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Kidnapped San Diego teen found safe; alleged abductor James DiMaggio killed
by REBECCA BOONE
CASCADE, Idaho (AP) - A man suspected of killing a California woman and her young son before fleeing with her 16-year-old daughter was killed in the Idaho wilderness and the teen was found safe Saturday, authorities said.
James Lee DiMaggio, 40, was killed by FBI tactical agents at the north end of Morehead Lake, San Diego Sheriff William D. Gore said. The shooting came after officers participating in a massive manhunt spotted a campsite from the air.
Gore declined to discuss details of DiMaggio's death, saying authorities in Idaho will release details at a news conference planned for Saturday evening.
He said San Diego sheriff's authorities have notified Hannah Anderson's father that she was rescued. "He was very relieved and very excited and looking forward to being reunited with his daughter," Gore said.
Plans are being made to reunite the two, probably by Sunday morning, according to Gore.
Federal and local law enforcement spent Saturday combing through Idaho's rugged Frank Church River of No Return Wilderness in search of Hannah and DiMaggio. The wilderness is the largest roadless area in the lower 48 states, sprawling across central Idaho and reaching north to the Montana border.
DiMaggio is suspected of killing Hannah's mother, 44-year-old Christina Anderson, and her 8-year-old brother Ethan Anderson, whose bodies were found Sunday night in DiMaggio's burning house in California near the Mexico border.
DiMaggio's car was found Friday morning about 40 miles east of the tiny town of Cascade, parked where the dirt road ends and the Sand Creek trailhead enters the wilderness area.
Detectives with the San Diego County Sheriff's Department finished searching DiMaggio's car Saturday afternoon. They had the vehicle towed to a garage in Cascade for further processing.
The discovery of the car came about two days after a horseback rider reported seeing the man and girl hiking in the area. Ada County Sheriff's department spokeswoman Andrea Dearden, who is helping the Valley County sheriff's department handle the case, said the rider didn't realize the pair were being sought until he got home and recognized them in news reports.
http://www.dailynews.com/breakingnews/ci_23837014/kidnapped-san-diego-teen-found-safe-alleged-abductor
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South Carolina
Increase in child sexual abuse cases in Upstate a big worry
by David Dykes
GREENVILLE, SC — She was four months old when her biological father sexually assaulted her, prosecutors and criminal investigators allege, representing what they said was a horrifying example amid a growing number of child sexual abuse cases in the Upstate.
The child's father, 25, was charged with first-degree criminal sexual conduct with a minor under age 11.
Investigators said the infant was found unresponsive and declared dead at a local hospital. The father hasn't been charged in her death, which is still under investigation to determine the cause, authorities said.
The case is one of a dismaying 250 involving criminal sexual conduct with children that 13th Circuit Solicitor Walt Wilkins confronts at any time.
That is up about 30 percent from several years ago, said Wilkins, whose office covers Greenville and Pickens counties.
Since cases involving allegations of sexual abuse of children are more likely to go to trial, it taxes available legal resources, Wilkins said.
The trauma of childhood sexual abuse also is straining resources of children's advocacy centers, officials say, and it has prompted calls for a statewide effort to bolster South Carolina's child-protection system.
Lawmakers have promised reforms, but not necessarily additional funding sought by Wilkins and others.
Wilkins said he needs more prosecutors and possibly a dedicated court to handle cases involving criminal sexual conduct with children. Wilkins also urged more education and prevention efforts, additional child-advocacy centers and training.
"We're on the back end — the prevention and education that doesn't work," he said.
“We're in court a lot more than we used to be,” said Shauna Galloway-Williams, executive director of the Greenville-based Julie Valentine Center, board president of the South Carolina Network of Children's Advocacy Centers and a member of a task force that made recommendations to improve the state's response to child sexual abuse.
“I think most people would rather not know that this is happening and not know that it's happening at such a high rate,” Galloway-Williams said. They also “would not want to know that it's happening in their own backyards, in their own churches.”
“This is a real problem. It's a real problem in Greenville,” she said. “There are no boundaries to it. It can impact anyone, all walks of life.”
The advocacy centers work to help minimize the trauma and create safety for children and their families while navigating the child-protection system. The centers work with social services officials, law enforcement, prosecutors and others to provide forensic interviews, medical exams, case management and counseling.
The task force's report, titled Silent Tears, challenged South Carolina officials to apply the multidisciplinary team approach across the state, Galloway-Williams said.
Wilkins and other experts say most cases of child sexual abuse involve family members or other trusted sources such as day care workers, school employees or religious leaders.
The report said parents can play an important role in improving the mandated reporting system by insisting that day care facilities, schools and churches have adequate child-protection policies and workers at those institutions are trained adequately to recognize abuse.
The seven attorneys in his sex-crimes unit prosecute two or three child sexual abuse cases every month, Wilkins said. It takes about 16 to 18 months to resolve a case, he said.
“These are more likely to go to trial than a murder case,” Wilkins said. “That lends to my argument that these types of cases need to be segregated from the pool of cases that we have because they involve children.”
To those who would argue that cases of children killed by drunk drivers or women killed by their husbands should receive the same attention, Wilkins said, “They're all very important. But they don't involve individuals who had no ability to protect themselves.”
Last month, Gov. Nikki Haley recounted how she was physically abused as a girl by a child-care provider. It offered a rare, personal disclosure that she said was meant to underscore the challenge any city or town faces in protecting its children.
"It doesn't matter your background, it doesn't matter your education, it doesn't matter the wealth of your family," Haley said. "Every child is subject to child abuse."
The privately funded Silent Tears report suggested the governor appoint a bi-partisan commission of legislators, court administrators, appellate and trial judges, solicitors, defense attorneys, medical and mental health professionals and — most importantly — child abuse survivors or their families affected by lengthy court delays.
Haley, a Republican, said such a commission might not be needed since most of those entities already are involved.
House Majority Leader Bruce Bannister said he and Sen. Mike Fair intend to file legislation that will address many of the concerns raised in the Silent Tears report, the result of a comprehensive review by the National Child Protection Training Center.
"I suspect this kind of issue is one that gets both parties' attention, gets a lot of support on both sides of the aisle, and I would expect not a lot of legislative resistance in the General Assembly," said Bannister, who, like Fair, is a Greenville Republican.
He also said he has discussed with Jean Toal, chief justice of the South Carolina Supreme Court, including the report's findings in an annual conference for judges.
The hope is, Bannister said, "we'll start the education process of the court system and how they deal with these issues, what the effect is on the children that are abused, the victims, and how the process moving along in an orderly fashion makes a lot more sense."
The Silent Tears study was funded with $250,000 from local businessman and GOP donor Bob Castellani and his wife, Lisa.
It said that in many respects, the child-protection system in South Carolina is among the best in the nation.
The report found, however, that most of those in the state directly involved in handling child sexual abuse cases have no undergraduate or graduate training dealing directly with those kinds of cases.
That finding wasn't unique to South Carolina, the report's authors said. Other organizations and agencies, including the U.S. Department of Justice, have urged movement in that direction, they said.
The report recommended colleges and universities in the state be encouraged to improve their instruction on "child maltreatment" and set a 21-credit minor offered at USC Upstate called Child Advocacy Studies as a minimum bar for college-level training.
Further, it urged speeding up the resolution of child sexual abuse cases. Some can take two years or longer to bring to trial, and Silent Tears suggested a goal of six months or less to resolve all child sexual abuse cases.
In those cases, gathering evidence is a challenge, as is deciding whether a child will have to testify — and recount the alleged abuse — sometimes years afterward, Wilkins said.
“When you take all that into proving it beyond a reasonable doubt, the dynamic is quite complicated,” he said. “You have emotional issues from the victim. You have evidentiary issues because you really have one person saying something happened and, potentially, the person who did it saying it didn't happen.
“Having to put all that and present that to 12 jurors under our set of laws is a unique dynamic as well.”
About 70 percent of child sex cases go to trial, Wilkins said. That compares to a general plea-negotiation rate of about 94 percent, he said.
“The first thing that tells you as a manager is resources,” Wilkins said. “Resources from attorneys, resources in investigators, law enforcement resources and court time to actually try these cases.”
It is something “that the resources require, but the children demand,” Wilkins said. “We're going to give them that avenue to seek justice and retribution against the person who committed this most horrific crime.”
“Ideally, we would never want it to happen in the first place,” Wilkins said. “Education and prevention is obviously the most preferred mechanism. However, reality is that these occur.”
http://www.thestate.com/2013/08/10/2912149/increase-in-child-sexual-abuse.html
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Illinois
Rise in Child Abuse Related Deaths Highlight's the Stateline's Problem
by Matt Mershon
ROCKFORD - Just days before Melanie Grant and her boyfriend Duran Johnson go on trial for the 2011 alleged abuse and neglect murder of their three year-old daughter, Kaitlyn Head, comes the news of an increase in child-abuse related deaths across Illinois.
According to a DCFS report, 93 of 224 deaths reported in the last fiscal year were attributed to child abuse in Illinois and with more being investigated, that number is expected to rise.
Death is an everyday occurrence for Winnebago County Coroner Sue Fiduccia, but when dealing with a child's death she admits, “it's terrible.”
Luckily Fiduccia said she can almost count abuse-related deaths on one hand. Quickly she rattled off the names of Baby Crystal, the child found dead on the side of the road in rural Rockton, Baby Noah, the child found at a Roscoe recycling center and Kaitlyn Head, allegedly beaten by her parents in their Rockford home.
Pictures hang in her office as a constant reminder of abuse victims whose lives were taken too soon. Fiduccia takes all the cases very personally - she named and buried both Baby Crystal and Baby Noah.
“What I did and what my staff did is we gave that child dignity, a name and we gave him some dignity,” said Fiduccia, talking about Baby Noah whose parents still have not been found.
One victim Fiduccia recalls is Carrie-Lynn Gaines, a 22 month-old raped by her mother's boyfriend and then murdered back in 1990. Her namesake lives on now as the name of a Rockford child advocacy center dealing with physical and sexual abuse cases. Their executive director, Kathy Pohomac said the amount of child deaths referred for investigation to her office has not increased, but has not decreased either.
“We had six referrals, child-death referrals, in the last year,” said Pohomac. “That's alarming. That's a lot of kids that have died at the hands of some sort of abuse.”
The Carrie-Lynn Center provides counseling for living abuse victims and assists law enforcement in investigating abuse cases. Nearly 600 cases go through the center every year and there could be more.
“One of our missions is to educate people on what to look for in terms of sexual abuse and physical abuse and not to be afraid to make that phone call,” said Pohomac.
It's a phone call, Pohomac said, that could have been the saving grace for multiple children's lives – the same reason Fiduccia reminds people of the state's Safe-Haven law.
“Both Baby Noah and Baby Crystal, they could have been dropped off at a fire station, at a police station,” said Fiduccia, reminding there would be no questions asked.
Fiduccia's office is currently investigating a death that may be child-abuse related. Rydell Wolter, a 22 month-old, was found dead and cause of death originally came back inconclusive. The coroner is awaiting further testing, but the baby was brought to the hospital with a broken arm two days prior to his death.
WAYS TO IDENTIFY ABUSE
Warning signs of emotional abuse in children
•Excessively withdrawn, fearful, or anxious about doing something wrong.
•Shows extremes in behavior (extremely compliant or extremely demanding; extremely passive or extremely aggressive).
•Doesn't seem to be attached to the parent or caregiver.
•Acts either inappropriately adult (taking care of other children) or inappropriately infantile (rocking, thumb-sucking, throwing tantrums). |
Warning signs of physical abuse in children
•Frequent injuries or unexplained bruises, welts, or cuts.
•Is always watchful and “on alert,” as if waiting for something bad to happen.
•Injuries appear to have a pattern such as marks from a hand or belt.
•Shies away from touch, flinches at sudden movements, or seems afraid to go home.
•Wears inappropriate clothing to cover up injuries, such as long-sleeved shirts on hot days. |
Warning signs of neglect in children
•Clothes are ill-fitting, filthy, or inappropriate for the weather.
•Hygiene is consistently bad (unbathed, matted and unwashed hair, noticeable body odor).
•Untreated illnesses and physical injuries.
•Is frequently unsupervised or left alone or allowed to play in unsafe situations and environments.
•Is frequently late or missing from school. |
Warning signs of sexual abuse in children
•Trouble walking or sitting.
•Displays knowledge or interest in sexual acts inappropriate to his or her age, or even seductive behavior.
•Makes strong efforts to avoid a specific person, without an obvious reason.
•Doesn't want to change clothes in front of others or participate in physical activities.
•An STD or pregnancy, especially under the age of 14.
•Runs away from home. |
http://www.mystateline.com/fulltext-news/rise-in-child-abuse-related-deaths-highlights-the-statelines-problem/d/fulltext-news/QbE3yCdvxEmSZsv7BhGeJQ
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South Carolina
Wilkins says more resources needed to tackle growing load of child sex cases
She was four months old when her biological father sexually assaulted her, prosecutors and criminal investigators allege, representing what they said was a horrifying example amid a growing number of child sexual abuse cases in the Upstate.
The child's father, 25, was charged with first-degree criminal sexual conduct with a minor under age 11.
Investigators said the infant was found unresponsive and declared dead at a local hospital. The father hasn't been charged in her death, which is still under investigation to determine the cause, authorities said.
The case is one of a dismaying 250 involving criminal sexual conduct with children that 13th Circuit Solicitor Walt Wilkins confronts at any time.
That is up about 30 percent from several years ago, said Wilkins, whose office covers Greenville and Pickens counties.
Since cases involving allegations of sexual abuse of children are more likely to go to trial, it taxes available legal resources, Wilkins said.
The trauma of childhood sexual abuse also is straining resources of children's advocacy centers, officials say, and it has prompted calls for a statewide effort to bolster South Carolina's child-protection system.
Lawmakers have promised reforms, but not necessarily additional funding sought by Wilkins and others.
Wilkins said he needs more prosecutors and possibly a dedicated court to handle cases involving criminal sexual conduct with children. Wilkins also urged more education and prevention efforts, additional child-advocacy centers and training.
"We're on the back end — the prevention and education that doesn't work," he said.
“We're in court a lot more than we used to be,” said Shauna Galloway-Williams, executive director of the Greenville-based Julie Valentine Center, board president of the South Carolina Network of Children's Advocacy Centers and a member of a task force that made recommendations to improve the state's response to child sexual abuse.
“I think most people would rather not know that this is happening and not know that it's happening at such a high rate,” Galloway-Williams said. They also “would not want to know that it's happening in their own backyards, in their own churches.”
“This is a real problem. It's a real problem in Greenville,” she said. “There are no boundaries to it. It can impact anyone, all walks of life.”
The advocacy centers work to help minimize the trauma and create safety for children and their families while navigating the child-protection system. The centers work with social services officials, law enforcement, prosecutors and others to provide forensic interviews, medical exams, case management and counseling.
The task force's report, titled Silent Tears, challenged South Carolina officials to apply the multidisciplinary team approach across the state, Galloway-Williams said.
Wilkins and other experts say most cases of child sexual abuse involve family members or other trusted sources such as day care workers, school employees or religious leaders.
The report said parents can play an important role in improving the mandated reporting system by insisting that day care facilities, schools and churches have adequate child-protection policies and workers at those institutions are trained adequately to recognize abuse.
The seven attorneys in his sex-crimes unit prosecute two or three child sexual abuse cases every month, Wilkins said. It takes about 16 to 18 months to resolve a case, he said.
“These are more likely to go to trial than a murder case,” Wilkins said. “That lends to my argument that these types of cases need to be segregated from the pool of cases that we have because they involve children.”
To those who would argue that cases of children killed by drunk drivers or women killed by their husbands should receive the same attention, Wilkins said, “They're all very important. But they don't involve individuals who had no ability to protect themselves.”
Last month, Gov. Nikki Haley recounted how she was physically abused as a girl by a child-care provider. It offered a rare, personal disclosure that she said was meant to underscore the challenge any city or town faces in protecting its children.
"It doesn't matter your background, it doesn't matter your education, it doesn't matter the wealth of your family," Haley said. "Every child is subject to child abuse."
The privately funded Silent Tears report suggested the governor appoint a bi-partisan commission of legislators, court administrators, appellate and trial judges, solicitors, defense attorneys, medical and mental health professionals and — most importantly — child abuse survivors or their families affected by lengthy court delays.
Haley, a Republican, said such a commission might not be needed since most of those entities already are involved.
House Majority Leader Bruce Bannister said he and Sen. Mike Fair intend to file legislation that will address many of the concerns raised in the Silent Tears report, the result of a comprehensive review by the National Child Protection Training Center.
"I suspect this kind of issue is one that gets both parties' attention, gets a lot of support on both sides of the aisle, and I would expect not a lot of legislative resistance in the General Assembly," said Bannister, who, like Fair, is a Greenville Republican.
He also said he has discussed with Jean Toal, chief justice of the South Carolina Supreme Court, including the report's findings in an annual conference for judges.
