VERIFY: Facebook posts spreading sex trafficking fears in Midwest

GOLDEN VALLEY, Minn. - As the search for Mollie Tibbetts continues, several alarming social media posts have gone viral, warning of attempted abductions and sex trafficking scares in Iowa, Wisconsin and Minnesota.

Here is one of the posts:

47, yes 47 kids/young adults have gone missing in Iowa over the last week and a half, both female and males, law enforcement believes they were abducted by sex traffickers, and appears could be moving into WI. Please read and share the below copied post. PLEASE READ IF YOU HAVE DAUGHTERS OR LOVED ONES WHO DRIVE ALONE! I heard about a friend whose daughter had a very unnerving experience yesterday while driving by herself on eastbound I-94 coming home from college. Right around Tomah( WI) where I-90 and I-94 meet, a grey Nissan cargo van started following her. Every time she changed lanes, the van changed lanes. When she sped up or slowed down, the van did the same. At one point she exited the freeway to get gas but when the van exited with her she elected not to stop and got right back on the freeway. But so did the van. She was close to HWY 60 when she finally called me and I had her exited and drive to the State Patrol station in DeForest (WI). She made a very evasive maneuver and exited at the very last minute and fortunately the van was unable to follow. (the van had been following her for about an hour). She could not get a license plate number off the vehicle because most of the time the van was so close that she couldn't see the plate. But she did take a picture of the vehicle in her rear view mirror. There were 2 men in the vehicle. Either very tan or Hispanic, both wearing sunglasses. The driver had a large gold watch on his wrist. The State Patrol told her that she was likely the target of sex traffickers. (a young good looking female traveling alone). Even in broad daylight. She's rattled, but fortunately safe. The State patrol officers said she should have called 911 while driving. Told them which direction she was headed and what mile marker she was passing. They would have dispatched officers to intercept the vehicle following her and preserve her safety. (There could have been other girls in the van as well). Please relay this information to your daughters, nieces, cousins, friends etc. Teach the young women/ girls in your life to keep their cool and call 911. And NEVER stop their vehicle if they are bumped from the rear. Keep driving and call 911. ALWAYS CALL 911 IMMEDIATELY IN THESE SITUATIONS. PLEASE COPY AND SHARE THIS AND STAY ALERT!

The first claim we verified: "47, yes 47 kids/young adults have gone missing in Iowa over the last week and a half, both female and males."

Medina Rahmanovic, the head of Iowa's Missing Person Information Clearinghouse, says the statement is likely accurate, but not above average.

"In the last week we probably entered 47 juvenile runaways," Rahmanovic said. "What people don't know is that most of those have returned home after 24 hours."

But instead of referring to the missing juveniles as runaways, the post goes on to make a much more alarming claim: "Law enforcement believes they were abducted by sex traffickers."

Rahmanovic says that is completely false.

"We don't have abducted girls every day in Iowa. It is not a daily occurrence," she said. "We had one person arrested for human trafficking in maybe the last month here in Iowa."

The post goes on to claim that sex traffickers have moved into Wisconsin, describing an incident near the I-90 and I-94 interchange close to the city of Tomah.

KARE 11 checked with the State Patrol in Tomah. They told us they began seeing and hearing about the Facebook post about a month ago but, despite taking calls from several concerned citizens about the post, officers say they have yet to find any reports or calls that match up with the events described.

KARE 11 also spoke to Beth Holger-Ambrose, the executive director of The Link, a Minneapolis nonprofit that helps young victims of sex trafficking. She says they have heard nothing about an increase in attempted abductions in the area, and says the post is based on a largely false assumption about sex trafficking.

"The reality is, we're seeing young people being recruited that are vulnerable due to poverty, homelessness, being abused at home," Holger-Ambrose said. "So traffickers are targeting those populations of young people, versus the population that's being talked about on these Facebook posts."

KARE 11 can verify much of the post is FALSE.

Holger-Ambrose said she wanted to emphasize that sex trafficking remains a serious problem, but misleading and false information can harm the discussion because it often plays to fears and harmful stereotypes.

Rahmanovic says the Iowa Department of Public Safety will continue to answer questions and offer information to the public about real missing person cases. She asks anyone who reads an unverified post online to call and look into it themselves, before sharing it with others.

Why is it OK for Wendy Rogers to make sex trafficking allegations so casually?

Opinion: Sex may sell, but something as serious as sex trafficking allegations should never be used to buy votes.

by Téa Francesca Price, Arizona Republic

Politics is a nasty business.

Campaign rhetoric is constantly digging for a new low, and in a time where “going viral” is a goal, it's little surprise that statements become more outrageous.

Case in point is Arizona's Congressional District 1, where Republican candidate Wendy Rogers made unfounded claims that rival Steve Smith had worked with a modeling agency that had links to sex trafficking.

Smith is now denouncing Rogers, calling for her to drop out of the race and issue an apology to the business dragged into this mess.

Sex trafficking is no casual allegation

Treating the issue of sex trafficking so nonchalantly as to use it as a verbal attack in a political race is unacceptable.

Allegations about such links need to be factual, because trafficking is an ongoing, horrendous activity afflicting not just this country, but the entire world.

If you're going to draw attention to an issue, do it for the right reasons. Such language needs to stop being used as fodder for political mudslinging, because it undermines the severity of a very real problem.

Despite living in an outrage culture where a tweet can incite a war, we shouldn't need to be reminded that sex trafficking – a form of modern slavery – warrants a certain gravité.

Human beings are coerced and forced by traffickers who use lies, violence, threats and debt to engage them in sexual acts against their will. There's a wide range of situations from imprisonment, to manipulative relationships or family members forcing one to sell sex, to false promises of a job, such as modeling.

The connection to Smith is tenuous

Rogers references a 2013 Missouri report from an ABC News affiliate about Model Mayhem, which has been sued in the past due to sexual predators posing as legitimate photographers.

But the third-party website is a hop, skip and pole-vault leap away from Smith. Rogers' ads question Smith's relationship with a local modeling and talent agency, The Young Agency, which has advertised models on Model Mayhem. (For the record, The Young Agency has an A+ rating from the Better Business Bureau).

Political ads may rely on vagueness, but such insinuations are dangerous.

Any type of inappropriate behavior or occurrences that could indicate something as severe as sexual trafficking would need to be thoroughly investigated. So, is that appropriate to use in a political ad against an opponent, when especially if it is unfounded, such comments jeopardize the reputation of a business, not just a candidate?

It seems to be taking a race too far. In a volatile time of misinformation, shouldn't we hold politicians to the same standard of responsibility that we've lately been demanding from social media and the news?

Why water down such a serious term?

Using vocabulary like “sex trafficking” instead of generalizing occurrences as prostitution, is important, because it describes the full societal problem versus a legal infraction.

To mix such terms so casually into politics and discussions online, as we've seen more and more with QAnon and other such conspiracy theories, is distracting from the true issue.

In 2017, the International Labor Organization estimated that, around the world, nearly 24.9 million men, women and children are victims of human trafficking, and that population is disproportionately female and young.

The National Human Trafficking Hotline reported more than 8,500 human trafficking cases last year, with just more than 75 percent of those being sexual in nature.

This is a world where a 16-year-old girl in Sacramento was rescued by a postal worker after she managed to escape captivity, where for three months, she was drugged, beaten and sexually assaulted.

This is a world where children are raped tens of thousands of times, violent acts that fund a disgusting, underground billion-dollar industry.

But is it a world that permits politicians to take such a serious matter, water it down and twist it for selfish political gain?

Téa Francesca Price is a Pulliam Fellow for The Arizona Republic. Reach her at tea.price@azcentral.com

14 survivors on how to spot the signs of emotional abuse and manipulation

"Instead of acknowledging their mistake, they turn it around on you."

Emotional abuse and coercive control is often really hard to spot in relationships. The gaslighting and emotionally manipulative methods perpetrators use, have survivors questioning their own minds - and whether their relationship is really healthy.

"Everyone has arguments, and everyone disagrees with their partners, family members and others close to them from time to time," Katie Ghose, Chief Executive of Women's Aid, says, "but if this begins to form a consistent pattern, if it starts to make you feel intimidated, controlled or fearful, then it's a sign that you could be in an abusive relationship."

Katie adds, "Taken in isolation, some of the behaviours may seem like small or harmless acts, but together they make up a repeated pattern of behaviour that is frightening and upsetting."

Here, 14 survivors explain the signs someone's behaviour is emotionally abusive or manipulative.

1. "Arguing over trivial things and making you apologise, not letting you wear what you want, name calling, getting angry if you don't reply to texts... " [via]

2. "Overreacting to things. You are upset with them, and calmly explain your feelings. They react wildly to the conversation - getting very angry and yelling, or sobbing and repeating how much of a terrible person they are. All that was needed was a conversation and an apology, but you get super-defensiveness. Their goal, unconscious or not, is to make it so unpleasant for you to bring up problems that you decide it's not worth it. They never have to hear your issues, so they get to ignore them." [via]

3. "[They're] always playing the victim role, and are usually dramatic with some jealousy and control issues." [via]

4. "Any confrontation ends in you apologising, to the point that you become afraid to bring anything up. In a relationship, they may talk openly about the personality/body parts of other people to make you feel insecure, uncomfortable, or like you need to win them back over. They get angry or upset if you spend time with other people, and will often accuse you of not caring about them or not valuing the friendship/relationship." [via]

5. "Threatening to commit suicide." [via]

"They'll deny the facts and make you feel crazy"

6. "Somebody who is always cool, collected, and charming with strangers, acquaintances, or even friends but becomes hysterical at the drop of a hat with family or partners. They always criticise you, but anything you say to them that isn't absolute worshipful praise is treated as an attack - and gets either the wounded waif, or the attacking rabid dog response. Somebody who will claim they were always loving toward you but that you were always mean to them, no matter how many times they were physically and emotionally abusive." [via]

7. "They will make you feel like you're crazy and deny FACTS, just to not be wrong or to seem like the 'bad' one." [via]

8. "My emotionally manipulative ex, whenever I was just in a really good mood for no particular reason or having a great day, would always say something to start a fight or do something to piss me off. He seemed to get joy from making me mad. Then once my mood was ruined he would say something like, 'Wow what happened? You were so happy a minute ago!'" [via]

9. "When they craftily shift the blame on you, rather than taking responsibility for their own faults. For example, if you get upset at them for for ditching plans or being unresponsive on the phone, instead of acknowledging their mistake, they turn it around on you and make it seem like you're overreacting. Invalidation of emotions and only accepting whatever is convenient for them." [via]

10. "They make you think you're responsible for their reactions, in reality they have full control of that. Even though you may have triggered some strong emotions, they have the choice as to how they respond (e.g. I broke all that furniture because YOU made me angry)." [via]

"Their mood can shift instantaneously"

11. "One second you're not good enough, the worst person ever, you cannot do anything right, and next second they give you a small positive affirmation in order to make you feel like its worth hanging around." [via]

12. "How their mood can shift instantaneously. One moment, they're screaming mad, but if that's not getting the reaction they want, they'll be on the verge of tears, or they'll go to neutrality, or they'll go to 'oh poor me.'" [via]

13. "Not giving real apologies. 'I'm sorry you feel that I did [insert thing here]' - which is denying responsibility, or apologising for being a bad person, a bad partner, or anything to make you feel sorry for them." [via]

14. "My ex's parents supposedly neglected him. His friends supposedly abandoned him. Every single one of his exes supposedly cheated on him, or left him. One of the things he said to me when we first got together is, 'my last ex called me an emotionally unstable man child'. And instead of treating that like the red flag it was, I just felt sorry for him. Almost a year later and I know exactly why he was called that, and why everyone seems to leave him. It's a problem with him, not everyone else." [via]

Child abuse: a primer for military families

by T. Anthony Bell, Senior Writer/Special Projects

FORT LEE, Va. -- Four years ago, a popular National Football League player ignited discussions about the issue of child abuse when he was lawfully charged for leaving bruises and cuts on his 4-year-old son as a result a spanking him with a “switch” or thin tree branch.

