~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
From the FBI
Long-Time Fugitive Captured -- Juggler Was on the Run for 14 Years
How do you catch a fugitive who has been on the run for 14 years, has traveled extensively overseas, speaks a dozen languages, and could be anywhere in the world?
The answer to that question, as Special Agent Russ Wilson learned, is a lot of hard work—and a little bit of luck.
Neil Stammer, a talented juggler with an international reputation, was recently arrested in Nepal and returned to New Mexico to face child sex abuse charges. The events that led to his capture are a testament to good investigative work and strong partnerships, and also to the strength of the FBI's fugitive publicity program.
Here's how the case unfolded:
Stammer, who once owned a New Mexico magic shop, was arrested in 1999 on multiple state charges including child sex abuse and kidnapping. He was released on bond but never showed up for his arraignment. New Mexico issued a state arrest warrant in May 2000; a federal fugitive charge was filed a month later, which allowed the FBI to become involved in the case.
Stammer, who was 32 years old when he went on the run, told investigators that he began juggling as a teenager to make money, and he was good at it. Before his 1999 arrest, he had lived in Europe as a street performer and had learned a variety of languages. At the time of his disappearance, it was reported that Stammer could read or speak about a dozen of them.
Given his overseas travel experience and his language skills, the juggler could have been hiding anywhere in the world. With few credible leads, the case against Stammer went cold.
Fast forward to January 2014:
Special Agent Russ Wilson had just been assigned the job of fugitive coordinator in our Albuquerque Division—the person responsible for helping to catch the region's bank robbers, murderers, sex offenders, and other criminals who had fled rather than face the charges against them.
“In addition to the current fugitives, I had a stack of old cases,” Wilson said, “and Stammer's stood out.” Working with our Office of Public Affairs, a new wanted poster for Stammer was posted on FBI.gov in hopes of generating tips.
At about the same time, a special agent with the Diplomatic Security Service (DSS)—a branch of the U.S. Department of State whose mission includes protecting U.S. Embassies and maintaining the integrity of U.S. visa and passport travel documents—was testing new facial recognition software designed to uncover passport fraud. On a whim, the agent decided to use the software on FBI wanted posters. When he came upon Stammer's poster online, a curious thing happened: Stammer's face matched a person whose passport photo carried a different name.
Suspecting fraud, the agent contacted the Bureau. The tip soon led Wilson to Nepal, where Stammer was living under the name Kevin Hodges and regularly visiting the U.S. Embassy there to renew his tourist visa.
“He was very comfortable in Nepal,” Wilson said. “My impression was that he never thought he would be discovered.” Stammer had been living in Nepal for years, teaching English and other languages to students hoping to gain entrance into U.S. universities.
Although Nepal and the U.S. have no formal extradition agreement, the Nepalese government cooperated with our efforts to bring Stammer to justice. “We had tremendous assistance from DSS, the State Department, and the government of Nepal,” Wilson said. “It was a huge team effort with a great outcome.”
Our Fugitive Publicity Efforts:
Everyone knows about the FBI's Ten Most Wanted Fugitives list—the famous Top Ten list created in 1950—but our Office of Public Affairs manages a wide-ranging fugitive publicity program that seeks to enlist the public to help us track down sex offenders, bank robbers, kidnappers, terrorists, and others on the run from various criminal charges.
Media coordinators in each of our 56 field offices work with Headquarters personnel and agents in the field to publicize wanted individuals through a variety of means—from wanted posters on FBI.gov to digital billboards located around the country to publicity campaigns that draw local, national, and international media attention.
http://www.fbi.gov/news/stories/2014/august/long-time-fugitive-neil-stammer-captured/long-time-fugitive-neil-stammer-captured
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Canada
Abuse ranch opens registration
by Daniele Alcinii
A rehabilitation ranch located on the outskirts of Strathcona County will open its doors in the coming weeks to sexually abused children.
Little Warriors founder and chairperson Glori Meldrum announced earlier this week that its Be Brave Ranch, a treatment centre to help sexually abused children and their families, is accepting applications for its Sept. 3 opening.
The Be Brave Ranch has six individual houses that can hold up to 16 children at a time, each of which features a common area with classrooms, a kitchen, gym and therapy rooms.
Children aged eight to 12 who enroll in the Be Brave program will receive treatment at the ranch over an initial 20-day period, followed by a full year of external therapy and support.
During this extended period, Little Warriors — a charity teaching adults how to prevent, recognize and react to child sexual abuse — will provide each child with a computer tablet as a means to allow victims to Skype with their therapist from home.
Children are asked to return to the evidence-based treatment program, developed in part with experts at the University of Alberta, for three additional seven-day periods of further therapy and rehabilitation.
The centre will have a capacity of 600 kids per year.
The charity's Be Brave Ranch will offer children and their families more than 200 hours of various therapies run by clinical professionals, including play, art, yoga and music therapies, cognitive behavioural therapy, peer support and counseling.
Meldrum, a survivor of child sexual abuse herself, said she knows how difficult it can be once the abuse has ended for children to resume normal behaviours like play and laughter.
“Our hope is that when kids come to the Be Brave Ranch, they'll learn how to be kids again, learn how to trust and really grow into healthy adults,” Meldrum said.
“It's a very all-inclusive program about kids having fun and also healing.”
The ranch creation took more than six years of planning and hard work, plus $7 million of fundraising.
“We're really, really grateful for all the support that we've been given to date,” she said. “It's really been Albertans that have stepped up and made this happen.”
Little Warriors raised $3 million to purchase the land for the ranch, roughly $1.5 million to renovate it, and another $2.5 million to fund treatment for 100 kids in its first year.
Therapy and support are also provided to the family of victims through family-centered therapy.
The centre will be the first long-term treatment centre for sexually abused children in Canada.
Families looking to receive more information or to register their children can do so online at bebraveranch.littlewarriors.ca.
http://www.sherwoodparknews.com/2014/08/15/abuse-ranch-opens-registration
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
North Carolina
Back to school: Child abuse prevention tips
Prevent Child Abuse Rowan
As students and parents anticipate another academic school year, Prevent Child Abuse Rowan and the Terrie Hess House Child Advocacy Center would like to share some child safety tips. It is important for children and parents to be aware of their surroundings, and to be ready to act quickly if dangerous situations occur.
• Teach your children their full name, address and phone number. Make sure they know when it is appropriate to share this information.
• Teach your children your full name.
• Teach your children to listen to their feelings, and that it is OK to tell and adult “No” if they are asked to do something that makes them feel uncomfortable.
• Teach your children to say “No” to anyone attempting to touch them on the parts of their body where their swimsuit covers.
• Teach your children to say “No,” then “Get away” and to tell someone if a person bothers them.
• Teach your children to refuse anything from strangers, including money, gifts or rides. Make sure you know where new items that your children have come from.
• Do not place your children's names on their clothing or on the outside of their possessions.
The Terrie Hess House is a Child Advocacy Center and is an accredited member of the National Children's Alliance. They are a specialized program serving children who have been physically or sexually abused and their families.
Bringing together police, prosecutors, social workers, child protection workers, health and mental health providers. Child Advocacy Centers assess, investigate and offer a coordinated service response to the physical, emotional and legal dimensions of child abuse. They serve children from birth up to age 18.
http://www.salisburypost.com/article/20140815/SP01/140819802/
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Arizona
Adults should learn signs of child sexual abuse
What's being done to teach children to avoid sexual abuse, you ask?
“Preventing child sexual abuse is a job for adults,” responds Debbie Rich, the chief executive officer of the Girls Scouts of Southern Arizona.
Period.
She's emphatic: Our job, not the children's.
And that's why the Girl Scouts is partnering with the YMCA of Southern Arizona to offer a free two-hour online class that any adult can take to learn how to prevent sexual abuse of children, how to identify it if it's happening and how to respond responsibly.
“This is different because this is for the entire community — not just for teachers or parents or cafeteria workers. It's available to everyone,” Rich told us. “Anybody can go online, read through the program, answer the questions and get a certificate saying that they know how to prevent, recognize and react responsibly to child sexual abuse.”
The online curriculum is the “Stewards of Children” program offered by Darkness to Light, a national anti-abuse group. There's also a “Stewards” curriculum for groups that's taught by certified facilitators.
Darkness to Light says that one in 10 children will be sexually abused by age 18.
The best way to have an impact on that disturbing statistic, Rich said, is to educate a substantial number of adults in the community.
We're talking substantial: “If we can have 5 percent of adults in our community trained, it is statistically proven that it will impact early recognition of child sexual abuse — so that's why our goal is audacious at 50,000.”
That's not a typo: The Girl Scouts and the YMCA aim for 50,000 adults to complete the free online program. The partners also aim to train advocates in all of Southern Arizona's nonprofit and child-focused organizations.
“If we want to move the needle, that's what we need to do,” said Dane Woll, president and CEO of the YMCA of Southern Arizona. “We think it's very doable.”
Rich noted that “reacting responsibly” to abuse is “the critical piece. This training gives you all the check points to know how to react” if you recognize abuse.
“And abuse can be seen in any situation where children gather — the classroom, the softball team,” she said.
There's no charge for the online Stewards of Children classes because of the national YMCA's relationship with Darkness to Light, Woll said.
The online classes are available to all of us free of charge until Dec. 1, 2015, Rich said.
“I would like to see all of our day care parents take the course, and people involved with youth groups, swim teams and such should keep an eye out for group classes” that will be scheduled in the coming weeks and months, he said.
Meanwhile, as Rich so emphatically noted, it's up to the adults to protect the children. So go online and spend a couple of hours learning what you need to know in order to do that.
http://tucson.com/news/opinion/adults-should-learn-signs-of-child-sexual-abuse/article_3fac50e7-fb76-5f12-b13b-ae71553004a2.html
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Arizona
Outreach facility takes aim at sex trafficking
by Megan Cassidy
By the time the teenage girls and young women walk through the doors of the Phoenix Dream Center, many have been selling their bodies for years.
There are approximately 60 organizations in the Valley that address sex trafficking in some capacity or provide opportunities for those who want out of the life. Some are faith-based, some youth-oriented, some targeting the homeless.
The demographic the community has failed to address, said Pastor Brian Steele, executive director of the Phoenix Dream Center, are tomorrow's victims.
"My wife and I had a heart for getting on the other side of this thing, and really providing a fighting chance for young women on the preventative side … at that very elusive age, at that very elusive process of entry into this life," he said.
This fall, the Phoenix Dream Center will open a new outreach facility in Mesa aimed at 12- to 16-year-old girls who are the most statistically prone to a life of prostitution.
The model is familiar yet nuanced.
Like other youth-mentorship programs, volunteers will take the girls on field trips, teach them life skills and promote self-esteem-building classes. The relationship-building activities then enable the women to have an open dialog with the girls about sexual exploitation.
What does it mean to be a gang girl? What does it mean when there's an older guy hanging out at a school? When a guy buys you a cellphone?
"It can be as raw as prostitution and not getting kidnapped, or it can be as subtle as sexting," he said.
Other programs, such as the Girl Scouts, have added elements of trafficking prevention and intervention into their curriculum, but the Dream Center program is narrowly focused, relying on demographic studies to direct their resources.
The center conducted an internal teen outreach study of 52 girls who lived near the 27th Avenue prostitution track and had been solicited for prostitution. All of these girls came from a household income of less than $8,000 and all came from households that received government assistance. The snapshot study additionally found that 61 percent had stolen food in the past, 53 percent had a history or open CPS case and 14 percent had been kicked out of the house before.
The statistics pointed volunteers to the types of girls they were looking for in their initial Phoenix efforts, and they will continue this method in Mesa.
Steele said the volunteers forge inroads through the girls' families. With the permission of the apartment manager, they approach tenants of low-income housing near known prostitution tracks, and offer services such as food, clothing or a message of hope.
The new prevention model was molded by the Dream Center's familiarity with the population. The non-profit's current facility — an Embassy Suites in another life — is seated just blocks from 27th Avenue and Indian School Road, a blighted zone in central Phoenix notoriously trafficked by pimps, prostitutes and those who pay them.
The center's top floor holds 33 at capacity, plus six beds for babies, but in the next few years will swell to 200, moving other programs to different facilities.
The plight of sex-trafficking victims, particularly minors, is an old problem that has recently garnered a tide of attention from political and advocacy groups. Various political task forces at the city and state level in Arizona have poured man hours and resources into combating the issue, and Gov. Jan Brewer this year signed sweeping legislation to help protect its victims.
The Mesa center, which has yet to be named, will operate on a $100,000 yearly budget, drawing solely from the private donations of area churches.
Kathleen Winn, director of the community outreach and education at the Arizona Attorney General's Office, is a member of Mission Community Church in Mesa, one of the new center's largest donors.
Winn said she became educated about the social issue of sex trafficking through her work for the state and parlayed that into her role in the community. Winn said no state funds have been applied to the church or the center.
Despite the recent political tide of anti-sex trafficking efforts, the prevention-tailored approach is novel in the Valley. And it's one that's badly needed, said Katie Resendiz of TRUST, an anti-trafficking advocacy group in Arizona.
"I haven't seen a model that incorporates all the different prevention tactics — everything from making sure a guy doesn't sweet-talk you, to making sure you know how to balance a checkbook," she said. "Because all of those are vital to preventing trafficking."
http://www.azcentral.com/story/news/local/phoenix/2014/08/17/phoenix-sex-trafficking-outreach-facility/14191715/
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
California
Former Sex Trafficking Victim, Campaign Advocate for Change, Awareness
A new billboard and bus stop campaign encourages residents to report human trafficking
by Andie Adams
A former teenage victim of sex trafficking is putting her voice and support behind a new campaign to prevent others from sharing her traumatic childhood.
Tiffany Mester grew up in a broken home, frequently the target of physical and sexual abuse. She lived with people who never taught her her value as a person, so when a “Rico Suave” type man came into her life and treated her well, she fell for him.
But the man turned out to be a pimp, cultivating a relationship with Mester so he could later force her into sex trafficking, she said. Over almost two years, she saw the wonderful life she imagined with the man turn into a nightmare.
"I've had guns to my head, knives to my throat. I've jumped out of moving cars,” said Mester. “And so the glamorous lifestyle that was fed to me when he was cultivating me wasn't in reality what was happening.”
During that time, she filtered in and out of juvenile hall, all the while believing one day she and her man would retire and be together.
However, just a few days after she was released from her final juvenile hall stay when she was 16 years old, her pimp was arrested.
She said that's when she believes God started to severe the ties between her and the toxic man.
“I slowly started to rehabilitate and learn my value and learn my identity,” said Mester.
The former sex trafficking victim enrolled in school, began to work full time and became an advocate for fellow women forced into the same situation.