The hope is, Bannister said, "we'll start the education process of the court system and how they deal with these issues, what the effect is on the children that are abused, the victims, and how the process moving along in an orderly fashion makes a lot more sense."
The Silent Tears study was funded with $250,000 from local businessman and GOP donor Bob Castellani and his wife, Lisa.
It said that in many respects, the child-protection system in South Carolina is among the best in the nation.
The report found, however, that most of those in the state directly involved in handling child sexual abuse cases have no undergraduate or graduate training dealing directly with those kinds of cases.
That finding wasn't unique to South Carolina, the report's authors said. Other organizations and agencies, including the U.S. Department of Justice, have urged movement in that direction, they said.
http://www.greenvilleonline.com/article/20130811/NEWS09/308110001/Wilkins-says-more-resources-needed-tackle-growing-load-child-sex-cases?nclick_check=1
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Ohio
Child advocacy centers become front line in human trafficking help
State provides $523K for training on IDing sex trafficking
Professionals who help child sexual assault victims cope with abuse are expanding their services to young victims of human trafficking with the help of more than a half-million dollars from the state.
The Ohio Network of Children's Advocacy Centers which includes the Child Advocacy Center of Fairfield County, will receive $523,200 from the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services over the next two years to train personnel, including law enforcement, local prosecutors and children services employees, to identify human trafficking and assist child victims, chapter coordinator Amy Deverson Roberts said.
Ohio's 26 child advocacy centers currently provide forensic interviews, counseling and sometimes medical examinations to young victims of sexual abuse, Roberts said. Those who interview children about the trauma receive at least 40 hours of training and the interviews are sometimes used in court proceedings, she added.
Because of interviewers' experience with young victims, it only made sense for them to become the front line in helping young sex trafficking victims, Roberts said. Some centers have already provided services to victims of human trafficking as part of state and federal investigations, she added.
Identifying a statewide provider network to serve as the first response system for minor human trafficking victims was one of 26 recommendations Gov. John Kasich's Human Trafficking Task Force proposed in June 27, 2012. An estimated 1,078 Ohio children are victims of sex trafficking every year and thousands more are at risk of becoming victims, according to the 2010 Ohio Trafficking in Persons Study.
“We were very pleased to be identified as the primary responders,” Roberts said. The partnership with the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services, Ohio Department of Public Safety and Kasich's human trafficking task force was announced Tuesday.
Some of the money will fund September training on the difference between interviewing sexual assault victims and sex trafficking victims, Roberts said. Children forced into sex trade might believe their pimp loves them as either a parental or boyfriend figure and might not believe they are victims, but rather willing participants in prostitution, she added.
Unlike other victims, those in human trafficking might be juvenile delinquents or runaways, Roberts said.
The remaining funds would be distributed for treatment and interviews at the 26 centers based on their population of children, Roberts said.
Counties without child advocacy centers will be linked with nearby facilities or local coalitions so victims across Ohio have access to human trafficking treatment and forensic interview, which could be used in criminal charges, she added.
The centers primarily will focus on sex trafficking victims, but would not turn away a victim of labor trafficking, Roberts said. Adults could not receive treatment at these facilities, but would be referred to local rescue and restore coalitions.
http://www.marionstar.com/article/20130810/NEWS01/308100032/Child-advocacy-centers-become-front-line-human-trafficking-help?nclick_check=1
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Minnesota
Ramsey County takes a new tack against sex trade
by CHAO XIONG
Ramsey County attorney says civil statute could protect children from perpetrators.
Ramsey County Attorney John Choi is taking an unprecedented approach to tackling child sex trafficking: He plans to take a civil statute designed primarily to protect kids from neglectful parents and use it to file no-contact orders between alleged perpetrators and their juvenile victims.
Some advocates are hailing the new effort as creative and proactive, while critics warn of possible civil liberties violations. It's unclear how many cases could be affected by the strategy, which will roll out next year if Choi's proposed 2014 budget is approved. The budget allows for the addition of one full-time attorney and one full-time clerk to his Child Protection Unit.
“It's really hard to help these children, these victims,” Choi said. “There's a whole host of challenges.”
Sex trafficking of juveniles has taken center stage locally and nationally in recent months. In July, Ramsey County tried three men for allegedly trafficking vulnerable girls as young as 15, getting convictions for two defendants and a deadlocked jury for a third. The FBI announced that same month that authorities arrested two suspects in St. Paul, one in Minneapolis and one in Anoka County as part of a nationwide child sex trafficking sweep that led to the arrest of 152 alleged pimps and the recovery of 106 juveniles.
Data from the Minnesota State Court Administrator's Office shows that charges for first-degree sex trafficking of someone under 18 increased statewide from 22 charges in 2003 to 48 in 2012. Across Minnesota, 22 charges have been filed so far this year, with Ramsey County filing six charges and Hennepin County filing the most: nine.
Choi said there are undoubtedly more victims whose cases fall to the wayside because there isn't enough evidence to pursue criminal charges. That's why he intends to pursue civil injunctions using Minnesota statute 260C.335.
Lower threshold of proof
Chuck Samuelson, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Minnesota, is concerned that people could be obliquely convicted.
“It's a backdoor approach to convictions,” Samuelson said. “Shame on him for using civil law to get what he can't get with criminal law. This right now is a politically popular thing to do, and the trouble is, civil liberties are almost never popular because they are the protection of the minority.”
Criminal charges must be proven beyond a reasonable doubt, while civil cases have a lower threshold of proof, requiring a preponderance of evidence. Choi's plan is to file injunctions against people suspected of trafficking or exploiting victims under age 18. Prosecutors will have to present evidence in hopes of convincing a judge to grant a no-contact or stay-away order, which will vary in length depending on the case. Theoretically, Choi said, his office could seek an order between a suspect and all juveniles, not just the victim. (Stay-away orders are typically used to ban someone from a place or location.)
“We'll be following the applicable rules and statutes, and we ultimately have to prove the case,” Choi said. “I don't see any of those [civil liberties] issues at all.”
Criminal charges will always be pursued when possible, he added.
Choi used injunctions before
The strategy takes a page from domestic abuse cases, where prosecutors can seek a no-contact order between suspects and victims. Choi also used civil injunctions in his previous role as St. Paul city attorney to ban three different gangs from two city festivals in 2009.
The gang injunctions were a first for Minnesota but had been used elsewhere in the country. Local and national advocates said using civil injunctions against alleged traffickers appears to be a first.
“I think it's very creative and innovative,” said Ernie Allen, president and CEO of the International Centre for Missing & Exploited Children in Alexandria, Va. “It deserves an opportunity to work.”
Choi's intent is to use it for victims who are admitted to the county's Runaway Intervention Project (RIP), and who want an injunction. Sexually abused runaways are referred for a medical assessment and those who qualify receive intensive services, including home and school visits by a nurse, and individualized case management that could last up to a year.
Runaways are vulnerable
Although reliable statistics are difficult to come by, advocates say that runaways are vulnerable to sexual exploitation. RIP reports that between November 2005 and June 2013, the program screened 2,577 cases. About 96 percent of the cases were girls, and 4 percent boys. The average age of runaways screened was 14, and 560 cases reported being sexually exploited, raped or having suffered incest. (Some cases could involve multiple categories of exploitation.)
Breaking Free, a Minnesota nonprofit that works with victims of trafficking and prostitution, served 466 victims and survivors in the past fiscal year, 145 of whom were between ages 16 and 21, said Noelle Volin, the group's staff attorney and director of policy.
Sometimes it may be too difficult for youth to participate in the process of charging a trafficker criminally, said Laurel Edinburgh, a nurse practitioner at Children's Hospitals and Clinics in St. Paul who helped develop RIP.
A tool to protect children
“I think we need some tool to keep [alleged perpetrators] away,” Edinburgh said. “We're not going to be able to help [victims] if they have ongoing contact with their trafficker.”
The civil statute is “written quite broadly” to protect juveniles from parents or other adults who harm them, accommodating Choi's strategy, said Ted Sampsell-Jones, a professor at William Mitchell College of Law.
But there is still a gray area, some say.
“The pseudo-criminal tone, even though this is a civil proceeding, casts kind of a serious civil liberties question on it,” said Eileen Scallen, associate dean at the UCLA School of Law. “It's a very hard balance. ”
One concern Samuelson has is that violating a no-contact order is a criminal misdemeanor punishable by up to 90 days in jail. Depending on the case and the suspect's history, a violation could be elevated to a gross misdemeanor or felony.
“You're putting them in jail for a criminal offense,” Samuelson said, “but it's a wink, wink, nudge, nudge.”
http://www.startribune.com/local/east/218937051.html
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Experts Say Human Traffickers Target Teens, Homeless
by MARGIE MENZEL
TALLAHASSEE | A nationwide crackdown last week by the FBI on child sex trafficking yielded 159 arrests and freed 105 children — nearly all girls between 13 and 17 — but experts say it's the tip of the iceberg.
"We're barely scratching the surface," Tyson Elliott, who directs the state Department of Juvenile Justice's efforts to curb human trafficking, said this week at Florida State University.
Elliott, a former detective, was speaking Wednesday to about 75 police officers, clergy and social workers about human trafficking. He said that although the FBI's 10-year Innocence Lost project has rescued 2,200 teens from forced prostitution, at least 100,000 go into it every year — by a conservative estimate.
The U.S. Department of Justice has estimated that nearly 450,000 children run away from home each year and that one-third will be lured into prostitution within 48 hours of leaving home.
"Anybody can be a pimp or a trafficker," Elliott said. "Get past the stereotype. (The Department of Children and Families) has been taking reports on parents prostituting out their daughter for drug money forever."
Trafficking human beings for forced labor or prostitution is a $32 billion global industry. It's vast, yet invisible to most people — including many law enforcement and social service agencies.
But now, with Florida ranked third in the nation for human trafficking, state and local authorities say they're learning to identify the crime and help the victims.
"These are children that actually don't have a biological family to go back to," said Terry Coonan, director of the FSU Center for the Advancement of Human Rights, which co-sponsored the event. "They are the prime victims. And we've seen cases all over this state — North, South and Central Florida — where these children are being exploited."
Last week's FBI sweep recovered three children in Tampa and arrested four pimps in Miami and one in Jacksonville, according to an FBI news release.
Elliott said that of all victims of human trafficking, runaway teens are the most at risk, especially if they've left homes roiled by domestic violence or child abuse.
"If you're a teenage girl being molested by your stepfather and you run away, you've probably got some vulnerabilities that can be exploited," he said.
That's the heart of the matter, both men said. Whether in forced labor, domestic slavery or child prostitution, the way to spot trafficking is to look for someone controlled by another.
"Do workers arrive and leave in the same vehicle with a handler?" Coonan asked. "Does the boss try to speak on behalf of the worker? Is a young woman being checked in by an older male?"
He described Florida trafficking cases, how the traffickers operated and who the victims were.
For instance, he said, in 2005, Ronald Evans was arrested for luring homeless people from shelters to a forced labor camp in East Palatka. Evans paid them with alcohol and crack cocaine.
Coonan showed a photo of emaciated black men after the federal raid that freed them.
"They were very, very deliberately targeted," he said. "It was a shock to us in the human rights community that African-Americans could once again be targeted for slavery."
Under Coonan's direction, the Center for the Advancement of Human Rights provides pro-bono legal aid to trafficking victims and, at the Legislature's request, has produced several reports on the subject.
In May, Gov. Rick Scott signed a pair of bills (HB 1325 and HB 1327) creating a legal process for human-trafficking victims to get their criminal records expunged — typically for prostitution charges. The new laws, which take effect Jan. 1, apply only to crimes committed while the victims were being forced, threatened or coerced.
In June, Scott signed HB 7005, intended to crack down on shady massage establishments that are fronts for sex trafficking. The bill would prevent the operation of massage establishments between midnight and 5 a.m., with some exceptions.
Congress is considering legislation that would require state law enforcement and child-welfare agencies to identify children lured into sex trafficking as victims of abuse and neglect. That would make them eligible for protections and services.
http://www.theledger.com/article/20130809/NEWS/130809227/1374?Title=Experts-Say-Human-Traffickers-Target-Teens-Homeless
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California
Amber Alert kidnap suspect may be using explosives, officials say
by Kate Mather, Tony Perry and Hailey Branson-Potts
Authorities searching for a missing San Diego County teenager allegedly abducted by a family friend stretched warned that her alleged abductor might be using explosives.
The suspect, James Lee DiMaggio, 40, might have abandoned his blue Nissan Versa and left it booby-trapped with explosives, authorities said, warning people that if they find the vehicle or anywhere he might have stopped, they should stay away.
DiMaggio is an avid outdoorsman, and authorities are also urging people to be on the lookout at campsites and other rural areas where he might be hiding.
Four days into the search for 16-year-old Hannah Anderson, authorities were no closer to finding her or DiMaggio, though numerous tips have poured in to law enforcement agencies in multiple states.
"Basically, the search area is the United States, Canada and Mexico," said Lt. Glenn Giannantonio of the San Diego County Sheriff's Department. "The search area is North America."
As the search fanned out Thursday, authorities had no confirmed sightings of Anderson or DiMaggio, who is believed to have abducted the teenager Sunday after killing her mother and 8-year-old brother in Boulevard, a rural border town in eastern San Diego County.
An Amber Alert for Hannah Anderson and her brother Ethan was active in four states Thursday, though authorities said it was possible she might have been taken to Texas, or even Canada. Boulevard is about five miles north of the Mexican border, and the FBI was working with Mexican authorities to search for DiMaggio, Giannantonio said.
New details in the case emerged Thursday about the death of Hannah's mother, 44-year-old Christina Anderson of Lakeside, another community east of San Diego. Anderson died of blunt force trauma and may have been hit with a crowbar, a source close to the investigation said.
Anderson's body was found in a stand-alone garage near DiMaggio's burning home, the source said. The body of a child was found in the house. Although the child has not been identified because the body was badly burned and DNA difficult to obtain, family members have said they believe it to be Ethan.
Christina Anderson's dog was also found dead on the property, Giannantonio said.
An arrest warrant for murder has been issued for DiMaggio, and a judge agreed to set bail at $1 million if he is arrested, San Diego County sheriff's officials said Thursday.
As the Amber Alert widened to Nevada, authorities said DiMaggio might have changed vehicles.
http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-amber-alert-kidnap-suspect-may-be-using-explosives-officials-say-20130808,0,5355186.story
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Cleveland Abduction Survivors: There Is Hope For America's Missing Children
The three women held for years by Ariel Castro have used their public stature to highlight the child abduction problem.
by Frederick Reese
In Cleveland, kidnapping survivor Michelle Knight watched Tuesday as the house that served as her prison for a decade was torn down. Surrounded by members of the county prosecutor's office and a group of Guardian Angels grasping dozens of yellow balloons — each representing a child that was abducted but not recovered — which she released, Knight stated that her visit had a simple purpose: that there is hope.
“Nobody was there for me when I was missing, and I want the people to know, including the mothers, that they can have strength, they can have hope, and their child will come back,” Knight said.
Knight, Gina DeJesus and Amanda Berry were kidnapped and held captive by Ariel Castro at his home at 2207 Seymour Ave. until Berry kicked her way through the front door with the assistance of a bystander and escaped last May. On August 1, Castro was sentenced to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole plus an additional millenium in prison after pleading guilty to the 937 counts he was indicted with, including multiple counts of rape, kidnapping and murder.
Since their release, all three women have used the public attention afforded them to highlight the child abduction problem in this country. “Our work is not done. We gotta keep our eyes and ears open. Don't let these girls go in vain,” said Felix DeJesus, father of Gina DeJesus, at Cleveland's Latino Fest parade last weekend.
Child abductions in America
According to the last comprehensive national study taken on the state of missing children, completed in 1999, there are approximately 800,000 children under the age of 18 reported missing in the United States, with more than 58,000 estimated to have been abducted by non-family members. 115 of these cases are estimated to be a “stereotypical” kidnapping, in which a stranger kidnapped the child, held him/her 50 miles or more away from the abduction site, and killed, ransomed or committed to permanently holding the child.
The remainder fall into categories including sex trafficking, familial abductions, assisted runaways and random assault. The recovery rate of missing or abducted children stands at 97 percent today — a 35 percent increase from 1990. However, for the approximately 24,000 children that have yet to be found, the road home may be hard and even impossible to find.
“It was a regular shopping mall that my parents and I went school shopping at every year, but this guy managed to exchange phone numbers with me,” said Holly Smith, a child sex trafficking survivor, to HuffPost Live in reflection of her own abduction story. Smith was interviewed after the announcement that the FBI has recovered more than 100 victims of child sex trafficking and arrested 150 pimps in a three-day nationwide sweep. Smith was 14 when she was abducted and was held for only 36 hours before being arrested for prostitution. “We talked on the phone for about two weeks, and he sort of tapped into my interests and my concerns and he was able to play off my vulnerabilities.”