Adrian Peterson denied he was abusive, saying he was disciplined the same way as a youngster. Although the athlete crossed the line when he injured his son, he is not alone in using the act of spanking as a means to an end.

In fact, various studies have indicated large portions of the population either practice spanking or believe it to be a viable disciplinary measure. Its survivability is rooted in cultural, religious and traditional beliefs. Spanking is not against the law in the state of Virginia.

Many educators, social workers, therapists and others, however, do not condone spanking as the best way to get a child modify his or her behavior. Spanking, they say, puts parents and children at risk – many parents spank when they are too angry and may cross the line; children can be physically injured and suffer long-term trauma as a result of physical discipline.

“We encourage parents to look at all avenues of discipline rather than relying on the physical discipline because we live in a time in which it is not acceptable, legally and morally,” said LaKetia D. Jones, Family Advocacy Program specialist, Army Community Service.

Jones said alternatives to spanking include:

• Redirecting – focusing on the desired behavior by directing the child away from the undesired behavior

• Explaining to children what they did wrong; encouraging correct behavior

• Putting the child in timeout

• Taking away privileges

According to Army Regulation 608-18, said Jones, spanking or any other form of physical abuse leaving injuries such as bruises lasting more than four hours is reportable and cause for an investigation. That disregards whether the Soldier lives on or off the installation.

Physical discipline also is comparatively ineffective, said Patricia Karthaus, family advocacy social worker, Kenner Army Health Clinic.

“When I think about parenting and discipline, the goal is to help the child learn self-control and manage themselves,” she said, noting physical punishment only instills fear. “Other methods we have teach the child to learn how to be self-controlling, self-soothing and self-monitoring so those behaviors can continue.

“If the control always comes from outside, then the child doesn't always learn except for when somebody goes after them, as in (physical) discipline. But when children learn to remove themselves from problems and learn self-control, then they learn to modulate their behavior better in every environment and then we see them take that with them for the rest of their lives.”

There are other types of child abuse to include emotional, sexual and neglect. Jones said emotional abuse leaves invisible scars and can often go undetected. She cautions parents against making statements to children such as “That's why your mother (or father) left,” and “You'll never be anything” or calling or labeling kids with terms like “stupid,” “dumb” or any word that attacks their self-esteem.

“If you say ‘Oh, you're so stupid!'” said Jones, “That's lasting with that child. Mom or dad may be talking about one act, but the child remembers for years to come that they were called ‘stupid.'”

Jones said abuse – emotional or physical – is likely to occur when parents or caretakers are angry. Regarding physical abuse, she said, adults don't realize the physical strength they are capable of during a heated moment, and they tend to say things they later regret. If parents are prone to such behaviors, they should take time to cool down before taking any action or send the child to his or her room.

“Whether it physically or verbally disciplining your child, in that moment of being angry, if you don't have proper control over your anger, you can say or do things you didn't necessarily intend to do,” she said. “It can go a little bit left of what you planned. You can't do a rewind or re-do once it's been done.”

Those community members needing more information about parenting techniques can call ACS at 804-734-6381. It offers new parenting classes and plethora of resources to help parents to create or maintain healthy and productive relationships with children. They may also visit ACS at it website at: https://lee.armymwr.com/programs/family-advocacy-program

James O'Brien's Deeply Emotional Response To Child Abuse At His School

Yesterday's report said that Ampleforth School "prioritised monks and their own reputations over the protection of children" and that "appalling" abuse of pupils took place.

And James got angry as he talked about not only the monks who raped children, but the other staff at the leading Roman Catholic school who did nothing.

In a deeply emotional monologue, James said: "I wasn't abused. And I wasn't aware of anything like the abuse that has now been revealed in this inquiry, I feel such vicious anger at these men.

"Not only did they rape children and then cover it up, the people that never abused children are complicit in this in a way that I'm going to struggle to articulate.

"But every other parent that sent their child to this school has been robbed of pride in their own achievements.

"It makes me want to weep.

"I don't know how much of the detail you've seen, but oh my God, these boys, these poor, poor, poor boys. Their victims were as young as seven at Ampleforth.

"And do you know what else has come out? They bloody knew.

"The Abbotts, the headmasters, the housemasters, the teachers who weren't actually raping children, they knew about the monks that were. And they did nothing."

Hovland: Iowa's laws on child sexual abuse, endangerment need to change

A bright light needs to be shed on child sexual abuse/endangerment laws in Iowa, mainly plea deals and how they are handed out so freely.

In speaking with several elected leaders, I was told that child abuse was addressed and a bill was passed in the 2018 Legislative session. I found the bill that was passed. It is HF2444, an "Act Relating To Child Abuse Reporting and The Prohibition Of Certain Persons From Involvement With Child Care."

It contains nothing about plea deals, nor does it address the statue of limitations.

In Iowa, it needs to be known that our children are off-limits! In Iowa, it needs to be known that if you abuse a child, either sexually, physically, mentally or through human trafficking, you will be held accountable, whether it is your first offense or you have offended previously.

Currently, Iowa is more lenient if you are a first-time offender! Really? Try explaining that to the child who was abused by this first-time offender! Does that make it any less of a crime? Does that make it any less painful for the abuse that the child suffered? The answer is no!

According to the Bureau of Justice, 98 percent of people charged with federal child sex crimes, which range from human trafficking to child porn, end up in prison. The length of prison time ranges from 70 to 139 months. But, in Iowa courts, many child sex abuse cases result in no conviction, and, unless the offender is convicted of a forcible felony, probation is a common outcome.

In Hardin County alone, there were 48 sex offenses charges filed from 2010 to 2017, according to the Iowa Division of Criminal and Justice Planning. Seventeen resulted in a conviction, and probation was ordered in 21 -- or 57 percent of cases.

In 16 cases, offenders received probation and a prison sentence that may have been suspended by a judge. Again, this is only in Hardin County.

Human trafficking is occurring along Iowa interstates. Our elected officials need to step up in the 2019 Legislative session and shine a bright light on this. Child abuse and human trafficking is and should be a non-political issue for every elected senator and representative. They need to pass strict legislation, with 100 percent voting approval.

In a 2016 trial bargaining brief that is over 101 pages long, Gregory Gilchrist wrote about the increased use of plea deals in our judicial system. He writes, "It would be possible to dramatically increase funding for the entire Judicial System, (courts, prosecutors, defense attorneys, court reporters, etc.) However, there is limited political will for this solution." I say to that, aren't our children worth funding our judicial systems? Aren't our children worth our politicians working together, instead of one side trying to beat the other side on this issue?

Justice For Our Iowa Children will continue to speak up until our elected Iowa leaders have put the fear of God in each and every person who thinks of harming our children; until they speak loud and clear, that if you harm a child in this great state, you will pay a hefty price; until they pass laws that protect our children before protecting the perpetrator; until!

I have received calls from parents of children who have reached out to tell me their stories. I have received calls from adults who told me they were abused as a child, but never talked about it until they saw my articles in the Globe Gazette. A lady from North Iowa drove all the way to Des Moines for the rally on Aug. 4. She told me that she saw it in the Globe Gazette, and wanted to support the cause.

We need to continue the conversation. We need to have an open heart and empathy for those who have lived through abuse.

Justice For Our Iowa Children will hold its next rally on Oct. 5 in Clear Lake, partnering again with "No Plea Deals" (Deborah Yanna).

Barabara Hovland is the founder of Justice For Our Iowa Children, secretary of Republican Party of Iowa and chair of Cerro Gordo GOP. 

Sexual abuse cases and India's failure to protect children

Reports of child abuse at state-run shelters have shocked India, exposing the government's inability to protect children. Authorities have ordered an inquiry, but activists say the culture of abuse is pervasive in India.

A recent report has exposed a series of child abuse cases at the state-run Seva Sankalp Evam Vikas Samiti care home for children. The facility in Muzaffarpur town in the northern state of Bihar shelters homeless children.

According to the report, over 30 girls were molested at the Muzaffarpur facility — the youngest being a seven-year-old girl. Many children were reportedly beaten and drugged by the shelter staff.

Police arrested over ten people, including Brajesh Thakur, head of the shelter home, in connection to the child abuse scandal.

Last month, a special court collected the girls' testimonies as part of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act. The abused children recounted the horrific tales of sexual assaults at the shelter home.

"The children were traumatized. It is a miracle that they survived this ordeal," Dilmani Mishra, chairperson of the Bihar Women's Commission, told DW.

The Muzaffarpur child abuse scandal is probably just the tip of the iceberg. Reports of child molestation at a shelter home in Uttar Pradesh state emerged when a 10-year-old girl managed to escape the facility and sought police protection. Police raided the shelter and rescued over two dozen girls, who narrated accounts of abuse from the shelter staff.

India's Central Bureau of Investigation is probing both cases.

Failure to protect children and women

The child abuse scandals have shocked the South Asian nation, which has been struggling to deal with the issue of protecting women for many years. Several rape cases in India have made headlines in the past few years, with women's rights groups slamming the authorities for their inability to safeguard women.

Rights activists say a pervasive culture of violence exists at care centers, and that shelters for children in India are poorly regulated. Many facilities are not routinely inspected, with privately run institutions operating without a license, exposing thousands of children to mistreatment.

"It is not the first time that a child abuse scandal at a public institution has come to the fore. The government needs to carry out regular social audits to make these shelters more open and accountable. The Juvenile Justice Act requires all such institutions to be registered. We can tackle the issue by taking some necessary steps," Bharati Ali, director of HAQ, a non-governmental organization for child rights, told DW.

Activists also suggest that the selection of those who work on government's child protection committees should be done on merit and without any political influence. Local child protection units need more staff and better training so that they can do justice to their job, they say.

"To be honest, most people don't really care about these places because they house poor and disempowered children," Enakshi Ganguly, a child rights activist, told DW.

Children of a lesser god

The public anger in the wake of the latest child abuse cases has forced the Women and Child Development Ministry to order a social audit of all 9,000 shelters in the country.

"I have instructed the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights to ensure that the audit must be completed within the next two months," Maneka Gandhi, the minister for women and child development, told media on Wednesday.

A 2017 government study revealed that half of the 9,000 childcare institutions across the country were unregistered, many running illegally.

A number of reports submitted to the government in the past five years outlined substandard conditions in the shelters for children — from poor lighting and cramped accommodation to physical abuse. In the majority of these reported cases, the perpetrators of abuse have been wardens, watchmen, cooks and other staff at these institutions.

Child abuse reports surge after high-profile tragedies

by Yoav Gonen

The tragic deaths of 6-year-old Zymere Perkins and 3-year-old Jaden Jordan in late 2016 weren't entirely in vain — reports of child abuse, investigations of child abuse, and Family Court hearings all increased sharply after the two widely-publicized abuse cases, the Independent Budget Office found on Tuesday.

The number of child abuse reports that were substantiated jumped 20 percent, from 19,980 in fiscal 2016 to 23,981 in fiscal 2017, even though the number of cases rose by only 7 percent.

Spending at the Administration for Children's Services also shot up to $127.8 million in fiscal 2017 — up from $110.9 million a year before — a boost of 15 percent that largely went to the salaries and OT of agency investigators.

ACS staffers also filed thousands more petitions of abuse and maltreatment in Family Court — 14,207 in 2017 compared to 9,566, a jump of 52 percent.

But the IBO found that the courts didn't respond to the public scrutiny by separating kids from their families more often, with the share of petitions resulting in foster care placement actually declining in 2017.

Instead the judges found ways to often have at least one parent care for the child or children, under what's known as court-ordered supervision, according to the IBO.