Still, Mester said she had to deal with a lingering stigma that sex traffickers are no different than prostitutes – an assumption against which she has fought hard.
Through her advocate efforts, she allied herself with the San Diego District Attorney's Office, which has seen the number of prosecuted sex trafficking cases triple in the last four years. In the first half of 2014, the DA's office filed 23 human trafficking-related cases, it says.
On Thursday, DA Bonnie Dumanis joined Mester to unveil a new public awareness campaign to reach out to victims and encourage residents to report sex trafficking.
“San Diego is a hot spot. Human traffickers in California made more than $9 billion. It's the second-largest growing illicit industry in the country,” said Dumanis.
Clear Channel has donated nine billboards across the county to display the anti-human trafficking messages for 30 days, and space on bus shelters has been set aside for ads reaching out to runaway girls.
A new website called ProtectSanDiegoKids.org also holds information about how to prevent trafficking, how to spot it and how to report it.
They hope 3.5 million people will see the billboard campaign over the next month and turn the words into action.
If you know someone who needs help escaping human trafficking, call the National Human Trafficking Resource Center Hotline at 888-373-7888 or text “BeFree” to 233733.
“If there's a young girl out there, I would say that your value's worth more than that, your sex is worth more than that, and there's so many people out there that are willing to love you without requiring you to give them something in return,” said Mester.
http://www.nbcsandiego.com/news/local/Sex-Trafficking-Victim-Campaign-Wants-Ripple-Effect-of-Awareness-271338081.html
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Tennessee
Tennessee takes action against underage sex trafficking
by Liz Wood
For victims of human trafficking, slavery in the U.S. is alive and well, and, despite improvements, Tennessee is no exception.
The Protected Innocence Challenge, a comprehensive study which grades states on its laws to respond to domestic minors forced to engage in sex trafficking, graded Tennessee with a 93.5, or A, for human trafficking in 2013, up from its score of 79.5 in 2012 and 73 in 2011.
Two notable changes behind the state's improved score are the amending of the patronizing prostitution law which significantly increased the penalty for buying sex with a minor and a new law requiring the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation to update its website upon a missing child's recovery.
However, incidents of sex trafficking still surface to the tune of 94 each month in the state, according to the latest statistical report from the TBI.
Most female victims average between the ages of 12 and 14 while boys are even younger, averaging between just 11 and 13 years of age.
On an average day, a sex-trafficking victim will sleep with 7 to 15 men with quotas range from $200 to $1,000, all being kept by the trafficker or pimp.
The Polaris Project
Knox County is among four counties in Tennessee that has experienced over 100 incidents of sex-trafficking, along with Shelby County, Davidson County and Coffee County.
Karen Karpinski, director of education for End Slavery Tennessee, a Nashville-based organization committed to a slave-free Tennessee and the restoration of survivors of human trafficking, said any place with a large number of people passing through regularly is bound to experience human trafficking.
"I think all of our major cities – Knoxville, Nashville, Chattanooga, Memphis – have a large number of trafficking issues," Karpinski said. "Most are located on main interstate systems, and any time you have a situation with a lot of people coming into your city, you're going to have trafficking.
"We know that it is a growing problem. Worldwide it is the fastest growing criminal activity in the world, and the US is certainly not exempt from that. We are one of the larger countries in the world for trafficking, and the numbers only continue to grow. The only statistic we see going down is the age of the victim that is involved."
Ryan Dalton, policy counsel at Shared Hope International, said extreme responsiveness in Tennessee legislature to data revealed by the Protected Innocence Challenge has resulted in an improved score for the state.
"Human trafficking is a hidden crime," Dalton said. "It happens in places where people can't see it. It's cloaked from law enforcement. Putting numbers on it allows us to develop policy and make an aggressive criminal justice response to human trafficking. The last three years we've been able to drill down on our anti-trafficking law and make some serious improvements."
Dalton said that addressing the issue at a legislative level is central to decreasing its incidence.
In Tennessee, trafficking a person for a commercial sex act and promoting prostitution can send an offender to jail for eight to 30 years or 15-60 years if the minor is under 15 or if the offense occurs near a school, library or park.
Fines can be as high as $50,000.
Apart from organizations in the state aiming to combat sex-trafficking, citizens have also taken on the issue.
The Freedom Cyclers, a group comprised of four UT students, chose sex-trafficking as the focus of their 2,400 mile bike ride from California to Georgia this summer, and rose about $10,000 while spreading awareness on the issue.
Jeff Maier, a senior in accounting who was one of the Freedom Cyclers, recalled spreading awareness of human trafficking and discussing the issue with people the group encountered as the most rewarding aspect of the trip.
Resolving such an important issue, Maier said, can begin with awareness.
"If no one knows about it, then it's never going to get stopped," Maier said. "I can't imagine being one of these people that is being forced to have sex several times a day. That's one of the worst things I can imagine going through. It's just important to end the problem."
http://utdailybeacon.com/news/2014/aug/15/tennessee-improves-awareness-underage-sex-traffick/
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
California
(Video on site)
Authorities Crack Down on Child Sex Trafficking
Gangs can make anywhere from $600,000 to $800,000 a year off the illicit trade
by Mateo Melero and John Cádiz Klemack
Los Angeles County officials are teaming up to crack down on human trafficking involving minors by sweeping the streets undercover and working with social services counselors to help get the victims the help they need.
Los Angeles County Supervisor Don Knabe, along with law enforcement and social services officials, gathered Wednesday to talk about saving children from sex trafficking.
"I don't think anyone in this room can be convinced that a 10, 12, 14-year-old girl makes a conscious decision to become a prostitute," Knabe said.
Long Beach Police Chief Jim McDonnell said that gang members are behind the illicit trade and make anywhere from $600,000 to $800,000 a year on it.
"The product is the young girl whose life is being ruined," McDonnell said.
LA County Sheriff's deputies are patrolling undercover looking for underage prostitutes forced into the trade.
The average age of the victims is 12 years old and one of the main purposes of the new protocols is to bring in social workers to help.
The DCFS said that many of these victims come through the foster care system and that staff and hotline operators need to be educated on how to handle these children.
"They're not child prostitutes. They're victims," Knobe said.
http://www.nbclosangeles.com/news/local/County-Agencies-to-Treat-Children-Forced-into-Sex-Trade-Like-Victims-and-Not-Criminals-271182661.html
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
New York
Couple arrested for kidnapping 2 Amish sisters in upstate N.Y., intended to abuse them: cops
Stephen Howells II, 39, and Nicole Vaisey, 25, of Hermon, N.Y. were arrested Friday after being interviewed by investigators in St. Lawrence County, near the Canadian border. The couple is charged with snatching two Amish sisters from their family's roadside food stand around 7 p.m. Wed before dropping them off 35 miles away 24 hours later.
by Sasha Goldstein
An upstate couple was arrested and arraigned Friday on charges they planned to physically harm or sexually abuse two young Amish sisters they kidnapped from a roadside farm stand, authorities said.
Stephen Howells II, 39 and Nicole Vaisey, 25, of Hermon, N.Y. each face two counts of first-degree kidnapping for grabbing the girls in Oswegatchie, N.Y. just before 7 p.m. Wednesday, St. Lawrence County District Attorney Mary Rain told the Daily News.
The girls were found around 8 p.m. Thursday after being dropped off in the hamlet of Richville, some 35 miles northwest of where they were abducted.
“The girls are home, they were checked out at the hospital last night,” Rain said. “They are fine.”
The St. Lawerence County Sheriff's Office said in a statement late Friday that the couple's arrest “no doubt saved young children from future abuse.”
The Amish girls, 12-year-old Fannie Miller and Delila Miller, 7, were “extremely” instrumental to finding the perps, Rain said.
Authorities are now trying to learn more about where the girls were kept during the 24 hours they were missing. Rain spoke from the couple's home at 1380 County Route 21 in Hermon, where investigators were searching the house.
“There is no one else involved that we know of,” Rain said.
Vaisey and Howells were busted after voluntarily coming in for an interview the St. Lawrence County Sheriff's Office. Rain would not say if the couple admitted to the crime, but they were arrested around 8:30 p.m. at the end of questioning.
More information will be released at an 8 a.m. press conference in Canton, Rain said.
Howells and Vaisey face 25 years to life in prison if convicted of the charges.
The girls were brought home from Richville after knocking on Jeff Stinson's door, ABC News reported. Stinson recognized the girls and fed them watermelon and grape juice.
“They ate that watermelon in 30 seconds. It was fast,” Stinson told ABC.
He then drove the girls home and police were notified.
The sisters vanished Wednesday evening after a witness said a small, white 4-door sedan drove up to the roadside stand in Oswegatchie and its passenger got out and threw “something in back,” state authorities said.
Both girls were wearing dark blue dresses with blue aprons and black bonnets and had just returned from milking and were helping a customer at the stand, authorities said.
An Amber Alert issued at 1 a.m. Thursday was canceled just before 10 p.m. that night.
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/crime/man-woman-arrested-kidnapping-2-amish-sisters-upstate-n-y-article-1.1905482
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Canada
A story of courage, faith and hope
Making a Difference
by Jody Downie
There are many stories that require telling, not one more important than another, but often issues that are taboo continue to be kept in a shroud of secrecy. For that reason alone, this an important story to share - sadly not an isolated one.
This is true story, about a path of healing that a male survivor of child sexual abuse requested be shared. In his journey of healing he was frustrated in the process of seeking help and found little resources for victims of sexual abuse. It is his hope that the following accounts of his experience as a survivor will be read with non-judgement and understanding, and allow others with similar experiences to know they are not alone and help is available.
Eyes of A Child
I'm 11 and so happy!!! I met a new friend last night who is the son of a family acquaintance and he is super cool. We hung around in their basement and he played the guitar and we talked. he said that if I come over next weekend he'll take me to the show which is great because nobody offers to do that. Can't wait.
The past three weeks we've had a great time. He listens to me, we play board games, go to the show, and just hang around. He's 19 but seems to really like me and listen to me which doesn't happen often. I'm really looking forward to hanging around him this summer until he has to go back to university.
The past couple of visits he's been hugging and touching me which means he must really like me. This makes me feel wanted and secure that someone would not only pay attention to me but like me. Last night it got kinda weird because I didn't like the way he was touching me. I asked him to stop because he said that all guys do this and that if I tell anyone then they'll think I'm bad for squealing. Because he's so much older I figure he knows this stuff and besides, maybe he just likes me a lot.
This past month hasn't been very good because the touching has gotten to be more and I don't like it.
I can't tell anyone but I look at my family and in my head scream “ don't you see something is different with me. I don't want to go to his house anymore, I don't talk anymore”. But nobody listens.
It's finally the end of August and he leaves for school tomorrow. He tells me that I'm a good kid and don't forget that if I tell anyone that I'm breaking a code of honour. he took me to the park one more time and told me that I was a great kid and to always be good. After he left I took the memories and hid them away.
Fast forward 52 years to 2013. Something started to happen in my mind but I wasn't sure what it was. I started drinking alcohol and soon was addicted. I drank until I got what I thought was five minutes of nothingness in my mind then passed out. This went on for most of the year and I was so confused because I couldn't understand why I was doing this.
Then in the fall I started having flashbacks that would be triggered by a smell, touch or word and it would bring me right back to when I was 11. I tried to fight it but couldn't put it back in the dark part of my mind. I ended up entering rehab for alcohol dependency and through therapy the childhood sexual assault came out. Upon leaving rehab I thought I had conquered all, I didn't need to drink anymore because I had let the demons out of my mind, dealt with them and could move forward.
I stayed sober until the middle of January this year when any reminder of what happened came forward I had to go to my crutch, alcohol, to survive.
I wasn't able to find the right support at that time because male sexual abuse is one of the most not talked about molestations because men are taught that it could only happen if you asked for it.
I spiralled down and my family who had been so supportive couldn't understand it - but how do you explain to your wife and grown kids what you are going through. Don't forget, if I tell I'm bad. I tried to tell them in pieces, but could in no way explain in detail that I had to in order to get it out.
I was finally put in touch with Parry Sound Family Services and have been working through this experience. I can sum up a couple of things. What did my abuse take from my childhood? He made me not trust men so I've never played sports, had a guy best friend or hung out with a group of guys. But I learned compassion for people. He took my self-confidence however in turn from this gave me the drive to overachieve. He took a lot of good memories but I've been able to make new memories.
Stats say that one in six male children are sexually abused. If you think that you don't know anyone who is currently suffering or is hiding what happened to him as a child then that will continue to keep men from reporting the abuse. I realize that I'm just starting what will be a long road to recovery and probably will never fully recover however he's taken enough from me and I refuse to give him anymore of my life.
- Anonymous
If you, or a man you know has been sexually abused as a child or assaulted as an adult - he often hides this fact...and most often suffers in silence.
The following are some of the effects of sexual abuse on males: depression and anxiety; self blame and shame; tendency to be over controlling or too submissive; inability to trust; difficulty forming and maintaining healthy relationships with themselves and others; anger and rage; self- destructive behaviours; addictions; confusion around sexual identity; dissatisfaction with life; stress related illness; never feeling good enough; problems defining healthy sexuality; suicidal thoughts and/or attempts; distorted views on healthy masculinity.
Please do not wait for a crisis to seek help. If you are a survivor of male sexual abuse, Parry Sound Family Service offers confidential, non-judgmental services and group therapy for survivors. If you are wanting to regain your physical, mental and social health please contact Parry Sound Family Service at 705-746-9789.
http://www.parrysound.com/opinion-story/4759020-a-story-of-courage-faith-and-hope/
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
California
LAUSD Uncovers Child Abuse Records
by John Cádiz Klemack
The Los Angeles Unified School District now says some of the documents it admitted to shredding actually do exist.
After NBC4 confronted the school district in May about information released during the deposition of a former employee regarding the shredding of two decades worth of child abuse records in 2008, a spokesman for the district admitted the allegation was true.
"We felt we didn't have a right to have them," said spokesman Sean Rossall of Cerrell and Associates, an outside public relations firm hired by the Sedgewick Lawfirm to handle media inquiries about the continued child abuse litigation against LAUSD.
On May 2, Rossall released a statement claiming the district had "checked with LA County officials prior to" destroying the documents, telling NBC4 it was county law enforcement with which the District spoke.
After NBC4 attempted to verify the claim with the LA County District Attorney's Office and the LA County Sheriff's Department, Rossall re-released the statement in a revised fashion deleting the portion about who the district cleared the shredding with.
Now it appears some of those Suspected Child Abuse Reports ("SCAR") have been found.
In a "Motion for Clarification" filed by LAUSD attorneys in court Friday, district officials say they believe the state's Child Abuse and Neglect Reporting Act does not permit it to retain the reports and it is asking the judge to clarify whether the recently discovered documents can be destroyed.