“He was able to lure me away from home with things like — he could help me become a model, he could help me become a songwriter because I really wanted to join a rock band. Things that might sound not so real to an adult. They worked well on me at 14. And so he lured me away from home, and within hours of running away, I was forced into prostitution in Atlantic City, N.J.”
Stories such as Smith's and the case of Jocelyn Rojas — a 5-years-old Lancaster, Penn. girl who was saved from abduction by an attentive 15-years-old boy, Temar Boggs, who noticed a car being driven in a peculiar manner — seem to capture the public's imagination and draw a prompt response. But what happens when the abduction case does not draw a public response?
Adult abductions and law enforcement inadequacies
Last week, one of the three men held captive by 31-year-old Walter Renard Jones, William Merle Greenawalt, 79, has died of complications due to malnourishment. Jones has been charged with two counts of elderly abuse with serious bodily injury. It has been alleged that Jones held Greenawalt, Dean Cottingham, 59, and John Edward Padget, 64, in his garage so that he could collect on the men's assistance checks.
In cases such as this, the inadequacies of the way law enforcement handles such situations start to show. While recent efforts, such as the AMBER Alert System , have resulted in a net improvement in recovery rates, abducted adults are considered low-priority. Many police departments will not take a missing person case for an adult prior to 24 hours after the disappearance, and most will not extend full resources to the case, due to the possibility that the missing person wishes to not be found.
While police response rates for abducted children to the child's home or scene of abduction are modest — an estimated 68 percent, according to the 1999 Second National Incidence Studies of Missing, Abducted, Runaway, and Throwaway Children (NISMART-2) — the response rate for adult disappearances is dramatically less. Recently, Butte County has been profiled in the media for its efforts to create its first master list of missing persons.
“It's not completely surprising that there was no master list. If someone is missing today, they most likely will still be missing tomorrow. But if a homicide or some other serious crime occurs today, limited investigative resources would be more productively spent on those immediate cases,” reported the Chino Enterprise-Record on the Butte County Sheriff's Office's efforts. “That's how a file on the missing might go missing as well. It's not that it's unimportant. It's just that it's not as timely.”
In light of dwindling budgets, shifting priorities and an ill-defined division of jurisdictions between the federal government and local authorities in missing persons cases, many cases get overlooked or ignored, and situations such as the Jaycee Dugard abduction — in which Dugard was held captive for more than 18 years by a sex offender who was enrolled as a parolee — and the Ariel Castro case are allowed to proliferate. For those still waiting to be found, more needs to be done.
http://www.mintpressnews.com/cleveland-abduction-survivors-there-is-hope-for-americas-missing-children/166645
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Deaths linked to child abuse rise in Illinois
The number of Illinois children killed by abuse or neglect over the past year likely will be the state's most in a quarter century, Illinois child-welfare officials announced Thursday in imploring residents to report suspected mistreatment of youths before it turns deadly.
A new report by the Illinois Department of Children & Family Services showed 94 of the 223 deaths investigated during the latest fiscal year that ended June 30 involved credible evidence of abuse or neglect. With 45 cases still being investigated and awaiting an official ruling, the number of abuse-related deaths — what the department terms "indicated" cases — appears likely to surpass the state's previous high of 102 in the 1989 fiscal year.
There were 90 indicated cases statewide over each of the previous two years and 69 during the 2010 fiscal year, according to the DCFS tally it has kept since 1981. Three of every four deaths linked to abuse or neglect involved households with no prior contact with DCFS, spokesman Dave Clarkin said.
"That's why the department has been urging relatives, neighbors and friends to call our hotline (at 800-252-2873) when they first suspect abuse, rather than waiting until the abuse becomes fatal and they're getting a call from a coroner or police," Clarkin said.
Explanations for the latest increase remain elusive, though Clarkin said 60 percent of the children confirmed to have died from abuse or neglect were younger than 6 months old, perhaps reflecting "very stressful, isolated times" parents of infants may encounter.
Still, Clarkin said there are encouraging signs: The number of Illinois child deaths over the past six months has dropped, with the 18 deaths in July was nine fewer than the same month in 2012, perhaps thanks to the agency's partnering since January with nonprofit groups, ethnic chambers of commerce, and law enforcers to encourage citizens to report suspected abuse before it proves fatal.
"It reinforces for all of us the importance of all adults ensuring safe, loving homes for kids," Clarkin said. "Whether they're from sleep suffocations, inadequate supervision or death by abuse, all of these deaths are preventable."
The 223 child deaths probed by DCFS over the latest fiscal year was a 14-percent jump over the previous year and the most since the 257 investigated in 1994.
Infants who suffocated while sleeping with parents, with blankets or on their stomachs appears to be the leading cause of death among children, despite cautions by the American Academy of Pediatrics against such dangerous practices. Other common causes of child deaths have been homicides — typically fatal beatings — and inadequate supervision, most often reflected in drownings.
http://www.dailyherald.com/article/20130808/news/708089847/
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Massachusetts
YMCA of the North Shore to hold training on child abuse prevention in Salem
by Terri Ogan
Following in the footsteps of the Wakefield community, the city of Salem will hold a training on how to protect children from sexual abuse.
Children's Trust Fund, a Boston organization that aims to eliminate child abuse in Massachusetts, is leading the “Keeping Kids Safe” prevention program, which is slated for Tuesday Aug. 20 from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. at the YMCA of the North Shore on Sewall Street.
With support from state Sen. Joan Lovely and Rep. John Keenan, officials from the Children's Trust Fund expect the event to reach full capacity, as did the event in Wakefield.
Members of the Wakefield community and various organizations came together to learn how to prevent child abuse in the aftermath of child sexual assault charges against Wakefield resident John Burbine.
http://www.boston.com/yourtown/news/salem/2013/08/ymca_of_the_north_shore_to_hold_training_on_child_abuse_prev.html
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California
Burglars Return Stolen Computers to Nonprofit - Along With Apology Note
"We had no idea what we were taking. Here's your stuff back," the note said
by Willian Avila
Thieves who stole computer equipment from a San Bernardino non-profit returned the items along with a letter of apology. The burglars apparently came in through the ceiling, which prompted police to call in the fire department to help in the investigation, pictured at right.
Burglars who stole computers from an office building returned the items – along with a letter of apology – after apparently realizing they had ransacked a nonprofit that helps victims of sexual violence.
The thieves broke into the San Bernardino County Sexual Assault Services office on the night of July 31, police said. They apparently came in through the ceiling about 10 p.m. and hurriedly took several computer towers and monitors, along with a laptop.
Police arrived and summoned the nonprofit's executive director, Candy Stallings.
"One of the officers had talked to some transients around the street about what was going on. He was telling them about what we do," Stallings said.
The following morning about 4:30 a.m., Stallings said she got another call from police about suspicious activity taking place at her office.
This time when Stallings arrived, she was astonished by what she found.
"All my stuff was in front of the door," Stallings said. "There was a shopping cart, and there were the PCs that were taken, there was the laptop - everything was there."
An investigator who was about to dust the laptop for fingerprints opened it and found a note tucked inside.
"We had no idea what we were takeing. Here your stuff back we hope that you guys can continue to make a difference in peoples live. God bless," said the note with misspellings.
"We were all pretty shocked," Stallings said. "You've got to be kidding me. I was in disbelief, I got chills, I got very emotional."
Some of the officers were surprised, too.
"This is the first time in my career I have seen the return of stolen items," said San Bernardino Police Lt. Paul Williams. "It appears the guilt of taking the property caused the return of the items."
Stallings said the note was taken as evidence. She said she made a photo copy of it and plans to frame it.
http://www.nbclosangeles.com/news/local/Burglars-Return-Stolen-Computers-to-Non-Profit---Along-With-Apology-Note-218751441.html
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Responsibility is yours to report child abuse, neglect
The realities of child abuse and neglect are nearly as troubling as the grim statistics.
Deaths linked to child abuse or neglect in Illinois are on a record pace for 2013, the highest total in the last 18 years. As of Wednesday, the statewide total of child deaths linked to abuse or neglect grew to 223, up three from the total reported one day earlier by Richard Calica, director of Illinois Department of Children & Family Services (DCFS).
Especially troubling is our region's growing problem with child abuse and neglect. Calica said the problems are declining in some of Chicago's most densely populated neighborhoods, but expanding in central and Southern Illinois. The reasons for the geographical shift aren't yet known, but under study by the DCFS.
Such offenses are not easily prevented. Calica said 75 percent of the child abuse and neglect deaths involve children and families with no prior connection to DCFS.
That's an especially troubling dose of reality. Child death investigations routinely turn up people — most often family members of the suspected offender — who describe previous occurrences that made them wonder if a child was being treated improperly. But such admissions are of little help after a child is seriously injured, of no help after a child is dead.
You can help change this sorrowful truth about family secrets, one that stalks the thoughts and recollections those who investigate child abuse and neglect.
Break the code of silence. If there are suspected child abusers, or neglectful parents, in your family or circle of friends you have no greater moral responsibility than to protect the wellbeing of a defenseless child. Such suspicions should be reported, a process no more complicated than grabbing the nearest telephone.
Call 911 or the nearest police emergency line if a child's life is in immediate danger. For suspected child abuse or neglect, call the DCFS statewide hotline at 800-252-2873.
Suspicions can be reported anonymously. Trained professionals evaluate the information, and then investigate reports when justified by the facts. The innocent have nothing to fear. Those who harming or neglecting children deserve the attention of law enforcement and social workers.
Think about the children in your life. Are you aware of any children who have unsupervised access to water hazards, even small pools of water? A timely call for help might prevent a drowning. What about a child with unexplained bruises, bites, burns or other injuries? Does that child appear unusually watchful and protective? A prompt call for help might prevent a tragedy.
You also might be able to help in the effort to find suitable homes for children who must be taken away from a parent or family. DCFS is looking for more foster homes. Many of the current providers are already caring for children, have reached an age not compatible with child care or are reluctant to care for infants.
Perhaps your home has room for a child in need? Perhaps you have room in your heart for the love of a child, or are aware of people who would make trustworthy foster parents?
Take a few minutes and call DCFS, or one of the helping agencies in your community. The call you make might be the difference between life and death for a child.
http://thesouthern.com/news/opinion/voice-of-the-southern/voice-of-the-southern-responsibility-is-yours-to-report-child/article_e761c5d2-ffe4-11e2-bb86-001a4bcf887a.html
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Company Brings Awareness to Child Sex Trafficking at Hotels
by Louis Goggans
More than a century after slavery was abolished, millions of people are still being forced to work against their will. Nearly 21 million people around the world — 5.5 million under the age of 18 — are being trafficked for sexual, occupational, and bodily labor, according to the International Labour Organization's 2012 Estimate of Forced Labour report.
According to the ILO's report, 4.5 million of the enslaved workers are victims of forced sexual exploitation — more than 90 percent of them women and girls.
In the U.S., this is an issue that's becoming highlighted more often in the media, and attacked more aggressively by law enforcement.
In late July, a collaborative effort between 47 Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) divisions, more than 3,900 local, state, and federal law enforcement officers, and the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children helped rescue 105 sexually exploited children and arrest 159 pimps. Known as "Operation Cross Country," the movement is apart of the FBI's Innocence Lost National Initiative, which has identified and recovered more than 2,700 sexually exploited children since 2003. The three-day nationwide sweep took place in 76 cities.
One of those working behind the scenes was Nix Conference & Meeting Management, a meeting planning firm based in St. Louis. Since 2012, the organization has been training hotel managers and their employees on ways to identify minor sex trafficking.
“[When] people who are not aware of [child sex trafficking] hear [about] it, you can literally see them take a step backwards,” said Molly Hackett, principal of Nix Conference & Meeting Management. “It's so hard to wrap your head around it. It just sticks with you and you can't let it go. You have to keep thinking about it. You try to find more information about it. Some of us having children, that affects who you are when you think about kids who are being picked up over the internet and they think they're about to have this great life when really they're about to be trafficked.”
Nix Conference & Meeting Management helped develop a Meeting Planner's Code of Conduct with End Child Prostitution, Pornography and Trafficking (ECPAT-USA). According to the company's website, meeting planners who adopt the Meeting Planner's Code of Conduct agree to establish an internal social responsibility policy, implement an action plan with objectives and time frames, and report annually.
“We thought that there was so much more we could do as meeting planners,” Hackett said. “We travel internationally. We thought we could bring awareness to this topic and really talk about it everywhere we went. Since then, everywhere we travel we talk about it to sales people, general managers, and management teams while we're on-site at their properties.”
In Spring 2014, Nix Conference & Meeting Management will launch the “Ignite: Sparking Action Against Sex Trafficking” conference to educate meeting planners, hotel management and business travelers on the lawless trade.
“The conference helps them educate their traveling employees [and] business partners to watch for the signs of this, know what to do when they see it, and how to effectively report it,” Hackett said. “The most effective training has been when people in the training sessions raise their hands and say, ‘this is what I've seen,' and we're like, ‘Okay, that can be a sign of someone being trafficked. These are the general steps. This is the law enforcement you call. These are the chain events that the management team has set up.' We really give them tools to do something with that information. They don't need to intervene themselves. They don't have to go walk up to the door. They just need to notify the correct management, personnel and authorities.”
Hackett said a potential sign of minor sex trafficking at hotels is room service requests that seem too childlike for the adults traveling in and out. Other signs include minors that are sporting inappropriate makeup, provocative clothing unfit for their age, and appear uncomfortable with their surroundings at the establishment.
The illegal practice of sex trafficking generates up to $32 billion in annual profits, according to the National Association of Attorneys General. This makes it the second-largest criminal enterprise in the world, behind illegal drug distribution and also the fastest growing.
The trafficking of minors sexually is at the cusp of the forbidden trade. According to the United Nations Children's Fund, at least 300,000 American children are sexually trafficked annually.
Informing residential establishments and business travelers of the minor sex trafficking trade isn't a part of Nix Conference & Meeting Management's daily stream of business. However, they desire to bring awareness to the issue and help lower its presence.
“It's something that we feel pretty passionate about, and it's relatively easy to bring into our regular business model," Hackett said. "It's part of who we are now. We've been doing it a year and a half. I really think that corporations and individuals could diffuse so much about it without having to take too many dramatic steps to build awareness. The first step at combating anything [is] recognizing it's a problem."
Since 1985, Nix Conference & Meeting Management has managed meetings, conferences, and trade shows on four continents and in 17 countries for associations, religious organizations, businesses and nonprofit organizations. The company books 21,000 room nights a year for clients at more than 50 hotels in the U. S. and internationally. To get additional information on the organization click here.
http://www.memphisflyer.com/CallingtheBluff/archives/2013/08/06/company-brings-awareness-to-child-sex-trafficking-at-hotels
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Some Child Sex Trafficking Victims 'Rescued' by Recent FBI Sting Could End up in Jail
If there is no available bed or housing for rescued children, law enforcement will place them in a detention facility
by Elizabeth Flock
When the Federal Bureau of Investigation conducted a nationwide sweep in late July to fight child prostitution, the agency boasted that "Operation Cross Country" had successfully rescued 105 sexually exploited children.
But the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, which partnered with law enforcement for the sweep, says that some of those rescued children may now end up behind bars.
"If there is nowhere to hold them, and nowhere safe for them to go, law enforcement has no alternative," says Staca Shehan, the director of the case analysis division at the center. "If they aren't placed in a juvenile detention facility, the child could run back to the prostitution scenario."
To avoid this, police charge the children with prostitution and place them in a detention facility until housing elsewhere becomes available, according to Shehan.
FBI spokeswoman Whitney Malkin confirmed to U.S. News that some of the child victims rescued by Operation Cross Country could be detained, though she called such instances "rare" and said many more children would be placed in safe housing by FBI Victim Specialists.
"Detaining victims... falls far short of ideal," she says, but noted "the infrastructure to support the range of services just isn't there in many places."
In a May report, anti-sex trafficking group Shared Hope International said government agencies and law enforcement needed to do better at placing child sex trafficking victims in domestic shelters or providing other services. The group urged better communication between service providers, more training for law enforcement on trauma responses and more diverse options for placement.
Sienna Baskin at the Urban Justice League, a New York-based advocacy group that works with sex trafficking victims, says the FBI should also provide more clarity on how many minors were detained in this particular sweep and where the others were placed.
"It seems like they're treating the arrest of minors as an acceptable collateral consequence of this operation. But arrest is a very traumatic experience that can lead to abuses for both adults and minors," she says.
The FBI was not able to immediately provide the number of detained children, or the number of female sex workers arrested in the sting – another concern of anti-trafficking groups about Operation Cross Country.
In their July newsletter, the Chicago Alliance Against Sexual Exploitation said it believed police had used the sting as an opportunity to arrest more adults in prostitution. Stephanie Richard, policy and legal services director at the Los Angeles-based Coalition to Abolish Slavery and Trafficking, says her group is also concerned about arrests of female sex workers in the sting because "we have not received assurances from those conducting these raids about whether or not adult women could be victims as well."