“As has happened after prior deaths of children known to ACS, Zymere Perkins' and Jaden Jordan's deaths in September and December of 2016 led to more abuse and maltreatment investigations, in part because of a spike in reports from mandated reporters. Their reports are also more likely to be substantiated,” the report concluded.

“It is also important to stress that the share of abuse or maltreatment petitions that results in foster care placement have declined over the years, while the share of petitions that results in court-ordered supervision have remained relatively constant. This implies that Family Court judges have not changed how they handle abuse and maltreatment petitions in response to the public pressure that follows high-profile deaths of children known to the child welfare system.”

ACS officials didn't immediately respond to a request for comment.

But they told the IBO the increase in court petitions came at least partially because of better protocols in the highest-risk cases.

Statistics in Washoe County show that child abuse rates increase when school starts

by Sanaz Tahernia

RENO, Nev. (News 4 & Fox 11) -- Statistics show that while child abuse and neglect numbers are upsettingly high -- spiking around August and September.

The Washoe County Child Advocacy Center gave News 4-Fox 11 some information regarding child abuse and neglect numbers and they broke it down by number of new in take referrals and sexual abuse and neglect allegations.

In 2017, the center served more than 1,500 families with more than 430 victims.

According to their data, between Reno and Sparks police departments and the Washoe County Sheriff's Office -- 83 arrests were made.

In July 2017,the center received 382 new child abuse intake referrals. In August, that number jumped up to 521.

The number of sexual abuse and neglect allegations for July of 2017 was 22. That number jumped to 53 in August and September.

To Report Child Abuse:

775-784-8090 Crisis Call Center

775-785-8600 Washoe County Child Protective Services

775-334-2121 Reno Police Department

775-353-2231 Sparks Police Department

775-328-3001 Washoe County Sheriff's Office

In Case of Emergency, Call 911

From Child's Abuse to the Dark Web: Germans Recoil at a Mother's Role

by Melissa Eddy and Christopher F. Schuetze

BERLIN — The case would have stoked public outrage if the mother had known her young son was being raped and had done nothing to stop it.

But when Germans heard that she and her boyfriend had raped the boy themselves and served him up to pedophiles on the dark web, the fury only grew.

The mother and her companion — identified only as Berrin T., 48, and Christian L., 39, in keeping with German privacy laws — were convicted on Tuesday of sexually abusing her son over the course of two years, beginning when he was about 7. The abuse included inappropriate touching, rape and making videos that were placed as advertisements on the dark web for pedophiles — among them a German soldier — who paid the couple thousands of dollars to abuse the boy.

For many Germans, the most horrific part of a horrific case was the woman's complicity, which violated deeply held assumptions about motherhood and contradicted the common image of sexual predators as male. But the case also shocked the country for the severity of the abuse and the failure of authorities to protect the child, despite repeated opportunities for intervention.

Interest groups and politicians called for an investigation and for better training of social workers and judges in recognizing potential sexual abuse of children. Johannes-Wilhelm Rörig, Germany's independent commissioner for questions pertaining to sexual abuse of children, called for an inquiry to determine what signals may have been missed.

“There were obviously structural problems in cooperation between the courts and authorities that must now be thoroughly investigated,” Mr. Rörig said. “The case in Staufen has exposed an array of misjudgments and failures. We owe it to this child to draw the right consequences.”

The pair, who lived in Staufen, in southwestern Germany, were arrested in September 2017. They were found guilty on Tuesday of 40 charges of aggravated sexual assault, including rape, forced prostitution, distribution of child pornography and child endangerment. Both had admitted at the start of the 11-day trial to abusing the boy, now 10.

Christian L. was also found guilty of sexually assaulting a 2-year-old girl in early 2015. He was sentenced to 12 years in jail and ordered to remain in preventive custody upon his release.

According to the court, Berrin T. helped facilitate her boyfriend's contact with the little girl, who was mentally and physically disabled. Several months later, in May 2015, the girl's mother broke off contact with the couple, effectively ending her abuse.

Christian L., a known pedophile with a criminal record who had previously shown an interest in abusing little girls only, then began abusing the boy, the court said. Berrin T. did nothing to stop the increasingly perverse advances on her son, which began with showing him pornographic videos and bribing him with expensive gifts in exchange for being allowed to touch him inappropriately, it said.

When the trial opened in June, Christian L. admitted to the charges of abuse, telling the judge “I am the main culprit.”

But the presiding judge, Stefan Bürgelin, handed a longer prison sentence, of 12 and a half years, to the boy's mother. She was always present during the assaults, the court said, initially calming the child and then sexually assaulting him herself.

In his pronouncement, the judge cited a video showing Berrin T. violating her son as evidence that her offenses were not only sexual, but also included emotional and psychological abuse. He said she broke her son's trust in his “closest female caregiver” and robbed him of the protection of his home.

“If the boy dared to show or voice any resistance, he was frequently ignored, or dismissed with physical abuse,” the court said, adding that the couple would “regularly shout at him” and insult him using “an utterly contemptuous choice of words.”

Before the arrest, the youth services agency considered the man a potential danger to children because he had been caught with child pornography in an unrelated case, and was ordered by the authorities to stay away from children. The agency also knew that he was frequently in the boy's home.

In early 2017, the agency's concern was great enough to temporarily place the boy in a foster home, but he was returned to his mother after she convinced a family court that she was aware of her boyfriend's history and could protect her son from him.

The mother, who had sat stonily throughout the trial, showed no emotion while the sentence was read out, German news media reported. She chose not to challenge the ruling, which in addition to jail sentences, included fines worth 42,500 euros, or $49,200, to be paid to the victims.

“She accepts full responsibility for what happened to her son,” Matthias Wagner, an attorney who represented the mother told the Badische Zeitung newspaper. “This is important for the boy. He can now be certain that this process is over.”

But in a country where a mother's “right to the protection and welfare of society” is enshrined in the Constitution, it was the role played by Berrin T. that most appalled Germans.

“When parents become criminals to their children, the state must protect the child, with everything in its power,” the Süddeutsche Zeitung newspaper wrote in a commentary. “It must protect children from their parents.”

The identities of the victims were not made public, in keeping with child protection laws. Authorities have placed the boy in the care of a foster family.

Several of the men who paid to assault the boy have also been convicted, and on Monday, one was handed a 10-year prison sentence by a Spanish court. All but one found their victim on the dark web — parts of the internet that are concealed from view and are used for anonymity and criminal activity.

Peter Egetemaier, chief of the criminal police in Freiburg, said investigators were lucky to get a tip from an anonymous user who came across the videos advertising the boy. A buyer had asked whether he could kill the boy after assaulting him, leading the tipster to alert both the federal police and the state police.

“It was an exceptional case — we were very lucky — but it won't always be like this,” said Mr. Egetemaier in a telephone interview. Because Christian L. cooperated with authorities, they were able to glean crucial insights into the netherworld of criminal pedophilia that takes place online.

Confident that they have found everyone involved in the boy's case, Mr. Egetemaier's team is combing through material they collected to try to find suspects in unrelated cases.

“He opened a door to this very dark world for us,” Mr. Egetemaier said.

Utah man charged with 'Operation Afghanistan' child abuse

SALT LAKE CITY — A Salt Lake man is facing child abuse charges after prosecutors say he abused a young boy using something he called "Operation Afghanistan."

Jason Potapenko, 36, was charged Friday in 3rd District Court with two counts of child abuse, one a second-degree felony and the other a class A misdemeanor.

In December, a 7-year-old boy was taking a shower when Potapenko came in and "struck (the boy's) buttock so hard that it caused him to fall in the bathtub," the charges state.

Potapenko was the live-in boyfriend of the boy's mother. She came running into the bathroom to find her son "curled up in the tub crying with Potapenko standing over him," according to the charges.

He claimed he "tapped" the boy for "mistrust of trying to sneak a book to school," the charges state. The mother said she had warned Potapenko about spanking the boy in the past.

The mother also told police that a year ago she walked into the garage "in the middle of the night," and found her son's hands "tied to two poles with lights on them and that the lights were pointed at (the boy). (She) also stated that there was loud music playing and that Potapenko was striking (the boy) with a paddle," the charges state.

When asked what was going on, "Potapenko said that he called this 'Operation Afghanistan,'" according to court documents.

Kid-sized prisoner uniforms ordered by Missouri woman accused of child abuse, authorities say

More details emerged Wednesday about a Missouri couple accused of child abuse for allegedly housing four children in specially constructed windowless rooms, with no lighting, that were kept shut with plywood and screws.

Authorities said Laura Elizabeth Cheatham, 38, a former employee of the Missouri Department of Corrections, had ordered child-sized inmate-style prisoner uniforms, in gray and orange, for the children to wear, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported.

"Investigators with this department took custody of the uniforms from officials at Farmington Correctional Center along with cardboard patterns that are marked 'kids pants,' ‘kids shirt,' etc., and work order documentation," a release from the St. Francois County Sheriff's Department said.

Both Cheatham and Daryl Justen Head, 38, were charged Tuesday after police responded to a call made to a child abuse hotline.

Inside the couple's Farmington, Mo., home police found four children, ages 5 to 12, apparently being kept in the makeshift rooms with no access to water or toilets, according to a county sheriff. Farmington is about 60 miles south of St. Louis.

"Once investigators gained entry into the home, they discovered a 38-year-old female removing screws from plywood covering the entrance to small rooms and children coming out from behind the plywood," St. Francois Sheriff Daniel Bullock said in a news release.

Cheatham and Head were each charged with five counts of endangering the welfare of a child and three counts of kidnapping. They were being held on $500,000 bond each.

Bullock said the four children, three girls and a boy, had been adopted by Cheatham and her estranged husband, but she was living with another man -- Head -- in the home. Two of the four children are related to each other but none are related to the adults, the sheriff added.

The charges could put the suspects behind bars for decades, prosecuting attorney Jerrod Mahurin said.

"I've seen some pretty nasty things, but nothing this deplorable," Bullock said. "This is the kind of thing that happens somewhere else, not here."

"I've seen some pretty nasty things, but nothing this deplorable. This is the kind of thing that happens somewhere else, not here."

Bullock described each room as "smaller than a jail cell." He said they had been modified from two bedrooms and offered no windows, lighting, or access to toilets or water. It appeared the children urinated into vents in the room, he said.

St. Francois County Prosecutor Jerrod Mahurin said the couple could face more charges after initial investigations are complete.

Bullock said the children appeared to be in "fairly good" shape and were taken into state custody. They had previously been adopted by Cheatham and her estranged husband and had lived in the home for a few weeks, he said. Neighbors told KMOV that they sometimes saw the children outside doing manual labor.

Fox News' Paulina Dedaj and the Associated Press contributed to this story.

Former daycare provider charged with child abuse

BISMARCK, N.D. -- A Bismarck woman is accused of trying to “break ears off” a child after he wet his pants.

Court documents say 55-year-old Marlene Steedsman of Bismarck was running a daycare service when the incident occurred. The victim's mother picked the victim up from the daycare and noticed her child had bruising and lacerations around the ear.

When the victim was asked about the incident he said Steedsman tried to break his ears off because he wet his pants. Documents say the child demonstrated what happened.

Documents say when Steedsman was approached about the incident she claimed another child was responsible for the injuries while they were wrestling.

On June 7, documents say Steedsman sent a letter to the mother's employer pretending to be an elderly man in an effort to get her fired.

When Bismarck police questioned Steedsman on June 11, she admitted the child had wet himself and she did not witness the two kids wrestling.

Steedsman told police she wrote the letter because she “wanted her[the mother] to know how I felt, she kind of ruined my life.”

New Mexico child abuse suspects accused of training children for shootings

TAOS, N.M. (Reuters) - Five adults charged with abusing 11 children at a New Mexico compound, where they were found ragged and starving, were training those children to use firearms to commit school shootings, prosecutors said in court documents on Wednesday.

