger. They should find one place; everybody in one place." -Jose Robledo, Redwood City

Homeless offenders Considered “high risk” Concern with whether or not they register properly not their

homelessness Public Opinion- Denying basic rights to sex offenders

Sex offenders should remain in prison until they are “cured”? Attorney client privilege for child molesters? Should we punish crimes against sex offenders? Do sex offenders have the right to privacy?

MonstersOffenders of Child Sexual Abuse

“Killing Child Molesters Should Be As Socially Acceptable As Killing Nazis”-Dave Gibson, former Virginia Beach Deputy Sheriff According to the National Center for Missing and Exploited

Children, 20 percent of all U.S. girls and 10 percent of all U.S. boys suffer some form of sexual assault before reaching adulthood.

California Department of Corrections reports that over half of convicted sex-offenders return to prison, within a year of their release and up to three-fourths after a year.

20 percent of all U.S. prison inmates report having molested a child.

State prisons isolate convicted molesters from the general prison population, to prevent them from being beaten or killed by other prisoners.

“However, incarceration does nothing to end their desire to abuse children. You simply cannot punish the evil 'out of someone'--you can only extinguish that evil.”

HumanOffenders of Child Sexual Abuse

Mr. Gibson is absolutely right, You simply can’t punish the evil out of someone

The US justice system has an unfortunate focus on punishment instead of rehabilitation or counseling New Hampshire Prison:

The capacity of the sexual offender counseling programs has not kept pace with the prison expansion. There are 24 openings available for a 1-year plus program

More than 40 percent, or 650 inmates, incarcerated in the New Hampshire Prison are classified as sexual offenders

Whether caused by lack of funding or lack of ideological support, if society continues merely incarcerating sex offenders and then releasing them back into society without treatment, we are asking for repeat offenders and putting our own children in danger.

Treatment, not punishment

When taking into account the reasons offenders offend, including their early victimization or lack of treatment for touching problems in youth it is clear that sexual deviance is a disease and should be treated.

Offenders must face consequences Should re-offense rates be reasons to write sex offenders off as inhuman

monsters or can we find it within ourselves to see their humanity? Treating them like human beings can teach them to treat others in the same way. If we lock them up like animals we cannot expect them to change their ways and

miraculously find enlightenment. Education

Regarding the causes of offense The proper way to deal with children

If they have been abused And if they are abusers

Child sexual abuse is a societal problem that needs to be addressed Victim treatment Offense prevention

Society must continue to support and counsel the victim, but we must also alter society’s priorities in dealing with offenders. People have to be educated to see the reasons offenders offend, to see it as a disease and prioritize treatment over punishment.

Resources Burton, David L. " Male Adolescents: Sexual Victimization and

Subsequent Sexual Abuse." Child & Adolescent Social WorkJournal 20 (2003).

Liberty House www.libertyhousecenter.com Marion County Sheriff’s Department

http://sheriff.co.marion.or.us/sexnotif.asp New Hampshire Prison http://www.jbartlett.org/government.html www.sexcriminals.com Sex Offenders a Danger Forever? (2005)

http://www.geocities.com/three_strikes_legal/sex_offenders_danger_forever.html

Snohomish County, WA. Sex offender information http://www1.co.snohomish.wa.us/Departments/Sheriff/Services/Sex_Offender/Offender/Homeless_Offenders.htm

The Status of Children in Oregon’s Child Protection System, 2003 http://www.dhs.state.or.us/abuse/publications/children/abusestats2003.pdf

Wilcox, Daniel T., Fiona Richards, and Zerine C.O'Keeffe. "Resilienceand risk factors associated with experiencing childhood sexual abuse.“ Child Abuse Review 13 (2004).