In past sweeps, the FBI released the numbers of prostitutes it had arrested, but it no longer does so. Local media reports on the sweep aggregated by feminist blogger and activist Emi Koyama suggest the number of sex workers arrested in Operation Cross Country may have been as high as 1,000.
But Shehan insists the "number one focus" of the operation was to recover minors, not arrest prostitutes. "Will [the FBI] leverage the interaction if they encounter an adult? Absolutely," she says. "But recovering juveniles from trafficking is the highest priority."
http://www.usnews.com/news/articles/2013/08/07/some-child-sex-trafficking-victims-rescued-by-recent-fbi-sting-could-end-up-in-jail
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Doing More to End Sex Trafficking
The Ariel Castro horror proves new steps must be taken
by Karen Bass
When a judge sentenced Ariel Castro to life in prison – plus 1,000 years – for kidnapping, raping and enslaving three young girls for more than a decade, it closed a chapter in one of the most harrowing tales the country has ever seen. This will hopefully bring closure to these young women, but for many more the nightmare will continue. Thousands of young victims will go on hiding in plain sight, unsure of whether or not they will ever have their freedom again.
Over the weekend authorities arrested 150 pimps in sting operations across 76 cities. Authorities successfully targeted truck stops, casinos, hotels and websites to rescue young women. Similar operations have saved many more young girls over the years.
Much more should be done to prevent young girls from being vulnerable prey for sex traffickers and predators. Broadly speaking, human trafficking occurs when people profit from the control and exploitation of others. This includes what some mischaracterize as child prostitution. Our nation's kids do not simply choose to sell themselves on the street, they are victims manipulated and coerced into a life of sexual assault and commercial rape.
A good starting point for reform would be taking a look at the connection between the foster care system and child sex trafficking. Traffickers often provide foster youth with the attention and reinforcement that can oftentimes be elusive during a life spent bouncing from home to home. They shower young girls with gifts and attention to help lure them into a life of illegal activity. Sadly, older foster youth perpetuate the cycle when traffickers use them to recruit younger foster youth into prostitution.
Some estimates show 300,000 children are at risk of becoming victims of domestic sex trafficking each year, with foster youth comprising as much as 80 percent of victims. Many states report abuse occurring while youth are in foster care or group homes, which pimps target as hubs to recruit vulnerable girls.
By better coordinating our efforts at combating child sex trafficking and its link to the foster care system we can more effectively curb the flow of young women into lives of imprisonment at the hands of a trafficker.
In Congress there is bipartisan legislation that can help to fill this void. The Strengthening the Child Welfare Response to Trafficking Act directs the Department of Health and Human Services to create guidelines that assist child welfare agencies. Agencies would be required to report missing or abducted children to law enforcement within 72 hours. HHS would also report to Congress on the prevalence of trafficking among foster youth and make recommendations for both supporting and monitoring local efforts to curb child sex trafficking.
These are commonsense no cost measures government can take now to help young girls from falling victim to traffickers.
Historically Americans have behaved as though child sex trafficking is a phenomenon that grips other nations far away from our own shores. Nothing could be further from the truth and its time our policies reflected this fact.
Currently, we do a better job of providing resources for health, education and housing for foreign victims than we extend to young girls here in the United States. Due to shortages, many law enforcement officials have reported having to house young girls in motels and other unsafe environments which keep them accessible to pimps and more likely to be forced back into sexual exploitation.
Domestic victims do not receive the same legal protections as foreign-born sex trafficking survivors. For example, many domestic sex trafficking victims are housed in high-security prisons and charged for prostitution, effectively treating them as though they are the criminals. This can make it very difficult for them to find employment later on and rebuild their lives.
If these girls are foreign born, they are more likely to be recognized correctly as rape victims instead of prostitutes. They are given access to a broader array of services including aggressive prosecution of their attacker instead of being treated like they are the criminal.
America must confront this threat to the health and stability of an entire generation of young women. We all can become better informed about what sex trafficking looks like and demand our own young women get the same protections we offer to the world.
Rep. Karen Bass, D-Calif., is a member of the House Judiciary Committee and serves as Co-Chair of the bipartisan Congressional Caucus on Foster Youth.
http://www.usnews.com/opinion/articles/2013/08/02/cleveland-kidnapper-castro-shows-new-sex-trafficking-protections-needed
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Ohio
Child advocacy centers become front line in human trafficking help
State provides $523K for training on IDing sex trafficking
Written by Jessie Balmert
Professionals who help child sexual assault victims cope with abuse are expanding their services to young victims of human trafficking with the help of more than a half-million dollars from the state.
The Ohio Network of Children's Advocacy Centers, which includes the Child Protection Center in Chillicothe, will receive $523,200 from the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services over the next two years to train personnel, including law enforcement, local prosecutors and children services employees, to identify human trafficking and assist child victims, chapter coordinator Amy Deverson Roberts said.
Ohio's 26 child advocacy centers currently provide forensic interviews, counseling and sometimes medical examinations to young victims of sexual abuse, Roberts said. Those who interview children about the trauma receive at least 40 hours of training and the interviews are sometimes used in court proceedings, she added.
Because of interviewers experience with young victims, it only made sense for them to become the front line in helping young sex trafficking victims, Roberts said. Some centers have already provided services to victims of human trafficking as part of state and federal investigations, she added.
Identifying a statewide provider network to serve as the first response system for minor human trafficking victims was one of 26 recommendations Gov. John Kasich's Human Trafficking Task Force proposed in June 27, 2012. An estimated 1,078 Ohio children are victims of sex trafficking every year and thousands more are at risk of becoming victims, according to the 2010 Ohio Trafficking in Persons Study.
“We were very pleased to be identified as the primary responders,” Roberts said. The partnership with the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services, Ohio Department of Public Safety and Kasich's human trafficking task force was announced Tuesday.
Some of the money will fund September training on the difference between interviewing sexual assault victims and sex trafficking victims, Roberts said. Children forced into sex trade might believe their pimp loves them as either a parental or boyfriend figure and might not believe they are victims, but rather willing participants in prostitution, she added.
Unlike other victims, those in human trafficking might be juvenile delinquents or runaways, Roberts said.
The remaining funds would be distributed for treatment and interviews at the 26 centers based on their population of children, Roberts said.
Counties without child advocacy centers will be linked with nearby facilities or local coalitions so victims across Ohio have access to human trafficking treatment and forensic interview, which could be used in criminal charges, she added.
The centers primarily will focus on sex trafficking victims, but would not turn away a victim of labor trafficking, Roberts said. Adults could not receive treatment at these facilities, but would be referred to local rescue and restore coalitions.
http://www.chillicothegazette.com/article/20130807/NEWS/308060029/Child-advocacy-centers-become-front-line-human-trafficking-help?nclick_check=1
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DNA shows wrong boy returned in 1964 abduction
CHICAGO (AP) — The FBI said Wednesday it is reopening its investigation into the 1964 kidnapping of a newborn boy from a Chicago hospital, after recent DNA testing revealed that a boy found in New Jersey more than a year later and returned to the elated parents wasn't actually their son.
Paul Fronczak, 49, is a married father of his own now and works as a college administrator and living in Henderson, Nev. He told the Chicago Sun-Times in June that he had long wondered why he didn't resemble his parents, Chester and Dora Franczak, so they underwent DNA testing earlier this year to see if he was their biological son. He wasn't.
Fronczak said he wrote his parents a letter when he got the results to let them know.
"I really feel in my heart that the real Paul Fronczak is alive and well and out there, and nothing would make me more happy in this life than to find the real kidnapped child and at the same time, I wouldn't mind finding out who I am," Fronczak told the newspaper. He said he came forward with his story because the case is unsolved.
Hundreds of police officers and FBI agents searched for the Oak Lawn couple's newborn son after his abduction from Michael Reese Hospital in April 1964. The case came to an apparently happy end more than a year later when an abandoned child resembling the Fronczak's baby was found in New Jersey and returned to them.
A woman who answered the phone Wednesday at a listing for Dora Franczak in Oak Lawn told the Associated Press she declined to comment about the reopening of the investigation, saying, "I don't have any remarks about that." In June, she spoke briefly to the Sun-Times , telling the paper, "We went through this once, and we certainly don't want to go through this again."
Joan Hyde, a spokeswoman for the FBI's Chicago office, said the bureau decided to reopen the Fronczak case after reviewing the original case file.
"We decided it merited another look," Hyde said. "The main thing is to look at physical evidence and see if technology and tests that weren't available when the case was originally worked could provide leads."
Hyde said the bureau could interview witnesses as part of the investigation, which she said is expected to "take time."
Paul Fronczak didn't immediately respond to an AP phone message seeking comment Wednesday. But he told KLAS-TV in Las Vegas this year that he is trying to learn his true identity.
"I don't know how old I am, or who I am, or what nationality, all those things you just take for granted," Fronczak said.
http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2013/08/07/fbi-reopens-1964-kidnapping/2630101/
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Texas
Fort Worth hospital: Crying babies shouldn't trigger child abuse
FORT WORTH — Cook Children's Medical Center is hoping an enhanced program will help reduce the number of child abuse cases that are coming through its doors.
Called the Period of Purple Crying, the program aims to let parents understand the dangers of becoming overly frustrated when infants cry.
"Crying is the number-one trigger for child abuse," said Dr. Jamye Coffman, head of the hospital's CARE response team, which deals with abuse cases.
The new training for parents includes an instructional video; reading materiels; and one-on-one time with a specialist. It is required for every parent who has a child under five months of age.
"I think it's a great idea," said Amanda Ellison, who just had twin boys. "It's not as if they're crying for hours; it may just be for minutes, but you can still think, 'What am I doing wrong?'"
According to the state, Tarrant County has some of the highest child abuse figures in the state.
There were more than 5,500 confirmed cases in 2012.
At Cook, there were 26 patients who died because of abuse in the past three years.
"We're hoping this program really helps raise awareness," Coffman said.
• Click for more information on the Period of Purple Crying campaign
http://www.wfaa.com/news/local/Cook-Childrens-looks-to-cut-abuse-cases-218619461.html
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Indiana
Fort Wayne Children's Foundation committed to fighting child abuse
by James Cox
Consider these child abuse statistics for our city, state and country from the 2011 National Child Abuse and Neglect Data System (NCANDS):
One in four girls and one in six boys will be sexually abused by the time they turn 18.
Over 9 percent of children under age 18 are victims of child abuse (78 percent neglect, 18 percent physical abuse, 9.1 percent sexual abuse).
Perpetrators are 44 percent whites, 22 percent African-American and 22 percent Hispanic. Eighty-five percent of perpetrators are age 20-49 years.
There are 1,570 child abuse deaths in the U.S. annually – 82 percent under age 4. Parents caused 78 percent of the deaths.
There were 40 child abuse deaths in Indiana in 2011; 48 percent involved children under a year old, and head injuries were the most prevalent cause.
There were 19,300 substantiated abuse cases in Indiana in 2011 — 11 percent of Indiana's children.
Twenty-eight percent of abused child cases go to court, and 1 percent of children are represented with court appointees.
Child abuse and neglect cost the United States $124 billion a year, as much as stroke and diabetes treatment.
Common factors in abuse include a child being left in the care of a mother's boyfriend, drug abuse or domestic violence. |
The Child Welfare Information Gateway, Washington, D.C., U.S. Department of Health and Human Services 2006 report stated:
About 30 percent of abused and neglected children will later abuse their own children, continuing the horrible cycle of abuse.
About 80 percent of 21-year-olds who were abused as children met criteria for at least one psychological disorder.
Children who experience child abuse and neglect are 59 percent more likely to be arrested as a juvenile, 28 percent more likely to be arrested as an adult and 30 percent more likely to commit violent crime.
Abused children are 25 percent more likely to experience teen pregnancy. Abused teens are less likely to practice safe sex, putting them at greater risk for STDs.
Children whose parents abuse alcohol and other drugs are three times more likely to be abused and more than four times more likely to be neglected than children from non-abusing families.
As many as two-thirds of the people in treatment for drug abuse reported being abused or neglected as children. |
The Fort Wayne Children's Foundation Inc. is a not-for-profit Indiana endowment that raises funds to stop child abuse in our community. It is both proactive and reactive as donations are distributed half to fund programs found to be the best existing programs in the community to fight abuse and half to increase in endowment size for future anti-child-abuse funding.
As such, the Fort Wayne Children's Foundation belongs to the people of our community. It is our responsibility to fund programs that stop child abuse because federal and state tax revenue to stop child abuse are decreasing according to Rep. Gail Riecken, D-Evansville.
“The whole point is to identify trends, strengths and weaknesses in the system to reduce or eliminate the number of children who end up dead,” she said.
Capital funding, not governmental, is needed. It falls on the shoulders of the citizens to protect the children. Government funding is not available, and that is where the not-for-profit Fort Wayne Children's Foundation Inc. answers a need. Ninety-two percent of the profit from programs of the foundation go to the cause of stopping child abuse. Expenses of the foundation are limited to legal and accounting efforts obtained at reduced rates. The board of directors receive no compensation for their service to the foundation.
Fort Wayne citizens have the opportunity to prove that child abuse is not tolerated in our community. The Fort Wayne Children's Foundation Inc. will hold its annual fundraising Summit City Chef Competition on Thursday, Sept. 12, at Sweetwater Sound on U.S. 30 West starting at 6:30 p.m.
Five Fort Wayne chefs from Chops, Eddie Merlot, Club Soda, Baker's Street and T. W. Fable will compete for the Summit City Best Food, Wine and Dessert preparation award trophies. Attendees will sample all the preparations and witness the cooking event. Judges are Mayor and Mrs. Tom Henry, Chuck and Lisa Sirack, News-Sentinel food writer Cindy Larson, and Charles A. Shepard III. For table reservations or tickets for the event contact the Fort Wayne Children's Foundation Inc. at PMB 189, 619 E. Dupont Rd., Fort Wayne, IN 46945 or call 637-6000 or 637-4969. The website is Fortwaynechildrensfoundation.org
When a child is abused in our community, the entire community is abused and the community finds such action unacceptable. We do not accept abuse to our children. The Fort Wayne Children's Foundation Inc. is a pride of the community in protecting our young and vulnerable citizens.
James M. Cox is a member of the board of directors of the Fort Wayne Children's Foundation Inc. along with Byron Braun, George Joachim, Doug McKibbon, Blake Poindexter, Steve Russell and Michelle Straessle.
http://www.news-sentinel.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20130807/EDITORIAL/130809770/1015/GOV
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Georgia
Event to examine child abuse and neglect, remedies
by Mark Andrews
In an effort to inform the community on the reaching effects and nature of child abuse and neglect in Bartow County, as well as providing options on what the community can do to help remedy the problem, the Bartow County Collaborative on Friday, Aug. 16, will host an event that will feature guest speaker and child advocate Andy Barclay.
According to www.bartoncenter.net , along with his wife, Michelle, “The Barclays created the L.W. Barton Foundation Fund, a donor-directed fund at the Community Foundation of Greater Atlanta, and worked with then-Senator Mary Margaret Oliver, Dean Woody Hunter, attorney Karen Worthington, and others to develop what is now the Barton Child Law and Policy Center at Emory Law School, named in honor of Andy's maternal grandparents, Lewis and Sara Barton.”
Carolyn Johnson, who serves as the Bartow County Juvenile Court program director, said the inspiration for holding such an event in Bartow came from attending a System of Care meeting in Cherokee County, in which Barclay used geomapping to show the highest child abuse and neglect rates in Bartow and Cherokee based on geographic location in the individual counties.
“He looked at different areas where abuse was more prevalent ... and we were really impressed, even though we questioned some of the areas because we are familiar with them and we were wondering why the numbers in those areas were so significant, there may have been multiple referrals from one family, but even with that it was enough to spark our interest and we were curious to know exactly how those stats were just in Bartow County,” Johnson said. “Another piece of that was he had mentioned from doing things like this ... [in some Georgia counties], community partners and churches got together and they offered positive outreach opportunities and educational support and places for these kids to go.”
She continued, “We thought if we could get the faith-based community, [youth outreach like] Boys & Girls Club, someone from government, ... [people] from each area of Bartow County to attend this meeting, and if they can see where we're having these problems and there may be a need to reach out to these children, to provide opportunities for these children, maybe it will reduce neglect and abuse. ... If we can get the community to come together, then maybe we won't see so much abuse and neglect because those children will have some place to go, they will have a support system — someone to help them with their school work, keep them off the streets, keep students from becoming delinquents — whatever the results may be, we just want to promote some positive outcomes.”
Barclay said on The Community Foundation for Greater Atlanta's website, www.cfgreateratlanta.org, it's important for the community to take a role in aiding in the needs of local children.
“Two-thirds of the children who suffer abuse and neglect do not come to the attention of our protection system. We're a long way from protecting all of our children,” Barclay said. “The investment in children is one that pays over a lifetime for society but most importantly for the children in need of protection and rehabilitation. These children, who have seen the worst that life has to offer, deserve the best that we can provide.