The principal suspect, Siraj Ibn Wahhaj, also was charged with abducting his 3-year-old son from his home in Atlanta last December, prompting a cross-country manhunt that led authorities to the compound they raided last Friday north of Taos, New Mexico.

Remains of a young boy believed to be the missing child were found on the property on Monday, on what would have been his fourth birthday, but have not been positively identified, authorities said. The 11 children found alive, ranging in age from 1 to 15 years old, were placed in protective custody.

At an arraignment on Wednesday, Mahhaj and his four co-defendants, Lucas Morton and three women presumed to be the mothers of the 11 surviving children, each pleaded not guilty to 11 counts of felony child abuse. Morton also was charged with harboring a fugitive.

Prosecutors made no mention of motive or ideology in court filings or during court proceedings on Wednesday.

In petitions seeking to detain all five suspects without bail, prosecutors said each was under investigation in the boy's death.

No weapons charges were filed in the case, but prosecutors said the defendants were suspected of training children “with weapons in furtherance of a conspiracy to commit school shootings.”

Prosecutors said the allegation of weapons training was based on statements from a foster parent for one of the children.

Taos County Sheriff Jerry Hogrefe referred over the weekend to the suspects as “extremists of Muslim belief,” but he declined to elaborate when asked about it on Tuesday by reporters.

The women, who appeared in court on Wednesday with white sheets over their heads, were identified as Jany Leveille, Subhannah Wahhaj and Hujrah Wahhaj. One of the men wore a towel over his head in the style of a Mideastern keffiyeh, or headdress.

Hogrefe said on Tuesday that investigators found a shooting range at one end of the squalid compound, situated near the Colorado border.

The sheriff has said he sought a search warrant for the compound after a distress message was passed on to authorities in Georgia and shared with his office. He said the FBI was also investigating.

Wahhaj, 39, whose first name was mistakenly presented in some court documents as Huraj, has been described as being in control of the compound. He was heavily armed when taken into custody, Hogrefe said.

According to court documents, when the children were found they were in rags and appeared to have gone days without food, and loaded firearms were within their reach.

Aleksandar Kostich, a public defender representing the five adults, said the identical wording of the allegations about weapons training in each petition suggested that prosecutors were less than certain about the information they were given.

A man who identified himself to reporters as Gerard Jabril Abdulwali, 64, of Alexandria, Egypt, and the father of Morton, attended the court hearing, during which he shouted, “Allahu Akbar,” Arabic for “God is great.”

He told reporters afterward that was in the United States for medical reasons and had not heard from his son since last year until he received a text message from Morton last Thursday that said “they were starving.”

Abdulwali said his son and the other suspects were “peaceful adult settlers.”

“They were homesteading and were trying to establish a peaceful community, a peaceful life away from society,” he said. “They just went about it the wrong way.”

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-new-mexico-crime/new-mexico-child-abuse-suspects-accused-of-training-children-for-shootings-idUSKBN1KT13Y

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

England

Child abuse inquiry: School 'reputations put before victims'

by BBC News

Two leading Roman Catholic schools "prioritised monks and their own reputations over the protection of children", a report says.

"Appalling" abuse was inflicted on pupils at Ampleforth in North Yorkshire and Downside in Somerset over 40 years, the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse (IICSA) said.

But, the report said, both institutions attempted to cover up the allegations.

Ten individuals, including monks, have been convicted or cautioned for abuse.

The report, based on evidence heard by the IICSA's investigation of the Roman Catholic Church and the English Benedictine Congregation, said, however, the true extent of the abuse is "likely to be considerably higher" than the number of convictions.

It states many of the perpetrators did not hide their sexual interests from the children and pupils were often abused in front of each other.

"The blatant openness of the activities demonstrates there was a culture of acceptance of abusive behaviour," it said.

The scale and nature of the abuse inflicted is contained in the full report published on Thursday. (WARNING: Contains distressing detail).

Both Ampleforth and Downside Abbey, near Radstock, have affiliated schools within their grounds where fees range from £16,000 to £35,000 per year.

Professor Alexis Jay, chairwoman of the inquiry, said: "For decades Ampleforth and Downside tried to avoid giving any information about child sexual abuse to police and social services.

"Instead, monks in both institutions were very often secretive, evasive and suspicious of anyone outside the English Benedictine Congregation.

"Safeguarding children was less important than the reputation of the church and the wellbeing of the abusive monks."

She said the institutions continued to try to manage internally allegations of abuse despite recommendations in the 2001 Nolan Report they should be referred to statutory authorities.

"Even after new procedures were introduced in 2001, when monks gave the appearance of co-operation and trust, their approach could be summarised as a 'tell them nothing' attitude."

One former Downside pupil, who tried to speak out at the the time about his abuse said he was made to feel like a "sinner".

"I was vulnerable, broken and needed help from the church when I was a child," he said.

"I trusted them to help, but instead my life was destroyed and I was handed a life sentence of suffering by my abuser and those who failed to act against it."

Perpetrators from the two schools who were convicted include Ampleforth teachers David Lowe and Piers Grant-Ferris and former Downside geography teacher Richard White, known as Father Nicholas.

Lowe, who also taught at Westminster Cathedral Choir School, was convicted of assaulting boys aged from eight to 13 between 1978 and 1984.

He was jailed in 2015 for 10 years.

The inquiry heard that when abuse committed by White came to light he was moved from the junior to the senior school where he was given the role of housemaster to his first victim.

The report said: "The abuse of a second victim could have been prevented if the abbot and the headmaster had referred the first abuse to the police and social services."

White was jailed in 2012 for five years.

The inquiry heard both institutions were "hostile" to the recommendations of the Nolan report, taking the view its implementation was "neither obligatory nor desirable".

"For much of the time under consideration by the inquiry, the overriding concern in both Ampleforth and Downside was to avoid contact with the local authority or the police at all costs, regardless of the seriousness of the alleged abuse or actual knowledge of its occurrence," it said.

The inquiry also heard that in about 2012 then headmaster of Downside, Dom Leo Maidlow Davies, burned wheelbarrows full of files from the school.

The report said while it was "impossible to say" what information was in the documents "it adds to the perception of a cover-up on the part of Downside".

It said a "strict separation" between the governance of the school and the abbey was needed in order to safeguard pupils in future and while Ampleforth had taken steps to do just that Downside still had not.

LBC radio presenter James O'Brien, who was a pupil at Ampleforth, told BBC Radio 4's World at One the monks wielded a "secular and spiritual power" that could have played a part in the abuse being hidden for so long.

Both Downside and Ampleforth have issued statements apologising to the victims.

"The Abbey and School fully acknowledges the serious failings and mistakes made in both protecting those within our care and responding to safeguarding concerns," a Downside spokesman said.

"We have reflected deeply and will continue to listen with the ear of the heart going forward to ensure that the mistakes of the past are never repeated."

A spokesman for Ampleforth said it had publicly accepted responsibility for "past failings on many occasions".

"The Ampleforth of today has never been afraid to learn difficult lessons," he said.

"We remain completely focused on the safety and wellbeing of those entrusted to our care and our commitment to implement meaningful change."

Father Christopher Jamison, Abbot President of the English Benedictine Congregation, said the report highlighted "how flawed many of our past responses have been".

He said: "Once again I apologise unequivocally to all those who were abused by any person connected with our abbeys and schools."

'Devastating indictment'

Richard Scorer, a lawyer from Slater and Gordon who represented victims from both schools at the inquiry, said: "The abhorrent and disgraceful abuse in the Catholic Church has once again been laid bare by this inquiry.

"This familiar and shameful story of cover-up has been told time and time again, and is a devastating indictment of an organisation guilty of gross failures on child protection.

"It is clear the Catholic Church is woefully incapable of policing itself.

"That is why we urgently need a mandatory reporting law to prevent the perpetuation of the abuse of vulnerable children."

Asked if he thought institutions like Ampleforth and Downside could continue in the wake of the report, the inquiry's secretary John O'Brien said: "You're not going to survive if you don't recognise that you need to change.

"From where I sit right now we've heard no evidence that those changes are happening, even now we still don't have separation of the governance at Downside."

Uganda Survey Reveals High Prevalence of Child Abuse

The first national survey in Uganda on child abuse reveals that violence against children - ranging from physical, sexual and emotional - is occurring at all levels in society.

UNICEF Deputy Country Representative Noreen Prendville describes the findings as absolutely shocking.

“While we did see of course that there were also young men and boys that were victims of sexual violence, of course the consequence for girls are even worse. We have a problem in the country as well with quite a big challenge on early marriage and early childbearing. And that sometimes is a cultural issue, but also sometimes related to poverty,” said Prendville.

Physical, sexual and emotional violence against children, according to the report, is experienced on the street, at home and even in school – as happened with Komugisha's daughter.

Even though some children who suffered violence knew where to seek help, many, especially girls, were too embarrassed for themselves and their families to ask for it.

Dr. Jesca Nsungwa is Commissioner for Child Health at Uganda's Ministry of Health. She says the government is taking steps to address the abuse.

“To increase access and availability of quality child and adolescent health services at all health facilities that provide prompt, affordable and appropriate prevention and response services to survivors of violence without discrimination. We also commit to train health care workers on provision of child and adolescent friendly health services within our national framework,” said Nsungwa.

Children who experience violence, says the U.N. report, are more likely to become perpetrators of violence against children themselves if they don't get help.

The Uganda report follows a call in 2006 by then-U.N. secretary general Kofi Annan for all nations to tackle child abuse by collecting data to inform policies.

To date, only 15 countries have released reports on the frequency of child abuse. In Africa, they include Kenya, Malawi, Swaziland, Tanzania, Zimbabwe, and now Uganda.

Statistics blur the tragedy of child abuse and neglect

by CHARLES B. NEMEROFF, M.D., PHD

“A child's world is fragile and new and beautiful, full of wonder and excitement…” – Rachel Carlson

If I told you that a major and well-established risk factor for several top 10 causes of death in the United States and worldwide had received relatively little attention from the media, the National Institutes of Health or other funding agencies, would you be surprised? If it resulted not only in premature death but in a marked increase in risk for abject misery — unhappiness, loneliness, drug and alcohol abuse as well as risk for asthma, irritable bowel syndrome, obesity, heart disease, diabetes, stroke, and suicide, would that surprise you further? Well, all of this is true about child abuse and neglect.

Remarkably, I initiated this piece long before the world witnessed the painful scenes of immigrant families seeking asylum in the United States on our Southern border and the heart-wrenching photos of those children as they are separated from their mothers. Such images are painful to all of us, but actually pale in comparison to what pediatricians, child-care workers, child psychiatrists and psychologists and Departments of Family Services see on a daily basis in this country and abroad.

In 2016, Child Protective Services in the United States received more than 4.1 million referrals involving 7.4 million children. Of these, 2.3 million referrals were deemed worthy of investigation. Remarkably, two-thirds of the referrals were from professionals and one-third from the general public. After investigation, 676,000 children were verified as victims of abuse and neglect, with children in the first year of life most commonly victimized. Approximately three-quarters of the victims suffered neglect, the remainder abuse with 1,700 fatalities.

These startling numbers, however, blur the human tragedy. As Joseph Stalin reportedly stated years ago, “a single death is a tragedy; a million deaths is a statistic.” These defenseless victims include those who have been coerced into human trafficking, those who are malnourished, those who are ill and receive no treatment, and those who are victims of violent alcoholic parents, as well as those in abusive foster care environments.

Three decades of research has demonstrated the devastating biological consequences of child abuse and neglect —long lasting hyper-responsive stress reactivity, marked increases in inflammation, and profound brain changes demonstrated by state-of-the-art brain imaging studies. There is now emerging evidence that the specific type of early life stress, e.g., sexual abuse or emotional abuse or neglect, produces a specific pattern of changes in the brain, both structural and in functional activity and responses to stress.