"The School District has recently concluded an extensive review of warehoused documents not related to this litigation," the filing states. "In the course of that review, a box was found that, although not indicated on its label, was approximately half-full of copies of Reports that had not been destroyed."
Rossall maintains the reports are copies of what law enforcement already has. In a statement to NBC4 on Friday he says, "We are acting transparently and bringing this discovery to the court's attention, so the court can make its own assessment about what should happen to the documents in the context of the litigation."
Attorneys for the Miramonte child abuse plaintiffs say the district is playing games with the court. Brian Claypool who represents 15 alleged victims says he's not surprised, "They have already been sanctioned $6,500 for intentionally hiding and concealing photographs of many of the children being abused."
Claypool is referring to the sanctions placed by Judge John Sheperd Wiley in June for what he called an "abuse of discovery."
John Manley, representing additional alleged victims says he doesn't believe the reports were "recently" found, believing rather that the district has known about the existence of the reports for months and "simply hid them."
"These reports identify many child molesters who were LAUSD employees," Manly said. "The District has simply concealed them including those related to Mark Berndt. The victims and the public deserve the truth about LAUSD's cover up of child molesters. We will be addressing this very serious matter with the court next week."
LAUSD officials would not say how many reports were destroyed in 2008 or how many were found in the latest discovery. NBC4 has asked repeatedly for information about who authorized the shredding of the child abuse reports in 2008 and that question has also been left unanswered. Claypool thinks the district's moves in the ongoing civil cases will not trick a jury, set for trial on Nov. 4.
"At trial in November, the community will finally see shocking evidence confirming a massive LAUSD cover up at Miramonte," he said.
NBC4 continues to investigate the LA School District.
Multiple requests for public records remain pending within the District's General Counsel office since June 16, including billing statements from the Sedgewick and Andrade law firms representing the LAUSD, with a pricetag believed to be upwards of $6 million for taxpayers over the last two years.
http://www.nbclosangeles.com/news/local/LAUSD-Uncovers-Child-Abuse-Records-271475941.html
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
United Kingdom
Child abuse scandal raises disturbing questions about UK establishment
by Tony Gosling
Britain has been known for many things, from being the bullies of the world, to its language, pop music, film and drama.
But as Churchill's “finest hour” in World War II fades to a distant memory and proud post-war industries have been dismantled, one scandal has come to sum up everything that has turned our so-called leaders sour.
The UK's child abuse scandal, rooted in the media, Westminster and the Royal Family and personified by serial abuser and BBC personality Jimmy Savile, has been shocking enough. But far more insulting to the victims, the nation and the world is the Cameron government's attempt, in early July, to institute two separate child abuse inquiries led by establishment figures who, due to family and work connections, immediately faced suspicions of possible conflicts of interest.
This is a side to human nature which it suits most of us to think does not even exist. Those that sexually abuse defenseless children hope that few police, journalists or, ultimately, readers and viewers, have the stomach to scrutinize the depths of their depravity. Abusers also know the last thing most victims want to do is to relive their abuse by giving evidence in a courtroom. They appear to be protected by the intelligence services, who keep an eye on anyone who might expose them, and have the resources to engage the most expensive lawyers and spike any rumors.
Much of the hard graft of unearthing recent evidence of historical abuse has been down to a little known “old school” London news agency. Exaro News has shown the rest of the London media up with their simple mission to expose wrongdoing. Their fearless pursuit of these criminals, particularly at the notorious Elm Guest House in southwest London, carries on despite a general lethargy by the police.
However well Exaro can stand these stories up, nervous national newspaper editors seem too often reluctant to print what a self-respecting press should, to launch the odd torpedo at the establishment battleship.
The response of the London press to the latest Westminster abuse revelations has for the most part been to look the other way. As they did the first time round, when another tiny outfit, Simon Regan's Scallywag magazine, was sunk without a trace for daring to dish the dirt in the 1980s and 1990s. Crucial unasked questions now are whether either of these latest enquiries announced by Home Secretary Theresa May into state-sanctioned child abuse are likely to attract the trust and cooperation of even a single victim.
2 child abuse inquiries, both set up to fail
An extraordinary admission was made by the Home Office's top civil servant, Mark Sedwill, on Saturday July 5, that his department had “lost” 114 files relating to Westminster child abuse investigations handed to them in the 1980s by Tory MP Geoffrey Dickens. The files allegedly included allegations against more than 10 current and retired politicians.
The next day former Tory party chairman, cabinet minister and survivor of the 1984 IRA Brighton bomb, Sir Norman Tebbit, confessed on TV that there "may well have been" a political cover-up of child sex abuse in the 1980s. He explained: "People thought that the establishment was to be protected." On Monday July 7, Home Secretary Theresa May announced two national inquiries into allegations of child abuse linked to Westminster.
The first inquiry was, conveniently, slated to deliver its report after the May 2015 general election but this one lasted less than a week before it was revealed to the public, though May already knew that the enquiry's head, Lady Elizabeth Butler-Sloss's late brother Sir Michael Havers was Attorney General when Geoffrey Dickens' allegations were made, and covered up. Even without that, her previous selection as inquest coroner in the death of Princess Diana, a role she also relinquished, should have made her connections with the establishment so tight as to have taken her out of the running.
Tapped by May to head the second inquiry into the police losing the evidence, due to report mid-September, is Sir Peter Wanless. He is the chief executive of the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children (NSPCC), a national charity for which Britain's most prolific pedophile, Jimmy Savile, was one of the most high-profile “fundraisers.”
Post-Savile, no organization is beyond reproach. It has become clear that organizations like the NSPCC have actually been the perfect “hiding place” for nests of abusers. NSPCC also runs the national Childline support phone service for the abused which some believe may also have been compromised.
Before his latest role at the NSPCC, Wanless was a “highly respected” civil servant, permanent secretary to cabinet minister Michael Portillo during the 1990s when Portillo was Chief Secretary to the Treasury, and crossing departments with him when Portillo became Secretary of State for Employment. Again – an establishment civil servant investigating his own. A recipe for a cover-up.
More serious, though, are the persistent rumors about Wanless' close friend and confidant Michael Portillo, now like Savile, a BBC TV personality, being allegedly involved in a Westminster sex scandal himself. Rumors circulated in 1994 that Portillo and another Tory Secretary of State, Peter Lilley, had got sexually involved with Britain's first openly gay footballer, Justin Fashanu.
Unfortunately for the two secretaries of state though, a disgruntled Fashanu supposedly decided to “blow the lid,” threatening to “bring down the government” by leaking evidence of these affairs to the Daily Express. When MI5 allegedly threatened Fashanu, Tory MP Stephen Milligan, a part-time journalist, is said to have weighed in on the footballer's behalf on a mission to get to the bottom of it all and “clean up the Tory party.”
Within days, however, Milligan was found hanged in his London flat, naked, with an orange in his mouth in an apparent suicide, made to look like he was a sexual deviant. Fashanu was swiftly sacked by his football club and got on the first flight to the United States. Several years later Fashanu was also tragically found hanged, this time in a garage in Shoreditch, London.
Whether or not there is any truth to the original allegations, the mysterious deaths surrounding them should have prohibited any senior civil servant associated with Portillo from taking up a job heading the NSPCC, and totally exclude Wanless from heading any inquiry into the Whitehall child abuse scandal. Would anybody who has been abused, or with evidence of abuse, and is capable of doing an internet search, be likely to confide in him?
Journalist Phil Frampton has pointed out these and other flaws in May's fanfare announcement of 7th July, explaining in an open letter signed by 28 child protection professionals to May: “The chair of this inquiry will need fearlessness, to be prepared to challenge the authorities and to ask and get answers to very difficult questions. This is a role that can only be undertaken by someone clearly seen as outside the establishment.”
Rather than simply “cursing the darkness” of the Home Secretary's perverse appointments, Frampton has suggested Michael Mansfield QC to replace Butler-Sloss on the leaderless first inquiry. He, along with the “revised Terms of Reference” Frampton suggests, “is the only way to secure justice for survivors and protection of our children.” Mansfield, who represented the Al Fayed family at Princess Diana's inquest, is both sufficiently qualified and, crucially, far more likely to be trusted by the abused.
Blackmailing politicians in Brussels and London
Perhaps child abuse is sanctioned at high levels simply because the ease of blackmailing those involved suits the security services, bankers, royalty and others behind the scenes that want weak, pliable politicians? If that's so, it's no surprise then that Brussels, one of modern Europe's other main centers of power, has also been the scene of the most horrendous child abuse.
Back in 1996, the arrest of Marc Dutroux in Belgium eventually led, eight years later, to his 2004 trial for the murder of four young girls he had imprisoned as sex slaves for the rich and powerful. The Dutroux scandal has many of the characteristics of the Westminster scandal: A judicial cover-up, initial reluctance of the press to take it seriously, persistent police inaction and diligent police officers being inexplicably removed from the case.
Only Belgium's biggest-ever anti-paedophile public protest of 300,000 people in October 1996 appeared to concentrate the minds of the Belgian establishment to actually do something. Exactly the same perversions of the course of justice have been seen in several child abuse inquiries in the UK, including the Jersey inquiry where campaigning Senator Stuart Syvret and police chief Lenny Harper were both removed from their posts.
In London, though, the present child abuse lies are just part of the furniture. Scattered in disarray around Downing Street you'll find Afghanistan lies, Iraq lies and Libya lies, not to mention the daily racist lies of Islamaphobia making a bid to rival Hitler's hatred of the Jews.
As the late Nicol Williamson, playing King Arthur's magician Merlin in John Bormann's 1981 feature film “Excalibur” put it, “It must be truth. When a man lies, he murders a part of the world.” These constant lies also have the effect of smashing national morale and disengaging most of the population from the entire political process. Lowering voter expectations and making the population much easier to manage in a “soft fascist” kind of way.
May's Britain is recognized up and down the nation and around the world as introducing some of the most brutal policies imaginable, punishing disabled people for the crimes of the bankers, sending innocent British Muslims off to rot in US jails. Coalition Britain is exhibiting all the worst signs of misrule, of a dying empire in denial.
One figure you won't find stalking the Downing Street corridors any more though is Prime Minister David Cameron's deputy head of policy, Patrick Rock. Despite having worked as a top Brussels civil servant for many years and being put in charge of the coalition government's internet child porn filter, he was arrested earlier this year and charged with three offences of making child abuse images and one of possession of 62 child pornography pictures.
Downing Street kept Rock's initial arrest secret, though, for several weeks, while a political counter-story was prepared about the opposition Labour party deputy leader Harriet Harman historically belonging to the Pedophile Information Exchange (PIE). This effectively “softened the political blow” of the far more serious Downing Street child porn arrest story.
More recently it transpired that PIE was given offices under the Tories actually within the Home Office itself and that PIE also got substantial funding from the Metropolitan police Special Branch (MI5). This obsession, not with striking the root of the Whitehall abusers, but with spinning the stories as far away from the Tory party as possible, characterizes the entire Westminster abuse scandal since the 1980s.
As West German rock band Propaganda thundered out in the chorus of their 1985 hit, “Duel”: “The first cut won't hurt at all. The second only makes you wonder. The third will have you on your knees. You start bleeding, I start screaming.” Lead singer Claudia Brücken heightens the slow pulverizing effect of government lies and media collusion made infamous by Hitler's propaganda minister Josef Goebbels.
Enough of the dead, time to jail the living pedophiles
Pedophiles Jimmy Savile and his friend Liberal MP Cyril Smith have both been exposed as such after their deaths, putting them beyond justice. Several other celebrities have been arrested and charged with relatively minor offences, creating the illusion of “something being done,” while the living establishment pedophiles still go free.
Britain's libel laws make it difficult for establishment paedophiles to be accused as such, while they're still alive, unless the police act. In Savile's case he worked hand in glove with Leeds police. Left bleeding and screaming on the paedophile scandal's Whitehall marble floors lie the unavenged abused, battered and broken. Offered nothing by May so far this year, but another poison spoonful of saccharine.
The future for the campaign against this evil at the heart of state criminality in Britain is by no means certain. Will the London press be prepared to at last name the living establishment abusers? Will the police be prepared to pursue the evidence wherever it leads? Or will these blackmailed zombies continue oozing slime and further lies, leaving yet more blood and screams in their wake?
The power of truth in time though is relentless. When the police once more lose the files they might pop up, miraculously, on the internet for all the world to see. All the world must act on them, too, because the ultimate test in putting these vile state sanctioned abusers behind bars will be of a few good men and women. The police, politicians and journalists who take the bull by the horns and, despite the threats from unprincipled lawyers, nail and jail these vile creatures. Get them off the streets of London, once and for all.
Then our leaders, free from the foul air of paedophilia and blackmail, can resume the task of serving us, doing credit to the nation. Pick themselves up by their bootstraps and Britain can begin again a more honest and more confident stride into the 21st century.
http://rt.com/op-edge/180616-british-home-secretary-child-abuse/
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Ireland
Child sex abuse survivors far more likely to be disabled, poor and live alone in later life
Even when you take into account mental illness
A MAJOR STUDY has found that childhood sexual abuse in Ireland does enormous economic and social damage to survivors, even well into later life.
The survey, conducted by the ESRI and Trinity College Dublin, found that Irish men and women who were sexually abused as children were more than twice as likely as others to be forced out of work by sickness in later life.
Among the other major findings:
• Male CSA survivors are three times more likely than other men to be sick or disabled after the age of 50
• Both men and women abused in childhood are more than twice as likely as others to be out of the workforce due to sickness or permanent disability
• The household income of male CSA survivors is 34% lower than the average
• Men abused as children are twice as likely to live alone after the age of 50, compared to other men.
Speaking to TheJournal.ie , one of the researchers, Alan Barrett, said that the study measures, for the first time, the sheer scale and durability of the economic devastation that CSA causes among survivors.
We had had a sense that being a survivor of child sexual abuse had long-term economic consequences, but now those effects have actually been quantified.
Significantly, the research controlled for mental health problems, and socioeconomic status in early life, which could otherwise have explained why CSA survivors suffer disproportionate economic harms.
Take, for example, two comparable people, with similar economic circumstances in childhood, and who both suffer from depression or other mental health problems.What the study found is that if one is a childhood sexual abuse survivor, and the other is not, the childhood sexual abuse survivor is still far more likely to have negative labour market outcomes.And this is 30 years or more after the abuse itself.
“The Long-Term Impact of Childhood Sexual Abuse on Incomes and Labour force Status” which is published in a short summary today, found that CSA was slightly more prevalent among women than it was among men (6.7% vs 5.6% of all those surveyed.)
Some 8% of men and 6% of women aged between 50 and 64, and who were not sexually abused as children, are forced to leave the labour force through sickness or permanent disability.