Sponsored by the Bartow County Juvenile Court, the event will be held in the fellowship hall of Cartersville First Presbyterian Church beginning with coffee at 8:15 a.m. followed by the program from 8:30 to 10:30 a.m. Guests are encouraged to park at the Frank Moore Administration and Judicial Building behind the church on West Cherokee Avenue and enter through the back of the church. All are welcome to attend.
http://www.daily-tribune.com/view/full_story/23300180/article-Event-to-examine-child-abuse-and-neglect--remedies?instance=homesecondleft
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Florida
Volusia hopes to curb child abuse, neglect
by Deborah Circelli
DAYTONA BEACH — Darred Williams spent most of his life thinking he was a mistake.
When he was 1, he said his drug-addicted teen mom forgot him in his car seat on top of the car and drove off. He fell, suffering injuries to his face and head and within months was placed in foster care.
When he was adopted at 10, he thought “being a mistake was over,” but classmates teased him for being adopted. After succeeding in school and graduating from the University of Central Florida, the now 25-year-old realized “none of us in foster care are mistakes. Each and every one of us are here as miracles.”
Williams of Ormond Beach spoke Tuesday to more than 100 child welfare, medical and other professionals in the community. The event was the kickoff of a three-year project that will involve training and educating agencies in Volusia County on how to prevent child abuse and neglect and reduce trauma and psychological effects in children, their families and caregivers.
The state Department of Children & Families has teamed up with Chadwick Center for Children & Families in San Diego as one of six communities nationally benefiting from a center project funded through a federal grant.
“We will never decrease all the trauma, but we can do a better job,” said David Abramowitz, northeast DCF regional director.
Charles Wilson, Chadwick executive director, said he wanted communities that needed help, but also communities that have “the capacity to excel.”
According to DCF, more than 2,000 homeless children are enrolled in Volusia County schools. Currently, 802 children in Volusia, Flagler and Putnam counties live in foster care or with relatives outside their home. But those numbers are down from 1,068 in October 2012, according to DCF.
Abramowitz said the decrease is “largely due to a record number of adoptions” by Community Partnership for Children, which provides local foster care services for DCF. The agency saw 191 adoptions in Volusia, Flagler and Putnam counties from July 2012 to June of this year.
Shawn Auborn, 18, of Edgewater, was adopted twice from foster care after his first adoptive family was unable to care for his younger brother, who has fetal alcohol syndrome from their mother drinking while she was pregnant. They were returned to care and separated, which he said caused more trauma.
“Even though there's treatment for emotional trauma, there's no cure or any antibody that's going to protect you from it,” Auborn told the group. “You have to live with it and move on which is hard.”
http://www.news-journalonline.com/article/20130806/NEWS/130809629?Title=Volusia-hopes-to-curb-child-abuse-neglect
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Maryland
A prevention-first approach to child sexual abuse
Rescues and arrests make headlines, but we need to put more resources into stopping these crimes before they happen
by Dr. Elizabeth J. Letourneau
The recent FBI raid that arrested three men in Maryland as part of Operation Cross Country that netted 150 alleged pimps in 76 cities illustrates significant governmental efforts in detecting and arresting sex offenders, including pimps and buyers.
But child sexual abuse (CSA), which includes the sexual exploitation of children and juvenile prostitution, is a complex problem that requires a much more comprehensive approach that moves beyond rescues and raids. Rather, we need to invest in a public health approach that emphasizes the importance of primary prevention as well as criminal justice interventions and post-abuse services and treatment. A public health framework would also bring more scientific integrity to the issue of child sex trafficking.
While more research is needed, it is clear from the available data that youths at risk of various forms of sexual exploitation are characterized by a host of vulnerabilities that could be addressed before abuse occurs if we funded the development and testing of effective prevention programs. But, in general, we do not put resources into prevention efforts at anywhere near the level of after-the-fact criminal justice interventions. Making the best of a bad situation is poor policy; we need to develop a prevention mindset.
Good prevention policy would fund the development of effective programs that target vulnerable families, vulnerable youths, and vulnerable settings. At the family level, among the factors that increase risk for CSA and other negative outcomes are young and single parents and parental substance abuse. Fortunately, there are evidence-based interventions that effectively address many of the problems associated with these family factors. For example, nurse home visiting programs that target young parents reduce the risk of physical abuse and neglect; and contingency management helps drug-addicted parents abstain. These and other evidence-based programs should be more broadly available. However, we also need research to determine whether existing programs reduce a child's risk for future CSA, or whether adaptations or new interventions are needed.
At the youth level, factors that increase risk for CSA and other negative outcomes include associating with delinquent peers, school problems, and substance abuse. Again, evidence-based interventions should be more widely disseminated to address these problems. Multisystemic therapy is a parent-focused intervention proved to reduce youth delinquency, improve school outcomes and, importantly, reduce the sexual re-offense rates of youths who have perpetrated sexual harm against peers and younger children. Such interventions should be more broadly available to adolescents who have sexually offended, and additional interventions are needed. Given that about 40 percent of CSA perpetrators are themselves adolescents, and that adolescents are sometimes used to recruit peers into prostitution and trafficking, developing effective primary prevention interventions should be a priority.
At the settings level, among the factors that increase risk of CSA and other negative outcomes are residing in congregate care settings, residing in foster care settings, and being homeless/runaway. As above, there are some proven strategies. Avoiding or greatly limiting time in congregate care is essential; for youths who need foster care, specialized therapeutic techniques such as multidimensional-treatment foster care reliably improves many outcomes, including youths' ability to return and remain home and avoid delinquency. Yet, again, it remains unknown whether youths who receive such multidimensional treatment are at lower risk of CSA, prostitution or trafficking or whether more specialized interventions are needed to address foster care concerns.
David Finkelhor, a nationally and internationally respected sociologist, has studied CSA and the related areas of juvenile prostitution and sex trafficking for decades. He recently noted that "Arrests make great publicity. But it is only through a multidisciplinary, comprehensive mobilization of dedicated child welfare, social service, mental health, drug rehabilitation, [and] educational systems — working together with law enforcement — that we will find a solution to young people being sold or selling sex for money and survival." To this multidisciplinary list, I would add the mobilization of parents, who wield substantial and ongoing influence over their children's risk of CSA and other negative outcomes, as well as their children's likelihood of engaging in sexually risky behaviors and who, if given the proper help and tools, are the most likely "stakeholders" of all to impact the lives of young people.
The primary prevention of child sexual abuse is both desirable and achievable. However, developing, rigorously testing, and disseminating evidence-based interventions requires long-term dedication to a public health approach, with significant resources and substantial collaboration.
Dr. Elizabeth J. Letourneau is director of the Moore Center for the Prevention of Child Sexual Abuse, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health (www.jhsph.edu/childsexabuse). Her email is eletourn@jhsph.edu.
http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/opinion/oped/bs-ed-child-sexual-abuse-20130806,0,6266244.story
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Children Can Never Be Responsible for Being Abused
by Peter Wanless -- Chief Executive of the NSPCC
'They were asking for it.' It's not so long ago that this nasty little phrase was trotted out as a defence in sexual assault trials.
I had hoped the abhorrent view that victims are somehow to blame for the actions of sex offenders has been consigned to the dustbin. Surely a 13-year-old girl would never be accused by a judge, of all people, that they were 'egging on' a paedophile to have sex with them?
But that's exactly what a judge has just told a man in his forties, who lured a 13-year-old girl to his home, where he watched her strip out of her school uniform before she performed a sex act on him.
The offender pleaded guilty but avoided jail because, in the judge's words:
Even though the girl was 13, the prosecution say she looked and behaved a little bit older... on these facts, the girl was predatory and was egging you on
I had to read that twice to believe he had said such a thing.
To hear such appalling language being used to describe a 13-year old girl abused at the hands of an older man, and for those words to lead to a lighter sentence being handed down, is frankly a perversion of justice.
Suggesting that a girl of 13 could be a 'sexual predator' when the real predator is standing in the dock makes my blood boil. This outdated view that children are complicit in their abuse must be stamped out.
The only silver lining to this case is that the offender has been banned from contacting children and must allow police to examine his computer, as well as attending a sex offenders' programme.
During a search of his home, officers uncovered a stash of images and videos depicting child abuse and bestiality. I shudder to think how many more children he could have gone on to abuse had he not been caught.
But the judge's totally unacceptable comments demonstrate an urgent need for all legal professionals acting in child sex abuse cases to attend specialist training with regular updates.
My biggest fear is that any abused children hearing the comments made by the judge will be less likely to speak out and secure justice.
It's already hard enough for children to come forward and report sexual abuse. Without urgent action we risk denying justice to these young people who have already experienced horrific abuse. Enough is enough.
http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/peter-wanless/child-abuse-children-can-never-be-responsible_b_3713398.html
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Stop telling kids that being bullied will make them stronger. It's not true, and here is why.
by Carrie Goldman
Human beings are hard-wired to belong. We are social beings and we derive happiness from positive interactions with other living creatures, especially people. What happens when we are rejected? We experience very real psychological and physical symptoms of pain, such as anxiety, depression, stomach aches, sleeplessness, headaches and panic attacks.
I have noticed a continuing theme, however, in the comments that respond to articles about bullying prevention. “I was bullied ten years ago,” wrote one man on a recent article of mine, “and I beat the guy up and he never bothered me again. Stop turning kids today into pussies. Being bullied makes them stronger.”
After seeing this same type of response hundreds of times, I puzzled over it -- truly considered it -- and I've come to one glaring conclusion. “Ten years ago” is the problem. I looked back over some of my older works, and there is a commonality. Almost all of these toughened-up former victims of bullying are now adults.
They have no shared definition of what it means to be bullied today. Based on their memories, their advice feels valid to them. But being bullied ten or twenty or fifty years ago does not qualify you to dismiss those who are being bullied today.
Why?
Largely, it is because of the digital revolution. Kids live and breathe social media. A few years back it was MySpace. Then the hot thing became Facebook. As Facebook takes more steps to combat abuse, teens are shifting to Twitter and Instagram and Tumblr, although now Twitter has added a Report Abuse button too. Every time the moms and dads develop an interest in a social media site, the kids move on to the next one, trying to find a cool new unmonitored place to hang out.
And these days, when a kid is bullied, maybe it starts with being shoved into lockers and beaten up on the playground. So let's say a kid fights back and beats up his bully. But then the kid starts receiving vicious tweets. Then he learns that there is a Facebook page where people are writing that he is a fag or other epithets.
Who does he beat up to make that stop? He can't. The nameless faceless bullies of the Internet creep into his consciousness and torment him. Or the girl who finds out that hundreds of people are sharing a photo-shopped nude picture of her having sex with three guys and calling her a slut – who is she supposed to beat up to make it stop? That advice is too simplistic.
And as far as the assertion that being bullied makes you stronger? Check out the chapter in my book ( being released in paperback TODAY!!! ) called The Harmful Effects of Bullying on the Brain , where you will learn of multiple studies that show how being bullied not only causes immediate distress but also changes the way the brain works and leads to long-term difficulties for survivors. For example, kids who have been severely bullied can have trouble years later in the workplace, because they perceive harmless interactions as threatening. Their bodies are in a permanent state of fight or flight. They exhibit signs of post-traumatic stress disorder.
Instead of dismissing the victims of bullying as weaklings who are in need of toughening up, how about approaching the problem of bullying from a relational point of view? There are multiple issues that contribute to the severity of bullying in today's culture. Yes, we should help empower victims. But we also need to educate and teach empathy and tolerance to those who act as bullies.
If you think the only two parties involved in bullying are the aggressors and the targets, think again.
The bystanders who click “like” on vicious Facebook status updates and who retweet cruel tweets are part of the problem. The companies that churn out mounds of advertisements and products sexualizing women and children are culpable, because sexualization is rooted in misogyny and homophobia. The TV shows and movies that rely on stereotypes for cheap laughs in their story lines contribute to the problem. The media, with their endless focus on looks and money and power, feed the frenzy of entitlement that enables bullying. The ugly competitiveness between people, each trying to reach the top, leads to underhanded behaviors that harm us all.
The answers? Collaboration. Empathy. Education. Awareness. Endlessly advocating for change. Practicing how to do better.
To learn more about the culture of bullying and how to end the cycle of fear, please read Bullied: What Every Parent, Teacher, and Kid Needs to Know About Ending the Cycle of Fear, available today in paperback! Click here to get it from Amazon and here to get it from Barnes & Noble.
In the year since the hardcover came out, Bullied has won multiple awards, largely thanks to the following hardworking groups and inspiring individuals who either gave me interviews for the book or who are supporting my work post publication:
***Dorothy Espelage, Chase Masterson, Trudy Ludwig, Annie Fox, Michele Borba, Stan Davis, Melissa Wardy, Jean Kilbourne, Lyn Mikel Brown, Rosalind Wiseman, Peggy Orenstein, Rachel Simmons, Ashley Eckstein, Robyn Silverman, Bonnie Burton, Jenna Busch, Lori Day, Jo Paoletti, Inês Almeida, Michele Sinisgalli-Yulo, Sue Scheff, Amy Jussel, Rina Campbell, Judy Freedman, Jamie Gumbrecht, Emanuella Grinsberg, the ChicagoNow bloggers, Jimmy Greenfield, Anne Collier, Sarah Hoffman, Sarah Buttenwieser, Cheryl Kilodavis, the Anti-Defamation League, the 501 st Legion, the Antibullying Coalition, San Diego Comic-Con, No H8 Campaign, United Nations Associations, Cartoon Network's Stop Bullying: Speak Up, GLSEN, Girl Scouts, IBPA, Pigtail Pals Ballcap Buddies, the team at HarperOne, Foundry Literary & Media, and of course my husband Andrew, my three little girls, our families and friends!
http://www.chicagonow.com/portrait-of-an-adoption/2013/08/stop-telling-kids-that-being-bullied-will-make-them-stronger-its-not-true-and-here-is-why/
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Australia
Outrage as man walks free after admitting sex with girl, 13
by Kevin Rawlinson
ANTI-SEXUAL abuse campaigners have reacted angrily after it emerged that a man who admitted having sex with a 13-year-old girl walked free from court.
His victim was described by the judge and prosecution as sexually "predatory".
Neil Wilson, 41, faces having his eight-month suspended jail sentence reviewed after the Attorney General Dominic Grieve agreed to look into the case yesterday.
And the Crown Prosecution Service was forced to admit that its own prosecutor acted "inappropriately" when he placed a portion of the responsibility upon the victim in court.
Campaigners and charities demanded answers after the "victim blaming" language came to light following weeks of campaigning to better represent and protect women in Britain.
Following complaints, the Attorney General's office will consider whether or not to ask the Court of Appeal to decide if the sentence given to Wilson was unduly lenient.
For more than two weeks, writer Caroline Criado-Perez has been leading a fight against the threats of violence online, which followed her banknote victory. Speaking today, she said: "This latest incident is the very front line of the sexism that still pervades UK society.
For two weeks, Twitter has been awash rape and death threats against women who dare to speak out against abuse. The women are accused 'provoking' them.
"Now we have seen where this kind of attitude ends up: with what looks like a judge calling a 13-year-old girl a 'sexual predator' and letting her abuser off with a suspended sentence."
Deputy Children's Commissioner Sue Berelowitz added her voice to the chorus of anger, saying that the judge's behaviour was "of the deepest concern" and called the sentence "lenient".
She was joined by charities and other campaigners; among them the people behind the Everyday Victim Blaming website, who set up a petition on the campaigning website Change.org demanding change at the CPS.
The number of signatories was approaching 3,000 last night.
Their anger followed the comments made by prosecution lawyer Robert Colover.
In sentencing, Judge Nigel Peters apparently accepted the suggestions that Wilson's teenage victim, who cannot be named for legal reasons, was complicit in the abuse; despite her being well below the age of consent.
The girl was accused in court of 'egging her abuser on' and was described as "looking older" than her thirteen years, something the judge said he would consider in Wilson's favour.
But anti-rape campaigners railed at the accusation that the young victim was promiscuous. They argued that it helped facilitate the sexual abuse of children.
The support group Rape Crisis (England and Wales) said it was "appalled and bitterly disappointed" at what it called "shocking and entirely unacceptable treatment of a 13-year-old sexual violence victim in court".
A spokesman said that the charity "utterly refutes the strong implication of the judge's comments that a child's behaviour can somehow mitigate that of an adult who perpetrates sexual violence against her".
The spokesman added: "This is not only a gross misinterpretation of the law but also a sad and clear signal that we still have some way to go before rape survivors can confidently expect both social and criminal justice in this country."
And Barnardo's deputy director of strategy Alison Worsley called the judge's comments "plain wrong", adding: "It is difficult to imagine the torment experienced by the vulnerable victims of crimes such as these.
Many turn in on themselves and have feelings of shame and even self-loathing on top of the psychological scars inflicted by the abuser.
"It takes immense bravery for these young people to relive their ordeal in a court of law and we must not forget that it is the abuser who is guilty and not the victim."