At the heart of this tragedy is what we, of course, know all too well — that children need love, security, safety, parental warmth, and a nurturant environment. Without it, the human capacity to attach — to our friends, spouse/significant other, parents, grandparents and, yes, even our pets is severely compromised. The Beatles said it well — “All you need is love…”

Shouldn't we address this public health disaster and prevent a lifetime of human suffering. It not only makes sense from a health economics point of view — it will reveal who we are as Americans. An unknown author stated that “childhood is the most beautiful of all life's seasons.” Let's work to preserve that for all children.

Charles B. Nemeroff, M.D., PhD, is the Leonard M. Miller professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences and biochemistry and molecular biology at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine and the chairman of the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences.

EHT woman starts support group for adult survivors of child abuse

by NICOLE LEONARD

Dena Tartaro, of Egg Harbor Township, is leading a new local support group for adult survivors of child abuse. Her own survivorship led her to a career in social work, advocacy and raising her own family. When she needs to de-stress and relax, she spends time outdoors walking or hiking in nearby parks.

Dena Tartaro was hoping to find some support among other adult survivors of child abuse in South Jersey, but she found few resources or groups existed.

So she started one herself.

“I had been looking to join a group forever,” she said. “I was part of groups when I lived in other states, and there are some resources down here — but not enough.”

Tartaro will lead a new support group through a program designed by Adult Survivors of Child Abuse, a national organization with groups in several states and counties. She hopes to create a place where people can find comfort in shared experiences and grow in their survivorship.

Nearly 700,000 children are emotionally, physically and sexually abused or neglected in the United States annually, according to the National Children's Alliance. Two-thirds of children served by Children's Advocacy Centers nationwide reported sexual abuse in 2015.

In New Jersey, South Jersey counties had some of the highest rates of reported child abuse in the state. Cumberland County had the highest in 2015, with 97 abuse cases per 1,000 children under age 18, according to data from Advocates for Children of New Jersey.

Alliance data show children are more likely to be abused by a parent or other relative.

Naomi Jones, a doctor of psychology at Jewish Family Service, treats children with cognitive behavioral therapy who have suffered trauma from being neglected, sexually or physically assaulted, and emotionally or psychologically abused.

“Children can lose the sense of trust and safety that is required for healthy development (after trauma),” she said. “They can experience anxiety, depression and self-esteem issues, to name a few of the most common psychological effects.”

Jones said people can recover from childhood trauma and abuse, but may experience some long-term effects as adults that can be triggered by certain changes or stresses as they move through different stages of life.

Although it has been more than 30 years since her father sexually abused her, Tartaro said, she has continually sought therapy and coping resources to heal from the physical, sexual and domestic abuse aimed at her, her sister and her mother.

“We moved around all the time,” she said. “From the outside, we were this upper-class family with two parents and two kids, but in private, nobody knew what was happening.”

The Adult Survivors of Child Abuse support group, which is in partnership with the Mental Health Association in Atlantic County, will meet once a week starting Tuesday in Northfield in a structured format session to cover topics like the role of therapy, confronting abusers, support systems, self-soothing activities, abuse repercussions and more.

One chapter included in the support program focuses on self-blame, which experts say many survivors struggle with. Tartaro said she thankfully had always recognized that her father was in the wrong, not her.

Her father was sentenced in 1997 to two life terms in a Texas prison and died last year. Getting justice for her abuse and knowing he was in prison “made me feel safer to go on with my life,” she said — but she recognized that not all survivors get that closure, or the help they need.

“For those who do not get treatment, people are often anxious, depressed, angry and have high rates of suicidal thoughts and substance abuse,” Jones said.

Tartaro said the support program doesn't replace therapy or counseling, but creates a community for people who have suffered similar abuse. Ideal participants are those who like its structured format and who already have support systems in friends, family or professionals.

The group's members remain confidential and it is strictly for adult abuse survivors. The program is not for professionals without personal experience or abusers, and is free with suggested donations for materials.

Tartaro has since found a career in social work, raised her daughter, gotten remarried to her wife and created a home in New Jersey. She hopes the new support group will fill in some gaps in South Jersey.

“This is for anyone who has been through abuse who doesn't want to feel like they are the only ones,” she said.

In 2010, a Catholic priest from the San Diego diocese sexually assaulted Rachel Mastrogiacomo.

This story would be all-too-familiar except for one fact: Mastrogiacomo was 24, a grown woman.

For years, the clergy sex scandal has focused on abused children. Now, the #MeToo movement and a growing recognition of the pervasiveness of sexual power plays is encouraging victimized adults to come out of the shadows.

“Finally,” said Esther Miller, who led an adult victims workshop at last month's national convention of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP), “women are coming together and saying no more.”

Going public, though, can mean facing skeptical questioning. Women and men endure many of the same pressures that discourage children — shame, confusion, the unwillingness to confront a spiritual leaders who are admired and even revered.

Another question is posed only to victimized women and men: why are sexual encounters between two apparently “consenting” adults considered crimes? But in many states, including Minnesota where Mastrogiacomo took her abuser to trial, it's a crime to have with sex with adults who are incapable of voluntary consent “due to a particular vulnerability or due to the special relationship between the actor (perpetrator) and the victim.”

That, advocates say, is an apt description of someone seeking spiritual solace or counseling.

“These are vulnerable adults,” Miller said. “Even though they have reached the age of maturity, they are still vulnerable.”

“The power differential is so great,” said Patrick Wall, a former priest who investigates allegations of clergy sexual abuse for a Minnesota law firm. “Whether it is as a spiritual director, or in the confessional or spiritual counseling, the priest has the power.”

A devout young woman, Mastrogiacomo was slowly seduced by a trusted mentor, the Rev. Jacob Bertrand. After months of confidences that blended the sacred and the profane, he persuaded her to have sex during a private Mass.

“For the longest time, I didn't even know I had been the victim of a crime,” said Mastrogiacomo. “But I was being sexually molested.”

Attempts to reach Bertrand last week were unsuccessful. On Friday, his attorney, Marc Carlos, said he would contact Bertrand to see if he wished to discuss the case. As of Sunday, there was no word from Bertrand or Carlos.

‘Groomed and teased'

For centuries, the Vatican has recognized that clergy can be tempted to use their office for sexual gratification. Canon law specifically forbids crimen sollicitationis , the crime of making sexual advances to penitents in the confessional.

“We honestly don't know, from a statistical standpoint, how often this happens,” Wall said. “The vast majority of people are never going to take this to the mat. First of all, who is going to believe them? Second, they have no witnesses or proof.

“And third, in 99 percent of the cases the priest will deny it. And people will believe the priest first.”

Rather than the usual steps of courtship, these relationships routinely follow a three-step process: identify, isolate and elevate. Often, the target is reeling from a personal tragedy — a divorce, the death of a parent, the loss of a child.

Seeking spiritual guidance or comfort, SNAP's Miller said, the future victim is identified by the cleric.

“He identifies someone who is very, very vulnerable and emotionally charged,” she said. “He swoops in and becomes the savior.”

Increasingly, the “counseling” takes places in private locations. Once in isolation, victims are flattered that they are the chosen ones, special persons with a special mission.

“Because we have spent so much, quote unquote, qualitative time,” Miller said, adopting the predator's point of view, “because I have done so much for you, this is what you get to do for me.”

Mastrogiacomo's journey followed this route. Raised in a Catholic family in St. Paul, Minn., she was 13 when her father died. Despite this shock, she recalls a “very joyful, very religious” childhood. A top student, she sailed through high school and Franciscan University of Steubenville, where she majored in theology and cathechetics, or religious education.

In 2009, she enrolled in courses at Rome's Pontifical University of St. Thomas Aquinas. There, she met a fellow student, a deacon studying for the priesthood, Jacob Bertrand. Between discussions of mysticism and faith, Bertrand shared intimate details from his pre-seminary sex life. Mastrogiacomo confessed that she was a virgin.

“He was master manipulator,” she said. “I was groomed and teased, in just the same way a child would be. I was such a naive, virgin-focused Catholic.”

This seduction was wrapped in mystical, other-worldly terms. Court filings noted that, in Rome, “while Bertrand was praying in church, Bertrand told the victim that ‘the Lord' had imprinted a vision in his mind of the victim naked and straddling him.”

After months of “spiritual direction,” Bertrand took Mastrogiacomo's virginity. During a private Mass in the loft of her grandmother's Wisconsin cabin, he persuaded her to engage in sexual activities.

“This wasn't an ordinary sexual experience between two consenting adults,” said Mastrogiacomo. “It was during the celebration of the Mass, with candles lit, very ritualistic.”

A day or two later, the same scene played out in the Minnesota home of Mastrogiacomo's mother and step-father. Giving herself to him during a religious service, Bertrand told her, was God's will.

“This was far worse, far more ritualistic,” she said.

When Bertrand, by then an ordained priest assigned to a parish in San Diego, requested more encounters, she refused.

“Father,” she said, “I have done God's will and I don't want to do this any more.”

Not just Catholics

Most Catholic priests are honorable and devoted to their faith. After years of denial, Pope Francis and other church officials have admitted that clerical sexual abuse is a serious and widespread problem.

"We have to maintain vigilance,” Bishop Robert McElroy of the San Diego diocese said last year. “I use the word ‘vigilance' advisedly. That's an active stance and we can't become complacent.”.

While some maintain that this crisis has been worsened by the Catholic church's requirement of priestly celibacy, this problem is not limited to a single creed.

“It's not just Catholic abuse,” said SNAP's Miller. “We've seen this with Mennonites, non-denominational Christians, we had a Seventh-day Adventist gal. It's just everywhere.”

Men are victims, too. As a sophomore at the University of Notre Dame, Mark Fuller confessed to a priest that he was struggling with his sexuality. The priest encouraged the student to come over to the man's apartment for counseling.

“I came over and what he did was talk me into bed,” said Fuller, 63. “I was really vulnerable, weak. You are just trained to go along, to get along, to just do whatever a priest says.”

Fuller returned to the priest's bed twice or three times before calling a halt. Ashamed and embarrassed, the student avoided friends. His grades, once good enough to encourage medical school ambitions, plummeted. He was depressed and confused.

“It's the betrayal of trust,” Fuller said, now a medical technician in New Canaan, Conn. “I didn't trust God, I didn't trust men. He really wrecked my life.”

It took decades for Fuller to accept his sexuality, although his relationships have been brief and shadowed by a distrust of intimacy. In recent years, he's gained some understanding and acceptance by attending local SNAP chapter meetings.

“With a therapist's help,” he said, “I'm trying to date again.”

On Sunday, he's meeting someone for coffee.

‘It was all a lie'

In 2009, Mastrogiacomo had befriended another American studying for the priesthood in Rome. Confessing his love, he offered to leave the seminary if she would marry him.

She declined. While attracted to this man, she insisted he pursue what she saw as a sacred vocation.

“I was so committed to what I thought was the will of God,” she said.

Then came her disturbing encounters with Bertrand. Mastrogiacomo had grown up believing that priests were angelic, unfailingly good. Why had her encounters with this priest left her feeling soiled?

In May 2012, while trying to sort out her emotions, she called her other priest friend and told him about Bertrand and his private Masses. She was sure another cleric could set her at ease about this “special, mystical relationship” with a man of God.

Instead, the friend burst into tears.

“At that moment, it was like literally scales had fallen from my eyes,” Mastrogiacomo said. “The moment I broke my silence, I realized it was all a lie.”

Mastrogiacomo then went to church authorities. In 2014, her complaint was forwarded to the San Diego diocese, where Bertrand was a priest at Spring Valley's Santa Sophia. In the Nov. 30, 2014, parish bulletin, Bertrand wrote that he was entering a residential program for psychological treatment following an arson attack on the church.

In 2015, though, he returned to active ministry, this time at St. Vincent de Paul in Mission Hills and St. John the Evangelist in Hillcrest.