Shockingly, among CSA survivors those numbers rise to 17% of men and 14% of women.
The study was based on self-completed questionnaires handed in by 8,500 people aged 50 and over and living in Ireland, between 2009 and 2011.
The full research paper will be published at a later date in the Journal of Behavioural and Experimental Economics.
Get help:
CONNECT is a national telephone counselling service run by the HSE for adults who experienced abuse in childhood.
Freephone: 1800-477-477
http://www.thejournal.ie/economic-effects-of-child-sex-abuse-ireland-1619662-Aug2014/
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Canada
A story of courage, faith and hope
Making a Difference
by Jody Downie
There are many stories that require telling, not one more important than another, but often issues that are taboo continue to be kept in a shroud of secrecy. For that reason alone, this an important story to share - sadly not an isolated one.
This is true story, about a path of healing that a male survivor of child sexual abuse requested be shared. In his journey of healing he was frustrated in the process of seeking help and found little resources for victims of sexual abuse. It is his hope that the following accounts of his experience as a survivor will be read with non-judgement and understanding, and allow others with similar experiences to know they are not alone and help is available.
Eyes of A Child
I'm 11 and so happy!!! I met a new friend last night who is the son of a family acquaintance and he is super cool. We hung around in their basement and he played the guitar and we talked. he said that if I come over next weekend he'll take me to the show which is great because nobody offers to do that. Can't wait.
The past three weeks we've had a great time. He listens to me, we play board games, go to the show, and just hang around. He's 19 but seems to really like me and listen to me which doesn't happen often. I'm really looking forward to hanging around him this summer until he has to go back to university.
The past couple of visits he's been hugging and touching me which means he must really like me. This makes me feel wanted and secure that someone would not only pay attention to me but like me. Last night it got kinda weird because I didn't like the way he was touching me. I asked him to stop because he said that all guys do this and that if I tell anyone then they'll think I'm bad for squealing. Because he's so much older I figure he knows this stuff and besides, maybe he just likes me a lot.
This past month hasn't been very good because the touching has gotten to be more and I don't like it.
I can't tell anyone but I look at my family and in my head scream “ don't you see something is different with me. I don't want to go to his house anymore, I don't talk anymore”. But nobody listens.
It's finally the end of August and he leaves for school tomorrow. He tells me that I'm a good kid and don't forget that if I tell anyone that I'm breaking a code of honour. he took me to the park one more time and told me that I was a great kid and to always be good. After he left I took the memories and hid them away.
Fast forward 52 years to 2013. Something started to happen in my mind but I wasn't sure what it was. I started drinking alcohol and soon was addicted. I drank until I got what I thought was five minutes of nothingness in my mind then passed out. This went on for most of the year and I was so confused because I couldn't understand why I was doing this.
Then in the fall I started having flashbacks that would be triggered by a smell, touch or word and it would bring me right back to when I was 11. I tried to fight it but couldn't put it back in the dark part of my mind. I ended up entering rehab for alcohol dependency and through therapy the childhood sexual assault came out. Upon leaving rehab I thought I had conquered all, I didn't need to drink anymore because I had let the demons out of my mind, dealt with them and could move forward.
I stayed sober until the middle of January this year when any reminder of what happened came forward I had to go to my crutch, alcohol, to survive.
I wasn't able to find the right support at that time because male sexual abuse is one of the most not talked about molestations because men are taught that it could only happen if you asked for it.
I spiralled down and my family who had been so supportive couldn't understand it - but how do you explain to your wife and grown kids what you are going through. Don't forget, if I tell I'm bad. I tried to tell them in pieces, but could in no way explain in detail that I had to in order to get it out.
I was finally put in touch with Parry Sound Family Services and have been working through this experience. I can sum up a couple of things. What did my abuse take from my childhood? He made me not trust men so I've never played sports, had a guy best friend or hung out with a group of guys. But I learned compassion for people. He took my self-confidence however in turn from this gave me the drive to overachieve. He took a lot of good memories but I've been able to make new memories.
Stats say that one in six male children are sexually abused. If you think that you don't know anyone who is currently suffering or is hiding what happened to him as a child then that will continue to keep men from reporting the abuse. I realize that I'm just starting what will be a long road to recovery and probably will never fully recover however he's taken enough from me and I refuse to give him anymore of my life.
- Anonymous
If you, or a man you know has been sexually abused as a child or assaulted as an adult - he often hides this fact...and most often suffers in silence.
The following are some of the effects of sexual abuse on males: depression and anxiety; self blame and shame; tendency to be over controlling or too submissive; inability to trust; difficulty forming and maintaining healthy relationships with themselves and others; anger and rage; self- destructive behaviours; addictions; confusion around sexual identity; dissatisfaction with life; stress related illness; never feeling good enough; problems defining healthy sexuality; suicidal thoughts and/or attempts; distorted views on healthy masculinity.
Please do not wait for a crisis to seek help. If you are a survivor of male sexual abuse, Parry Sound Family Service offers confidential, non-judgmental services and group therapy for survivors. If you are wanting to regain your physical, mental and social health please contact Parry Sound Family Service at 705-746-9789.
http://www.parrysound.com/opinion-story/4759020-a-story-of-courage-faith-and-hope/
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Wisconsin
Accused of doing the unthinkable: Couple charged with child abuse, neglect
by Myra Sanchick
WALWORTH CO. (WITI) — A Genoa City father and stepmother, 46-year-old Michael Donahue and 37-year-old Carrie Donahue, are now charged with numerous crimes — accused of doing the unthinkable to a 12-year-old boy. This is a case investigators in Walworth County have been working on for several months.
The criminal complaints against the Donahues says the abuse happened to the boy in a Genoa City home — as well as a previous home in Bloomfield. Child protective service workers took the boy and another child out of the home in December after a man visiting reported what he saw.
Criminal complaints say Carrie and Michael Donahue would lock the boy in a “bedroom for 12 hours at a time, then yell at (the child) for urinating in the room.”
On Michael Donahue's phone, police found photos of the child in unflattering situations such as “wearing a green wig, a pink and blue backpack, shoes and pull-ups, and the child appeared to be crying.”
The complaint alleges the couple would not feed the child for days, the child would steal food, and for punishment, the couple allegedly “would make him keep his hands in his mouth until his lips would bleed.” One time, after not eating for four days, the child told an investigator he “had to stand next to the dinner table and when everyone was eating in front of him, he got a plate and (Michael Donahue) dumped his plate in the sink and would not let him eat.”
It was earlier, in September 2013, that the state got involved in monitoring the situation because the boy's school reported what was seemingly going on. The school reported the boy came to class wet, disheveled, dirty — at one time, they had to shower him in the school locker room and give him fresh clothes.
School officials say he “had the word ‘die' written multiple times on both arms” and he stole food because he was hungry. At the end of October, the boy was “found at the school with a shoelace tied around his neck.”
FOX6 News asked police how the child is doing now that he's in protective custody. Officials say he seems to be thriving.
Why did it take so long to charge this couple? The Genoa City police say it took time to interview 20 subjects and execute three search warrants.
If convicted, the Donahues each face up to 12-and-a-half years in prison and $25,000 in fines.
http://fox6now.com/2014/08/14/accused-of-doing-the-unthinkable-couple-charged-with-child-abuse-neglect/
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Pennsylvania
Sandusky victim: Take disclosures of sexual abuse seriously
by John Hult
One of the victims of disgraced former Penn State assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky says the people who hear disclosures of sexual abuse have an obligation to take the allegations seriously.
The remarks from Aaron Fisher, formerly known as Victim No. 1, closed out a three-day conference on human trafficking and violent crime at the Washington Pavilion in Sioux Falls.
Fisher, who's since written a book with his mother and his psychologist, said children need to know that the perpetrators of sexual violence will not be protected.
"It's happening in big numbers, everywhere," Fisher said. "And the monsters who are doing this get away with it because kids are afraid to tell."
Fisher first told his principal about the repeated sexual abuse he suffered at the hands of Sandusky in 2008, but Sandusky wasn't charged until 2011.
By 2008, Sandusky had been pulling Fisher out of history class at Central Mountain High School for months and taking him out for sexual encounters.
The two met at The Second Mile, a charity for boys started by Sandusky, in 2004.
"I wasn't the first person Sandusky did this to. I was just the first person who had the support system and the will to beat him," Fisher said.
His mother said Central Mountain was in Sandusky's corner. When her son told her he didn't want to leave school with Sandusky any longer, she called the school and questioned them about it.
She was informed that she had nothing to worry about, that Sandusky had a "heart of gold."
"I was told, 'This is Jerry. This is normal. He pulls all kinds of kids out of school,'" said Dawn Hennessy, Fisher mother.
When her son finally told the principal, they called Hennessy, but pulled the phone from her hand when she tried to call police.
"They said 'everybody's really upset right now. You should go home and think about this,'" Hennessy said.
She wouldn't let up, though. She got in touch with a psychologist, Michael Gillum. The three started the process of working to convince the authorities that Sandusky had abused not only Fisher, but several other children.
The police and prosecutors were soon on their side, Gillum said, but Sandusky's cult of personality within the State College, Penn., community and his clout with the state's elected officials stalled the prosecution.
Bringing the case to trial took more time than it might have with a different perpetrator, Gillum said, but the basic power relationship in cases of child sexual abuse is remarkably similar.
"Most perpetrators have more power than their victim," Gillum said.
Ultimately, Sandusky was charged with 48 criminal charges related to the abuse of several young boys. He was found guilty and sentenced on Oct. 9, 2012 to 30-60 years in prison.
Hennessy told the advocates, police and health care workers attending the conference that they must work on the side of the victims. She, her son and Gillum said it's important that children are taught about boundaries and taught to tell an adult they trust if those boundaries are violated.
For the adults, Hennessy said, it's important to stay on the side of the children.
"If a child comes to you, don't ever, ever discourage them from talking," Gillum said. "It devastates them."
http://www.argusleader.com/story/news/local/2014/08/14/penn-state-victim-take-disclosures-sexual-abuse-seriously/14074781/
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
New York
N.Y. Amish sisters found safe after abduction at upstate food stand
Fannie Miller, 12, and Delila Miller, 6, were last seen waiting on a customer at the family's food stand near the Canadian border Wednesday evening. The girls' two abductors took them to a house in Richville, some 30 miles away, and ordered them to stay put. But the girls fled, eventually finding another home and getting help, leading to their safe recovery.
by Deborah Hastings
Two Amish sisters abducted from their family's roadside vegetable stand in upstate New York were found safe late Thursday, authorities announced.
Fannie Miller, 12, and sister Delila Miller, 6, vanished Wednesday evening after a witness said a small, white 4-door sedan drove up to the roadside stand in Oswegatchie and its passenger got out and threw “something in back,” state authorities said.
Both girls were wearing dark blue dresses with blue aprons and black bonnets and had just returned from milking and were helping a customer at the stand, authorities said.
An Amber Alert was issued early Thursday.
But the girls showed up Thursday in Richville, a town some 30 miles away, after the abductors dropped them off and the sisters walked to a nearby house, authorities told WWNY-TV. Their two abductors had taken them to a home in Bigelow, just outside Richville, and ordered the girls to stay put, authorities told the station.
Once the men left, Jeff Stinson immediately recognized the missing girls, according to local Fox affiliate. He reportedly brought them home, but it's unclear what time exactly.
The girls were healthy and safe but "cold and wet," District Attorney Mary Rain told ABC News.
Cops ran into trouble trying to bridge cultural and language barriers with the religious sect. Because the Amish shun modern technology, there were no photograhs of the missing girls to distribute. The family speaks Pennsylvania Dutch and does not have a telephone. Police released a sketch of the eldest girl late Thursday, based on conversations with her family. The parents declined to issue a drawing of their youngest daughter.
Police have issued an Amber Alert for 6-year-old Delila Miller and 12-year-old Fannie Miller.
Authorities deployed helicopters, search parties and officers who combed canals and streams to find the missing girls.
They were taken about 7:30 p.m. Wednesday in the town of Oswegatchie in St. Lawrence County near the Canadian border.
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/amish-girls-abducted-upstate-n-y-article-1.1903567
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Minnesota
DAs will not investigate priest sex abuse allegations
by Claire Taylor
Neither District Attorney Mike Harson nor District Attorney Earl Taylor plans to investigate newly uncovered allegations from 30 or more years ago of child sex abuse by priests in the Diocese of Lafayette.
A Minnesota Public Radio team investigating priest sex abuse in the Archdiocese of St. Paul-Minneapolis recently uncovered documents about several priests in the Diocese of Lafayette accused of sexual misconduct since the 1950s.
In 2004, and again recently in reaction to the new revelations, Bishop Michael Jarrell said the diocese or its insurers paid $26 million in settlements to the victims of 15 priests.
Jarrell has repeatedly refused to release the names of the 15 priests.
The Daily Advertiser asked Harson and Taylor if they would pursue the names of the 15 priests. Both said they will not.
Harson said if a victim comes forward willing to press charges, he would investigate and prosecute the case. Harson represents the 15th Judicial District that includes Lafayette, Acadia and Vermilion parishes.
But to investigate without a victim "would appear to be a fruitless endeavor," he wrote in an email Monday.
"It could unnecessarily revisit their trauma and open wounds that they thought were long dealt with, all without their request or desire," Harson wrote.
Taylor, District Attorney of the 27th Judicial District that includes St. Landry Parish, said the policy of his office is to prosecute, not to investigate.
"It would be up to the law enforcement agencies if they wanted to do an investigation, make an arrest," Taylor said Monday. "If law enforcement sends us something, we will certainly prosecute it."
The St. Landry Parish DA said he does not recall a complaint or inquiry made to his office regarding a priest. If he had received such a complaint, it would have been referred to the sheriff's office to investigate, he said.
Two documents that came to light through the Minnesota Public Radio investigation are a 1992 statement from an alleged victim accusing the Rev. Gilbert Dutel of abusing him when he was a boy.
The second is a 1995 affidavit by Abbeville attorney Anthony Fontana stating he learned in 1987 of allegations against Dutel involving advances toward an adult man. Dutel allegedly was not suspended but was sent to a new parish. Fontana said Bishop Harry Flynn said Dutel was sent for treatment and returned "cured."
Dutel, pastor at St. Edmond Catholic Church in Lafayette, says he is innocent. Jarrell said the diocese has no evidence of abuse or misconduct by Dutel, although it also has no report on the alleged investigation that occurred years ago.
Thirty to 40 years have passed since most of the alleged abuses occurred, Harson wrote Monday.
The statute of limitations for most child sex abuse crimes is 30 years from the victim's 18th birthday. For crimes like rape, there is no statute of limitations.