One woman, who said she was sexually abused as a child, told The Independent that she "could have been that 13-year-old girl".
She added that child victims of abuse often do not see themselves as victims at all because of the grooming process they have been put through.
Angela (not her real name), 37, said that was the way she felt during six years of sexual abuse at the hands of her stepfather as a child.
She said that, because of the abuse, she believed love to simply be a sexual act from an early age.
Angela, whose ordeal started at the age of seven, said: "He told me that it happens in every family. I believed him because he was in a position of trust."
"As a result of the abuse, I adopted some behaviour that could have been described as sexually predatory; in the same way as this girl's was described. My understanding, as a young child, was that affection and being close to people was about doing sexual acts."
She said that, when she told her story to police after confiding in a school friend, not even her mother believed her and she was said by a family member to be "very close" to her step-father.
He was never prosecuted, she added. "It was my word against his." When, as an adult, she said was raped again, she did not report it because she said she did not think she would be believed.
The attitude that victims, particularly children, are complicit in their own abuse means that there will be more and more stories like hers, Angela said.
Wilson was told by Judge Nigel Peters that he had taken account the fact his child victim looked older during sentencing at Snaresbrook Crown Court on Monday.
He added: "You have come as close to prison as is imaginable. I have taken in to account that even though the girl was 13, the prosecution say she looked and behaved a little bit older…On these facts, the girl was predatory and was egging you on…"
Wilson will also be supervised by the Probation Service for the next three years and has been banned from contacting children.
He must allow police to examine his computer and attend a sex offenders' programme.
The court also heard that eight images of child sexual abuse and 11 images "involving horses and dogs" were found on his computer.
His case follows other recent high profile cases involving the sexual abuse of children, including those of Stuart Hall, Jimmy Savile and a host of child sexual abuse gangs found to be operating across the country.
A spokesman for the Attorney General's Office confirmed that the case will be "considered by a law officer (the Attorney or Solicitor General), who will decide whether it should be referred to the Court of Appeal under the Unduly Lenient Sentence (ULS) scheme".
A CPS spokesperson said: "The language used by prosecution counsel was inappropriate. The transgressor in this case was the defendant and he bears responsibility for his criminal acts."
http://www.frasercoastchronicle.com.au/news/outrage-man-walks-free-after-admitting-sex-girl-13/1974809/
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Bodies to be exhumed from notorious Florida reform school for boys
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – Saying it was time to provide answers from a painful period in the state's past, Florida's top officials voted Tuesday to let researchers dig up and try to identify remains buried at a closed reform school for boys.
Former students have accused employees and guards at The Dozier School for Boys of physical and sexual abuse, so severe in some cases it may have led to death. The Florida Department of Law Enforcement investigated, but in 2009 the agency concluded it was unable to substantiate or dispute the claims.
Researchers at the University of South Florida hope to identify boys in unmarked graves, and perhaps return them to family members for a proper burial.
In its quest to exhume bodies, the university was rebuffed by a judge and by one state agency before Gov. Rick Scott and Florida Cabinet members approved the plan Tuesday.
Researchers received nearly $200,000 from state legislators to begin their project later this month on the site 60 miles west of Tallahassee. The decision by the governor and others came despite opposition of some Jackson County residents who maintain the effort will result in negative publicity.
Attorney General Pam Bondi said the state needed to act.
"We have to look at our history, we have to go back," Bondi said. "We know there are unmarked graves currently on that property that deserve a proper burial. It's the right thing to do."
The vote triggered a round of applause from former Dozier students at the Cabinet meeting.
John Bonner, who called some of the Dozier employees "vicious," said the university's work could help people and families get answers about what happened at the school.
"There's just so many things that could come out of this that could benefit people," said Bonner, who was at Dozier in the late '60s.
The school opened in 1900 and was shut down in 2011 for budgetary reasons.
Sid Riley, the managing editor of the weekly Jackson County Times, wrote to state officials in July, calling the plans a "terrible project."
"We have an active industrial development program and a tourist development program here. If they proceed with this terrible project, our community will be exposed to over a year of negative publicity," Riley wrote.
Riley said the groups "promoting this effort" would ultimately seek compensation and the "politicians are playing up to the minority voters."
Jackson County Commissioner Jeremy Branch said the project would continue to blemish the county and Marianna, where the school is located. He said he was confused as to what the exhumation of the bodies would discover.
"Are we trying to determine if bad things happened 100 years ago in America?" Branch said. "We know bad things happened in America."
Researchers said they have already used historical documents to discover more deaths and gravesites than what the law enforcement agency found.
Researchers said they verified the deaths of two adult staff members and 96 children — ranging in age from 6 to 18 — between 1914 and 1973.
Records indicated 45 people were buried on the 1,400-acre tract from 1914 to 1952 and 31 bodies were sent elsewhere, leaving some bodies with whereabouts unknown.
In May, a judge rejected a request to exhume bodies from what is called "Boot Hill Cemetery," saying the case did not meet the "threshold" to grant the order.
Secretary of State Ken Detzner, who reports to Scott, said in July his agency lacked the legal authority to grant a permit even though the land is state-owned. That led to a push by Bondi to get approval from the state agency that oversees state land. The agency is controlled by Scott and the Cabinet.
Documents obtained by The Associated Press show State Archaeologist Mary Glowacki in late April distributed a list of recommendations to the head of the state's Division of Historical Resources, raising questions about the project.
The list asked questions about why an entire cemetery had to be disturbed and she raised doubts about the ability of researchers to find and identify everyone buried there.
http://www.foxnews.com/us/2013/08/07/university-researchers-get-permission-to-exhume-bodies-from-florida-reform/
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California
AMBER Alert issued for San Diego siblings traveling with suspect in mother's murder
by Erin Ivie
SAN DIEGO -- A statewide AMBER Alert has been issued in search of an 8-year-old boy and 16-year-old girl who authorities believe disappeared from their San Diego County home with the man suspected of killing their mother and setting his house on fire Sunday evening.
Siblings Hannah Anderson and Ethan Anderson remained unaccounted for Monday evening following a house fire Sunday that turned up the body of their 44-year-old mother, who authorities believe was murdered by 40-year-old James Lee DiMaggio inside of his Boulevard home.
San Diego County authorities responded to the home in the 2000 block of Ross Avenue about 8 p.m. and discovered the home and detached garage engulfed in flames, Lt. Glenn Giannantonio said. While extinguishing the blaze, crews discovered the body of Christina Anderson, the mother of the missing children, along with a slain dog.
Minutes later, crews uncovered the body of a child in the charred remains of the home's garage, Giannantonio said. The child has not been identified, and authorities would not say whether the child's body may be that of either Hannah or Ethan Anderson.
While DiMaggio and Christina Anderson were not dating, officials said, the two were in a "close, platonic relationship," and the man is known to both of her children. Authorities believe DiMaggio may be traveling to either Canada or Texas, and issued a statewide alert to reflect this possibility.
DiMaggio is thought to be traveling with one or both children in a blue Nissan Versa, California license plate 6WCU986.
Hannah is described as a white female with blond hair and blue eyes, about 5 feet 7 inches tall and weighing about 115 pounds. She has a belly button ring, nose stud and both of her ears pierced. Ethan is described is a white male, about 4 feet 11 inches tall and 65 pounds.
Anyone with information about the whereabouts of Hannah Anderson, Ethan Anderson or James Lee DiMaggio is asked to contact the San Diego County Sheriff's Office at 858-565-5200.
http://www.mercurynews.com/breaking-news/ci_23803011/amber-alert-issued-san-diego-siblings-traveling-suspect
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New Jersey
Camden priest-abuse suit to proceed despite 'recovered memory' controversy
Alleged victim says he recalled it only recently
by Jim Walsh
CAMDEN — A Camden man who claims he was molested as a child by a South Jersey priest can argue in court he repressed memories of the abuse for more than 40 years, a federal judge has ruled.
Mark Bryson contends he was repeatedly assaulted in the late 1960s by the Rev. Joseph Shannon at St. Anthony of Padua Parish in Camden. But Bryson also says he only remembered the abuse in February 2010 — an assertion key to a lawsuit he filed last year against the Diocese of Camden.
Bryson's awareness of any alleged abuse could affect the two-year statute of limitations for his lawsuit. Bryson, who now lives in Ohio, contends the 24-month period began when his memory returned.
In contrast, the diocese contends the deadline passed two years after Bryson's 18th birthday.
“There's controversy over the issue of recovered memory,” Peter Feuerherd, a diocesan spokesman, said Friday. “We dispute the issue of recovered memory in this particular case.”
U.S. District Judge Jerome Simandle Thursday said he will hold a hearing in his Camden courtroom to address the statute of limitations issue. The session, known as a Lopez hearing, will be held Oct. 15 and 16.
Simandle rejected requests by the diocese to dismiss Bryson's case and strike the testimony of his proposed expert witness.
Bryson, who was born in 1961, claims he was molested as a first-grade student at his parish school in the Cramer Hill neighborhood. He asserts his memories were suppressed by “traumatic amnesia” until an incident in February 2010.
According to the ruling, Bryson was living in Florida when his wife “accessed a website listing sex offenders living in their police district.”
“One offender lived on their street, often wore black and resembled a priest,” Simandle's decision said.
When Bryson realized his neighbor was a sex offender, the opinion continues, “the memories of abuse by Shannon flooded back in.”
According to a report from Bryson's expert witness, sex-abuse counselor Mary Gail Frawley-O'Dea of Charlotte, N.C., “it is not unusual for sexual abuse victims to dissociate those experiences, having amnesia for the memories until some environmental cue triggers them into consciousness.”
She said Bryson's description of how his memories returned “is not unusual among adult survivors of childhood sexual abuse.” According to the opinion, Bryson said he “cried and wailed” as he first recalled the alleged abuse.
But Frawley-O'Dea produced her findings in two reports, and the second came several months after a court-ordered deadline. As a result, Simandle ruled, the diocese's attorney could depose, or question, Frawley-O'Dea in advance of the hearing.
The judge also ordered Bryson to cover the cost of bringing his witness to South Jersey for that deposition.
Simandle also noted the diocese “may choose to rebut her testimony at the (upcoming) hearing with other expert witness testimony.” He observed, too, that the diocese has indicated “future plans to challenge the scientific validity of memory repression theory.”
The judge also noted he must assess the “extent of prejudice” to the diocese, “which depends in part on the credibility of (Bryson's) memories and the memories of other living witnesses.”
http://www.courierpostonline.com/article/20130805/NEWS01/308050013/?nclick_check=1
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Abused children found to smoke more as teens and adults
by Doree Armstrong
Researchers have long suspected some kind of link between childhood abuse and smoking. But in an interesting twist, a new study from the University of Washington finds a connection not between whether or not abused children will ever begin smoking but to how much they smoke once if do start.
“In other words, people are as likely to smoke whether or not they were sexually or physically abused, but they're inclined to smoke more if they were abused and have a history of smoking,” said Todd Herrenkohl, a professor in the UW School of Social Work.
The paper is published online in the Journal of Adolescent Health.
Herrenkohl and co-authors probed the Lehigh Longitudinal Study, which began in the mid-1970s. Participants were recruited from child welfare abuse and protective service programs, as well as day care programs, private nursery programs and Head Start classrooms in Eastern Pennsylvania.
UW researchers looked specifically for any connection between physical or sexual abuse and adolescent and adult smoking. They found that boys who had experienced either type of abuse and were smokers, smoked more than those who hadn't been abused as a child. For girls who smoked, only those who had been sexually abused smoked more as adolescents. That frequency of adolescent smoking by both girls and boys, in turn, led to increased smoking in adulthood, especially among women.
Lead author Allison Kristman-Valente, a doctoral candidate in social work, found the difference between boys and girls to be one that requires more study.
“There may be other factors at work that we need to disentangle,” she said. “I think the big ‘Aha' finding is the one on gender differences. Hopefully this will encourage other researchers to look at gender differences in smoking among teens and adults.”
In the Lehigh study, slightly more than 50 percent of the participants said they had smoked in adolescence – that's about five times the national average for children ages 12-17. Fifty-seven percent of males and 44 percent of females reported smoking in adolescence. Researchers said they don't know why the rate of smoking was so high in this study. Herrenkohl theorizes that the reasons could have been socioeconomic, geographical, or the fact that participants in this study were already at relatively high risk.
When study participants were evaluated as adults, 49 percent reported smoking in the past year (at nearly equal rates for men and women).
Kristman-Valente said what is of great concern is the fact that so many women who were abused as children were smoking while raising children, and that women who smoke frequently also are less successful in smoking cessation programs.
Since tobacco use often begins in adolescence, researchers say it's important that public policies are in place to try to prevent kids from lighting up a cigarette in the first place.
“Early adversity can persist throughout a person's life, so early intervention or prevention of child abuse can potentially lead to long-term public health benefits,” Kristman-Valente said. “I hope our findings encourage more focus on the connection between child maltreatment and smoking in particular. Not many people look at this consequence, even though smoking is the number one cause of preventable death in the U.S.”
The other co-author is Eric C. Brown, a UW research assistant professor in social work. The research was funded by the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, the National Institute on Drug Abuse, the Office of Behavioral and Social Sciences Research, and the National Institute of Mental Health.
http://www.washington.edu/news/2013/08/05/abused-children-found-to-smoke-more-as-teens-and-adults/
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Pennsylvania
Fontana: Reforming Child Abuse Laws 'Taking a Long Time'
by Kevin Gavin
A Pittsburgh-area state lawmaker believes last week's conviction of a former Pittsburgh Public Schools police officer demonstrates the need for immediate reporting of suspected child abuse.
Robert Lellock, 44, of Pittsburgh was convicted of sexually assaulting four boys at the Rooney Middle School on the North Side during the 1998-99 academic year.
State Sen. Wayne Fontana (D-Allegheny) said if his mandatory reporting of abuse of children had been law “a full aggressive investigation likely would have ensued.” The school principal at the time told Lellock's supervisor about his suspicions, but the victim refused to talk to police.
In July 2012 one of the victims came forward leading to an investigation during which three other victims were found.
Fontana's measure (SB 31) is part of a 16-bill package being considered in the Senate.
“This legislation is about reporting, mandatory reporting to not just a supervisor but to either police or Childline regardless of whether you're a school employee or not and regardless of what type of abuse you see,” Fontana said.
He said his bill eliminates confusion about who should report suspected child abuse and to whom.
“I think all of these things become very apparent and very precise in the legislation, and I think it shows that we as a legislature are paying attention to the needs of our children and the issues that are out there concerning child abuse,” Fontana said.
The legislative package, all assigned to either the Aging and Youth Committee or the Communications and Technology Committee, would:
• Update to the definition of “child abuse” (SB 20)
• Expand the list of mandatory reporters (SB 21)
• Increase the penalty for failure to report child abuse (SB 22)
• Expand the definition of “perpetrators” to include employees or volunteers who have direct regular contact with children (SB 23)
• Create a state database to hold information on child abuse reports (SB 24)
• Create a three digit, statewide phone number for reporting child abuse similar to 911 (SB 26)
• Provide whistleblower protection for child abuse reporting (SB 33) |
Fontana said he first introduced the mandatory reporting bill in 2005, but it never came up for a vote.
But now that bill is part of a bipartisan package.
“(They're) all in position to run for the fall; we'll see what happens,” Fontana said. “I'm optimistic.”
http://wesa.fm/post/fontana-reforming-child-abuse-laws-taking-long-time
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Dozens of websites hacked to host unwanted images of child sex abuse
by Richard Webster
The Internet Watch Foundation (IWF) reported on August 5 that websites worldwide have been hacked over the last six weeks and are now hosting unwanted child sexual abuse photos that are being viewed by unsuspecting Internet surfers.
Thus far, the IWF has received 227 reports of dozens of websites hosting those images of child abuse, according to The Huffington Post.
Included among the hacked websites are several legal porn web sites that are inadvertently forwarding Internet users to the child abuse images.
Susie Hargreaves, chief executive of the IWF, told BBC Radio Five Live: "It means for the person whose accidentally stumbled across it, they're seeing the worst of the worst without any idea of how it actually happened."
Several recent high profile murder trials are bringing increased pressure to bear to act more vigorously against those promoting child porn, as youth advocates and experts contend that there's a very real correlation between those who access images of child sexual abuse and “their obsessions and their actions.”
Mark Bridger, who killed April Jones, and Stuart Hazell, murderer of Tia Sharp, were both found to have accessed child and violent pornography …
The former head of the Child Exploitation and Online Protection (CEOP) agency, Jim Gamble, is one of those advocating for law enforcement agencies to more vigorously go after those intentionally viewing violent child abuse images online, especially considering that those viewers have historically been pretty good at covering their Internet tracks.
"These people will go to great lengths to hide who they are and to distribute to their network."
http://www.examiner.com/article/dozens-of-websites-hacked-to-host-unwanted-images-of-child-sex-abuse
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Oregon
Problem of child sex trafficking in Portland backed up by new numbers, authorities say
by Bryan Denson
Police and federal agents have long described the Portland metropolitan area as a major hub for the sexual exploitation of underage girls.