In April 2016, Mastrogiacomo made a criminal complaint against Bertrand in Minnesota's Dakota County.

This May, Bertrand was sentenced to 10 years' probation and a $1,000 fine for criminal sexual conduct. He was also ordered to complete an assessment as a sex offender and then undergo any recommended therapy.

”The plea agreement in this case was entered into after considerable discussions with the victim and upon receiving her consent,” said Dakota County Attorney James C. Backstrom. “We are please that Mr. Bertrand has been held accountable for his actions.”

The San Diego diocese announced he will not return to the ministry.

While Mastrogiacomo's name was not reported during Bertrand's trial, she recently decided to go public with her story. Now living in Louisiana, she's serving as a lay missionary with her husband — Rich Mastrogiacomo, the former priest in whom she had once confided.

He was laicized, allowed to leave the priesthood and return to the laity, by Pope Francis in February 2014. Four months later, he married Rachel.

The couple remain faithful Catholics, although disappointed in their church's response to this scandal.

“I really want to shine a bright light on this darkness," Rachel Mastrogiacomo said. “Breaking silence is the most loving, the right thing to do. I just want to be a voice for other survivors, especially female victims of clergy sexual abuse.”

http://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/news/religion/sd-me-adult-abuse-20180801-story.html#

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Pennsylvania

Diocese of Greensburg will release list of clergy with 'credible allegations'

by Alyssa Choiniere - achoiniere@heraldstandard.com

When the state Supreme Court releases a grand jury report on sex abuse allegations within the church, the Diocese of Greensburg will release a list of clergy “with credible allegations against them.”

In a release issued Thursday morning, diocesan officials offered “a sincere and open apology to the survivors of sexual abuse and to all those impacted by the grievous failures of the Catholic Church.”

In the release, issued by spokesman Jerry Zufelt, officials said the diocese continues to support the public release of an impending grand jury report that examined allegations of abuse in six of the state's dioceses, including Greensburg and Pittsburgh. The Dioceses of Erie, Harrisburg, Allentown and Scranton were also part of the investigation.

Fayette and Westmoreland counties are in the Greensburg Diocese; Washington and Greene counties are in the Pittsburgh Diocese. Officials in the Pittsburgh Diocese said over the weekend that they would release the names of priests and other church officials contained in the grand jury report once it is handed down.

The report is expected to be released no later than Aug. 14, and details allegations against 300 “predator priests” throughout the six dioceses.

“The facts must be made public if the church and survivors are ever to move past this horrific scourge. The same day the grand jury report is made public, we will release a list of clergy in our diocese with credible allegations against them on our website,” the release stated. “The Diocese applauds and supports all of the survivors of abuse who have come forward to report what happened to them. It doesn't matter what the circumstances were or who the abusers were, the survivors' scars and pain run deep.”

The release said procedures have evolved as the impact of abuse has become more widely understood. Policies on clergy sexual misconduct were established in 1985. Nationwide changes were adopted in 2002 following the “Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People.” This established any clergy member “credibly accused” of abusing a child be immediately removed, the release said.

“Things you may have read or heard do not reflect the reality of the church we are today. We are dramatically different from the church of the past,” Bishop Edward C. Malesic wrote in a letter to the church.

The same year, the diocese reviewed personnel files for every priest serving since 1951, the year the diocese was formed. Some of those priests were permanently banned from public ministry, the release said.

Every employee within the diocese is a mandated reporter, meaning they must report any suspected child abuse through ChildLine, a statewide child protective services program for child abuse referrals. All employees are trained to spot abuse. More than 15,000 people have been trained through the diocese over the past 15 years, the release said.

The latest update was made to the charter this summer, which ensured anyone whose duties within the Church involve contact with children complete background checks. Prior to the change, background checks were only required for those with “ongoing and unsupervised” contact. The Greensburg Diocese was already implementing the rules of the revision before its update, according to the release.

No one serving within the diocese was the subject of “a credible and substantiated allegation” of improper conduct, according to the release. Two independent reviews were completed since 2015. The release defined a “credible and substantiated” allegation as one that has been proven through admission, evidence or by a criminal investigation. A “credibly accused” clergyman is immediately removed pending investigation.

“While we are not proud of our past failures in this regard, we are proud of our Diocese's ongoing and continually evolving response, our efforts to protect, and our determination to help survivors heal. Our parishioners can be confident of the processes and procedures we have in place today to protect children and report to law enforcement any abuse of which we become aware, no matter when it occurred,” the release said.

The release said the church remains committed to transparency and the removal of any barriers that would stop abuse victims from coming forward. Free counseling is available through the Church and offered through outside services.

The full Protection of Children report is available on the diocese's website, www.dioceseofgreensburg.org.

The diocese encouraged anyone who was a victim of abuse to come forward, and anyone who suspects abuse to call PA ChildLine at 1-800-932-0313.

https://www.heraldstandard.com/news/local_news/diocese-of-greensburg-will-release-list-of-clergy-with-credible/article_d720edf7-6b06-5a59-a506-8f0381ddb3a1.html

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Pennsylvania

Greensburg Diocese stands ready help to abuse survivors 'in their healing'

GREENSBURG, PA. — The Greensburg Diocese said July 31 that in 2016 when it received an allegation of abuse against Fr. John Sweeney, a priest of the diocese, his priestly faculties were immediately revoked, and he was placed on administrative leave.

The priest, who retired Dec. 31, 2016, pleaded guilty July 31 to sexually molesting a fourth-grade boy in the 1990s. He was charged with the crime a year ago.

The diocese said in a statement it had fully cooperated with law enforcement's investigation of Sweeney. He was prohibited from presenting himself as a priest in public, and he was required to avoid any unsupervised contact with minors. "All the restrictions remain in place currently," the diocese said.

At the time the allegation was received, the diocese said, "Fr. Sweeney's file contained no prior allegations of sexual misconduct of any kind."

"The people of the Diocese of Greensburg pray for all of the survivors of child sexual abuse and want the survivors to know that we always stand ready to help them in their healing," the diocese said. "The people of the Diocese of Greensburg also pray for the person who courageously came forward and did the right thing by reporting this abuse, and for all those who have been hurt by sexual abuse in the past."

It said it takes the protection of all children, young people and vulnerable adults seriously. "Every report of suspected abuse of a child, young person or vulnerable adult -- sexual, physical or emotional -- that is made to the diocese is immediately reported to the PA ChildLine and the appropriate district attorney," it added.

The statement emphasized that " if anyone suspects that a child, young person or vulnerable adult has been abused by any one at any time, the person should call the PA ChildLine at 1-800-932-0313, no matter when the suspected incident might have occurred."

Diocesan efforts continue in educating "both children and adults in parishes and schools of the Diocese of Greensburg on how to spot and report suspected abuse," it said.

The Diocese of Greensburg is one of six dioceses that have been the subject of a months-long investigation by the state's attorney general into sexual abuse claims, many of which go back decades. The other dioceses are Harrisburg, Pittsburgh, Allentown, Scranton and Erie.

A redacted version of the report on that investigation is to be made available to the public as early as Aug. 8 and no later than Aug. 14.

The Pennsylvania Supreme Court ruled July 27 the redacted report should be released. In June, the court had put a hold on the full report being released because it said it needed to review challenges filed by "many individuals" named in the report.

"A number of the petitioners asserted that they were not aware of, or allowed to appear at, the proceedings before the grand jury," the court said in its earlier opinion.

In its new ruling, the court said the report will be edited to protect the identities of those challenging its release.

In Harrisburg, Bishop Ronald Gainer Aug. 1 released information from the diocese's own internal investigation on child sex abuse, including a list of the names of 71 clergy, both dead and alive, accused of abuse.

He also ordered removal from buildings, halls and rooms the names of former diocesan bishops going back to 1947.

The diocese had intended on releasing its list of accused abusers nearly two years ago, but the state attorney general's office had asked the diocese to not do so to protect its own investigation.

In Pittsburgh, Bishop David Zubik issued a statement the same day in response to Harrisburg's release of names of accused clergy.

"We respect the rights of all those involved in the grand jury process and support the Supreme Court's decision to expediently release the report so the stories and voices of victims can be heard," he said. "The Supreme Court's procedure is meant to ensure persons listed in the report are accorded their rights under the Pennsylvania Constitution."

"While a seal remains in place, the forthcoming release of the grand jury's report will allow the opportunity for us to respond more fully in this matter," Zubik added.

On Aug. 3. Bishop Kevin Rhoades of Fort Wayne-South Bend, Indiana, who was bishop of Harrisburg from 2004-2009, issued a statement to Catholic News Service in reaction to developments in his former diocese and the anticipated release of the grand jury report.

"As we wait for the public release of the grand jury report, I would like to offer my heartfelt sympathy and support to all of those victims of abusive priests," he said. "It is a critical step in acknowledging what has occurred and beginning the process of healing for victims and so many others impacted by this tragedy.

Rhoades added, "During my time in Harrisburg and now in Fort Wayne-South Bend, I have upheld an unwavering commitment to child safety, closely following all policies and procedures put in place to punish those responsible for abuse. I followed all child protection policies and procedures, notified law enforcement and punished each individual as appropriate."

Release of the grand jury report and his letter in response "will eliminate any speculation regarding the decisions made during my tenure as bishop of the Harrisburg Diocese," he said.

"As leaders, we have an obligation to protect those who cannot protect themselves. My commitment to this effort remains as strong today as it was during my time in Harrisburg," Rhoades said.

Some named in child sex abuse report will stay in ministry: Pittsburgh diocese

by The Associated Press

PITTSBURGH (AP) -- The bishop of Pittsburgh's Roman Catholic diocese said a few priests named in a soon-to-be-released grand jury report on clergy sex abuse are still in ministry because the diocese determined allegations against them were unsubstantiated.

The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reported  that Bishop David Zubik reiterated to reporters Friday that "there is no priest or deacon in an assignment today against whom there was a substantiated allegation of child sexual abuse."

Zubik said after the report's release he would meet with parishioners whose priests may have been named in it to explain why the diocese's own review did not substantiate any allegations.

Zubik spoke Friday with the Post-Gazette and KDKA-TV at a taping of the weekly current-events program KDPG Sunday Edition.

The state Supreme Court disclosed recently that the grand jury had identified more than 300 "predator priests" in the six dioceses that were investigated: Allentown, Erie, Greensburg, Harrisburg, Pittsburgh and Scranton. Together, those dioceses minister to more than 1.7 million Catholics.

The release of the nearly 900-page report has been held up by challenges by some priests and former priests. The court ruled that a version with some names blacked out can be made public soon.

The Harrisburg Diocese has identified 72 priests and other members of the church who had been accused of child sex abuse. The Erie Diocese released its own findings on clergy abuse in April.

Zubik, who has been bishop for 11 years, earlier vowed to release the names of any members of his clergy named in the report, which he called "a sad and tragic description of events that occurred within the Church."

Previous investigations found widespread sexual abuse by priests in the state's two other dioceses: Philadelphia and Altoona-Johnstown.

Inquiry finds 'culture of acceptance of abusive behaviour' at two top Catholic schools

The Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse (IICSA) made the claims in its report

Monks at Ampleforth in North Yorkshire and Downside in Somerset hid allegations of "appalling sexual abuse" against pupils as young as seven to protect the church's reputation.

The Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse (IICSA) made the claims in a withering report on the English Benedictine Congregation, which has 10 monasteries in England and Wales.

Ampleforth and Downside are two schools linked to the monasteries, run at times by "secretive, evasive and suspicious" church officials who avoided reporting misconduct to police and social services.

Allegations stretching back to the 1960s encompassed "a wide spectrum of physical abuse, much of which had sadistic and sexual overtones", according to the report.

Ten individuals linked to the schools, mainly monks, have been cautioned or convicted over sexual activity or pornography offences involving a "large number of children".