"It would appear to me that the victims have had the opportunity to examine their options and have decided to deal with their trauma in other ways," Harson wrote. "Their decision may be based on fear, embarrassment or many other reasons, but it is a decision they apparently made."
http://www.theadvertiser.com/story/news/2014/08/11/harson-investigation-priest-allegations-fruitless/13911443/
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Minnesota
Transparency is key to allow healing to begin
Recent allegations of sex abuse of a child by a local priest has sent ripples through the congregation at St. Edmond Catholic Church and at the same time has spurred them to rally in support of its pastor.
"I'm very sad that a leader of my parish has had to go through this," said Bob Chaney of the Rev. Gilbert Dutel — "Father Gil," to his parishioners. Chaney, who called Dutel "an inspiring man," firmly believes in his innocence, as it seems, does the whole congregation.
Last weekend, Dutel received standing ovations from his parishioners during Mass.
"If a person is innocent, it's fabulous to have support of a community that believes in you," said Kathryn Elliott, who holds a doctorate in psychology and is in private practice at the Anthetic Psychology Center. "That's archetypical, loving support."
But that kind of support can cut both ways. A support system that protects the guilty does the community a disservice.
It should be said that accusations do not always constitute guilt.
But there are those who doubt Dutel's innocence, an opinion fueled in part by Lafayette Diocese Bishop Michael Jarrell's refusal to release what he has characterized as exculpatory documents from a prior investigation.
The current turmoil for this priest and his parish began more than 1,000 miles away, when Minnesota Public Radio uncovered two documents from the 1990s alleging that Dutel sexually abused an Abbeville boy, beginning in the 1970s, when the child was 8 years old. The MPR investigation also alleged that Dutel coerced young men into having sex.
The same person, now in his 40s, also accused two other priests of sexually abusing him. One of them, Ronald Lane "Jean Paul" Fontenot, pleaded guilty to statutory rape in Spokane, Washington, and the other, David Primeaux, admitted to sex abuse in a psychological report. He committed suicide in 2012 in Virginia.
A written response from the diocese to The Daily Advertiser said the accusations made against Dutel were "unproven allegations," according to an investigation conducted by the Catholic Church at the time. There has been no mention of a police investigation, however.
And the results of the church's investigation remain undisclosed because revealing them would serve no purpose, Jarrell said.
That kind of discretion can be counterproductive and evoke suspicion where it may or may not be warranted.
"Whether it's a spiritual community or a cultural community, we thrive on transparency," Elliott said. "There needs to be a commitment to transparency for a community to thrive."
Brandon Louiviere, a Catholic who belongs to another church and doesn't find there is enough evidence to "jump to conclusions," finds the secrecy inappropriate.
"I think it's unsettling that a private organization accused of something that's criminal would do something that looks like covering up," Louviere said.
Sometimes perception is as important as fact.
When clergy sex scandals emerges, it's tragic — not just for victims, but also for the church community.
"It creates a crisis because you're deeply hurt — betrayed. You also have empathy for someone being hurt by someone else and you have empathy for the person doing the hurting. They're in some kind of psychological crisis that they're acting out on someone else," Elliott said.
But whatever the truth in this case may be, some of the faithful in the the larger Catholic community said this incident has not shaken their faith.
"I feel like this is one of the things that tests your faith as a Catholic," Louviere said.
There is no crisis of faith for former Mayor Dud Lastrapes. He expressed his feelings by quoting the words of Jesus Christ when he named St. Peter the head of the first church, as recorded in the Bible: " '...upon this rock, I will build my church. The gates of hell will not prevail against it.'"
Even so, Lastrapes said, "serious mistakes" were made in the 1980s during the first priest sex abuse scandal involving convicted pedophile priest Gilbert Gauthe. These mistakes were made, he said, "not only by the guilty priests who molested children but by church authorities."
But, Lastrapes added, "The vast majority of priests are good, dedicated men. Only a minority are guilty."
Marianne Prejean, a recent University of Louisiana at Lafayette graduate who works in the Anthetic Psychology Center's office, sees all parties involved in sex abuse cases as victims, including perpetrators.
"But I believe they should be dealt with, because we all need to be held responsible for our actions."
Prejean said her faith remains strong.
"I believe in a loving God who loves all of us, even those who fall short."
Dolores Eggar Labbe, a devout Catholic who belongs to another church parish, has a definite opinion on the question of Dutel's actions.
"There are priest pedophiles all over the country and all over the world," said the retired UL history professor. "But not this particular priest, who has been found innocent, apparently."
Nonetheless, Labbe finds the whole issue of pedophiles among the clergy and church authorities' traditional response to it "very upsetting."
The familiar pattern of transferring priests accused of molesting children to another parish is an old one, Labbe said.
She points to the case of St. Mary MacKillop, who was excommunicated temporarily during the 1870s, along with nuns from the Sisters of St. Joseph of the Sacred Heart, an order she founded in her native Australia. Their offense: Exposing a pedophile priest.
And the priest? He was transferred to Ireland.
That was more than 140 years ago, but like Lastrapes, Labbe faults the church for its handling of modern-day clergy child molestation cases.
"The hierarchy have a lot to answer for," Labbe said.
Labbe believes the tendency of bishops to cover up child molestation by the clergy has damaged their credibility.
But unlike some, she feels Jarrell has been more forthright than most in his position.
Yet, there is the matter of the yet-to-be-released reports of the investigation church authorities say cleared Dutel. If for no other reason than to lay matters to rest, they should be made public.
As Elliott has said, in the faith community, as in a family, only with transparency can healing begin.
http://www.theadvertiser.com/story/opinion/2014/08/09/transparency-key-allow-healing-begin/13844323/
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Australia
Mateship gives men strength to carry on
by Vanessa Watson
Support groups for men who have survived child sexual abuse are being extended to the western suburbs, with the first eight-week group in Parramatta starting on Wednesday, August 27.
Founded in 2010 by two men who are survivors themselves, the Survivors & Mates Support Network (SAMSN) offers men professionally facilitated support within a safe environment with up to 12 participants, an experienced psychologist and a social worker.
"We have saved lives," said SAMSN co-founder Craig Hughes-Cashmore, who says he has invested more than $150,000 of his own compensation from child abuse to establish the network.
He said he and co-founder Shane were inspired to create SAMSN after they realised no similar services existed in NSW.
"Perpetrators isolate kids . . . [but] there's something magical that happens when you meet and get to know another survivor, that's what we want to replicate," he said.
"It's a real mix of emotion. You start to feel compassion and empathy for the other person. All the things you've never been able to feel for yourself . . . Because that's the other thing paedophiles do - they're very adept at making their victims feel complicit."
SAMSN psychologist Mark Griffiths, who has worked with survivors since the '80s, said men often face additional barriers to disclosure of past abuse than women.
"This is the case especially for straight men," Mr Griffiths said. "They get confused about whether it was gay sex, when clearly it had nothing to do with an adult sexual relationship, it was the abuse of a child. It's the perpetrator that chooses the child, not the other way around.
"In our community, we have a model of masculinity as a male being someone who's tough. They tell themselves things like "I should have been tough enough not to let it happen.They're forgetting they were children at the time."
He said the "victim-perpetrator myth" left many "terrified" of seeking help and being labelled a potential abuser. Survivors can become "tangled in guilt," which SAMSN helps to unravel.
Mr Hughes-Cashmore had this message: "Recovery is possible, you can move beyond the pain and limitations you've been experiencing - you are not alone."
http://www.parramattasun.com.au/story/2484850/mateship-gives-men-strength-to-carry-on/?cs=1497
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
New York
School coaches required to report child abuse suspicions
by Brian Heyman
If Andrew Delva, the teacher, suspects a student is a victim of child abuse, he has to report it. That's the law in the state.
"You look to see if a kid is standoffish, a kid that doesn't want to be touched if people are being around them," said Delva, a special ed teacher at Spring Valley High who also coaches its varsity football and track and field teams as well as the modified track and field program for the Chestnut Ridge Middle School boys and girls.
"I look to see how they dress, if the kid is always coming in hungry. You ask what's going on at home."
Now Delva, the coach, will be required to have the same responsibility. Gov. Andrew Cuomo signed legislation on Aug. 6 that places school sports coaches among the occupations that have to report any suspicions of child abuse to authorities.
"I probably would've done it anyway, even without the law," Delva said.
The new law, which was sponsored by Assemblywoman Amy Paulin of Scarsdale, requires school coaches to have been trained for two hours in seeing the signs. Teachers are already required to take a course on child abuse for certification, but not every coach is also a teacher.
The athletes, in theory, could also confide about a problem at home to their coach whether or not the coach spots physical or emotional symptoms.
"I think for the most part if they have a solid foundation and relationship with the coach, I think that would be something they could have a conversation (about) and be able to confide," said Pat Driscoll, a special ed teacher and cross country and track and field coach at Tappan Zee.
"But at the same time, I think if the athlete is kind of quiet and the coach is not as personable, then, yeah, I think it would be a little more difficult."
Liam Frawley, the director of athletics for the South Orangetown Central School District, noted the substantial amount of time spent with students.
"We're responsible for them in lieu of their parents when they're under our charge," Frawley said. "So I think it just adds to the responsibility that coaches and teachers have when parents put their trust in these people to look out for the best interest of their kids."
In the wake of Jerry Sandusky, the former Penn State football assistant coach, being convicted on child abuse charges and local incidents involving nonschool coaches, Dominick Sputo called the new mandate "a double-edged sword."
"I kind of question it a little bit because of all the negative stories and incidents with coaches over the years, your Sanduskys and the other guys that we've seen throughout the Westchester County area abusing their students, the people that go to them for lessons," said Sputo, a retired White Plains firefighter who had two daughters become all-state softball pitchers for White Plains High.
"The good part, yeah, more eyes looking; the bad part, false accusations or mistaken accusations and the history that we know of of coaches doing the abuse."
Pat Hogan was the head varsity softball coach at Kennedy for 15 years before serving as an assistant with Brewster the last two. The retired nurse took a course on child abuse and bullying in March.
"I think if anybody knows anything like that that's going on, they should report it," Hogan said about the child abuse.
Gary DiVico taught for 35 years before retiring after this past school year. He has coached in Sleepy Hollow's boys lacrosse program since 1980 and has been the head varsity coach since 1992. He said he has never come across a suspected case, but he isn't surprised by the added responsibility now.
"It's everywhere," DiVico said. "You have to do it in school. Even when you work for church groups now, you've got to sign all these forms, take these courses if you teach Sunday school. I just see it as a sign of the times. They've got to protect the kids."
http://www.lohud.com/story/sports/high-school/2014/08/12/school-coaches-required-report-child-abuse-suspicions/13981413/
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Arkansas
Registration open for child abuse conference
Registration is open for the 2014 Arkansas Conference on Child Abuse and Neglect, a conference led by MidSOUTH, the community service unit of the UALR School of Social Work.
The conference will be held Tuesday, Sept. 9, through Thursday, Sept. 11, at Embassy Suites in Little Rock. The theme of this year's conference is “Collaboration Counts: We All Have a Role to Play.”
The conference is a multidisciplinary learning and networking opportunity designed to provide the most current information available for working with abused and neglected children.
“We have an incredible line-up of national and local presenters who will share their knowledge and expertise with Arkansas professionals who make a difference in the lives of families and children,” said Robin Wilson, conference coordinator.
Law enforcement and persons employed in the legal and healthcare fields, social work and education are especially encouraged to attend.
Continuing education credits will be offered and updates are also available through the 2014 Arkansas Conference on Child Abuse and Neglect Facebook page. For more information or to register for the conference, visit www.midsouth.ualr.edu.
Conference coordinators are seeking exhibitors and sponsors interested in setting up booths at the event. Potential sponsors or vendors may contact Wilson at rlwilson@midsouth.ualr.edu or 501.296.1920.
With five training locations across the state, MidSOUTH provides leadership, training, and product support in the areas of addiction, child welfare, technology, distance learning, and organizational development.
http://ualr.edu/www/2014/08/12/registration-open-for-2014-child-abuse-and-neglect-conference/
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
New Mexico
Teachers learn about child abuse
by Steve Hansen
Quay County's child wellness team of law enforcement, child welfare workers and advocates, and the Tenth Judicial District Attorney's office Tuesday enlisted support of another group of front-line allies: public school educators.
“You know these kids. You can see when there are changes that indicate something is wrong,” Lt. Herbert Hinders, New Mexico State Police, told educators from all Quay County districts at the Tucumcari Convention Center. He reminded them that they have an obligation to report suspected abuse to police or the New Mexico Children, Youth and Families Department.
Hinders talked about how an investigation proceeds.
“Usually, we talk to everyone else involved in an abuse report before we talk to the suspect,” he said.
Pete Rivera, assistant chief of the Tucumcari Police Department, said kids should learn that police are there to protect, not punish.
In some cases of emotional and educational neglect, he said, parents know how to get around some of the laws.
“We will check into things,” he said.
Logan Police Chief Robert Gore said that instead of asking, “What if I'm wrong?” when considering whether to make a child abuse report, teachers should consider the question “What if I'm right?”
The public face of a person who abuses children can often hide well what goes on behind closed doors, he said. He assured teachers that if they call about a case, “it will be investigated,” and because of the child wellness task force, he said, “We know who to go to.”
By reporting suspected abuse, he said, “You can save a kid a lot of misery and pain.”
Teachers also heard presentations by representatives of the CYFD's Protective Services division and the juvenile justice division, the Arise Sexual Assault Services organization and the Oasis Child Advocacy Center.
Judy Roybal, a CYFD Protective Services case worker, reminded teachers of their obligation to report suspected abuse, but asked teachers to be sure they get the name of the person to whom they make the report and note times and dates.
Child abuse, she said, “usually involves someone in the household.”
Leigh Anna Eugene, representing Arise, said often even family doctors will miss physical signs of sexual abuse. Specialists at Arise, however, know some simple tests that will show abuse, even without obvious signs.
She also advised that when a child reports a sexual abuse situation, it is up to the adult receiving the report to stay calm.
“You have to be the rock,” she said. Later, she said, the adult who receives the report can express high emotions, but when dealing with a reporting youngster, adults have to remain steady.
Hank Baskett of the Oasis advocacy center, said his job as a forensic interviewer in child abuse case is to “empower the kids — let them know it's OK report abuse.”
He also said that experience has taught him to evaluate the validity of what a child is telling him.
One sign of abuse that is overlooked, he said, is that children are dressed in a way that is inappropriate for the weather.
Tenth Judicial District Attorney Tim Rose said that the child wellness team, which originated from his office, has law enforcement, child welfare workers and educators “working as a unit” to deal with child abuse.
Matt Montoya, who coordinates the DA's office involvement with the child wellness team, said the group has been meeting monthly, and said “some of the meetings have been not kind,” but that the meetings “get the resources from all agencies together” in one place to discuss policies, procedures and individual cases.
For teachers, he said, the task force means that “you have people you can go to” to deal with suspected child abuse.
Where to report suspected child abuse:
Tucumcari Police: (575)461-2280
Logan Police: (575) 487-2856
New Mexico State Police: (575) 461-3300
CYFD Protective Services: (855) 333-SAFE or (855) 333-7233. On a cell phone, #SAFE or #7233.
Arise Sexual Assault Services: (575) 226-7263
http://www.qcsunonline.com/2014/08/12/teachers-learn-about-child-abuse/
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Are Child Custody Laws That Treat Parental Gatekeeping Like Child Abuse Long Overdue?
by B. Rpbert Farzad
When you first read or hear the words "parental gatekeeping", what do you think about? You may have an image of a parent standing in front of a locked gate, arms crossed with a child on the other side and the other parent trying to get through.
Hold that image.
Parental gatekeeping is not an everyday word intact or separated families use but it has a very real impact and import on child custody cases.
Gatekeeping is simply the act of facilitating or restricting the relationship with a parent and a child. I have found the "facilitative" aspect of it (and the concept of facilitative gatekeeping) a bit of an oxymoron. After all, to facilitate generally means reasonable communication, open access gates and no real need to be a "keeper."
Restrictive parental gatekeeping is just as it sounds. Placing limitations, often through actions, to restrict communication or access to a child. Restrictive gatekeeping can be for the child's protection (often in physical abuse, serious neglect or substance abuse cases) or unreasonable, in an attempt to harm the parent-child relationship. The latter often festers into parental alienation.
Now we come to the question and it's not an easy one. Should a restrictive gatekeeper who is not gatekeeping due to abuse, serious neglect, or real concerns about alcohol or drug abuse but rather to intentionally harm the parent-child relationship be treated just like a parent who has been found to have committed serious, physical child abuse and have custody taken away from him or her? Along with that, is a state like California and others that don't have specific family codes punishing this type of gatekeeping behind on this necessary legislation?
Let's get more specific.
Assume a father and mother are going through a divorce. They are a middle-income family and have little savings or disposable income. The mother is angry with the father. Assume the reason is infidelity. They have two children, ages four and six. Mother has been the primary care taker of the kids but father has been involved, just nowhere near equal involvement.
Father tells the mother he no longer loves her. He tells her he wants a divorce. Mother is hurt, the children are confused and eventually mother's hurt becomes something more -- hostility. Father has a new girlfriend, a new life and helps out financially here and there. Mother decides father doesn't deserve time with the children or to be involved in their life because he abandoned the family. Mother then starts a pattern of disparaging the father to the children, to the point the children develop negative feelings toward the father.
Mother tells the father she won't let the father take the children overnight and shuts down nearly all communication. Father's parenting time is infrequent and irregular. Many months go by and despite father's attempt to persuade the mother to act otherwise, she is not having any of it.
Flexibility? Forget it.
Sharing information and making decisions together? No way.
Mother tells the father little to nothing and makes unilateral decisions. After six or more months, father's relationship with the kids has been seriously harmed and is heading toward deterioration. The children cry when father comes to pick them up, even for short visits. Mother creates drama at every exchange and Father sometimes engages and yells back.
Father cannot afford an expensive child custody battle and mother knows that. She also knows if she keeps this up, she will have created enough division in the relationship that the children will not want much, if anything, to do with their father.
Has the mother physically harmed the children? No.
Emotional or psychological abuse? Yes?
Notice I didn't paint the father as a saint. He did cheat, leave the family and certainly there is enough blame to pass around for why the separation occurred.
California gives a codified version of lip service to parental gatekeeping. Frustrating parenting time, lack of co-parenting and false allegations are all important in child custody cases but how most judges apply them is, at best, inconsistent.
Is it time to stop dancing around the issue and get to the heart of it? How about something like this?
"If the Court finds substantial evidence that a parent within the last 24 months has engaged in restrictive gatekeeping by unreasonably restricting contact with a minor child contrary to the child's best interest with the intent to interfere with the other parent's lawful contact with the child and that conduct has resulted in harm to the other parent's relationship with the minor child, there is a rebuttable presumption that an award of sole or joint physical or legal custody of a child to the gatekeeping parent is detrimental to the child's best interest."
Of course, gatekeeping should have some reasonable definition and examples.
What do you think? Too much? Not enough? Are laws against reckless or malicious, restrictive gatekeeping overdue or is this a solution looking for a problem?
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/b-robert-farzad/are-specific-child-custody-gatekeeping_b_5666848.html
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Australia
Catholic church backs national redress scheme for child sexual abuse victims
Church's submission to the royal commission retains provisions to prevent victims suing and reverses position on uncapped payments
by Helen Davidson
The Catholic church has joined calls for a national redress scheme for victims of child sexual abuse, with mandatory participation by the institutions concerned, but wants to retain some of its controversial gag orders to prevent victims suing.
In its submission to the royal commission into institutional responses to child sexual abuse, the church also altered its previous position by proposing a cap on financial compensation.
The Truth Justice and Healing Council, which represents the Catholic church in dealings with the royal commission, said the legally binding deeds of release, which many victims of abuse signed in order to get redress under the church's Towards Healing program, should remain in place to prevent civil litigation against the church.
But the releases should not prevent victims making a second claim under an official national scheme. The submission said that while there are “strong policy arguments” against allowing someone to reopen a claim, “where an individual can show that there was something manifestly inadequate about the process in which they reached their settlement, they ought to be entitled to reopen the matter”.
The deeds of release, some of which contained gag clauses, have been strongly criticised during the royal commission, with the church accused of silencing victims. Joan Isaacs, the first victim to appear in a public hearing into the Catholic church, said she felt she signed her release “under duress”.
Under the submitted proposal any abuse survivor who received a payment and signed a deed of release could access the proposed redress scheme for a second – and perhaps fairer – payment, but could not sue the church, even if they decided not to approach the new scheme.
“A deed of release in a legal sense is about releasing various parties from civil litigation and that's what they've signed,” the council's chief executive, Francis Sullivan, told Guardian Australia.
“Most people signed deeds of release with legal advice and with knowledge of that. When you talk about an alternative pathway, we're saying the deeds of release should not be a barrier to people taking that pathway, but clearly the deed of release still holds on matters to do with civil litigation,” he said.
In a 2013 media release the council urged attorney-generals around the country to begin work on a national and uncapped compensation scheme for victims.
“A national compensation scheme, funded by the church and other organisations and with no caps on payments, is an important first step in taking away from institutions, such as the Catholic church, the role of investigating complaints and determining compensation for victims,” Sullivan said at the time.
But in its submission released on Tuesday, the council included in its proposal the suggestion that “financial redress … be capped and determined by reference to community standards”.
Sullivan told Guardian Australia the change in position was about “facing reality” after informal feedback from government consultations and studies of established schemes.
“If we want all the governments and small institutions to participate in a national scheme the government won't go near anything that isn't capped,” said Sullivan, adding that the cap should be determined by “community consensus”.
The proposal did extend the provision of financial compensation to the immediate family of victims, and said the provision of counselling for victims should have no limits.
“The ongoing support which necessarily involves expenditure by the institution is uncapped,” Sullivan said.
“In the case of counselling support, assistance with getting jobs, helping people get housing, those sort of practical pastoral needs, that support is ongoing so therefore there isn't a sort of endpoint in that regard.”
The council said participation in the scheme should be mandatory for all relevant institutions – a view in line with the Uniting church but at odds with the Salvation Army, which said any scheme should be “opt-in”.
“The council is of the view that if governments in Australia establish a national redress scheme, all governments (Commonwealth, state and territory) and relevant institutions should contribute to and participate in the scheme,” the submission says.
“The council considers that equity for all claimants can only be achieved if participation in a national redress scheme is mandatory for all governments and relevant institutions.”
Institutions would cover all redress and administration costs for claims that relate to them, it said.
“A fund would need to be established to provide for matters where no institution remains in existence. The council has proposed ... a funding model based on a levy on public liability insurance for institutions that have contact with children.”
The submission also called for a time limit of six months for a victim's claim to be finalised – based on the balance of probabilities and with an assumption of truth if an abuser was convicted – in order to limit the ordeal.
“From the council's point of view, redress schemes must not be a way for institutions to effectively ‘wash their hands' of those seeking redress by channelling them into a scheme administered by another entity and simply writing a cheque at the end of it”
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/aug/13/catholic-church-backs-national-redress-scheme-child-sexual-abuse-victims
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Arizona
Editorial
Recognizing child sex abuse signs
An ‘audacious' goal is worth the effort
What's being done to teach children to avoid sexual abuse, you ask?
“Preventing child sexual abuse is a job for adults,” responds Debbie Rich, the chief executive officer of the Girls Scouts of Southern Arizona.
Period.
She's emphatic: Our job, not the children's.
And that's why the Girl Scouts is partnering with the YMCA of Southern Arizona to offer a free two-hour online class that any adult can take to learn how to prevent sexual abuse of children, how to identify it if it's happening and how to respond responsibly.
“This is different because this is for the entire community — not just for teachers or parents or cafeteria workers. It's available to everyone,” Rich told us. “Anybody can go online, read through the program, answer the questions and get a certificate saying that they know how to prevent, recognize and react responsibly to child sexual abuse.”
The online curriculum is the “Stewards of Children” program offered by Darkness to Light, a national anti-abuse group. There's also a “Stewards” curriculum for groups that's taught by certified facilitators.
Darkness to Light says that one in 10 children will be sexually abused by age 18.
The best way to have an impact on that disturbing statistic, Rich said, is to educate a substantial number of adults in the community.
We're talking substantial: “If we can have 5 percent of adults in our community trained, it is statistically proven that it will impact early recognition of child sexual abuse — so that's why our goal is audacious at 50,000.”
That's not a typo: The Girl Scouts and the YMCA aim for 50,000 adults to complete the free online program. The partners also aim to train advocates in all of Southern Arizona's non-profit and child-focused organizations.
“If we want to move the needle, that's what we need to do,” said Dane Woll, president and CEO of the YMCA of Southern Arizona. “We think it's very doable.”
Rich noted that “reacting responsibly” to abuse is “the critical piece. This training gives you all the check points to know how to react” if you recognize abuse.
“And abuse can be seen in any situation where children gather — the classroom, the softball team,” she said.
There's no charge for the online Stewards of Children classes because of the national YMCA's relationship with Darkness to Light, Woll said.
The online classes are available to all of us free of charge until Dec. 1, 2015, Rich said.
“I would like to see all of our day care parents take the course, and people involved with youth groups, swim teams and such should keep an eye out for group classes” that will be scheduled in the coming weeks and months, he said.
Meanwhile, as Rich so emphatically noted, it's up to the adults to protect the children. So go online and spend a couple of hours learning what you need to know in order to do that.
http://tucson.com/news/opinion/recognizing-child-sex-abuse-signs/article_3fac50e7-fb76-5f12-b13b-ae71553004a2.html
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
New Hampshire
Lawyer for Abigail Hernandez Describes Teen's Kidnapping as ‘Violent'
by Doug Saffir
In comments released on Tuesday afternoon, an attorney for kidnapped teenager Abigail Hernandez described her nine-month disappearance as “violent” and called her survival “miraculous.”
The statement, published on the “Bring Abby Home” website created after the girl disappeared on her way home from school on October 9 of last year, made public some of the details of her ordeal, saying that Hernandez “suffered numerous acts of unspeakable violence” and that as evidence is revealed the “questions about this horrific event will be answered.”
Gorham, New Hampshire resident Nathaniel Kibby, 34, is accused of being responsible for her kidnapping and captivity, and, according to The Boston Globe, has pleaded not guilty to a charge of felony kidnapping.
The details of Hernandez's kidnapping and eventual return on July 20 of this year remain unclear, but the statement said her family hoped the public would “be sensitive to the well-being of this child” and allow her “some time and space to physically and emotionally heal.”
http://www.boston.com/news/local/new-hampshire/2014/08/13/lawyer-for-abigail-hernandez-describes-teen-kidnapping-violent/NdEETmHX2RdDaqITFlD1DJ/story.html
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Wisconsin
Monument Quilt project for sexual abuse victims to stop in Oshkosh
by Noell Dickmann
The Monument Quilt, an ongoing project to create public healing space for survivors of rape and abuse, will make a stop in Oshkosh next week on its 12-city tour throughout the United States this summer.
The quilt, made of 200 bright red squares, will be on display at Opera House Square in Oshkosh from 3-7 p.m. on Aug. 18.
Those attending the display will witness stories from survivors, write reflections and can even bring their own square to add to the in-process quilt. Learn more about adding a square here.
The Monument Quilt provides clear and accessible steps to support survivors of rape and abuse when, often, people don't know where to begin, a statement from FORCE: Upsetting Rape Culture, an organization from Baltimore behind the project, said. Through public recognition, the quilt reconnects survivors to their community, it said.
Marianne Radley, victim advocate for Reach Counseling Services, the sexual assault service-providing agency for Winnebago County, said the quilt provides that support by creating awareness. Radley is on the planning committee for the quilt's stop in Oshkosh.
"This is another way for the Oshkosh community to learn more about how sexual abuse impacts its victims, as well as the resources available for folks that have been affected," she said. "It helps someone to understand the impact, the trauma, that this has on victims. Maybe they'll be more likely to respond appropriately and get them the help that they need."
Reach counselors see victims of sexual abuse in all of its forms, some of which are child abuse, assault among older adults and relationship abuse, she said.
According to FORCE, in the United States, one in three women, one in three trans people and one in six men will be raped or abused in their lifetime. Women are twice as likely to experience rape as breast cancer, it said.
"I think in towns like Oshkosh people maybe think it doesn't happen here, we're a small community," Radley said. "The truth is, it probably happens about the same as it does anywhere else."
The Monument Quilt will visit 12 cities throughout its tour: Arden, North Carolina; Birmingham, Alabama; Baton Rouge, Louisiana; Quapaw, Oklahoma; Des Moines, Iowa; White River, South Dakota; Fox Valley, Wisconsin; Chicago, Illinois; Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; Queens, New York; Durham, North Carolina; Baltimore, Maryland; and Wesleyan University in Middletown, Connecticut.
When the dots of cities are connected on a map, they form the words "not alone."
The 100-by-100 foot quilt is larger than two basketball courts put together.
Over the next two years, more stories will be added, and when The Monument Quilt is finished, it will blanket more than a mile of the National Mall with thousands of quilt squares that spell "NOT ALONE," according to FORCE.
In the event of rain, the display will be moved to the Kolf Fieldhouse at the University of Wisconsin Oshkosh.
http://www.thenorthwestern.com/story/news/local/2014/08/11/monument-quilt-project-sexual-abuse-victims-stop-oshkosh/13896265/
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
A decade later, struggle for accountability within LCWR on abuse continues
by David Clohessy
Last week, we in the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests celebrated our 25th anniversary. This week, we take note of another, less positive milestone.
It's now been 10 years since we first began prodding the largest group of U.S. nuns to take action on abuse by women religious. It's been a frustrating and fruitless decade.
Almost every August since 2004, we have shown up at and held news conferences outside the annual gathering of the Leadership Conference of Women Religious, America's largest organization of nuns. We've begged LCWR to expose the truth about child sex crimes and cover-ups by women religious. We've politely but firmly urged it to take simple steps to protect the vulnerable from abusive nuns and heal those wounded by abusive nuns.
And we've been politely but repeatedly rebuffed. (Our website lists each of our interactions with the LCWR over the past decade.)
How many boys and girls over the decades have been sexually violated by nuns? No one knows. We in SNAP have roughly 250 men and women who report having been molested by women religious, most as children, a few as adults. Who knows how many more are out there, likely suffering in silence, shame and self-blame?
Specifically, we've asked the leaders of the LCWR to:
• Put a link to our website on the LCWR website so victims of abusive nuns are given options if they want to heal or take action;
• Ask member orders to do the same;
• Invite SNAP members who are victims of sexual abuse by women religious to speak to LCWR member communities during LCWR national and regional conferences;
• Give us a list of member orders with addresses and names of contact people if a survivor of nun sexual abuse would wish to find healing and comfort from an order;
• Set up a national review board for sexual abuse by women religious to ensure this abuse comes to an end and so that those who were sexually abused by women religious can begin their journeys of healing.
Sadly, however, there has been no progress on any of our requests, and LCWR officials have not made any counterproposals that would show a good-faith effort to help prevent abuse in the future or help those hurting from abuse in the past.
We hear virtually the same excuses from LCWR officials that we heard year after year from bishops.
"It's really just a tiny problem," they assure us.
"Our group isn't structured to take collective action," they claim. "Each religious order is self-governing and answers only to Rome."
"Our annual meetings," they say, aren't the "appropriate forum" to address sexual abuse.
But we believe the number of abusive nuns is very likely much higher than anyone knows or suspects. And while maybe it would be tough or unprecedented for LCWR to take real steps to address abuse in its midst, we are firmly convinced it's not impossible.
Our prodding of LCWR isn't popular. Each time we point out that the organization has done and is doing little to protect children, we get criticism from Catholics.
"Your real target," we're told, "is the Vatican or the bishops."
"Nuns have almost no power," we're told, and "are being threatened by the male hierarchy."
And we do sympathize with the plight of U.S. nuns. We know what it's like to feel powerless in the face of questions and attacks by bishops and cardinals.
We sympathize even more, however, with men and women who struggle daily to cope with the devastation caused by child sex crimes at the hands on trusted sisters and, on top of that, seek healing and prevention from the nation's largest organization of nuns, which largely continues to ignore their cries for justice.
[David Clohessy is the director of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests.]
http://ncronline.org/blogs/examining-crisis/decade-later-struggle-accountability-within-lcwr-abuse-continues
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Oklahoma
Sex Offender Attends Children's Church Event, Church Defends Him
by Michael Allen
The Highway of Holiness Church in Oklahoma City, Okla., recently invited a convicted sex offender, Dale Hoffert, to attend their Children's Crusade event.
“I was upset. I was sick to my stomach,” mom Tanya Cotton told News 9.
“You should send your kids to church and feel safe about it," added Cotton. “His past is not good with children. Do not be tempting him with our kids.”
Cotton saw Hoffert on a cell phone video that was shot by her 10-year-old son in the children's church event.
Hoffert used to be the youth pastor at the church, but was convicted of forcible oral sodomy in 2007.
Hoffert did go to prison, but was released earlier this year on a suspended sentence. Hoffert's victim did not attend the church, which defended the convicted felon.
“They sentenced him. He paid his debt to society,” Highway of Holiness Church Pastor John Steiger told News 9. “We're a church that believes that God can change people.”
“It all happened in this sanctuary,” added Pastor Steiger. “There was 25 adults in this same room, and he was never left alone with any of them. A church is a hospital for the soul. We help lost souls. We've done what a church is supposed to do, help a lost soul change their ways.”
Cotton doesn't mind if Hoffert attends the main church service, but added she doesn't want him in the children's church.
“I just don't want to see any children hurt, again,” said Cotton.
However, it's not clear if Hoffert will be banned from the children's services, which has outraged the organization SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests.
SNAP stated on its website:
Convicted bank robbers can't own handguns. Convicted drunk drivers can't operate school buses. And convicted child predators should be nowhere near kids, even after “paying their debt to society.” A reformed alcoholic doesn't seek work in a brewery. And a truly repentant and reformed child molester doesn't attend a children's church service.
But Dale Hoffert Junior is just doing what predators do: spend time around kids. The more troubling wrongdoers here are the staff and members of Highway of Holiness Church, who are knowingly endangering kids by letting Hoffert near children. You can believe God changes people without tempting fate and setting up risky situations in which children are put in harm's way.
http://www.opposingviews.com/i/religion/christianity/sex-offender-attends-childrens-church-event-church-defends-him-video
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Pennsylvania
5 Area Children Nearly Die from Child Abuse
HARRISBURG - A new report shows that 38 children died of abuse or neglect last year in Pennsylvania and 52 nearly lost their lives. One child died in Huntingdon County and two in Indiana County from child abuse. In Jefferson County, one nearly died, but Blair County reported four near-fatalities from child abuse or neglect.
The report shows that two children in Blair County accidentally overdosed on prescription drugs while their mother was sleeping, one was punched in the head by a mother who was trying to hit the child's father, and a fourth nearly starved to death because of parents' neglect.
In all, county child welfare departments investigated nearly 27,000 reports of suspected child and student abuse in Pennsylvania last year, an increase of 280 over the year before. Blair County Assistant District Attorney Jackie Bernard expects a larger increase in reports next year, due to new state laws aimed at better prevention, detection and response to child abuse and neglect.
"I don't think it's getting worse. I think that we as a society are less tolerant than we used to be and I think that some people just needed to know that it was okay to report that they weren't going to stigmatize someone by reporting a case of suspected abuse," Bernard says.
She also notes that the updated laws do carry significant penalties for people who falsely report child abuse or neglect.
Bernard was on a statewide task force that helped write the new child abuse laws. She calls the rules wide, sweeping changes to Pennsylvania law. They increase training for people involved in reporting, detecting, investigating and prosecuting child abuse cases. The laws, many of which take effect in December, allow law enforcement and child welfare personnel to work more closely together to investigate and handle abuse reports.
Pa Child Abuse Report for 2013
http://www.wearecentralpa.com/story/d/story/5-area-children-nearly-die-from-child-abuse/29226/ZMRKnnlDTk22enMMNpfBDw
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Monster-fighting kids star in French photographer's works targeting child abuse
Laure Fauvel, 22, from Calais, France, wanted to create images to raise awareness of sexual abuse and show that children don't have to be victims.
by Caters News
(Photos on site)
A photographer has tackled the issue of child abuse, using a series of creative pictures in which children fight back against monsters.
Laure Fauvel, 22, from Calais, France, wanted to create images to raise awareness of child sexual abuse and show that children don't have to be victims.
Fauvel's work depicts children — the models are kids whose families she knows — standing up to monsters lurking in the children's bedrooms.
She spent two months creating the images, using photo editing software to superimpose the monsters into the shots.
The result is a series of creative, fun and empowering images showing that the children in the pictures aren't victims.
"The idea of a monster under the bed, or lurking in a bedroom is every child's worry. We all had a monster in our bedroom,' Fauvel said.
"Child abuse is a very difficult subject. So I decided to do something lighter and more positive by creating a visual metaphor where children are not victims,” she said. “The monsters were created on Photoshop by mounting different parts of animals and then I photographed the children fighting back against them ... For the pictures, I just used the toys the kids had in their bedroom.”
She added: "The pictures have been received very wel,l which I am grateful for, and the (child) models think they are really funny. I'm pleased with how they have turned out and I think it is important to try (to) tackle serious subjects through art and photography.”
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/world/monster-fighting-kids-star-photos-abuse-article-1.1899253
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
South Dakota
Sobering S.D. figures on child sex abuse
A legislative task force on child sex abuse heard sobering statistics at its first meeting last week: An estimated 80 percent of children who have been sexually abused never tell anyone about it.
The Legislature's Jolene's Law Task Force is meeting monthly through November before it reports to state lawmakers in January 2015 and makes recommendations on policies and laws that could improve prevention and prosecution of sexual abuse crimes in South Dakota.
The task force is named for Jolene Loetscher of Sioux Falls, who is a member of the panel and has spoken publicly about her experience as a sex abuse victim while growing up in Nebraska.
The panel includes four members of the Legislature and11 other people, including Loetscher, who are committed to reducing the number of child sex abuse cases in South Dakota.
At last week's hearing, panelists learned that prosecutors dismissed 379 child sex offense charges in the past year in South Dakota, while 86 people pleaded guilty, 18 were convicted and seven were acquitted. In 2013, law enforcement investigated 2,192 cases involving children and sex abuse, but because such a large percentage of incidents are unreported, it suggests the actual number of sex abuse victims in the state are more than 10,000.
To put that number into perspective, there are 169,112 children under 15 years old in South Dakota, according to the 2010 U.S. Census.
One of the task force members, Dr. Nancy Free, a Sioux Falls-based pediatrician who specializes in child abuse, said child sex abuse is “very alive in South Dakota.” “It's almost impossible to find anyone on the planet who's not been impacted by child sexual abuse,” she said.
Last year, the Legislature's domestic violence study committee examined the state's domestic violence laws but mostly recommended cosmetic changes in the statutes' language.
As problematic as tackling domestic violence was for last year's study committee, the Jolene's Law Task Force is taking on an even greater problem with the many more incidents that remain hidden and go unreported.
Shining a light on the problem of child sex abuse in South Dakota and finding solutions to the menace won't be easy.
We hope the Jolene's Law Task Force is successful in finding solutions to the frequency with which child sex abuse occurs, compared with the relatively few successful prosecutions of abuse crimes.
http://bismarcktribune.com/news/opinion/editorial/sobering-s-d-figures-on-child-sex-abuse/article_e6fcc54c-21e4-11e4-af3a-001a4bcf887a.html
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Child Abuse, Trauma Before Enlistment Linked to High Suicide Rates Among Military Personnel, Veterans
Experiencing child abuse, being sexually victimized by someone not in the service and exhibiting suicidal behavior before enlisting are significant risk factors for service members and veterans who attempt or commit suicide, researchers said, citing the National Center for Veterans Studies.
Suicide is the second-leading cause of death among U.S. military personnel. In 2012, there were 319 suicides among active duty service members and 203 among reserve service members, compared to 237 combat-related deaths of active duty service members in Afghanistan, according to the Department of Defense.
"Experiencing abuse early in life in the home may lead to a tendency to perceive and experience stressful events as catastrophic and insurmountable," retired Army Col. James Griffith said in a statement. "A child experiencing abuse has little opportunity to effectively cope when stressed, being in a powerless position with no recourse. This may lead to less ability to handle future stressful circumstances."
For the study, Griffith and other researchers examined Army survey data gathered in 2010 from more than 12,500 Army National Guard soldiers in 180 company-sized units. Army National Guard and Army Reserve personnel supplement active duty personnel and, at times, comprised 30 to 40 percent of the ground forces in the Iraq and Afghanistan wars.
The found that 16 percent of the respondents reported harsh punishment during childhood and 8 percent reported physical abuse, findings that are similar to those of studies of active duty Army soldiers. Studies of civilians have also shown childhood abuse to be a significant risk factor for suicide, Griffith said.
"Experiencing abuse early in life in the home may lead to a tendency to perceive and experience stressful events as catastrophic and insurmountable," Griffith said. "A child experiencing abuse has little opportunity to effectively cope when stressed, being in a powerless position with no recourse. This may lead to less ability to handle future stressful circumstances."
To determine if there was any difference in suicide risk from military sexual trauma compared to civilian sexual trauma, researchers surveyed 426 service members and veterans from all branches in the armed services enrolled in college classes. More than 25 percent of women and 4 percent of men reported sexual trauma while in the military, which is similar to the prevalence of sexual victimization among the general U.S. and college student populations.
The research team concluded that sexual victimization both within and outside of the military was associated with significantly higher rates of suicidal thoughts and behaviors, but there were no differences between groups that had suffered either civilian or military sexual victimization.
The findings were recently presented at the American Psychological Association's 122nd Annual Convention.
http://www.universityherald.com/articles/10843/20140811/child-abuse-trauma-before-enlistment-linked-to-high-suicide-rates-among-military-personnel-veterans.htm
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Missouri
Judge metes out life terms in child sexual abuse case
by Jeff Lehr
A 32-year-old Joplin man pleaded guilty Monday to sexual abuse of a 4-year-old girl and was assessed two life sentences.
Jason D. Beshears pleaded guilty in Jasper County Circuit Court to first-degree statutory sodomy and first-degree statutory rape in a plea deal dismissing two other counts of statutory sodomy. Judge Gayle Crane accepted the pleas and assessed the defendant concurrent life terms, the maximum punishment provided by state law.
The convictions stem from a Joplin police investigation three years ago prompted by a father's discovery that the defendant had his daughter in the defendant's bedroom and was taking pictures of her.
The father removed his daughter from Beshears' apartment and reported the matter to police, which led to a search of Beshears' home and the seizure of an iPhone, a digital camera and two laptop computers.
Videos were discovered that showed Beshears sexually abusing the child from March 2010 when she was 3 years old through August 2011 when she was 4. Beshears pleaded guilty in federal court in Springfield on Sept. 6, 2012, to eight counts of producing child pornography and was sentenced to 50 years in prison.
The sexual abuse charges prosecuted in state court necessitated that the defendant be brought to Joplin for Monday's hearing on a writ from federal prison. Crane ordered that the two life terms run concurrently with his federal sentence, and the defendant was returned to federal custody after the hearing.
Beshears' abuse of the girl was captured on 10 videos filmed at two addresses in Joplin. An affidavit filed in the case states that he molested the girl in four of the videos, imposed acts of sodomy on her in three others and raped her in the last three. The last video, created on Aug. 9, 2011, ends with the girl's father entering the room and catching Beshears in the act.
The defendant reportedly fled the apartment after a confrontation with the girl's father. Police located him about a block away, attempting to leave the area in a cab.
Child rape
JASON BESHEARS raped his child victim on the day the child's father caught him three years ago.
http://www.joplinglobe.com/local/x1027624969/Judge-metes-out-life-terms-in-child-sexual-abuse-case/print
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Colorado
Woman Pleads Guilty in Denver Child Abuse Case
by SADIE GURMAN
A woman who starved her four young sons and kept them in a filthy, feces-strewn Denver apartment could spend up to seven years in prison after pleading guilty Friday to her second offense of child abuse.
Prosecutors said the case involving Lorinda Bailey, 36, was among the most horrific they had ever seen, but the state's child abuse laws kept them from pursuing harsher penalties because the children, ages 2 to 6, did not suffer serious physical injuries.
Six other charges were dropped in exchange for Bailey's guilty plea to a single felony count.
"The way the child abuse statue reads, this was a disposition we thought would hold her accountable as best we could under the law," said Lynn Kimbrough, a spokeswoman for the Denver District Attorney's Office.
Police say Bailey and the boy's father, Wayne Sperling, 66, kept their sons in an apartment filled with cat feces and flies.
The children were not toilet trained and could communicate only in grunts when authorities removed them from the home in October. They were alerted by an emergency room doctor, who noticed that the youngest boy was unwashed, reeked of cigarette smoke and had bruises consistent with pinching.
Sperling has pleaded not guilty and faces a hearing in October. Bailey, who remains free on bond pending her sentencing, declined to comment Friday.
Neighbors said they previously called social services with concerns about the family, but the agency would not publicly discuss the case for confidentiality reasons.
The couple lost custody of other children amid similar allegations.
Officers found rotten food, trash and insects in the apartment in October 2006, after passers-by reported two young children playing in the street. The children mostly grunted and pointed to communicate.
Bailey and Sperling pleaded guilty in June 2007 to misdemeanor child abuse and lost custody of their three oldest children.
The latest case warranted felony charges because it was a repeat child abuse offense, Kimbrough said.
The four boys are now improving in foster care and living together, she said.
http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/woman-pleads-guilty-denver-child-abuse-case-24902422
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Mysterious 1957 slaying of boy found in cardboard box still baffles nation
Child's corpse, which first appeared to be a doll, was wrapped in a Navaho blanket and weighed only 30 pounds. In 2002, an Ohio psychiatrist contacted Philadelphia cops telling them that a patient claimed her parents used the boy as sex toy and later murdered him
by Mara Bovsun
America has a slew of enduring mysteries: Who killed the Black Dahlia? What happened to Judge Crater? Where is Jimmy Hoffa? One of the most baffling is “Who was the Boy in the Box?”
His face became known to the world on the frigid afternoon of Feb. 25, 1957, when a traveler along the Susquehanna Road in Philadelphia noticed a carton with red letters spelling out the words “Furniture, Fragile, Do not Open with Knife.” It originally contained a bassinet.
Inside, there was what at first appeared to be a doll, but was really a child's corpse. He was naked and wrapped in a Navaho blanket. At about 40 inches he weighed only 30 pounds, significantly less than what's normal for a child that height.
He could have been anywhere from 3 to 6 years old. His nails had been carefully trimmed and his hair was clipped in a way that suggested it was not the work of a skilled barber. A few of the seven scars on his body seemed to have come from surgical procedures, and his eye showed signs that he had been treated for a chronic condition.
There was a dark substance in the boy's esophagus, but he had not eaten for about three hours before his death.
Bruises told of a beating, and the medical examiner ruled that death was caused by blows to the head.
There were plenty of clues to follow. Police first tried to find the identity of the boy, but no children of his size had been reported missing and a scan of orphanages turned up nothing. Hospitals take the foot and fingerprints of newborns, but there were no matches. Hundreds of thousands of posters, flyers and circulars went out to police and were tucked into utility bills, posted in supermarkets, liquor stores and racetracks. Nothing.
In desperation, police dressed the dead boy in the kinds of clothing he might have worn in life — overalls and a shirt — and photographed him sitting up, hoping to jog a memory. Still nothing.
It was easy to trace the box to a local J.C. Penney, but it turned into another dead end. Whoever bought the bassinet paid cash and left, leaving no identification.
Another clue came from a witness, a man who had been driving along the road the day before the body was found. The driver saw a woman and a boy standing beside a car, rummaging through the trunk. Figuring they might have car trouble, he slowed and asked if they needed help. The woman waved him on.
Detectives probed families living on the fringes of society, the kinds of people who had more children than they could support, such as traveling carny workers who had lost some children to disease, and a foster home nearby. Rumors had placed a small boy fitting the description in their homes, but police could confirm nothing. A mother of nine in Colorado fell under suspicion because of a previous charge of having dumped her daughter's corpse in a trash can after the child died of natural causes. But there were only rumors behind these leads.
In July 1957, detectives paid for a funeral. The epitaph on the simple stone marker in Potter's Field read: “Heavenly Father, Bless this Unknown Boy, February 25, 1957.”
The case cooled and then went cold, except for one investigator from the medical examiner's office — Remington Bristow — who could not let it go.
On his own time and with his own money, he called upon psychics, conducted his own investigations and interviewed anyone who might shed some light on the identity of the boy. Bristow was certain that he had died in a foster home that had taken in many children over the years, but he could prove nothing. He went to his grave in 1993, still wondering.
Five years later, there was a flurry of activity, spurred in part by a group of crimefighting experts known as the Vidocq Society (after legendary French detective Eugène-François Vidocq). The boy's body was exhumed and DNA was taken for testing. Then, the child was given a proper burial in a local cemetery.
Modern forensics proved no more successful than the methods of nearly a half-century earlier. DNA yielded nothing, and even widespread publicity — including a segment on “America's Most Wanted” — brought in a lot of calls, but still no proof.
In 2002, a psychiatrist from Ohio contacted the Philadelphia police, telling them that one of his patients said she knew how the boy had died. She said her parents, both educators, had purchased the child to use as a sex toy. One day, when her mother was bathing the boy, whom they named Jonathan, he started to struggle and she hit him hard enough to kill. The woman, who was 10 at the time of the killing, said that she had been on the side of the road, helping her mother dispose of the body, when a man pulled over to ask if they needed help. She was very tall and often mistaken for a boy.
It all seemed to make sense; she knew key details. The autopsy report, for example, noted that the boy had some brown substance in his esophagus. She said that he had thrown up baked beans the day he died. But there was no way to prove if anything she said was true.
Today, there is a website dedicated to the mystery, and investigators still hope that it may someday be solved. In November 2013, the Vidocq Society held a memorial for the boy who had no name, but nevertheless managed to leave an indelible mark on the world.
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/crime/mystery-dead-boy-box-baffles-nation-article-1.1898191
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Vermont
Child abuse prevention group fights growing problem
by Alex Apple
ESSEX JUNCTION, Vt. - KidSafe works with several child protection organizations in Chittenden County. A fundraiser Sunday gave the organization a boost to continue its work to curb one of the state's biggest issues.
Chittenden County State's Attorney TJ Donovan has called it an epidemic -- cases of child abuse have dominated headlines in the Green Mountain State.
In 2013, the state investigated over 2,600 cases of potential child abuse. In the past six months, three alleged homicides of children and another suspicious death have rattled the state.
And one local organization is responding to calls for change by holding a sale -- a sale of just about everything from furniture to candles to books to giant stuffed animals. It's the annual KidSafe Collaborative Yard Sale -- hosted by the Champlain Valley Expo. "It helps everyone because people can donate stuff they don't need and then people can buy things they do need," said Tori Bissonette, a KidSafe volunteer.
In order to continue sponsoring those teams, KidSafe runs the sale which raises more than $20,000. It is an organization that seeks to pool resources for struggling families and help communities be vigilant of the signs of child abuse. "We work to help families who are in crisis. We have child protection teams that meet with families," said Anne MacLeod, an organizer of KidSafe's annual projects. "It's been a really rough time lately with the tragic deaths coming in close succession. It's really important that people know that there is help available."
KidSafe provides that help, but MacLeod says she is disappointed with the law's ability to prosecute when abuse does occur. "It should be so preventable," she said. "We really, as a community, ought to be able to work with families to prevent this from happening. We are out there to make sure no family falls through the cracks, no child falls through the cracks."
Vermont Attorney General Bill Sorrell is pushing for a change in how child abusers are prosecuted by allowing the state to prosecute parents or guardians who don't report abuse or allow it to continue.
"I don't think any of us have all the answers yet," McLeod said. "There are still commissions looking at what needs to be improved. The one thing I know is we are seeing that it will be very likely that there will be some kind of new legislation. We don't know exactly what that's going to be."
There's no magic solution to stop a problem like child abuse, but on Sunday in Essex, KidSafe workers said that just motivates them to work even harder.
http://www.wcax.com/story/26244251/child-abuse-prevention-group-fights-growing-problem
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
California
California Man Gets 35 Years in Prison for Sexually Abusing Niece
Damian Clemente Mora, 31, sexually abused his 5-year-old niece over a two-year period and created a disturbing video featuring more than 500 sexually explicit images of the girl
by Monica Garske
A former pharmacy technician who sexually abused his 5-year-old niece and created a video montage of explicit images of the child will spend the next 35 years in prison, a San Diego judge ruled Friday.
Damian Clemente Mora, 31, of El Centro, Calif., pleaded guilty in March to two counts of sexual exploitation of a child.
According to sentencing documents, investigators discovered that Mora had photographed and videotaped his niece 512 times in sexually explicit positions and stored the images on his digital devices, including his computer, camera, table and a thumb drive.
The abuse happened over a two-year period.
Investigators said Mora compiled the hundreds of images into a disturbing eight-minute video montage that included upbeat music and an off-color subtitle that read, “Starring: A Loving Uncle.”
Prosecutors said Mora boasted In a letter addressed to the court, the victim's mother wrote that “an entire lifetime [behind bars] would not be enough for this man to pay for what he did.”
U.S. Attorney Laura E. Duffy said she hoped Mora's sentencing would bring some sense of peace to the victim and her family and prevent the guilty from victimizing other children.
“No amount of time will ever restore the innocence of a 5-year-old girl, who will forever be haunted by the memory of two years of sexual abuse at the hands of her own uncle. No amount of time will diminish a mother's pain and anguish over the victimization of her child,” Duffy said.
Mora's case was handled by Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) El Centro.
In addition to his time in prison, Mora was sentenced to a lifetime of supervised release and must register as a sex offender.
http://www.nbcsandiego.com/news/local/Damian-Mora-Sentenced-Child-Sex-Abuse-El-Centro-270614331.html
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Rubén Rosario: Homeless-youth documentary film deserves the funds to finish it
by Rubén Rosario
There's the young lady who left home because of her mother's incessant drug use. There's the young man who left home at age 11, four years after the death of his father. Why? "My mother hated me because I reminded her of him."
Then there's Cecil, a survivor of childhood sexual abuse who left home at age 14, as Los Angeles-based filmmaker Romiti Rainwater tells it, "because I was tired of sleeping with my father."
They are some of the faces and voices behind "Lost in America," an ambitious project to raise awareness and put on film the plight of some of the estimated hundreds of thousands youths and young adults who go homeless each year in America.
Now I just saw a fun flick, "Guardians of the Galaxy," last weekend. It cost $170 million to make and already had grossed $160 million worldwide within days of its premiere. In contrast, Rainwater and his cohorts believe it will take a modest-by-comparison $150,000 to complete their project and debut it by next year.
Of course, it won't be a box-office blockbuster because of its dark subject matter. But this is the kind of thought-provoking film we need to support and see more of; it tackles a serious, often-ignored subject that takes place daily on the streets of our neighborhood and city.
A VETERAN, HOMELESS AT 19
The National Alliance to End Homelessness estimates that 550,000 unaccompanied, single youth and young adults up to age 24 annually experience a homelessness episode of longer than one week. Roughly 380,000 of those youth are younger than 18. Too many engage in survival sex, are sexually exploited, or fall victim to substance abuse, among other street perils. The group also estimates that 5,000 unaccompanied youths die each year as a result of assault, illness, or suicide.
"We are doing a series of vignettes, short little pieces, Michael Moore-style, because the best way to move people is letting these kids tell their own stories," said Rainwater, 42, whose fictional film of a homeless teenager last year, "Sugar," was shown to Congress and won the "Film Heals" award at the Manhattan Film Festival.
Rainwater knows a bit about living on the streets. An only child and Navy veteran, Rainwater obtained a general discharge at 19 after he learned his mother was diagnosed with lung cancer and placed in a long-term hospital setting in Orlando, Fla. His mother had long lost her rented apartment by the time he got to her bedside, and his maternal grandmother, his other closest relative, refused to take him in.
"She had issues with my mother because my mother had abused alcohol and prescription drugs, and she was angry I had left the military to care for my mother," he said last week. "She told me they served split-pea soup at the nearest homeless shelter."
CALLING THE COPS ON A HOMELESS JESUS
Jobless while caring for his mother in a hospice, he slept in his car, under highway overpasses and on a pier at a nearby lake where he once fished as a kid. He also slept in a public park where he could see his grandmother's condo. He left for Los Angeles nine months later to pursue his dream to become a filmmaker after his mother went into remission. But she relapsed and died three years later.
He raised $50,000 through word of mouth, indiegogo.com, an online fundraising site, and donations from a few investors. He and a three-member crew have so far filmed 12 homeless youths of diverse backgrounds and circumstances, as well as shelter and homeless-youth advocacy groups.
They shot a 19-year-old living in a homeless shelter in rural Vermont and ate a meal that cost $2.14, made by a chef of some fame at a food kitchen for the homeless in Manhattan. The crew also spoke to a minister and visited a church "where they have a sculpture of Jesus laying on a bench, covered in a blanket," Rainwater wrote in a blog on his website.
"And we found out that people thought it was a homeless person, so they did they logical thing. ... They called the police," he added.
With more funding, Rainwater plans to chronicle the travels of a freight-train hopping homeless teen and visit North Dakota, Chicago and several other locations in the Midwest.
I suggested a stop in the Gopher State. According to a 2009 Wilder Research report, roughly 2,500 youths ages 16 to 21 are homeless on any given night in the state. Social service agencies in the Twin Cities area have expanded homeless-youth programs and emergency shelter beds in recent years, including a proposed $9 million, 44-unit housing development for homeless youth in St. Paul.
"Maybe we can go there," said Rainwater, who pledged to raise the remaining $100,000 "by hook or crook."
Perhaps they should add the word "Guardians" to the working title to get the funds flowing. Just a thought.
Rubén Rosario can be reached at 651-228-5454. Follow him at twitter.com/nycrican.
DETAILS
To learn more about the homeless youth film, go to lostinamericafilm.com.
http://www.twincities.com/nation/ci_26302627/ruben-rosario-homeless-youth-documentary-film-deserves-funds