Now they have numbers that appear to back them up.
At least 469 children in the Portland area were exploited as commercial sex workers from 2009 to 2013, nearly half of them connected to gangs that put them on the street, some of Oregon's top public officials reported Monday.
But those numbers, compiled by a team of researchers at Portland State University, still grossly underestimate the true numbers of exploited children, said Amanda Marshall, the U.S. attorney for Oregon who commissioned the study.
Law enforcement statistics couldn't begin to capture all the victims turned out by pimps. So researchers went to child-welfare agencies -- the state Department of Human Services child welfare section and the nonprofit Sexual Assault Resource Center -- to take a snapshot of the problem, said Marshall, whose lawyers tripled prosecutions of pimps in recent years.
"We've been very proactive," Marshall said, with 13 open criminal cases on the books. "But let me tell you, we could do three times more if we could just keep these kids safe and secure long enough to testify. So we're hoping this data will spur state leadership on this issue to take care of our kids and to send a strong message to our community that in Oregon, our kids are not for sale."
PSU professor Christopher Carey and master's student Lena Teplitsky found that 96 percent of victims are female, nearly 3 percent are male and 1 percent are transgender.
Perhaps the most eye-popping statistic released during the news briefing at the Mark O. Hatfield U.S. Courthouse was that 27 percent of the sexually exploited children were African American, a percentage nearly five times greater than the population of African Americans in Multnomah County. Forty percent of victims were white, and 5 percent Hispanic.
Nearly two out of three victims who are now assisted by the Sexual Assault Resource Center struggle with substance abuse.
Comparative data from other U.S. cities won't be available until other communities compile similar data from social service agencies, officials said.
U.S. Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Oregon, said the numbers -- even without law enforcement data -- confirm what public officials have been saying for years.
"Now we have concrete proof that sex trafficking is not just going on in the dark corners of Asia," he said. "Sex trafficking is going on in our community."
Wyden said his confirmation came recently during a ride-along with police on Portland's 82nd Avenue, a stretch known for its prostitution. The experience gave him a startling look at the extent of sex trafficking, where women carried what he called "tools of the trade" -- including long knives -- simply to survive their nights on the streets.
The study showed that the average age of victims was 15.5 years when they were first referred to DHS and the Sexual Assault Resource Center. The youngest of them was 8 years old. Sixteen percent of all the victims have had a baby.
Nearly one in five has a family history of exploitation, and 11 percent were exploited by members of their own family.
Slightly more than 49 percent of victims have an affiliation with gangs, which have discovered that exploiting children for commercial sex acts is more lucrative than running drugs or guns, Marshall said.
http://www.oregonlive.com/portland/index.ssf/2013/08/portlands_role_as_hub_of_child.html
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Wounded Attachment: Relationships of Survivors of Childhood Sexual Assault
by Valerie Kuykendall-Rogers, MA, LPC-S
In my work with adult survivors of sexual assault, I am beginning to notice a pattern of behavior that I have termed “wounded attachment.” The impact of childhood sexual assault has reverberating effects on almost every facet of survivors' livelihood, from relationships with family, friends, partners, spouses, and children to their jobs, finances, faith, etc. It is as if sexual assault redefines one's pattern of and trajectory in life.
Sexual assault is the act of forcing, enticing, intimidating, or coercing another person to engage in a sexual activity , from fondling to coitus, when the other person is unwilling or unable (as is the case of one who is underage, drugged, or unconscious). Imagine yourself as a child, seeing the world through a child's eyes, and then being introduced to a violent act —an act that serves to not only damage one's physical body and mental/cognitive mind-set, but also disrupt one's spiritual being.
This one act for some—repeated acts of violence for others—does untold amounts of damage to one's psyche. Yet the resilience I've witnessed from many who choose to live their lives after the violence is remarkable. Unfortunately, for many the damage is such that many are unaware of how it has skewed their way of looking at the world. This sometimes is displayed in the relationships subsequent to the sexual assault.
Far too often, survivors believe that once the assault ends, it is done and they don't need to talk about it. Yet the choices made, the decisions not made, and the relationships that come afterward tell a different story. Wounded attachment is an insidious component that I have seen repeatedly in my work with adult survivors of childhood sexual assault. What is wounded attachment? It's the unconscious way of being attracted or attached to someone or something that reminds the survivor of or reinforces the wound/ trauma, or in this case the sexual assault. At its core, it's the way in which survivors subconsciously seek out relationships that reinforce the wounded aspect of themselves.
Sometimes it is displayed in the choice of employment/work. For example, survivors may find themselves working at a job that belittles them, makes them feel worthless, or where they feel like they have to make everyone else happy at the expense of their own happiness, thereby reinforcing their wounded concept of self. Another example is when a survivor is continually engaged in romantic relationships that serve to reinforce the wounded parts of self.
As a child, depending on when the assault occurred and the developmental stage in which it occurred, the person seeks to please the adult and gain affection, attention, nurturing, love, trust, etc. A child who has been sexually assaulted blurs that idea of love, nurturing, trust, attention, and affection, and begins to believe that the only way to receive love, attention, etc., is to please the “assaulter.” This remains in effect as the child matures into adulthood.
Although the assault is no longer occurring, if the child did not receive any type of counseling, intervention, or effective treatment to process and repair the damage to the mind, body, and psyche, then this adult is continuing to live out the wounds experienced as a child. As such, the adult becomes caught in a cycle of relationships that reinforce the wounded attachments. Awareness of this plays a crucial role in helping adult survivors of sexual assault move toward recovery, resiliency, and healing.
http://www.goodtherapy.org/blog/wounded-attachment-relationships-of-survivors-of-childhood-sexual-assault-0627135
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United Kingdom
Our pity for child victims must also extend to the ones that survive
If the child victims grow up – with all the scars and struggles needed to survive – the story changes and we ignore them
by Tanya Gold
The killers of Daniel Pelka, 4, identified as his mother and stepfather, were jailed for life last week; all that was left to contemplate was pages of newsprint detailing his torture. There is an accepted convention in such cases. Strangers erupt with terror and fury; photographs of the haunted child, now so remote, are circulated; relatives swear ignorance or revenge; the dismantling of a civilised criminal justice system seems, briefly, attractive, the better to punish the monsters in our midst; social workers, too often slammed for over-interference, are damned for the opposite, and chased away from their vocation like perpetrators; the local MP calls, inevitably, for resignations.
The facts – that it is almost impossible to prevent dedicated and duplicitous psychopaths murdering children without placing thousands more in care, and that child murder has declined dramatically since the 1970s – are ignored. Then, nothing.
We have, it seems, infinite pity for a tormented child, and this is righteous. But when – if – they grow up, what happens? If a victim child becomes a victim adult – a survivor with all the scars and struggles of a survivor – where is the pity then?
Abused children are often, it is too obvious to type, disturbed. In its report Justice for Young People the Howard League for Penal Reform notes: "those [children] involved in violence were significantly more likely than their non-violent counterparts to be: victims of crime and adult harassment; engaged in self-harming and parasuicidal behaviour; exhibiting a range of problematic health risk behaviours including drug use, regular alcohol consumption, disordered patterns of eating, and symptoms of depression; having more problematic family backgrounds; and, for girls in particular, coming from a background characterised by extreme poverty." The science is well-established. Loved children learn to love easily; hated children, less so. Early intervention, costly and difficult, can limit the damage.
So how do we respond, beyond the convention above, best illustrated, I think, by the deputy prime minister Nick Clegg's reassuring, if meaningless, "his [Daniel Pelka's] death should be on all of our consciences"?
Where, for example, is the fury at the rise in child poverty, which reverses a dramatic decline in the early years of the century? Now 4.7 million children are projected to be living in poverty by 2020. These are cruel times and much nonsense is written of the fecklessness of the low-paid and unemployed, even as vital support services (community care grants and crisis loans and so forth) are ripped away from the most desperate, considered too luxurious for these worthless creatures. What is left unwritten is that poor adults have poor children; poverty is stressful, and worse, and these children are more likely to be abused than others. Is this on all our consciences?
Where is the fury at the criminalisation of vulnerable children? No country in western Europe criminalises children more swiftly than Britain; criminalisation is almost always the opposite of rehabilitation, which is by far the better course. No matter. You can stand in the dock of the Old Bailey at the age of 10 in England, in a grotesque parody of the Monty Python sketch where a child is condemned to death by John Cleese; in Scotland it is eight. In 2011 203,408 children were arrested, of whom 2,006 were under 11; as the Howard League for Penal Reform notes: "Wrongdoing by children in England and Wales is more likely to receive a criminal justice response than a welfare one." Is this on all our consciences too?
In the nightmare landscape of abused children, institutional care is often the better choice, but it is imperfect and under-funded. The Lib Dem MP Sir Alan Beith, the chair of the Commons justice committee, was appalled to find "one example of the police being called to a children's home to investigate a broken cup. Poor behaviour," he said, "which would be dealt with within the family, should not be an express route into the criminal justice system for children who do not have the benefit of a normal family life."
Even so, the Oxford abuse scandal exposed female children leaving care to be raped, and returning; the girls complained to police and social services, and were repeatedly ignored or, as is characteristic in these cases, because skilled paedophiles know how to choose their victims, disbelieved. This happened in the Jimmy Savile case too, because a raped child is too often considered an unreliable witness; as the ex-editor of Newsnight, Peter Rippon, noted when dropping the Savile story, they "just" had the testimony of the now grown women.
The popular lesson learnt from Oxford was not, it seems, that there had been a grotesque failure to protect vulnerable children; but that Pakistani men are particularly prone to paedophilia, another nonsensical conclusion, another populist fart in the wind. Is this on all our consciences too?
It is curious how age stops pity. Society, it seems, is more comfortable with a victim that is small, pliant, grateful, silent. Let them grow, and watch the story change.
http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2013/aug/04/pity-child-victims-survivors-ignore
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Pennsylvania
Lellock victim disclosed sex abuse at school 3 times before case
by Adam Brandolph
One of Robert Lellock's victims told at least three entities, including Pennsylvania State Police, that the former Pittsburgh Public Schools police officer molested him as a teenager.
None took the reports far enough to hold Lellock responsible.
It took a phone call to the school district last summer for the victim, then 28, to learn school officials were not aware of his complaints. The district immediately reported to police.
Experts say they are not surprised it was difficult for him to find someone to listen.
“When young children disclose (abuse), we might pay a little more attention,” said Nancy Mills, manager of A Child's Place at Mercy, a sexual abuse advocacy center. “Adult surviving victims are looked at with a great deal more scrutiny.”
Now 29, the victim is one of four men who accused Lellock of pulling them from class at Arthur J. Rooney Middle School in Brighton Heights, taking them into a janitor's closet and fondling them during the 1998-99 school year.
A jury last week found Lellock guilty on 13 counts.
The victim told the jury that he confided in a drug and alcohol counselor at Gateway Rehabilitation in Aliquippa a few years after the abuse occurred. The counselor urged him to talk to his mother about what happened, but neither she nor the counselor called police.
The Tribune-Review typically does not name victims of sexual assault.
Years later, while at New Castle Youth Development Center, the witness said he again told a counselor, who contacted state police. A trooper went to the youth's home to take his statement, but nothing came of it, he said.
Neither the state police nor Gateway responded to requests for comment.
Investigators in Lellock's case said state police purged records and troopers did not remember the victim.
“If they didn't act on a report, that would be surprising and disturbing. The trickier issue is if they did handle it professionally and just couldn't come up with enough to proceed, which is not uncommon,” said Scott Berko-witz, president and founder of Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network, the country's largest anti-sexual violence group.
A 2007 Pennsylvania law requires people who work around children to report suspected child abuse. Failure to do so is a misdemeanor offense.
A spokesman for Allegheny County District Attorney Stephen A. Zappala Jr. said the office would not decide whether to prosecute those who failed to report until after Lellock's sentencing on Oct. 8.
The victim, who cried when the jury foreman read the verdict, said afterward that telling people he was molested as a child was even more difficult because the perpetrator was a man.
Mills said fewer male victims report abuse by men.
Berkowitz agreed: “Most, or at least many, survivors feel shame for various reasons, but it's a common reaction for males who are abused to be concerned if it means they're gay or if people are going to think they're gay,” he said. “It's definitely something we hear a lot from survivors.”
http://triblive.com/news/allegheny/4478122-74/lellock-abuse-victim#axzz2b616UHDJ
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Michigan
Lansing woman shares story of sexual abuse, lessons learned
by Louise Knott Ahern
There are 60 million survivors of childhood sexual abuse in the United States.
Lansing resident Tashmica Torok is one of them.
This is a story of bravery.
In the summer of 1987, the bodies of six missing girls were found in the desert outside El Paso.
Devil worshipers, some whispered in church. They were stealing girls and committing human sacrifices in the dark.
It was actually a serial killer named David Leonard Wood, but for Tashmica Torok, just 7 years old at the time, the image of Satanists and sacrifices was the scariest thing she'd ever known.
For the first time in her short life, she had found something that frightened her more than her father.
Let's go stargazing , her daddy said one day when she was 8.
Let's take that new telescope I bought you and go look at the constellations. Just you and me.
She never said no to him. She was raised to obey. To sit up straight and chew with her mouth closed, to never say “ain't” or talk back. She was raised to be a good daughter.
But this time, her father headed to the desert. This time, she tried to stand up to him.
Please, Daddy. I want to go home.
He ignored her pleas.
He drove way out into the empty blackness where the stars stretched far and wide, where the phantom bones of six dead girls reached out in her imagination, their skeleton fingers grabbing at her hair and her clothes to pull her down beneath the sand where unseen horrors awaited her, worse than anything she was already living.
Daddy, I want to leave, she cried. I'm scared.
Don't be a baby , he snapped.
Tears burned the backs of her eyelids, aware of an irony she should have been too young to understand.
But I am a baby.
A few months later, a strange red car pulled up outside her family's mobile home. Two men got out wearing Army uniforms. Not the faded green ones her dad wore every day but the fancy ones.
Her mother opened the door and one of the men said something and then her mother began pounding her fist into her hand over and over.
No no no no no, her mother cried. Tears dripped from her chin.
Tashmica ran to her mother and threw her tiny arms around her waist. Poor Mommy. She didn't know the truth about Daddy. She didn't know the things he had done. It's going to be OK, Mommy, Tashmica assured her. It's going to be OK.
And maybe for Tashmica it would be.
Her father was dead. It was over.
She would never have to go stargazing again.
“My name is Tashmica, but most people just call me Firecracker.”
It's July 31, just a few days ago. She's 33 now and standing on a stage in front of 100 people at Art Alley, a renovated gallery and event space in Lansing's REO Town.
She's been planning this event for months. She'll stand before a crowd of strangers, friends and family, and fellow members of her roller derby team — the Lansing Derby Vixens — to describe what happened to her.
The event is the official launch of a new nonprofit she has created called The Firecracker Foundation — named in honor of her derby name. She wants to raise money to pay for counseling services for children who are victims of sexual abuse.
Standing here is its own kind of victory, the culmination of a long journey to understand what happened to her and its impact on her life. She's three years into her own intensive counseling and is finally able to, as she puts it, lavishly love herself.
“There are children who don't know what I know,” she tells the audience, many of whom are wiping tears. “So many children who are abused don't get counseling. What if we as a community decided that children who have survived deserve to have their bravery honored?”
Projected on the white wall behind her is a slideshow.
A selfie appears of Tashmica with two of her three sons. They're scrunched in cheek to cheek, goofing for the camera.
“My life is pretty awesome,” she says. “Look at those little faces. I am incredibly loved and supported. But before I was all of this awesomeness, I was this little girl.”
Another photo appears. It's Tashmica at 6, catching herself mid-fall in her first pair of roller skates outside her grandparents' house in Sheridan.
“This was around the time of my first memory of being sexually abused,” she says, her voice tightening.
Those who aren't already crying begin to clutch their tissues.
Speaking Up
Tashmica was 9 when a man came to her classroom to speak. Her father had been dead a year, and she had never told anyone about the abuse.
No one is allowed to touch you down there , the man told the class.
Her heart began to race. Memories she had already worked to forget came rushing back, making her sweat.
I'm teaching you how to be a wife , her father would tell her. It's just like those National Geographic pictures. But you can't tell anyone because people will hate me for it. They won't understand.
Guilt is a powerful tool, Tashmica says. You can make a little girl do anything if she's convinced your happiness, your entire reputation as an upstanding man of God and country, depends on her. So she did do what he told her to.
She watched the weird movies with grown-ups doing gross things. She acted them out with him. She laid silently in her bed, didn't call for help like she wanted to, when her bedroom door creaked open at night.
Afterward, he would make her kneel beside him and pray. While he asked for God's forgiveness, she just asked for Him to make it stop.
When her father died, she thought she had killed him with her prayers.
The man in her class told the children to close their eyes. Anyone who has been hurt or touched in a bad way, raise your hand so we can help you.