"The true scale of the abuse however is likely to be considerably higher," the investigation, led by Professor Alexis Jay, found.

The report followed several weeks of evidence hearings at the inquiry last year, which included personal accounts from victims.

Victims were as young as 11 at Downside and seven at Ampleforth.

One alleged offender at Ampleforth abused at least 11 children aged between eight and 12 over a "sustained period of time", but died before police could investigate.

"Many perpetrators did not hide their sexual interests from the children," the report found, allowing abusers at Ampleforth to prey on entire groups of pupils both outdoors and indoors.

"The blatant openness of these activities demonstrates there was a culture of acceptance of abusive behaviour," the report said.

This was a culture fostered by the abbot leading the schools, it was claimed.

Nolan Report

In 2001, the Nolan Report recommended all sexual abuse allegations within the church must be referred to police, a position which many felt was "neither obligatory nor desirable".

The report said: "For much of the time under consideration by the inquiry, the overriding concern in both Ampleforth and Downside was to avoid contact with the local authority or the police at all costs, regardless of the seriousness of the alleged abuse or actual knowledge of its occurrence.

"Rather than refer a suspected perpetrator to the police, in several instances the abbots in both places would confine the individual to the abbey or transfer him and the known risk to a parish or other locations."

But details of the monk's predatory past was not always passed on to monks at the abbey to which he was moved.

"Some children were abused as a consequence," the inquiry said.

Downside paved the way for the return of offenders such as Nicholas White, who became his first victim's housemaster despite staff knowledge of the abuse allegations.

Child protection issues were not limited to the distant past, the report found.

In 2016 and 2017, former abbot of Downside Aidan Bellenger sent two letters to Dom Leo Maidlow Davis, highlighting how four suspected paedophiles remained at Downside, but this information was not passed on to the local authority safeguarding lead.

Dom Leo eventually apologised, but the report said: "The whole incident, having occurred so recently, gives no cause for confidence that the attitudes at Downside had changed enough to put children first over threat to reputation and embarrassment to senior members of the monastic order,"

The congregation's most senior clergymen including past presidents Dom Richard Yeo and Dom Charles Fitzgerald-Lombard refused to fully accept that criminal activity was tolerated when questioned at the inquiry.

Accountability within the congregation was exacerbated by "no recognisable line management oversight" with the monastic order appearing "collaborative rather than hierarchical".

The inquiry suggested that a "strict separation" between the abbeys and schools was needed to ensure school safeguarding was free from the "often-conflicting priorities of the abbeys".

Ampleforth took seven years to do this, but Downside still has not.

Professor Alexis Jay, chairwoman of The Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse:

Neither school has established a redress scheme for victims and "no public apology has been made" outside of the context of the inquiry, the report said.

Professor Alexis Jay said: "For decades Ampleforth and Downside tried to avoid giving any information about child sexual abuse to police and social services.

"Instead, monks in both institutions were very often secretive, evasive and suspicious of anyone outside the English Benedictine Congregation.

"Safeguarding children was less important than the reputation of the Church and the wellbeing of the abusive monks.

"Even after new procedures were introduced in 2001, when monks gave the appearance of co-operation and trust, their approach could be summarised as a 'tell them nothing' attitude."

The Catholic church is one of 13 strands of public life being investigated for child protection failings by the IICSA.

Finding help

If you or someone you know is a survivor of abuse or violence, help is available from the following organisations:

• Help for Adult Victims of Child Abuse (HAVOCA) offers online support.
  
  
• The Survivors Trust or call 01788 550554
  
  
• Victim Support or call 0808 1689 111
  
  
• NSPCC general helpline or call 0808 800 5000 or email help@nspcc.org.uk.
  
  
• Childline is for young people who are experiencing abuse. You can call them on 0800 1111.
  
  
• The National Association for People Abused in Childhood (NAPAC) is the UK's leading national charity offering support to adult survivors of all types of childhood abuse. They offer a series of six booklets to help survivors of child abuse. You can find them here: https://napac.org.uk/resources/

The NSPCC have praised the victims for their bravery in the matter

An NSPCC spokesman from the South West of England said: “The harrowing evidence within this report paints an awful picture of abuse and betrayal of trust within institutions which should have been protecting every child in their care.

“The survivors who have spoken out have shown incredible bravery and it's vital that lessons are learned and all recommendations acted upon.

“Any allegations of physical and sexual abuse must always be thoroughly investigated and victims should always have confidence they will be listened to and action will be taken when they come forward.

“Safeguarding measures are vital in all institutions to prevent reputations being prioritised above the victims of abuse.”

Children as young as seven experienced abuse at Ampleforth.

https://www.somersetlive.co.uk/news/uk-world-news/sexual-abuse-downside-school-somerset-1879421

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Television

A 'Tale' Of Child Sex Abuse Was Inspired By Filmmaker's Real-Life Trauma

In 1973, documentary filmmaker Jennifer Fox wrote a story for her eighth-grade English class that alluded to a young girl's intimate relationship with a middle-aged man and woman. At the time, Fox's teacher assumed the story was fiction.

It wasn't.

"The Tale," as it was called, was based on Fox's own experiences with her male running coach and female horseback riding coach — which Fox considered normal at the time: "I wrote at 13 with no concept of abuse at all," she says. "It was a love story; it was a relationship."

Fox's initial interpretation of the story lasted for decades. Then, when she was in her 40s, she reread "The Tale" and had a completely different understanding of what had happened to her.

"When I looked at it with my adult eyes, there was abuse all over it," she says.

Now Fox is revisiting the abuse she experienced in a fictional memoir film for HBO, which has been nominated for two Emmy Awards. The film, also called The Tale, goes back and forth in time, telling the story from the perspective of the 13-year-old Fox as well as from her 40-something self, played by Laura Dern.

Fox hopes her film will change the way people understand child sexual abuse. "We never talk about how a child can love his or her abuser," she says. "That's a piece of the story that has not been included in any of the tellings, and if we don't understand that, we don't understand how abuse happens."

Interview Highlights

On her teacher's reaction to reading "The Tale"

Let's go back: 1973, affluent, white suburbs ... a good private school ... and this kid who's kind of dark and bright sends in a story — a very complex story — and what [the teacher] wrote on the back, I remember very clearly, she wrote, "If this is true, it's a travesty. But since you're so well-adjusted it can't be true." ...

So obviously she questioned it and quickly said, "Can't be possible." Now, in 1973 that is how someone would react. Just as my mother ... also had suspicions and thought, "How is this possible? I'm overreacting." That was 1973. Now today, in 2018, we know differently, and no teacher would react like that. I don't blame my teacher at all, and I don't blame my mother.

On whether writing "The Tale" was a cry for help

I think as adults we think always anything like this is a cry for help, but honestly, when I dig into my own self and go back, I think that I was doing what I've done all my life ... using storytelling to try to make sense of something I didn't understand.

I don't think I wanted the adults to find out. ... I thought I would be made to be a victim, and would be psychoanalyzed, whatever, and I knew that the adults would get it wrong. I can't really articulate it more than that, but adults come in with these big boots thinking they're going to fix something and they make a mess.

I don't think I wrote this story as a cry for help. I think I wrote it as a young artist trying to figure out and put into order as art does a story that was very complicated for me.

On why she kept the abuse a secret for so long

Why don't children speak and why didn't I speak? There was this profound inner code that this was our secret — and I loved [the two coaches]. I know that's amazing to say and I didn't want to hurt them and the world wouldn't understand. And I carried that code till my 40s.

On why she refers to herself as a "survivor" rather than a "victim"

I think the word "victim" scares me more than the event itself. It's ... hard to find words, but by putting the word "victim" on a child — or even an adult — you take away agency. And even though technically, I had little agency, because I was too young, ... the false ... belief that you have agency is what keeps us alive and keeps us actually surviving and going beyond trauma. So when you make a child a victim you destroy the thread that they have to get out of suffering. ...

I want to say that every survivor should use the language that works for them, but for me, I really use the word "survivor" because that's what happened. ... It doesn't mean there isn't damage. It doesn't mean there isn't hurt. It doesn't mean there aren't things that I was traumatized about. But let's preference the story of the muscle and the strength — and not preference the story of the weakness.

On why she doesn't use the word "rape" to describe the abuse

Technically it is statutory rape, but I think when we use that word, we deny all the manipulation that goes on for sexual abuse to happen. It was not an experience of violence, and that's why a lot of survivors of sexual abuse will kind of get their ire up when you use the word "rape." It takes away all the coercion and manipulation that goes on with sexual abuse, and we need to really understand that as different from rape. ...

I think it behooves us to understand the delusions that predators have in order to be able to stop it, in order to be able to change that people act like this. These are delusions, just like I deluded myself that it was love for 30 years. You know, we have to begin to really understand the psychology of it in order to change it.

On why it's so hard to prosecute child sexual abuse

What happens ... is that there is a slow manipulation into the child's world by the adult in which the adult is showering love and attention on the child and making them feel special. And that's why it's often — if you talk to any prosecutor — hard for children to prosecute their abusers because they feel such a complicated feeling of love and appreciation and respect, and often, that person may seem to the child to be the only adult that loves them.

https://www.npr.org/2018/08/08/636536848/a-tale-of-child-sex-abuse-was-inspired-by-filmmakers-real-life-trauma

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Book Review

A Public Voice for Private Grief

by Arthur McCaffrey

THE LATE, GREAT Barbara Blaine founded the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP) in the late 1980s as an advocacy forum and support group for victims of sexual abuse like herself. A priest in her Catholic parish in Ohio began molesting her when she was 13, and continued until she graduated from high school five years later. Like so many young victims of powerful, prestigious predators, the experience left her feeling confused — in her own words, “very guilty, ashamed, dirty and embarrassed.”

She was traumatized into silence, and another decade would pass before she could confront what had happened to her. After reading a story about another abusive priest that triggered repressed memories and made her physically ill, she began to address her own need for healing, and “learned to care for the wounded child still living in my soul . ”

SNAP grew slowly as a support group, but the growing number of survivors drew strength from their common bond. “We'd spent so many years thinking we were the only ones — it was really affirming and consoling once we found other people,” Blaine recalled.

SNAP's public advocacy work began by challenging Catholic Church officials to acknowledge the abusive priests they were sheltering. When they resisted, Blaine took her show on the road, seeking to expose both the predators and the Church's collusion in their crimes. Thanks to her dauntless spirit, SNAP became a national and international force for speaking truth to institutional power, providing a voice for victims of clerical abuse in much the same way the #MeToo movement has done for vulnerable women mistreated by powerful men.

Blaine's activism finally got company in 2002, when the Boston Globe started publishing its exposés of sexual abuse and institutional cover-up in the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Boston. The Globe 's Pulitzer Prize–winning coverage caused a cardinal to flee to Rome and inspired an Academy Award–winning movie ( Spotlight ). Abuse victims suddenly became a media cause célèbre, further accelerating Blaine's own campaign for justice.

As Blaine's personal history demonstrates, adult survivors often suffer post-traumatic stress disorder as a result of their childhood abuse. This makes it very difficult, if not impossible, for them to talk about their trauma, despite the therapeutic benefit of unburdening the soul. A 57-year-old woman recently spoke out about her own experience of abuse at the hands of her psychologist: “Secrecy keeps you a victim. By speaking out, you become a survivor […] I feel like I have been heard. I feel like justice has been served. ”

It usually takes a trigger to unlock victims' tongues, allowing them finally to name names — some brave person who first blows the whistle on a common tormentor, be that a priest, a university professor, a media celebrity, or a Hollywood mogul. The French have an idiomatic expression, “ c'est le premier pas qui coûte ” — it's the first step that counts. Whistleblowers would rephrase this as, “ c'est la première voix qui coûte ” — it's the first voice that counts. And Barbara Blaine was that first brave voice for so many victims from the 1980s onward — until social media began to play a bigger role in exposing covert sexual abuse and harassment. Now, the #MeToo movement has opened the floodgates for other victims to find their voice in solidarity with their peers.