Tashmica kept her hands firmly in her lap, afraid other kids would peek behind squinted lids and discover her secret. Still, something had changed inside her.
There was a strange relief in knowing there was a name for what her father had done to her and that she wasn't alone. Why should she have to keep this secret? Why should she feel bad? Her father was gone. She had nothing to fear anymore.
At the end of the day, she beckoned her teacher to her desk.
“Mrs. Pease, can I talk to you?”
Her teacher led her out of the classroom.
Her bravery wavered and she began to cry.
My dad used to make me do things , she said.
Other Challenges
“Do you know what happens to a child's brain when they're abused?”
Tashmica asks the question without waiting for an answer.
“They don't develop the same way other kids do who are not abused.”
She's sitting on the front porch of her home near Moores River Drive, a historic two-story that once belonged to her husband's grandparents.
There are plants everywhere — a small flower garden out front that has overgrown its boundaries, a potted cactus that her youngest son wants to water every day, and a vine that won't obey.
She bought the vine at Meijer. It grows wild against her wishes, clinging to the railing when she'd rather it climb the trellis. She dotes on it despite its stubbornness. She picks off its yellow, dead leaves, waters it, tries to redirect its energy.
Tashmica never realized until her counselor pointed it out to her just a few years ago how much she is like that vine — fighting against something that is deeply programmed.
A child's brain is an unblemished wilderness, Tashmica says. Every interaction is like a brand, making a mark that will last forever.
“I've spent a lot of time researching this,” she says. “At the time I was abused, my brain should have been learning certain things, but it wasn't able to.”
She's right. Numerous studies have shown that abused children can suffer long-term developmental and emotional delays because of the physical stress caused by fear.
The fight-or-flight response that allows humans to react when presented with danger is never fully honed in a victim of abuse, according to a group called Adults Surviving Child Abuse. They learn to detach themselves from pain, coping by avoiding.
And that one missing development in a survivor's brain can cause problems later in life.
Survivors are more likely to become depressed or have problems with drugs and alcohol, according to a group called Child Help .
They're 25 percent more likely to get pregnant as teens or get someone pregnant and 59 percent more likely to be arrested as juveniles. Nearly 15 percent of sexual abuse victims will attempt suicide.
Thirty percent will eventually abuse their own children.
Somehow Tashmica survived all that. She never got into drugs or alcohol. She didn't sleep around, didn't get an STD, has never thought of killing herself and has never hurt her children.
But like the vine on her porch, there are things she can't help either. And they nearly cost her everything that mattered.
Painful Process
There came a moment — it was brief and many years ago, but it happened — when Paul Torok felt cheated.
He's a man of deep faith who believes God has a plan for everyone and brings people into our lives for a reason. But even he went through a period where he thought, This isn't what I signed up for.
They were together just a few months when she told him she was an abuse survivor. She just blurted it out, he says, like it was no big deal. But Paul was devastated. When you love someone, it's unbearable to imagine anyone ever hurting them.
She assured him she was over it, and he believed her. Things changed, however — she changed — after they had children. He had a vision of what family life should be, and she wasn't living up to it.
She was often gone, off with whatever group she had joined to save starving children or AIDS orphans, instead of spending time with own kids at home. Even when she was home, she was gone — buried in her laptop or smartphone.
When he complained, she got defensive. When she got defensive, he retreated. When he retreated, resentment took over and grew into a hard ball in his stomach.
For a man who never imagined divorce in his life, the D word became a whisper in his mind.
They started marriage counseling when Tashmica was just 25. They did it again after the birth of their second son. A third time after their third child was born.
It wasn't until then — that third round of counseling — when they realized how much of their problems were directly related to the abuse.
For the first time in her adult life, Tashmica was forced to accept that she wasn't really over it, that she was still broken. For the first time in their marriage, Paul understood what that fact meant for him.
You learn what it truly means to be compassionate, he says. You learn to recognize your own faults, how your own expectations can be a form of control. You learn to be patient, to respect, to love purely, without judgment.
Last week, he was jittery with nerves as she took the stage. What if people didn't accept her message? What if she was too honest and people used it against her? What if she broke down?
Then she began to talk. All his worries went away.
He used to get frustrated whenever Tashmica threw herself into some new cause or another. Not this time.
Tashmica never got counseling as a child, he says. Would things have been different for her if she had?
Little Victories
Tashmica was born in the posterior position, facing up.
“Did you know they call those babies?” she says, smiling at the irony. “They're called stargazers.”
She tilts her cellphone toward the sky, the screen lighting up with a nighttime map of stars. She has a new app on her phone that identifies all the constellations. Maybe she'll teach them to her sons.
“There's Gemini,” she says. “And the Big Dipper. Everyone knows that one.”
She hasn't done this since that summer when her father bought the telescope and took her to the desert. His betrayal still burns.
“The telescope was a ruse,” she says, “and the stars a trap.”
Maybe part of her blamed the stars. Maybe she hated them for what they saw, the secrets they knew and protected.
She has a vision of her life as one slow climb from a dark ditch. New Tashmica carries old Tashmica. Old Tashmica is bloodied and broken, muddy and heavy. New Tashmica limps and she winces sometimes, but she's stronger than before.
She sets down the old Tashmica at the top of the hill and immediately turns around.
“Where are you going,” Old asks her.
“Back to the dark,” New says.
“Why?”
“Because there are others who need help getting out.”
She lays down on a blanket on the ground, holding her cellphone this way and that in search of Orion. She's planning a vacation with her family soon to the Upper Peninsula, where the skies are big and the stars spread far and wide.
That's what healing looks like, she says. It's little victories every single day that let you know you're going to be OK.
It's reclaiming things that were stolen. It's lavishly loving yourself and knowing you don't deserve to suffer.
It's gazing at the stars, knowing what they've seen, and not hating them for it.
Signs of abuse
There are physical, behavioral and emotional signs that a child may have been sexual abused, according to the Rape, Abuse and Incest National Network (RAINN).
Physical
• Difficulty walking or sitting
• Bloody, torn, or stained underclothes
• Bleeding, bruises, or swelling in genital area
• Pain, itching, or burning in genital area
• Frequent urinary or yeast infections
• Sexually Transmitted Infections, especially if under 14 years old
• Pregnancy, especially if under 14 years old |
Behavioral
• Inappropriate sexual knowledge or behavior
• Nightmares or bed-wetting
• Large weight changes/major changes in appetite
• Suicide attempts or self-harming, especially in adolescents
• Shrinks away or seems threatened by physical contact
• Runs away
• Overly protective and concerned for siblings, assumes a caretaker role |
Emotional
• Withdrawal
• Depression
• Sleeping & eating disorders
• Self-mutilation
• Phobias
• Psychosomatic symptoms (stomachaches, headaches)
• School problems (absences, drops in grades)
• Poor hygiene/excessive bathing
• Anxiety
• Guilt
• Regressive behaviors - thumb-sucking, etc. |
http://www.freep.com/article/20130804/FEATURES08/130804008/lansing-sexual-abuse-assault-lessons-learned
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Alaska
Substantiated child abuse claims face scrutiny in Alaska, regardless of severity
by Suzanna Caldwell
Last month, a Bethel man admitted to sexually abusing several children who were left in his care as both a licensed foster parent and unlicensed day care provider.
A review of foster care file of Peter and Marilyn Tony revealed that multiple allegations of sexual abuse had been levied against Peter during his time as foster parent. Tony, 69, has since been charged with 10 counts of sexual abuse of minor in two separate cases.
But whether any lessons can be learned by what happened in Bethel over the 14-year span when the couple was licensed -- from 1984 to 1998 -- remains to be seen.
“(The office of children's services) certainly has been considering that question closely,” said Christy Lawton, director for the last two years of the office that oversees Alaska foster care program said last week. “But the difficulty in really coming to strong conclusions is in the great disparity in how the practice (of foster care licensing) was done then and now.”
Lawton said much has changed about how the agency handles foster-care files since the Tonys lost their license in 1998.
Up-to-date case management systems have been put in place. Cases are documented electronically and more uniformly across the state. Working in partnership with law enforcement -- instead of separately -- is routine, and state policies have evolved to help guard against issues the agency encountered in the 1980s and early '90s.
“All of those things dramatically changed,” Lawton said. “It's not an unwillingness (for the office) to identify problems … I think the practice speaks for itself; we found better ways to do it, to keep children safe, and that's been evolution the entire country has gone through, not just Alaska.”
Law enforcement now works directly with OCS to investigate child abuse cases together instead of separately, Lawton said. Child Advocacy Centers, which use a multidisciplinary approach to investigate child-abuse claims, came about in the early 1990s across the country. Alaska's first center -- called Alaska CARES -- opened in Anchorage in 1996.
Lawton said the office is still reviewing “every page” of the files of individual children to “fill in the gaps that we have and people want answers to.”
All claims investigated
According to OCS, there are 1,351 foster homes in the state. Lawton noted that for Fiscal Year 2012 there were 2,700 children in foster care in the state. That same year, there were only 25 cases of substantiated abuse or neglect.
An Alaska Dispatch review of the Tonys' foster-care file revealed five allegations of abuse against Peter Tony in his 13 years as a foster parent in Bethel. Of those five claims, only one in 1998 was found to be substantiated by OCS. That claim led to the revocation of the Tonys' foster care license. Although substantiated by the state agency, Bethel Police were unsuccessful in getting a disclosure from the victim when the matter was brought to them. No charges were filed in the case until 2013.
The four other claims were found to be unsubstantiated for various reasons, including the “medical condition and psychiatric treatment” of one child.
Would the claims, though unsubstantiated, have raised concerns among social workers?
“Absolutely,” Lawton said.
Still unclear is whether or not case workers in Bethel knew about the prior abuse allegations. Lawton, who joined the agency in 1998 as a social worker, said it's her understanding that records in the 1980s were not tracked the way they are today.
PROBER, a data “warehouse” used by case workers, wasn't fully implemented until the late ‘80s. Even then, the systems were not linked statewide.
While data could have been accessed, Lawton said it was limited, and would instead trigger a social worker to search for a hard copy record of the allegation.
Still, workers could have searched under the name of either the parent, child or perpetrator.
“The next time something came in on the child or that person, we would be able to connect those dots,” Lawton said.
“It was certainly less than efficient,” she said. “It potentially had lots of ways that gaps and things could be missed. It's just not the sophistication that there is today.”
Today the system is more clear cut. All allegations of abuse are recorded, regardless of the level of severity.
For example, instances of “physical punishment,” like a foster parent slapping the head of a child are documented and investigated in the same manner as a more-serious accusation like physical or sexual abuse. It's unlikely minor instances would lead to a license termination, though they would be noted in the foster file.
False reports not uncommon
There is no indication in the Tony foster-care files that any of the claims were made maliciously, though according to those working in foster care, those claims are not uncommon.
Lawton said false reports are neither an extraordinary phenomenon nor pervasive. While it's illegal to make a false report in Alaska, she said it's often “not crystal clear” enough for prosecutors to press charges.
Aileen McInnis, executive director of the Alaska Center for Resource Families, a nonprofit charged with coordinating training and support for foster-care parents, said she warns parents that while they might be targeted with false claims of abuse, those allegations are still taken seriously by the agency.
“We don't assume -- because we like foster homes and think they're great and have done great things for kids -- that just because a child is making a complaint that it's untrue,” McInnis said. “Those complaints are taken very seriously.”
The malicious complaints can come through children, or through biological parents or relatives dealing with already emotional and tumultuous situations.
McInnis said dealing with the abuse claims can often be tiring for foster parents, especially ones caught in custody battles or caring for children who are seeking “revenge” against a foster parent. She noted that foster parents often live in “glass homes” and face intense personal scrutiny. While that can be challenging for some, it's a necessary part of the process.
“The most important thing is child safety,” she said. “That's the bottom line. But it can be really difficult for families and that's hard for the kids that need them.
http://www.alaskadispatch.com/article/20130804/substantiated-child-abuse-claims-face-scrutiny-alaska-regardless-severity
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Pennsylvaniua
Stephens urges state Senate to pass child abuse reporting bill
State Rep. Todd Stephens, R-151st District, is urging the state Senate to pass his bill requiring reports of child abuse cases in light of the arrest of a camp director last month for failing to report a sexual abuse allegation.
“This case illustrates why it's so important we expand the list of those required to report suspected child abuse, and implement serious penalties for failing to meet those obligations,” Stephens said.
In that case, on July 4 in Upper Perkiomen Township a juvenile was sexually assaulted by two other juveniles, and when camp counselors notified the camp director of the attack he failed to report the crime, according to Stephens' office. That counselor, Ryan Wexelblatt, was later arrested and charged by Montgomery County District Attorney Risa Vetri Ferman for failing to report suspected child abuse and related charges, after an anonymous tip that Stephens says would not have been necessary under his House Bill 436.
“Under my bill the other counselors would be required to notify authorities, ensuring an investigation is initiated,” he said.
House Bill 436 would require anyone who accepts responsibility for the care of a child to report any suspected child abuse directly to authorities, and would increase the penalty for failing to do so to a felony charge in some cases.
“While we are all obligated to protect Pennsylvania's children, those in positions of trust or who are responsible for caring for our children must be especially vigilant in reporting suspected child abuse,” said Stephens.
“I am hopeful this arrest will remind people of their obligations, and I hope it will urge the Senate to pass my bill and send it to the governor,” he said.
http://www.thereporteronline.com/article/20130804/NEWS01/130809842/stephens-urges-state-senate-to-pass-child-abuse-reporting-bill
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Texas
CASA: Beginning of school year often reveals child abuse, neglect
Anonymous -- The Weatherford Democrat
The end of summer and the start of a new school year is an exciting time for most children. But for some, the beginning of school could reveal a dark secret when signs of abuse and neglect these children have suffered over the summer are noticed by teachers, staff and other parents.
Last year, schools were the number one source of reports of child abuse and neglect, according to the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services, which includes Child Protective Services. Last year, CPS completed 35,100 investigations as a result of reports from school officials.
“Because children are subject to less adult supervision over the summer, it's not uncommon for reports of suspected abuse and neglect to spike at the start of the school year,” said Barb Tucker, CASA of Palo Pinto and Parker Counties' executive director.
Many of the children who are confirmed as victims of abuse and/or neglect are removed from their homes and placed into foster care — often far from their friends, families and schools. CASA (Court Appointed Special Advocates) volunteers are specially screened and trained to speak up for abused and neglected children who, through no fault of their own, end up in the foster care system.
“Being uprooted from their homes and families is scary for these children. The CASA volunteers in Palo Pinto and Parker Counties want to make sure that these children do not get lost in the overburdened foster care system,” Tucker added.
“For that reason, we need more people in our community to speak up and make sure these children's voices are heard,” Tucker said. “We want to help ensure that their stay in foster care is as short as possible and that they are placed in safe, loving homes quickly so they can begin to heal.”
Currently, there are 295 children in the child protection system in Palo Pinto and Parker counties, and just 102 CASA volunteers to advocate for their best interests.
“Too many children are forced to go through the chaos of moving through the child protection system alone,” Tucker said. “CASA of Palo Pinto and Parker Counties needs more volunteers to step up and be a voice for children who desperately need them.”
CASA volunteers are called into action when children are removed from their home due to abuse and/or neglect and a court case is filed “in the interest of” the children. The judge in the case appoints a trained CASA volunteer to be a voice for the children, and to report their concerns and recommendations.
“CASA volunteers assist all parties to the case by providing information and reports,” explained the Honorable Jerry Buckner, Parker County Court at Law No. 1 Judge.
“Being a CASA volunteer is rewarding and everything that the volunteer does is ‘positive,'” Buckner described. “They assist in determining what is in the best interest of the child. The CASA reports are very valuable to me, in my position as a judge.”
CASA volunteers advocate for children's needs not only in court but also in the child welfare system by helping the children through their struggles in foster care. Importantly, the CASA volunteer's number one goal is to help the child find a safe, loving family.
“We need more dedicated CASA volunteers to walk with children every step of the way and ensure that they are placed into safe, permanent homes as quickly as possible,” Tucker said.
CASA of Palo Pinto and Parker Counties is one of very few CASA programs in the state that provides a CASA volunteer to every case when a judge requests one. However, as the number of child abuse cases grow, so does the need for trained CASA volunteers to be ready to answer the appointment from a judge.
“CASA of Parker County has spoiled me because there has always been a volunteer available (when requested),” Buckner added. “If it were not operated so efficiently, I would be worried all the time as to whether a CASA volunteer would be available to assist the court. It gives me great peace of mind knowing that volunteers are available 100 percent of the time.”
This school year, become a CASA volunteer and help children in need find safe, permanent homes. New training classes begin Sept. 9.
For more information, visit online at www.casapalopintoparker.org or call 817-599-6224 (Parker County) and 940-325-1096 (Palo Pinto County).
http://weatherforddemocrat.com/top-news/x738617372/CASA-Beginning-of-school-year-often-reveals-child-abuse-neglect 