But it is tough for even highly dedicated individuals to make a dent in large institutions; it is not just the bad apple in the corporate barrel that they protect — they try to protect the whole barrel. The Irish government found this out when the Church sought to deflect its initial inquiries. As the 2009 Commission of Investigation Report into the Catholic Archdiocese of Dublin (commonly known as the “Murphy Report”) stated: the approach of the Church to dealing with child sexual abuse was “the maintenance of secrecy, the avoidance of scandal, the protection of the reputation of the Church, and the preservation of its assets.”

Blaine and SNAP served as a public voice for private grief. As a first responder to hidden danger, the value of her personal initiative remains incalculable. But it needed to scale up to become the force for change she wished for. As a pioneer, she had lit the flames of compassion (for victims) and accountability (by institutions). When that torch was passed in the 21st century to national public inquiries and government investigative commissions, even stronger, louder voices were brought to bear on the mistreatment of citizens by powerful individuals and institutions, whether religious or secular, private or public. Blaine was a guerilla fighter who used her limited resources to make strategic attacks on large multinational corporations like the Vatican. But as public inquiries proliferated, the abuse terrorists and their institutional protectors began to be called to account by national governments instead of individuals.

It is fair to say that more public inquiries into institutional abuse have been initiated in the last 16 years than in the past 100. I discussed many of these in my first article on this subject for LARB last year. Since that piece was published, England's Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse (IICSA) issued its first interim report in March 2018. IICSA championed the cause of survivors of the UK Child Migrant Scheme, which, from the 1920s to the 1960s, shipped more than 130,000 institutionalized children, aged three to 14, to Commonwealth countries like Australia and Canada. This misguided program was the subject of a 2010 public apology in Parliament by Prime Minister Gordon Brown, who told survivors the country was sorry that their childhoods had been “robbed” by such “shameful” deportation. Following up on a proposal advanced by Prime Minister Brown, IICSA now recommends that, according to The Observer , “survivors of a postwar child migration scheme should be paid compensation by the government for suffering that included medical neglect, physical mistreatment and sexual exploitation.”

In my previous article, I proposed that the global proliferation of such public inquiries and reports on institutional abuse has given birth to a new genre of civic literature. Given the dearth of published narratives by traumatized survivors, these commissions of inquiry become virtually the only public voice for telling victims' stories. Their reports need to be collected and cataloged as nonfiction testimonials, records of a sociocultural phenomenon just as important as Dickensian accounts of social conditions in England during the Industrial Revolution.

A new crop of Australian studies, especially a blockbuster national inquiry into institutional abuse, further strengthens my case for this emerging civic literature. The Australian Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse (RCIRCSA) just completed five years of national inquiry, publishing its final report in December 2017 — seven volumes and over 17,000 words! A good synopsis is provided by Professor Desmond Cahill and Dr. Peter Wilkinson, who claim that

[t]he Australian Royal Commission has been the world's most thorough examination ever of clerical sexual abuse in the Catholic Church. In its breadth and depth, it surpasses all 26 other major inquiries in Belgium, Canada, Ireland, the Netherlands, the UK and the US.

After listening to over 8,000 private testimonies by survivors between 2013 and 2017, RCIRCSA concluded that ministers and teachers were the most frequently cited offenders. The majority of abuse took place in institutions run by religious groups, with over 60 percent occurring in Catholic organizations. Abuse in other religious and secular settings was also acknowledged. In a direct recommendation to the Vatican, RCIRCSA has called for voluntary celibacy for priests, and for any reports of abuse heard in the confessional to be reported directly to the police.

In addition to this blockbuster report, research programs at two universities in Melbourne have been studying child abuse as a worldwide social and cultural problem. These programs are building online databases that link up the growing number of investigations around the globe, thus expanding our understanding of the causes and effects of institutional abuse. Cahill and Wilkinson are the principal investigators in one of these projects, at the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology (RMIT): Child Sexual Abuse in the Catholic Church: An Interpretive Review of the Literature and Public Inquiry Reports (August 2017). This review counts over 26 countries around the world — in Australasia, the United Kingdom, Europe, and Canada — that have held official public inquiries into institutional abuse. Cahill and Wilkinson are both ex-priests, and their in-depth analyses focus primarily on the historical role of the Catholic Church in institutional abuse.

Two of their observations are noteworthy. First, they point to the 2014 criticism of the Vatican's handling of its child abuse history by the United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child (to which the Vatican is a signatory). Next, they discuss the role of canon law in keeping clergy abuse a secret — specifically, Pope Pius XI's 1922 instruction Crimen sollicitationis , which subjects all information about child sexual abuse to the strictest secrecy. Australian author Kieran Tapsell (an RCIRCSA expert witness) has written an excellent review of the RMIT report, with commentary on Vatican secrecy. Tapsell's comments on the Royal Commission report are also valuable.

The second academic study, also based in Melbourne, is at La Trobe University, where sociologist Katie Wright is constructing “a global mapping of institutional abuse inquiries.” Called the Age of Inquiry (AOI), it is a publicly available web resource for keeping track of who is investigating what where around the world, with cases stretching across the 20th century up to the present. There is a great deal of geographic overlap with the RMIT study, though Wright's focus is more catholic than Catholic, as she records the growing number of formal inquiries occurring in more and more countries. One of her notable observations is that the majority of countries studied have all had at least one national commission of inquiry, with a prominent exception — the United States. Despite many local and regional investigations, We the People have yet to be represented by a formal governmental inquiry into institutional abuse across the 50 states.

This new civic literature of institutional abuse tells the story of how the quest for justice and accountability has evolved from private initiatives like Barbara Blaine's to formal public inquiries. Civil society, through its elected representatives, has slowly learned how to be a collective voice for silent or silenced victims. If the wheels of justice do grind exceeding slow, we still hope they grind exceeding fine. We may have started slow, but we are finally in the race. Will the tortoise catch up to the hare? Maybe — but at least we now know what the hare looks like and where he hides.

Dr. Arthur McCaffrey is a retired Harvard University psychologist who writes frequently about child abuse.

https://lareviewofbooks.org/article/a-public-voice-for-private-grief/#!

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Research Article

Does Childhood Sexual Abuse Victimization Translate Into Juvenile Sexual Offending? New Evidence

by Matthew DeLisi, PhD - Iowa State University;  Anna E. Kosloski, PhD - University of Colorado;  Michael G. Vaughn, PhD - Saint Louis University, St. Louis, Missouri;  Jonathan W. Caudill, PhD - California State University, Chico;  Chad R. Trulson, PhD - University of North Texas

EDITOR'S NOTE: This is a snapshot from a peer-reviewed research article with important implications for child victims of sexual abuse. For the full study with all charts and footnotes, etc, please click on the link below.

The cycle of violence thesis posits that early exposure to maltreatment increases the likelihood of later maladaptive and antisocial behaviors. Childhood sexual abuse (CSA) specifically has been shown to increase the likelihood of sexual offending, although less is known about its linkages to other forms of crime. Based on data from 2,520 incarcerated male juvenile offenders from a large southern state, hierarchical logistic regression models suggested that CSA increased the likelihood of later sexual offending nearly sixfold (467% increase). However, CSA was associated with an 83% reduced likelihood of homicide offending and 68% reduced likelihood of serious person/property offending. These findings suggest further support for the cycle of violence where CSA promotes sexual offending but novel findings regarding the linkages between CSA and other forms of crime.

DISCUSSION

It is difficult to overstate the tragic and negative consequences of child abuse and neglect, and this is especially true in the case of CSA. CSA creates a tangle of physical, emotional, developmental, psychological, and spiritual harms that increase psychopathology and maladaptive behavior in multiple domains. For various theoretical and conceptual reasons relating to social learning, sexual development, family dynamics, biosocial development, and other, there is evidence of an association between being the victim of CSA and being the perpetrator of sexual abuse factors.

This study clearly supports this empirical statement. Without considering other confounds, the association between CSA and sexual offending was substantial representing a 768% increased risk in the baseline model. Even in the full model, with a range of family risk factors, behavioral risk factors, and races/ethnicities were considered, CSA still conferred a 467% increased likelihood of sexual offending. These ORs—between five and nine times more likely—are large effects and much higher than suggested by recent research. Moreover, the prevalence of CSA victimization was nearly sevenfold higher among youth committed for sexual  offenses compared to those committed for other serious crimes, such as murder and aggravated robbery.

An entirely different empirical picture emerged when assessing the association between CSA and other forms of serious delinquency, such as homicide and serious person/property offending. Across models, CSA was associated with between an 83% and an 85% reduced likelihood of being committed for a homicide offense and between a 68% and an 80% reduced likelihood for serious person/property offending, such as aggravated robbery. Prior investigators have linked CSA to diverse forms of antisocial behavior beyond sexual offending, including drug use, violent offending, and generalized antisocial behavior. These prior works suggest a generalized criminogenic effect for CSA and subsequent offending that is similarly seen in the victim–offender overlap and criminal careers literatures. Both perspectives have shown that extremely violent offenders evince substantial victimization histories where it appears that the abuse plays a role in the subsequent infliction of violence. Indeed this idea is the essence of the cycle of violence hypothesis.

Although linkages between CSA and offending are often general and reflect the versatile nature of antisociality, the current models showed that CSA translated into commensurately similar forms of offending while significantly reducing the likelihood of other violent offending. To our knowledge, the strong positive association between CSA and sexual offending and the strong negative association between CSA and homicide and serious person/property offending are relatively new. These effects are not entirely without precedent, however. In their typology of adolescent sex offenders, for example, Butler and Seto advanced two types. Sex-only offenders are those without nonsexual offenses in their criminal history and sex-plus offenders are those with nonsexual offenses in their criminal history. Butler and Seto found that sex-only offenders had fewer conduct problems during childhood, more prosocial attitudes, better social adjustment, and a lower risk for future delinquency than their more versatile peers, the sex-plus offender. The current findings appear similar to the sex-only typology.

Despite the significant effects in the logistic regression models, it is important to note that most delinquents who were committed for a sexual offense were not themselves sexually abused. Of the 930 youth committed for a sexual offense, 24.5% had been sexually abused, whereas 75.5% had not been sexually abused. This suggests there are multiple pathways to sexual offending among juvenile justice system involved adolescents. On the other hand, 79.9% of the youth who had been sexually abused were also committed for a sexual offense.

What becomes of youth who experience CSA and engage in sexual offending during adolescence in adulthood? To date, research shows surprisingly little continuity in sexual offending across criminal careers. For example, Zimring, Jennings, Piquero, and Hays found that only 10% of juvenile sex offenders had a sex-related offense through age 26 years based on data from the 1958 Philadelphia birth cohort. Moreover, 92% of males with sexual offenses during adulthood had zero sexual offenses during adolescence. Substantively similar studies based on data from birth cohorts from Racine, Wisconsin and the Cambridge Study in Delinquency Development also found little evidence of continuity in sexual offending. Importantly, these prior studies did not include CSA as a background factor for either juvenile sexual offending or adult sexual offending, thus it is unclear whether these findings would hold with CSA specified in multivariate models.

Conclusion

Although the pattern of findings in previous studies have not always showed that CSA is robustly associated with later sex offending during adolescence, this study's large effects, even in the face of numerous confounds, provides new evidence confirming the cycle of violence paradigm among residentially incarcerated youth. That there are hundreds of thousands of youth who are detained or incarcerated in residential treatment centers in a given year suggests that the robust relationship between CSA and juvenile sex offending be investigated further. Moreover, because CSA was negatively associated with other serious criminal violence, more research is needed to clarify these new findings in the cycle of violence.

EDITOR'S NOTE: The full study (PDF) 'Does Childhood Sexual Abuse Victimization...' is available from: