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January 31, 2005
Jackson Allegations Put Focus On Child Abuse In OKC Area
January 31, 2005 [KOCO ChannelOklahoma.com]
While jury selection began in the Michael Jackson trial Monday, state leaders and child welfare workers were working to raise awareness of the problem of child abuse in Oklahoma.
On Monday evening, Oklahoma first lady Kim Henry took part in a candlelight vigil at Norman's Alcott Middle School to remember the victims of child abuse and neglect in Oklahoma. At the same time, several metro-area organizations were working to stop child abuse -- and many counselors said the problem is more common than many Oklahomans might think.
Counselors at the Parents Assistance Center told Eyewitness News 5's Rachel Kim that parents from a variety of backgrounds come to themget help. They said clients at the center learn many things based on a core idea: that peace begins at home.
Although it's not uncommon for parents to get into arguments with their children, counselors said, many parents who have sought help from the Parents Assistance Center have allowed their arguments to escalate into violence.
"Robert," whose real name has been withheld for privacy reasons, knows that fact all too well. He said that he didn't realize the damage he was doing when he verbally and physically abused his 14-year-old son for lying.
"I hit him ... I said bad things to him," Robert said. "(I) left bruises on him (and) scratched his face up."
Robert's counselor, Vicky Brooks, said Robert abused his son because he himself was abused. But the biggest reason abuse happens, Brooks said, is stress and a lack of understanding when it comes to controlling emotions.
"I don't think it's uncommon for parents to have thoughts like that every now and then," Brooks said. "But it's important to prepare yourself. That stress could get to you and becoming overloading at times."
According to Brooks, anyone who is given the right set of circumstances and stress factors in his or her life could wind up abusing his or her child. Robert said that after he took time to learn about his own circumstances, he changed his outlook on how to deal with stressful situations at home.
"There's no need for violence," he said. "There's no need for bad words. I've learned to listen to my kids. I'm no longer angry, (and) I realized that I can take my time."
Brooks said that many parents like Robert are putting off counseling and need to get help.
"They need to do all the things necessary for a healthy lifestyle," she said. "They need to eat right, they need to exercise (and) they need to have friends and social support."
Substance abuse is another major factor that can lead to child abuse, Brooks said. In addition, she said that 50 to 75 percent of domestic violence cases become child abuse cases.
Parents who would like more information and who want to get help can contact the Parents Assistance Center at 232-8226.
Posted by Nancy at 06:12 PM | Comments (0)
January 30, 2005
Open child abuse hearings go well
January 30, 2005 [Associated Press] By Katharine Webster
CONCORD, NH — A small ray of sunshine is creeping into one of the most secretive parts of the state court system: child abuse and neglect hearings.
Usually only the most horrific cases become public, when criminal charges are filed against an adult, because criminal cases are open under constitutional guarantees of a fair trial.
Those cases represent the tip of the iceberg. The majority of abuse and neglect cases are civil and so secretive that only the accused, the prosecutor and witnesses can attend — not foster parents, not grandparents.
Now, under a pilot project, family courts in Grafton and Rockingham counties let anyone attend child abuse and neglect hearings, although judges still may close all or part of them if there is a good reason. Also, those who attend are warned it is illegal to disclose information that could identify a child or parent.
Still, the pilot project could shed light on how well judges, police, court-appointed guardians, social workers and the state Division for Children, Youth and Families do their jobs and whether elected officials are providing enough money for child protection and services for families, advocates say.
"It puts some sunlight on the process and, as we all know, sunlight is the best disinfectant," said former state Sen. Ned Gordon, R-Bristol, a lawyer who handles family law cases.
"People are forbidden by law from commenting on the hearings and could be prosecuted if they criticize DCYF," Gordon said. "That's wrong."
Gordon introduced a bill in 2002 to open abuse and neglect cases and related hearings, such as those to terminate someone's parental rights. Instead, the Legislature set up the pilot project in Grafton County, then expanded it to Rockingham County last July.
The move follows a national trend toward greater openness in such cases, reversing a nationwide move decades earlier to close nearly all cases centered on children: juvenile delinquency cases, abuse and neglect hearings, and even divorce and child custody disputes in some states.
According to a July 2003 survey by the national Conference of Chief Justices, one state — Oregon — now requires that all abuse and neglect hearings be open; 13 states presume they are open but give judges the discretion to close them; and nine states presume they are closed but allow judges to open them.
Six states close them to the general public, but allow people with an interest in a particular case to attend, and 19 states (including New Hampshire) and the District of Columbia mandate complete closure. Ohio has no presumption of either openness or closure and Nevada is conducting a pilot project similar to New Hampshire's.
Steve Varnum is the public policy director of the Children's Alliance of New Hampshire. He supports more openness to educate the public about the division's work. At the same time, he thinks children's and parents' identities should be scrupulously protected.
"DCYF is not about yanking kids out of homes and putting them in foster care," said Varnum, who covered the agency for years as a Concord Monitor reporter.
"That represents a very small percentage, and even in most of those cases kids are going to return home, so it's about more than protecting kids — it's about making families whole, and that's hard to do in an atmosphere where everyone in a small town knows the horrible abuses that have gone on in a family," he said.
Warren Lindsey, an attorney for the division who has handled cases in Grafton County, said he asks judges to close hearings when they involve allegations a child has been sexually assaulted, but otherwise has no problem with them being open. At the same time, protecting the identity of children is critical, he said.
"We want people to know what we do," Lindsey said. "It's always a difficult balancing act. ... When people come forward, it's extremely traumatic for them."
Judge Edwin Kelly, chief justice of the state's district courts, believes the pilot project "has come very close to the ideal" in striking that balance.
In the pilot project, judges are supposed to close testimony involving a child's medical and psychological history and close hearings entirely when the child is present, although that's rare, Kelly said. All written records in civil abuse and neglect cases remain sealed, as does the docket.
That leads to some contradictory results, Kelly acknowledged. In cases that lead to criminal charges, earlier civil actions remain sealed, making it difficult to learn about any abuse complaints involving the same victim or perpetrator and how authorities responded.
And while reporters can attend abuse and neglect hearings at random, they cannot get the schedule of future hearings or records in a particular case from the court, making it hard for them to be watchdogs for the public.
Kelly, who advocates more openness, hopes the Legislature will reconcile the contradictions.
"I would advocate for the widest open procedures that we could have without disclosing intimate psychological, medical and other details," Kelly said. "Any bureaucracy has to be and ought to be held accountable for how it conducts its business."
He said there were no problems during the pilot project's first two years in Grafton County.
State Rep. Carolyn Gargasz, chairwoman of the legislative committee overseeing the project, is most concerned with making sure people accused of abuse or neglect are allowed to have friends or family members in the courtroom.
Gargasz, R-Hollis, wants to assess the effect of openness on families before deciding whether to open hearings statewide.
Closed hearings sometimes become public when one party or side goes public. That was the case last summer in a Massachusetts courtroom when a New Hampshire boy, Patrick Holland, sought to terminate the parental rights of his father, who had murdered Patrick's mother. The only person free to speak with the media, because he was not a party to the case, was Patrick's guardian, Ron Lazisky, of Sandown, N.H.
When The Associated Press challenged the case's closure, the judge said he would like to open it so reporters could hear all sides, but state law required him to close it.
Posted by Nancy at 06:56 PM | Comments (0)
January 29, 2005
Wife of accuser testifies in ex-priest's abuse trial
Jan. 29, 2005 [Associated Press]
CAMBRIDGE, Mass. - The wife of a man who has accused defrocked priest Paul Shanley of raping him as a child testified Friday that he had night sweats and curled up in the fetal position on the floor after recovering memories of the abuse.
The woman took the witness stand after her husband finished more than 10 hours of testimony over three days, much of it under grueling and graphic cross-examination by Shanley's attorney.
The man returned to the stand Friday morning despite begging the judge a day earlier to spare him further questioning. That had raised the possibility that the case would collapse, because he is the lone accuser of Shanley, 74, one of the central figures in the Boston Archdiocese's clergy sex-abuse scandal. Three other accusers were dropped from the case by prosecutors.
The accuser, now a 27-year-old firefighter, says Shanley raped and molested him at a Newton parish beginning when he was 6. He says he didn't remember the abuse until early 2002, when he heard a friend's account of being abused as a boy by Shanley.
His wife testified that he became distraught during a phone conversation when she told him about a newspaper article in which the friend told of the alleged abuse. She was living near Boston at the time, and her then-boyfriend was serving at an Air Force base in Colorado.
"He said he was going to be sick, he had to go, he couldn't talk," she said.
She said he returned to Massachusetts four days later. On the first night of his visit, she said, he became upset again.
"He woke up. He was very agitated and restless. He had soaked the sheets with sweat," she said, her voice cracking. "He got on the floor, curled up in a ball. He shook."
"I tried to hold him, but he wouldn't let me," she said.
Earlier, Shanley's attorney Frank Mondano grilled the accuser about his troubled childhood, his abuse of alcohol and steroids, his gambling habit and his motivation for coming forward.
Mondano has said that the man made up his story to cash in on the multimillion-dollar settlements to victims of the Boston scandal. He has also said he will call expert witnesses to debunk the science behind repressed memories.
The trial is expected to resume Monday.
Posted by Nancy at 07:35 PM | Comments (0)
Fighting Child Sexual Abuse
January 29, 2005 [The Winchester Star] By Kevin Killen
Education is the key to combating sexual abuse among children, officials said during a recent meeting of the Community Safety and Services Committee.
The committee is chaired by Winchester Commonwealth’s Attorney Alexander R. Iden.
Investigator Andrew Vipperman gave the committee his insight into sexual abuse against children.
Vipperman, who does a majority of the interviews of sexual abuse allegations for the police department, said the community has a lot of resources to use to battle the problem.
“The police, courts, and social services, have been great helping battle this crime,” Vipperman said.
He said it is really tough to have to talk to a child about being abused, and also said many children usually disclose their abuse in a variety of ways.
Oftentimes, abuse never gets reported because the child has fear, feels guilty for what happened, and is afraid of the punishment from the family, Vipperman said.
One of the best ways Vipperman said to help children talk about the abuse is let them talk about it any way they can.
“If it’s a picture, let them draw it. If it’s something else that symbolizes the act, let them tell it,” he said.
Vipperman said once the alleged abuse is revealed, the long process of healing and helping can begin.
But, because those channels can reach so many people before the courts get a case, that can make the process arduous for the victim and the family.
Prosecuting accused offenders of child sexual abuse is not always a win, said Iden, who has prosecuted abuse cases in his nearly four years as Commonwealth’s Attorney.
He said it is not easy prosecuting an alleged abuse case, and juries are never a guarantee.
“Sometimes, people do not want to believe this happens, but it does,” Iden said. “But education and help from the resources we have can inform people there is a problem.”
Posted by Nancy at 07:26 PM | Comments (0)
January 28, 2005
Judge rules that child accuser must face Michael Jackson in court
January 28, 2005 [Associated Press]
SANTA MARIA, United States (AFP) - The teenage boy who accused pop icon Michael Jackson of child abuse must face the superstar in open court, a judge ruled.
Judge Rodney Melville made the critical decision over prosecutors' objections in the last pre-trial hearing ahead of Monday's official start of the trial of one of the most famous people ever to face justice on such serious criminal charges.
But while ruling that the 15-year-old alleged victim and his 14-year-old brother must testify in open court instead of from behind closed doors, Melville warned he would not tolerate any intimidation of the children.
"Whether I keep an open courtroom will depend on what happens during their testimony," Melville said, warning he would tolerate no "hand gestures, mutterings" or any other expressions towards the children from the gallery.
"It is critical there be no disruption in their testimony," he told the rival lawyers in the case after Jackson's lawyers won their bid to force the boys to testify in open court.
The boy alleged to authorities that Jackson had sexually molested him on several occasions in early 2003 at Neverland Ranch, near the California town of Santa Maria where the legal proceedings are taking place.
Prosecutors claim in their charges against the pop star that the boy's younger brother witnessed two of the alleged incidents and will call both boys to testify about the alleged incidents.
Prosecutors had moved to shield the boys from the glare of publicity when they take the witness stand, but Jackson's attorneys said it was unfair for the accusers to give evidence via an audio feed from a closed room while Jackson, 46, had to face the world's scrutiny.
Prosecutor Gordon Auchincloss told Melville that the boys would be stigmatised and shamed by their testimony if it was given in front of the press and public.
He said the brothers and their family already changed their schools, their names and had been forced to "hide out" since their intimate allegations first made world headlines in November 2003.
"The shame involved in a child consenting to these acts is unbelievable, Auchincloss said, claiming Jackson had bought the boys' silence through gifts and other alleged wiles.
"To anyone who thinks we should put these young boys in the path of this train, I ask how would you feel if it was your child?" he said.
But Jackson's chief lawyer Thomas Mesereau disputed the portrayal of the boys as being vulnerable victims in need of the court's protection, suggesting that the motive for the claims against Jackson was financial.
"They are in their mid-teens and are not tiny little children. They are not the little lambs the prosecutor says they are," Mesereau said rebuffing Auchincloss's argument.
He stressed that every aspect of Jackson's life had come under scrutiny since his November 2003 arrest, so it was fair that those who first made the claims against the singer should be made to do so in public.
"At least let Michael Jackson, who is on trial in a public proceeding, confront his accusers in a public proceeding," Mesereau told the judge.
Jackson has denied 10 charges, including child molestation and an alleged plot to kidnap and falsely imprison the boy and his family. His trial starts with jury selection on Monday.
Posted by Nancy at 07:28 PM | Comments (0)
Child Abuse Victims Advocate Steele Dies
January 28, 2005 [Associated Press]
DENVER - Dr. Brandt F. Steele, a psychiatrist who helped pioneer the treatment of child abuse victims and coined the term "battered child," died Jan. 19. He was 97
In a 1962 paper, Steele and longtime associate Dr. C. Henry Kempe, a pediatrician, became the first to detail the physical and psychological symptoms of child abuse by parents, dubbing the result "battered child syndrome."
The paper was pronounced one of the 20th century's 50 most important medical contributions by The Journal of the American Medical Association.
Steele and Kempe also were first to document that abusers themselves often were childhood victims of abuse and neglect.
Steele grew up in Indiana, attended Indiana University and studied under Alfred Kinsey, who later became famous for his research on sexuality.
He later joined the faculty of the University of Colorado Medical School.
Posted by Nancy at 07:19 PM | Comments (0)
January 27, 2005
Lawyer for accused priest challenges man's claim
In cross-examination, accuser says his life spiraled downward
Janaury 27, 2005 [Associated Press]
CAMBRIDGE, Massachusetts (AP) -- The lawyer for defrocked priest Paul Shanley sought to undermine the credibility of his accuser Thursday, grilling the man under cross-examination about his troubled childhood, abuse of alcohol and steroids, and gambling.
The man testified for a second day of Shanley's rape trial, one of the few cases in which prosecutors have been able to bring charges against priests accused of molesting boys decades ago.
The man, now a 27-year-old firefighter, is the lone accuser remaining in the case. He says Shanley raped and molested him at a Newton parish over a period of six years, beginning when he was 6.
He says he didn't recover memories of the abuse until early 2002, when he heard a friend's account of being abused as a boy by Shanley, one of the central figures in the Boston Archdiocese's clergy sex abuse scandal.
But Shanley's lawyer, Frank Mondano, has implied that the man's account was tailored to conform to those of three other alleged victims who were dropped from the case by prosecutors.
The accuser said his mother left him when he was 3 years old, and his father beat him. Under a barrage of questions from Mondano, he also acknowledged that he drank heavily and abused steroids for eight years starting when he was 16. He also said he gambled away hundreds of dollars at a time.
He blamed his steroid use on Shanley, saying the sexual abuse caused him to develop a "poor self-image."
Steroids "just made me feel better about myself," said the accuser, who said he once smuggled steroids across the border from Mexico. "I just thought I looked better."
Plaintiffs in the hundreds of lawsuits filed over the clergy sex abuse scandal have made similar claims that they spiraled into lives of drug abuse and depression after being molested by Roman Catholic priests.
Mondano challenged claims the man made his lawsuit, which he settled with the archdiocese last year for $500,000. In it, the man blamed Shanley for his difficulty maintaining relationships and for his failure to realize his dream of playing major league baseball.
"This, too, you blame on Paul Shanley?" Mondano asked.
"Absolutely," the accuser said.
Mondano has said the man made up his story to cash in on the multimillion-dollar settlements paid to victims of the Boston scandal.
The man testified Wednesday that Shanley would pull him from Sunday morning catechism classes at St. Jean's parish and sexually abuse him in the church pews, confessional, rectory and bathroom. He said the abuse began when he was 6 and continued until 1989, when he was 12.
"He'd unzip my pants," the accuser said. "Sometimes he would kneel down and try to teach me how to perform oral sex."
Shanley faces three charges of raping a child and two charges of indecent assault and battery on a child. He could get life in prison if convicted.
His case became one of the most notorious in the abuse scandal because personnel records released by the archdiocese showed that church officials knew Shanley publicly advocated sex between men and boys, yet continued to transfer him from parish to parish.
The case hinges on the concept of repressed memory, in which past experiences are suppressed in the subconscious until a trigger brings them back.
Shanley's accuser said the scandal in Boston triggered his 20-year-old memories of being molested. But Mondano has questioned the timing and validity of those memories and said he would call expert witnesses to debunk the science behind repressed memories.
Most of the priests accused in hundreds of civil lawsuits avoided prosecution because the alleged crimes were committed so long ago that charges were barred by the statute of limitations. But because Shanley moved out of Massachusetts, the clock stopped. He was arrested in California in 2002.
Posted by Nancy at 08:44 PM | Comments (0)
Panel rules priest sex abuse suits filed late
Lawyer will appeal Schuylkill judges' dismissal of two cases against Allentown Diocese.
January 27, 2005 [The Morning Call] By Chris Parker
A panel of Schuylkill County judges has dismissed two child molestation lawsuits against the Allentown Catholic Diocese, saying the alleged victims waited too long to file their claims of priest sexual abuse.
Though the judges found the diocese's failure to protect its young parishioners ''shocking and irresponsible,'' they said the men's claim that they were harmed again in 2002 when they learned the diocese had transferred some abusive priests to other communities wasn't an issue.
The cases only concerned the statute of limitations, the judges said.
A lawyer for the two men plans to appeal the ruling to the state Superior Court, which has scheduled a Feb. 16 hearing to determine the course of similar suits across Pennsylvania.
Superior Court rebuffed the diocese last fall, refusing to hear arguments that Lehigh County lawsuits alleging sexual abuse shouldn't be allowed to proceed because the statute of limitations for filing them had expired.
The panel of six Schuylkill judges, without dissension, ruled in identical 22-page opinions Tuesday that Vincent Catizone Jr. of Girardville and Scott Greis of Schuylkill County waited too long — more than 20 years — to file their suits.
Their attorney, Jay N. Abramowitch of Wyomissing, near Reading, and colleague Richard Serbin of Altoona sued the diocese and Bishop Edward P. Cullen and retired Bishop Thomas J. Welsh because the two-year statute of limitations against individual priests had passed.
The Schuylkill cases involve the Rev. Francis J. McNelis, who retired in 2002 and is living in Holy Family Villa in Bethlehem, and the late Monsignor William E. Jones, a former pastor of St. Vincent de Paul Church, Minersville.
''We are disappointed in the finding,'' Abramowitch said.
Greis and Catizone couldn't be reached for comment Wednesday.
Diocese attorney Joseph F. Leeson Jr. of Bethlehem, noting that none of the judges dissented, called their opinions ''strong and emphatic. … I think they are scholarly and well-reasoned opinions that are based on the law.''
Each of the two suits, filed in January 2004, consists of 12 counts and seeks monetary awards of more than $50,000 for each count.
The Schuylkill panel agreed with the diocese that the two-year deadline to file a civil lawsuit seeking money for injuries had elapsed. The alleged incidents began in 1966 for Greis, then 10, and in 1978 for Catizone, then 14.
The panel ruled that the statute ''has been consistently applied to other cases in Pennsylvania'' and dismissed the claims.
Catizone and Greis also alleged in their suits that the diocese and bishops had a duty to report the abuse, according to 1994 legislation that requires clergy to report sexual abuse.
The panel ruled that the law could not be applied retroactively.
''At the time of the events at issue, members of the clergy were not responsible under the [law] to report suspicions of child abuse,'' the panel ruled.
When the Schuylkill judges heard arguments in October, Abramowitch said his clients didn't discover until 2002, through the media, that the diocese had harmed them by hiding incidents of sexual abuse, and that is when the two-year period started.
Leeson said the fact a wrongdoing was publicly disclosed has no legal bearing on incidents that happened many years ago.
The suits also alleged that Greis and Catizone were harmed again in April 2002, ''when the Catholic Church revealed it had a policy of relocating sexually abusive priests to other communities, and that the church chose not to report these incidents to the police because, at the time, the law did not require it.''
The transfer of priests known to have molested children was not an issue in Greis' and Catizone's cases, the judges said, ''however shocking and irresponsible we may consider the diocese's failure to protect its child parishioners.''
Serving on the Schuylkill panel were President Judge William Baldwin and Judges Jacqueline Russell, E. Michael Stine, Cyrus Palmer Dolbin, John Domalakes and Charles M. Miller.
Catizone, who was 10 in 1966 when McNelis allegedly began to abuse him, was an altar boy and parishioner at St. Joseph's in Girardville, according to his suit.
The suit says McNelis performed sex acts on Catizone in his bedroom, his car, the rectory garage and other rooms in the rectory, and that the abuse continued for two to three years until Catizone was 13.
Greis alleges Jones fondled him and performed oral sex on him on numerous occasions beginning in 1978. Once, the suit says, Jones and another priest performed oral sex on Greis and several other boys on a trip to Jones' home in Tower City. Jones died in May.
Six similar cases, also filed by Abramowitch and Serbin, are pending in Lehigh County Court. Last June, three Lehigh judges declined to dismiss the suits.
In November, Superior Court chose not to hear the diocese's arguments that the Lehigh County lawsuits shouldn't be allowed to proceed. The court rejected the diocese's appeal of that decision, Leeson said.
At the hearing next month, Superior Court will consider appeals in similar cases stemming from a Philadelphia case, Abramowitch said.
''That ruling would be binding on cases in all the counties,'' he said.
In Philadelphia, a county judge threw out priest sexual abuse suits filed against the Archdiocese of Philadelphia, saying the statute of limitations had expired.
Posted by Nancy at 08:39 PM | Comments (0)
Three insurance firms sue LA Catholic bishop over child sex abuse deals
January 27, 2005 [Agence France Presse]
LOS ANGELES (AFP) - Three insurance firms have sued the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Los Angeles, accusing its leader of refusing to share information about alleged priestly sex abuse, a report said.
The companies have asked a judge to order Cardinal Roger Mahony to provide documents that could be used to relieve them of liability stemming from allegations by more than 535 people since the 1930s, according to the Los Angeles Times.
"For whatever reasons, the archbishop's apparent goal is to obviate any meaningful disclosure of the facts and circumstances of these claims, and yet to pressure (the insurers) to contribute enormous sums of money" to settle the cases, according to the lawsuit.
The 12-page complaint was filed by three members of American International Group Inc.: Insurance Co. of the State of Pennsylvania, Granite State Insurance Co. and American Home Assurance Co.
The three companies provided coverage for the church in the 1970s.
More than one billion dollars in damages could be assessed against the church, the insurance companies stated in the lawsuit, according to the Times.
"They have full access to the files," responded Mahony's lead lawyer, J. Michael Hennigan, according to the Times. "They are supposed to be on our side."
US Roman Catholic dioceses have seen their finances hit hard by waves of sexual abuse lawsuits filed against them since the child sex scandal broke in Boston, Massachusetts, in early 2002.
Three dioceses -- Spokane in Washington state, Portland in Oregon and Tucson in Arizona -- have filed for bankruptcy, while the Los Angeles area Diocese of Orange in December struck a record 100-million-dollar settlement deal with 87 alleged victims of its priests.
Posted by Nancy at 08:30 PM | Comments (0)
January 26, 2005
Bill Would Require Religious Leaders Report Child Abuse
January 26, 2005 [Associated Press]
Religious leaders would have to report suspected child abuse under a bill that was reintroduced Wednesday.
The legislation passed the Senate last year but died in a House committee after fundamentalist religious groups argued that it established a church and state relationship.
"We had some evangelical ministers who felt they had a separation of church and state issue, and some that had told me that they preach from the pulpit that parents should reprimand and punish their children and they didn't want to come back the following week and report them for child abuse," said Sen. Robert Spada, a northern Ohio Republican who proposed the bill.
The bill, which is essentially unchanged from last year, would not apply to the "sacred trust" of a confession or to something said confidentially to a minister.
Other religious groups, including Roman Catholics and Methodists, supported the bill last year. Doctors, teachers and other professionals are required to report abuse.
Posted by Nancy at 12:58 PM | Comments (0)
New centres to help abuse victims
January 26, 2005 [East Anglican Daily Times]
By Dave Gooderham
VULNERABLE victims of child abuse and domestic violence are set to receive vital support and information from a new specialist care centre.
Offering help to victims and witnesses of crime, the Victim Care Centre in Bury St Edmunds was launched yesterday and will be swiftly followed by similar units in Lowestoft and Ipswich costing almost £2 million.
Police said the centres would further improve the service offered to victims with specialist officers and staff on hand to help those who have suffered domestic violence or sex attacks.
Pc Rebecca Stocking, victim care officer, said: “Domestic violence blights so many lives and I hope that my work helps some victims recover from its effects and take positive steps forward.
“Every case is different - and you never get used to dealing with the effects of domestic violence and seeing how it saps victims' self-esteem.
“Our aim is to put victims in a position where they can make positive life choices for themselves and the greatest satisfaction comes from seeing these people get their lives back on track.”
The centre features three fully-equipped video interview rooms, a medical examination suite and a conference room.
Detective Constable Chris Murton, child protection team officer, who will investigate and support victims of child abuse, said: “In this job, we deal with extremely sensitive cases and you need to be both diplomatic and open-minded at all times.
“The crucial thing is establishing a rapport with the child. This may not be easy as they can be downtrodden and suppressed because of their experiences - and extremely wary of adults.
“It is a challenging job, but extremely rewarding to be part of a team which helps these children escape from those who abuse them.”
The centre, part funded by a £500,000 Home Office grant, will run in conjunction with Suffolk Victim Support.
Area manager John Doylend said: “It's an extremely positive step forward and can only help provide a better service to victims and witnesses.
“Our work complements that of the police and I am very pleased that Suffolk Constabulary is placing a greater emphasis on care and support for those affected by crime.”
Detective Superintendent Stewart Gull, of Suffolk police, said they were committed to taking a lead in providing a quality service to all victims of crime.
“The new centres will provide 24-hour specialist support and care for the most vulnerable in our communities.
“Our new centres will provide immediate specialist help and support to those who need it, helping them recover from their ordeal, while at the same time assisting police in tracing those responsible for their suffering.”
Posted by Nancy at 02:05 AM | Comments (0)
Documentary: "After School"
Documentary film: A study of the growing and disturbing trend of teachers having sex with their students.
Months after the tragedy, Owen Lafave, her husband of less than one year, wants answers. He has teamed up with a documentary crew to narrate and explore the truth and reasons behind the rise in cases of child molestation by teachers in our schools.
“After School” is a disturbing look at a plague affecting our families and, more importantly, our children.
For more information visit: After School
Posted by Nancy at 12:50 AM | Comments (0)
January 25, 2005
Minister arrested, charged with child molestation
January 25, 2005 [Associated Press]
LAWRENCEVILLE, GA (AP) -- Gwinnett County police have charged a 57-year-old minister with child molestation.
Nathan Clement Ridgeway of Duluth is charged with one count of aggravated sexual battery and one count of aggravated child molestation.
The investigation involves a three-year-old family member who was at the suspect's residence.
Ridgeway is a pastor of a non-denominational church in Norcross -- Faith Life Fellowship. He also runs and works at a day care center, which operates out of that church.
Investigations say there are NO allegations of abuse involving anyone from the church or day care center.
Authorities arrested Ridgeway on Friday.
Posted by Nancy at 11:43 AM | Comments (0)
School 'mismanaged' abuse probe
A government report into allegations of sexual abuse against young boys at a Belfast boarding school is highly critical of the school's response.
January 25, 2005 [BBC News]
The report, published by the Department of Education on Tuesday, catalogued a history of mismanagement.
The abuse took place in 1992 and 1993 and was carried out by one pupil at Cabin Hill preparatory boarding school.
The report said a lack of action may have harmed both the boys abused and the young abuser.
The fee-paying preparatory school on the Newtownards Road in east Belfast closed its boarding department in October 2004.
Education Minister Barry Gardiner said: "The report does not make comfortable reading and provides all who have a duty to safeguard and promote children's welfare with much to reflect on."
The inquiry team, appointed by the Department of Education last September, found there were multiple instances of serious sexual abuse affecting at least six boys.
It found that one boy, who was acting as a dormitory prefect, carried out indecent assaults on fellow pupils until he was forced by other boys to confess to the headmaster at the time.
The boy said to have carried out the abuse was formally cautioned by the police in 2002.
However, it was the school's handling of the matter which has been criticised by the report's authors.
Response 'inadequate'
Only a very few people were told about it, in what the report team called an inadequate response.
It said that not only should the assaulted boys have been given help, but also the perpetrator, who left the school soon after the discovery of his actions.
The incidents were not made public until May 1999.
The board of governors of Campbell College, which runs the Cabin Hill preparatory school, has acknowledged the criticism of its handling of the incidents of sexual abuse.
It said it regretted the distress of pupils which had come to light as a result of this inquiry.
However, the report said that even as late as last year, a board of governors' response to press enquiries was said to be erroneous and misleading.
The three-strong team appointed last September to examine the allegations were the former Senior Chief Inspector of Education in Scotland, Douglas Osler, the former director of the NSPCC in Northern Ireland, Lynne Peyton, and the former principal of Dalriada School, Ballymena, William Calvert.
The team looked at what child protection measures were in place at the time and the extent of the abuse.
The inquiry was held in private.
Posted by Nancy at 11:34 AM | Comments (0)
Prosecutors detail abuse of young boy by defrocked priest
January 25, 2005 [Associated Press]
CAMBRIDGE, Mass. "If you tell, no one will believe you."
Prosecutors say that's what a former priest told his young victim to keep him quiet during years of sexual abuse. Opening statements began today in Massachusetts in the trial of Paul Shanley, charged with rape and indecent assault on a child.
Prosecutors say the boy didn't tell anyone -- for nearly 20 years. They say Shanley raped the boy repeatedly at his church, sometimes in the church bathroom, or in the church confessional.
They described how the priest would summon the six-year-old boy to the rectory to play cards. Then they quote Shanley as saying, "You lose, take off your clothes."
Shanley's defense maintains such charges have been concocted in order to bring a lawsuit.
If convicted of rape and other charges, Shanley -- who turns 74 years old today -- could face life in prison.
Posted by Nancy at 11:26 AM | Comments (0)
Coalition pledges mandatory abuse reports
January 25, 2005 [Sunday Times] By Amanda Banks
Australia - DOCTORS, nurses, teachers and child welfare workers will be forced to report child abuse under a Coalition plan to bring Western Australia into line with the rest of the nation on mandatory reporting.
Opposition Leader Colin Barnett yesterday unveiled details of the plan, announced by the Liberal Party in June.
The mandatory reporting plan, estimated to cost $15 million a year, is part of the Coalition's first comprehensive policy launch.
The children's policy - which contains initiatives worth $83.5 million - also includes establishing an Office for the Commissioner for Children at a cost of $5 million a year; a $1 million commitment to match local community funding to improve playgrounds; $1.5 million to set up a children's card to provide police clearance for people who work with children; stricter classifications guidelines for children's media; and $750,000 for child injury prevention.
Flanked by Opposition spokeswoman for children Barbara Scott, Mr Barnett said professionals would be trained to ensure they could identify child abuse.
"WA is the only state in this country that does not require mandatory reporting of abuse against children," he said. "It's not about a penalty system, it's just creating a clear statutory obligation on professionals in the area. Let's face it, this is about protecting kids."
Mr Barnett did not give details about the penalties for those who breached the statutory obligation to report suspected abuse or neglect.
The Gallop Government has previously rejected mandatory reporting after a report by the University of Western Australia found such laws throughout the world were in chaos and said there was no evidence compulsory reporting was effective in protecting children.
Posted by Nancy at 11:23 AM | Comments (0)
Opening Statements Delivered Clergy Sex Abuse Trial
Defrocked Priest Charged With Child Rape
January 25, 2005 [Associated Press]
CAMBRIDGE, Mass. -- Opening statements were to be delivered Tuesday in the child rape case against defrocked priest Paul Shanley, one of the most notorious figures in the clergy sex abuse scandal that engulfed the Boston Archdiocese.
The case that first involved allegations related to four alleged victims has since been whittled down to a single man who claims he was raped in the 1980s by Shanley when he was a priest at St. Jean's parish in Newton.
A jury of eight men and eight women will consider the case, which is expected to last about two weeks in Middlesex Superior Court.
Shanley faces three charges of raping a child and two charges of indecent assault and battery on a child. The maximum sentence would be life in prison.
Prosecutors said they planned to call New Hampshire bishop John McCormack to the stand Tuesday as one of their first witnesses. McCormack investigated allegations of sexual misconduct as a former lieutenant to Boston's Cardinal Bernard Law and was expected to testify about Shanley's employment history with the archdiocese.
Shanley was once known as a long-haired priest in blue jeans who reached out to Boston's troubled youth in the late '60s. Now 73, he was defrocked by the Vatican last year after being charged with sexually abusing boys at the Newton parish between 1979 and 1989.
His alleged victims contend they were taken out of religious education classes and raped by Shanley in the church rectory, confessional and restroom.
The remaining accuser is 27 and says he was sexually abused by Shanley between 1983 and 1989, when he was between the ages of 6 and 11. Prosecutors said they plan to call the man's father and wife to testify.
Shanley's is one of just a handful of criminal cases that prosecutors have been able to bring to trial against priests accused of molesting young parishioners decades ago.
Most of the priests accused in hundreds of civil lawsuits avoided criminal prosecution because the alleged crimes were committed so long ago that charges were barred by the statute of limitations. But because Shanley moved out of Massachusetts, the clock stopped. He was arrested in California in May 2002.
Shanley became a lightning rod for public anger over the clergy sex abuse scandal after internal church documents were released showing church officials knew that he advocated sex between men and boys, yet they continued to transfer him from parish to parish.
His lawyer, Frank Mondano, has said he will argue that the man made up his story of abuse after the scandal erupted into the headlines several years ago. All of Shanley's alleged victims settled lawsuits with the church in April 2004. The exact monetary terms were not disclosed, but an attorney for the men has said each received more than $300,000.
Posted by Nancy at 11:19 AM | Comments (0)
Vatican Disciplines 17 Priests in N.Y.
January 24, 2005 [Associated Press]
ROCKVILLE CENTRE, N.Y. - The Roman Catholic Church has disciplined 17 priests of a New York diocese for sexual abuse allegations.
The Diocese of Rockville Centre on Long Island informed parishioners of the actions in a three-page letter listing the status of sex abuse cases against 23 priests.
Bishop William F. Murphy reported that eight priests were defrocked by the Vatican, nine were permanently suspended, three await canonical trials and two have been cleared. Proceedings against another have been deferred.
Several victims' rights groups criticized the bishop, saying the identities of the disciplined priests should be made public.
Diocese spokesman Sean Dolan said the names of those priests convicted on criminal charges have been disclosed. But releasing the names of the suspended priests could violate their privacy because they have not been proven guilty.
Posted by Nancy at 11:10 AM | Comments (0)
Crackdown on Net child abuse
January 25, 2005
AUSTRALIA has teamed up with the US, Canada and the UK to cast an international net to crack down on child abuse on the Internet.
Australian Federal Police Commissioner Mick Keelty will launch the global program to fight child abuse and pornography online on Thursday.
Mr Keelty will join the director of the Australian High Tech Crime Centre, Kevin Zuccato, to unveil the virtual global task force website, a key element in the global program to stop child abuse.
A worldwide child pornography blitz late last year dubbed Operation Auxin identified more than 700 suspects in Australia and led to 228 arrests and 2260 charges.
Posted by Nancy at 03:10 AM | Comments (0)
Ad campaign to promote Internet tipline aimed at sexual abuse of children
January 24, 2005 [Canadian Press] By John Ward
OTTAWA (CP) - A tipline described as Neighbourhood Watch on the Internet launched a national ad campaign Monday to enlist Canadians in the fight against on-line stalkers and child porn.
It comes two years after the federal Liberals promised a national strategy to fight sexual exploitation of children in cyberspace. Cybertip.ca has been running as a Manitoba-based pilot project for two years, but now will be promoted nationally. The site allows people to report suspicious Web sites, chat rooms and the like to a central clearinghouse. The reports are analyzed and those that look like solid leads are passed on to the appropriate police agency.
In its two years of operation, the site has received 2,000 reports which resulted in the closing of more than 400 Web sites and 10 arrests.
In one case, a mother in Kingston, Ont., found that her 14-year-old daughter had met a 35-year-old man on line. She found evidence that the man had sent child porn to the girl's computer.
She reported to Cybertip.ca and Kingston police were notified.
They determined that the man in question was in the United States and informed the FBI (news - web sites), which found he had molested other girls in the U.S. He faces four charges and 30 years in jail.
Manitoba Attorney General Gord Mackintosh, one of the driving forces behind the concept, said the Internet can be both a wonderful tool and a dangerous place.
"We all must reduce the risk," he said.
He warned that those who try to exploit kids on the Net are going to have a harder time of it now.
"I say to predators, beware, you are now going to be increasingly watched and reported," he said.
The site is financed by $3.5 million from the federal government and donations from corporations such as Bell Canada, Telus, Microsoft, Rogers, Shaw and AOL.
Federal Justice Minister Irwin Cotler said the technology has shown it can work.
"This will have a significant impact," he said. "It's about protection of the most vulnerable of the vulnerable, our children."
The site is user friendly, with pull-down menus to help users fill out their reports. It's aimed as child porn, child luring, child prostitution and sex tourism.
Lianna McDonald, executive director of Child Find Manitoba, which ran the pilot project, said Cybertip can provide vital information to the police. By acting as a central clearinghouse for reports, it can sort out the chaff, and send information to the police who have jurisdiction.
Police faced with a report may investigate, only to find that the Web site or the person involved is in another jurisdiction. Cybertip can eliminate that duplication of effort, McDonald said.
"No one agency, government or company can take this issue on alone," she said.
McDonald said the process will enlist Canadians directly in the fight against sexual exploitation of children.
"Cybertips.ca is the Neighbourhood Watch of the Internet," she said.
Posted by Nancy at 01:55 AM | Comments (0)
Judge Sets Bond For Former Fugitive Accused Of Molesting Child
Police Arrest Daniel Farinholt After Nearly 3-Year Search
January 24, 2005
LOS ANGELES -- A judge Monday set bond at $500,000 for the man accused of molesting a child and hiding from authorities for nearly three years.
Daniel Farinholt remains in Orange County Jail. He pleaded not guilty Monday to charges of child molestation and sexual abuse.
Farinholt, formerly an executive vice president of a large computer company in El Segundo, was taken into custody in Boise, where he was working for Hewlett-Packard.
Farinholt, who had reportedly been using the name Donald Dudley, was identified after being featured on the television series "America's Most Wanted." The tipster reportedly remained anonymous.
Farinholt was arrested on a $200,000 warrant stemming from a criminal case filed in March 2002, alleging three counts of child molestation and one felony count of continual sexual abuse of a girl under 13. The alleged child abuse occurred in Lake Forest, where Farinholt lived with a wife and children.
Farinholt made a preliminary court appearance on April 15 of that year and was granted a bond reduction to $100,000. He then failed to show up for a May 23, 2002, court appearance.
The following day, he made "a weak attempt" to stage his own death by abandoning his 1997 BMW at an El Segundo beach and smearing his blood on his boat, "Reel'n and Rock'n," which was about 100 yards offshore, police said. Farinholt had reportedly hoped to get investigators to believe he had either committed suicide or been the victim of a homicide, but it was too small an amount of blood to be believable, police said
Authorities had since tracked Farinholt to Texas and Colorado, among other places.
Farinholt is scheduled to return to court Feb. 4 for a pre-trial hearing.
Posted by Nancy at 01:50 AM | Comments (0)
Shanley trial underscores complexities
The priest has had many accusers, but now only one whose case is in court - complicating a high-profile drama.
January 24, 2005
BOSTON – Opening statements in the trial of Paul Shanley are set to begin Monday - advancing an epic in which a popular long-haired priest of the 1960s has become one of the biggest pariahs in today's clergy sexual-abuse scandal.
Defrocked by the Vatican last year, Mr. Shanley is one of few clergy accused of molestation to actually face prosecution. He is charged with child rape and indecent assault and battery while a priest at a nearby Newton parish in the 1980s. If convicted, he could face life in prison.
Yet despite his notoriety among victims' advocates - child-abuse accusations date back to at least 1967 - a conviction is far from certain. Though four men originally accused him of molestation, prosecutors dropped two of them from the case in July, and a third was dropped last week after failing to appear for scheduled meetings. Now, the trial is based on the allegations of a lone accuser.
That could weaken the case against Shanley, say experts. It also underscores the challenges and complexities surrounding the prosecution of child abuse, especially when trials take place decades after the alleged crimes. At worst, say some, the way this case has played out - especially if Shanley is acquitted - could deter future victims from stepping forward.
"[The sole accuser] is all alone. That's got to feel rough," says Gary Schoener, a clinical psychologist in Minneapolis and an expert on the clergy sex-abuse scandal. "I guarantee if he knew he'd be alone in the beginning ... he wouldn't be here. There's got to be some anger and resentment connected to that."
To victims' advocates, Shanley is infamous for his cunning and malice. They say he preyed on young victims repeatedly. And according to church documents released after the scandal broke in 2002, he was transferred from parish to parish over several decades.
"Shanley is both a symbol, and a real threat," says David Clohessy, the executive director of the Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests (SNAP).
Accusations and hurdles in court
To begin with, the case in the Middlesex Superior Court in Cambridge, Mass., revolved around the allegations of four men who had taken religious education classes at St. Jean the Evangelist Parish in Newton. They claimed that Shanley raped them in the rectory, the confessional, and the restroom from 1979 to 1989, according to the district attorney's office.
The last accuser to remain in the case and testify - known in court as Male No. 3 - alleges that Shanley raped and assaulted him from the time he was 6 years old until he was 11.
Most of the clergy who have faced civil suits from accusers have eluded prosecution - because the statutes of limitations have often run out. Shanley's case is an exception: Because he left Massachusetts with its 15-year statute of limitations in 1990, the "clock stopped." He was arrested in San Diego in 2002. He later pleaded not guilty and was held on bail.
Those seeking accountability in the Catholic Church abuse scandal face other hurdles beyond statutes of limitations. Testimony in such cases has often been based on recovered memory - an intensifying sense of past trauma, dawning on a victim years after supposed abuse - which can be controversial in court for juries and defense attorneys alike.
In the current case, Male No. 3, now in his 20s, says he recalled the abuse after the scandal broke in the Archdiocese of Boston three years ago.
"I have a great difficulty accepting recovered memory," says Joseph Oteri, a Boston-area defense attorney who is not involved in the case. "A lot of [memory] is stories people hear over the years. They hear stories and pretty soon think it happened to them."
Schoener says that juries, too, are often sympathetic to offenders in old cases "to the degree that anything is fuzzy."
The case's fallout for other victims
Many of Shanley's accusers have received financial settlements from the Boston Catholic Archdiocese. Some experts say an acquittal in the criminal case could prompt more victims to come forward, angering them enough to make their cases public, even if they had previously decided not to do so.
But Clohessy says the reverse is also true: If a conviction isn't a sure thing for a priest considered by many to be one of the worst villains, they may ask, how will lesser-known figures be held accountable?
"Whenever a dangerous predator escapes prosecution it makes already very pessimistic and hopeless victims feel worse," says Clohessy. "But that's even more true in a case like Shanley's where there are multiple accusers, and most importantly, a clear, lengthy, incriminating set of written records proving that church leaders knew he was dangerous."
For David Finkelhor, director of the Crimes Against Children Research Center at the University of New Hampshire, Shanley's behavior should have sent warning signals to the church.
"He's emblematic of the fact that the church did not take the actions it should have taken," says Dr. Finkelhor. Shanley was known for blurring the boundaries between adults and children and has been accused of publicly advocating sex between men and boys. "Maybe that means the failure to pick up on what was going on was more egregious."
Posted by Nancy at 12:16 AM | Comments (0)
January 24, 2005
Sheriff: Worst Case of Child Abuse Ever
January 24, 2005
Knox County, TN - Yet another child abuse case in Knox County, as Sheriff Tim Hutchison put it, it's one of the worst cases of alleged child abuse he's seen.
Four children are in protective custody, with two of them hospitalized, the mother and boyfriend are in jail.
As Volunteer TV’s Ron Sprowl reports, the children, ages five, four, three and one all suffered abuse. The three year old girl and the one year old boy remain hospitalized.
23-year-old Stephanie Jo Allen and her live-in boyfriend 20-year-old Phillip Cory Reep were taken into custody Sunday night at their Ripon Circle residence.
Authorities went to their home to look for Reep after the children's grandmother called deputies concerning the welfare of her grandchildren.
Authorities say Allen first told them he was not there, that's when police say they saw the conditions of the children.
"The three-year-old girl was severely burned parts of the lower parts of her body. She had bruises and knots all over the head. The one-year-old, as well, knots and bruising over the body and head," said Knox County Sheriff Tim Hutchison. "The five-year-old, the four-year-old, three-year-old all told us that it was momma's boyfriend Cory that did those things to them."
Deputies did find Reep inside the house hiding in a bathroom near the bedroom.
Sheriff Hutchison also says the mother told detectives she knew nothing about the abuse, didn't know it was happening and really wasn't that concerned.
She's jailed on a $700,700 bond; boyfriend Reep's bond is $1.2 million
Posted by Nancy at 09:51 PM | Comments (0)
Help to prevent child abuse
It's time to find that special costume and get ready for a Mardi Gras.
Prevent Child Abuse Porter County will hold its sixth annual costume ball "Mardi Gras Style" form 8 to midnight March 5 at the Strongbow Banquet Center. Hosted by Steve Zana of Indiana 105, music will be provided by The Relics. Light cajun style refreshments will be served.
During the event a silent auction will again be held with many articles available for purchase to the highest bidder. Tickets for the event are $40 for singles and $75 for couples. All proceeds will go to child abuse education and prevention programs.
During the annual event Prevent Child Abuse Porter County will recognize an individual who has demonstrated concern and care for children and youth of Porter County. The Third Annual Hero for Children Award will be presented to the winning nominee at the Prevent Child Abuse Porter County Mardi Gras fund-raiser. Nominations will be accepted from any organization or individual in Porter County.
Please consider the following criteria when submitting a nominee: This individual has devoted selfless time to improving the lives of children beyond family or workplace responsibilities. This individual demonstrates creativity and a willingness to respond to the needs of children. This individual may serve in areas that are less attractive to others but are invaluable to a child's learning or support system. This individual is an inspiration and role model to children. All entries should be submitted in writing and be no more than 500 words. Entries can be sent either by mail, email or fax to Prevent Child Abuse Porter County c/o Sandra Mannakee, 1705 Snead Ave., Chesterton, IN 46304 or call (219) 921-1746. Nominations must be received by Feb. 1. The award committee will make the final decision. The person or agency submitting the winning entry will be notified and invited to the fund-raiser. For information, call Mannakee at (219) 921-1630 or LuAnn Shirley at 531-9012
Posted by Nancy at 09:47 PM | Comments (0)
Fixing child abuse takes all
Letter January 2005
The staff, board of directors and volunteers at Child Advocates Inc. have firsthand knowledge of the burden that the Child Protective Services caseworkers are facing.
Many of our program staff members served as CPS caseworkers prior to joining our organization, and our volunteers work with CPS caseworkers daily.
We all know that the majority of these individuals care about the well-being of the children and work tirelessly to ensure that the right decisions are made in every case.
We also recognize the barriers and limitations they face — including the financial cuts that have been made to parts of Texas' child welfare system that have exacerbated an already struggling system.
While we agree that the Legislature has the responsibility of fixing the struggling agency, we also believe it is the entire community's responsibility to take care of the more than 4,200 abused and neglected children who are in foster care right now in the Houston area. Behind every one of the statistics is an innocent child in need of help.
Child Advocates mobilizes community volunteers to provide a voice for the voiceless — those abused and neglected children who are in protective custody. We recruit, train and supervise court appointed special advocates (also known as guardians ad litem), to help guide children through the system.
Our volunteers provide a safety net below the CPS system to make sure that all of the children's needs are met and that a safe, permanent outcome is reached.
Since our volunteers carry only one or two cases at a time, they have the time necessary to fill in the gaps in the system.
Our volunteers remain on a child's case from the time that it is opened in the family court until the child's final placement is resolved.
The volunteer provides continuity on the child's case by pulling together the case history from each caseworker that has ever been involved, interviewing all parties involved in the child's life, and attending all court hearings so that an informed recommendation to the court can be made regarding the best permanent placement for the child.
Since we have a legal responsibility to the court to make unbiased recommendations, we may not always agree with CPS. However, we are confident that we are all working with the child's best interest in mind.
Despite all of our best intentions, children do slip through the bureaucratic cracks and, as we have seen, the results are tragic when they do.
As a community we have witnessed too many of these tragedies over the past 2 1/2 years, and we each need to do our part to help these children.
Their needs are great, but every Houstonian can do something to help. At a time when the system seems hopelessly flawed and tragic stories of abuse surface in the news every few days, Child Advocates challenges more individuals to get involved. Look into the possibility of donating time or money to Child Advocates or to one of the many other groups in Houston who work to help abused children.
Please do not watch from the sidelines or wait for others to get involved. Our children need all of us to take our part.
SONYA GALVAN
chief executive officer, Child Advocates Inc., Houston
Posted by Nancy at 09:42 PM | Comments (0)
Money is Available for Prevention of Child Abuse and Neglect
January 24, 2005 [Montana News Association]
The board of directors of the Montana Children's Trust Fund is soliciting abstracts for grants aimed at preventing child abuse and neglect.
The deadline for submissions is February 13.
This year's grants are intended to promote services that foster positive family relationships and prevent abuse and neglect in at-risk families, according to Sara Lipscomb, executive officer for the Montana Council for Families.
Examples would include innovative community-based projects with a specific focus (such as parent education, parent support groups, or parenting skills for young parents) and family resource centers. The trust fund board is especially interested in plans that:
geographic areas of the state;
accessing existing services;
competence in program content and design;
Programs that propose to serve low-income communities, young or first-time parents, or parents with young children will be given priority, Lipscomb said.
The trust fund board also hopes to fund the creation of as many as three family resource centers in communities that currently are not served by one.
Grant applicants must be nonprofit, private or public, community-based or statewide educational and service organizations, groups, or agencies. The trust fund board will review the abstracts in late February and request full applications from those it deems most worthy.
More information about preparing and submitting abstracts is available on the Children's Trust Fund Web site at www.dphhs.mt.gov. Click on About Us and then Boards and Councils.
The Children's Trust Fund was created by the Legislature in 1985 to take the lead in reducing and ultimately eliminating maltreatment of Montana children. The fund provides financial support to local efforts across the state.
Posted by Nancy at 09:37 PM | Comments (0)
Care House gets grant
January 24, 2005 [Macomb Daily]
The SBC Foundation has awarded $5,850 in computer technology to Mount Clemens-based Care House, which assists child victims of physical and sexual abuse.
The money will allow needy families served by the organization to have access to the Internet, math and reading programs, job skills programs, and receive computer training. Care House staffers also will gain improved technology, such as e-mail, to raise money, recruit volunteers and get training.
The SBC Foundation is the philanthropic arm of SBC Communications Inc. Last year, the foundation awarded more than $8 million in the technology grants.
Posted by Nancy at 09:30 PM | Comments (0)
Jury selection to begin in multiple murder and sexual abuse case
January 24, 2005 [Associated Press] By Juliana Barbassa
FRESNO, Calif. - Attorneys will begin screening jurors Tuesday morning in the multiple murder trial of Marcus Wesson, a domineering patriarch who allegedly controlled his family with religious teachings, incest and threats of mass suicide.
Wesson, 57, was the only one to emerge alive from the back bedroom of the modest one-story house at the end of a tense, hours-long standoff. Police discovered nine bodies in a bloody tangle and ten white coffins stacked against the living room walls.
Each victim had been shot once in the eye - the youngest a 1-year-old toddler, the oldest a 25-year-old woman whose child was among the dead.
The killings shocked even veteran officers in this Central Valley town, where police had been called by relatives desperate to get their children out of the house. Officers cried openly as they pulled body after body out of the bedroom, the youngest at the bottom of the pile.
Wesson faces nine murder charges, and more than a dozen counts of sexual abuse against his own daughters and nieces. But no gunpowder residue was found on his hands. Prosecutors won't discuss their trial strategy, but their witnesses include several experts on mind control, indicating they may try to show Wesson ordered one of his children to commit the murders. Wesson could be put to death if convicted.
Showing how Wesson controlled his household through ideology, surveillance and fear will be at the crux of the case, said Richard Ofshe, a sociologist and cult expert with the University of California, Berkeley.
"If you want to take this seriously, you really have to learn how he ran this group," said Ofshe. The prosecution will have to show how he could get "nine people who didn't feel like dying to sit still."
Earlier this month, 2,200 potential jurors were summoned to appear in Fresno County Superior Court. Hundreds are expected to answer the request on Tuesday, and after about a month of questioning, 12 will be chosen to hear the case.
"I'll be looking for jurors who will refuse to lower the burden of proof in the face of enormous publicity and community sentiment," Wesson's public defender, Pete Jones, said on Friday.
The preliminary hearing last April offered a glimpse of what the jurors will hear in the coming months.
According to investigators' testimony, Wesson had strict control over his large household, which included several children bred through incest.
One of Wesson's surviving daughters said he would inflict "weeklong spankings" if the children broke his rules, which for girls included dressing modestly and not talking to males outside the family.
The 20-year-old said Wesson forced the family to hear him preach twice a day from his King James Bible, and that he began molesting her and her sisters when they were as young as five, Fresno homicide detective Carlos Leal testified.
One of Wesson's nieces - a young woman he raised, then had a child with - told investigators the family patriarch had announced his plan to commit mass suicide if there was a threat against the clan, such as interventions by police or Child Protective Services.
The niece also spoke of a more gruesome plan involving the girls, whom Wesson called "his soldiers." She said that when it came time to commit suicide, Wesson had intended for them to "go out and kill the rest of the family members that were no longer in his house," according to Richard Byrd, another Fresno detective.
On March 12, the day of the killings, several family members had tried to retrieve their children from the Wesson household. The conflict escalated, and they called the police for help, crying hysterically and saying that Wesson was dangerous.
Wesson's attorney has argued that the oldest victim - Wesson's daughter Sebhrenah - pulled the trigger, killing her siblings and her child before committing suicide. "Sebhrenah fell on the gun after shooting herself," Jones said during the preliminary hearing.
Prosecutor Lisa Gamoian has not spoken to the press about the case, and was not available for comment before trial. But she said in court that the facts speak for themselves, that that Wesson is clearly culpable.
"It was only Mr. Wesson who exited the bedroom," Gamoian said.
Officer Byrd said that according to the niece, Wesson was obsessed with David Koresh, the leader of the Branch Davidian cult that got into a deadly 1993 confrontation with federal agents outside Waco, Texas. He apparently wanted to create a similar following within his own family, gathering relatives around the television to watch reports on the cult leader, Byrd said.
Potential prosecution witnesses include family members and mental health specialists known for their work on other notorious murder cases, such as Park Dietz.
Dietz testified in the trial of Jeffrey Dahmer, and concluded that David Berkowitz was sane in the "Son of Sam" case. But his work for Andrea Yates' prosecutors has recently been discredited, and the prosecution is reconsidering calling the specialist.
The list also includes J. Reid Meloy, a forensic psychologist, and Kris Mohandie, who has worked for the Los Angeles Police Departments.
Attorneys said jury selection is expected to take one month. No cameras will be allowed in the courtroom.
Posted by Nancy at 09:26 PM | Comments (0)
Public urged to report child abuse
Be the eyes and ears of the Government, and report child abuse.
January 25 2005 [News Straits Times] Malysia By June Ramli
This is the plea from Women, Family and Community Development Minister Datuk Seri Shahrizat Abdul Jalil, in view of the rising incidence of child abuse and incest.
"Please report if you suspect there are child abuse or incest cases," she told reporters after attending a dengue prevention and control campaign at the Tengku Budriah Children's Home in Cheras today.
"We are doing our best, by having awareness programmes, changing the laws and bringing the perpetrators to court.
"But most times, the horrible incidents have already taken place and an innocent victim is scarred for life."
Shahrizat was commenting on news reports of 290 cases of child rape in the first three months of last year in which the perpetrators were relatives.
In the whole of 2003 there were 768 such cases.
She said in 2003, the ministry had received 430 reports of sexual abuse of those under 18 years of age involved in incest and sodomy.
"It should be a personal crusade of every Malaysian to report such cases as we need the help of everyone. It has to be a concerted effort, not just one done by the ministry," she added.
She said the young victims were under the close watch of the ministry.
"Most times they are placed in homes because they are not safe living with their families anymore. We can only do so much. What we want to do now is to prevent such cases from happening. But we need the public's help. We cannot do it alone."
Earlier, Shahrizat launched a campaign against Aedes mosquitoes and directed that all 123 old folk's homes and orphanages under her ministry be fogged and cleared of stagnant water through regular gotong-royong activities.
"This will be a continuous effort, at least once a week."
Posted by Nancy at 06:17 PM | Comments (0)
Officer battles abuse in talks about touches
In the classroom: PLAINFIELD - School sessions help kids learn what's OK, bad
January 24, 2005 [Indianapolis Star] By Michael Dabney
Terry Hall, a 28-year veteran of the Indianapolis Police Department, knows about child abuse, and he spends a lot of time trying to eliminate it.
That's why Hall, an IPD dive commander, created a Good Touch/Bad Touch program in 1983.
The police officer conducted lessons at Plainfield's Central and Brentwood elementary schools recently.
Hall said he developed his program after seeing light sentences often handed down to people convicted of child molestation. "The judicial system wasn't working well," he said. "I had to do something."
In addition to working in the department's dive unit, Hall is a trained child abuse investigator and trains other law enforcement officials in how to spot and pursue child abuse cases.
But he gets a special joy in teaching children what is a good touch and what is a bad touch.
"More than anything, it empowers kids to know what is good and what is bad, and that they have the right to say no," said Diana White, a counselor at Central.
"We do this just to keep the kids safe," said Mike Underwood, Central's principal, regarding the 18 years Plainfield schools have received Hall's presentation.
Hall uses dolls -- he calls them tools -- to show students where it is appropriate and where it is inappropriate to be touched. He said it is not always inappropriate for someone to touch "private parts," such as during a medical examination.
"Private parts are not nasty," he told a gathering of attentive first- and second-graders. "What some people try to do with them is nasty."
The students were amazingly familiar with the proper terms for certain parts of the human anatomy, although mentioning them could result in small giggles.
Holding up a girl doll, Hall asked the children whether it is appropriate for someone to touch the breasts "for no good reason."
"No," roared the children.
"Is it ever your fault," he asked.
"No," the children responded again.
"Is it OK for someone to touch you for no good reason," asked Hall.
Again, the children said, "No."
"Most people who touch you for no good reason are generally people who you know. It's generally not a stranger," said Hall, who said he was the victim of abuse as a child.
"Tell your mom and dad; tell your uncle or aunt; tell your teacher or principal or counselor," he said. "Keep telling someone until someone listens."
Hall later said he tackles the problem because it is so massive.
Nationally, one in four girls and one in eight boys under age 18 report some form of abuse, he said.
"But it is also one of the most unreported crimes," Hall said.
All children are vulnerable, said Underwood.
Although she declined to be specific, White said children have approached school officials over the years to privately report cases of abuse.
"He is tremendously effective," Underwood said.
Posted by Nancy at 06:11 PM | Comments (0)
Pebble Project teaches children safety
January 23, 2005 [News 8]
By Jennifer Bordelon
Children are often taught not to talk to strangers, but what about when it's someone they know that's harming them?
The Pebble Project is a program that helps prevent child abuse and neglect by empowering children to contribute to their own safety.
Second graders at Reilly Elementary School learned about their rights, "to be safe, strong and free in various situations such as bullies, strangers and unwanted touches," Pebble Project volunteer Ana-Cristina Gonzales said.
Through role play, volunteers teach these students how to recognize abusive or dangerous situations.
"I think it's important especially now days with everything that's going on here lately in the news here in the Austin elementary schools about strangers coming in and trying to take kids way. I think it's important for them to be aware of what's going on," Gonzales said.
The life lesson includes how to resist abuse, and the importance of telling a trusted adult if the child has been bullied, approached by a stranger or hurt by someone they know.
"A lot of kids feel like they shouldn't tell on other kids because it's tattletaling and we want the kids to know that they do have rights and therefore it's really reporting something that's happening than just getting someone in trouble," Pebble Project volunteer Michael Hurewitz said.
The program also encourages parents and teachers to talk to their children about safety and what is and is not appropriate in different situations.
"The most valuable one is that they are able to identify people at school and at home who they feel safe with and who they can talk to," Gonzales said.
For more information about volunteering with the Pebble Project or to schedule a presentation for your school, you can call them at (512) 464-9727. Read Pebble Project safety tips online.
Posted by Nancy at 12:57 PM | Comments (0)
Storm Delays Trial for Former Priest
January 24, 2005 [Associated Press]
BOSTON - The winter storm that pounded the Northeast prompted Gov. Mitt Romney to keep some nonessential state workers home Monday, including employees at the courthouse where a high-profile clergy sex abuse cases was to begin.
Romney's announcement meant that opening statements in the trial of defrocked priest Paul Shanley, one of the highest-profile figures to go to trial in the Roman Catholic clergy sex abuse scandal, would not begin in Middlesex Superior Court until Tuesday. A jury was seated last week.
Shanley, 73, is accused of child rape and indecent assault and battery on a child under 14. Allegations against him were among the hundreds of clergy sex abuse lawsuits settled by the Archdiocese of Boston.
The alleged victim, now 27, says Shanley raped him repeatedly at St. Jean's parish in Newton between 1983 and 1989, beginning when he was six years old. Charges related to three of the alleged victims have been dropped by prosecutors.
Shanley, once a long-haired priest in blue jeans who reached out to Boston's troubled youth, was defrocked by the Vatican last year after being charged with sexually abusing boys.
Posted by Nancy at 12:50 PM | Comments (0)
Man charged with sex abuse
January 24, 2005 [Associated Press]
Medford, OR — Numerous sex charges have been filed against a Southern Oregon man accused of abusing boys he met at motorcycle and motocross events, the authorities said.
Daniel Zeman, 65, of Central Point has been charged with sodomy, sex abuse and encouraging child sexual abuse.
Zeman was being held this weekend in the Jackson County Jail on more than $4 million bail.
A dozen people have come forward to claim they were sexually abused by Zeman when they were between the ages of 9 and 16, Medford police Lt. Tim George said.
Zeman, who has no previous felony record in Oregon, has been held in jail since Jan. 10, when he was arrested following a monthlong investigation.
More charges were added Friday.
Posted by Nancy at 12:46 PM | Comments (0)
Caseworker not guilty of neglect
Jury says she did obstruct death probe
January 24, 2005 [Associated Press]
INDIANAPOLIS – A jury Saturday found a former child welfare caseworker not guilty of neglect, but said she did obstruct an investigation into an abuse-related death of a 4-year-old boy she helped place with adoptive parents.
Marion Superior Court jurors deliberated for more than eight hours before finding Denise C. Moore, 43, guilty of obstruction of justice, but not guilty of two counts of neglect. Her sentencing was scheduled for February 23
The case had given people a behind-the-scenes look at the high number of cases and high turnover inside the state’s system for protecting abused and neglected children. Several caseworkers testified that they feel pressured to place children in adoptive homes and that they deal with too many cases.
Defense attorney Jack Crawford said he was pleased that Moore had been acquitted of the most serious charges.
Prosecutors claimed Moore lied about doing a background check on L.B. and Latricia Bars, the couple who adopted twins Anthony and Latoya Bars in 1999
They argued that a proper check would have found three substantiated cases of abuse in the Barses’ home and shown that L.B. Bars was convicted in 1987 of felony battery for whipping his daughter with an extension cord.
Beaten and starved, Anthony, 4, died in January 2002
Latoya is mentally handicapped from the abuse. The Barses were convicted of child neglect with Latricia Bars sentenced to 13 years in prison, and L.B. Bars sentenced to eight years.
“By the jury’s verdict, they found her not guilty of hurting those kids, which is what we claimed all along,” Crawford said.
Crawford argued during this week’s trial that Moore had a caseload of more than 100 children in the Marion County Office of Family and Children, well above the limit of 35 ordered by a federal court. Crawford said during the trial that the responsibility of placing the children with the couple was not just Moore’s.
If the proper background check were done, the information on L.B. Bars would have been enough to block the adoption, prosecutors said.
Moore’s supervisor Mary Kettery testified Thursday that Moore’s work had deteriorated during the time the state placed the twins with the couple with an abusive past.
Kettery said Moore carried an average caseload of about 39 children.
When questioned by the defense, Kettery said that number could have climbed to more than 100 at times.
Kettery testified that although she approved the twins adoption, it was Moore’s job to give her the appropriate background information.
Posted by Nancy at 12:40 PM | Comments (0)
Man and woman arrested for abusing her son
January 24, 2004 [Associated Press]
Council Bluffs, IA- Charges have been filed against a man and woman accused of abusing her three-year-old son.
The woman, 24-year-old Courtny Anderson, was arrested last week on child endangerment, willful injury and neglect or abuse of a dependent person.
Her boyfriend, 32-year-old Scott Davis, has been charged with willful injury and child endangerment.
Police says Davis allegedly hog tied the boy with electrical tape and placed a rag in his mouth to quiet his crying. Anderson shut the lights in the boy's room, closed the door and left him there for at least 20 minutes.
Police say doctors discovered the boy had been whipped on his legs and back, his left eye was swollen shut and he had burns on the left side of his face.
The child has been placed in protective custody.
Posted by Nancy at 12:35 PM | Comments (0)
Child Advocacy Center receives $4,000 gift
January 24, 2005 [The Buffalo News]
NIAGARA FALLS - The Martha H. Beeman Foundation has designated a $4,000 gift to the Child Advocacy Center of Niagara at Niagara Falls Memorial Medical Center to support the new Martha H. Beeman Child Advocacy Training Institute.
The institute will promote state-of-the-art training for the investigation and intervention of cases of child abuse by hosting an ongoing series of educational events for professionals who respond to such cases.
"We are pleased to be able to help one of the few facilities of its kind in all of New York State," Don Smith, president of the Beeman Foundation's board of directors, said in a prepared statement.
The institute's first training session will be held Tuesday, when Dr. Eileen Treacy, a New York City psychologist, presents "Forensic Interviewing Practices for Children."
The Child Advocacy Center responds to reports of physical and sexual child abuse through the combined efforts of law enforcement, medical, behavioral health and social services professionals.
The Martha H. Beeman Foundation and Beeman clinics were established in 1930 through Martha and Marcus Beeman, who donated $500,000 to the City of Niagara Falls "for whatever purpose best served the needs of those Niagara County residents too young to have made their own mistakes."
Posted by Nancy at 12:25 PM | Comments (0)
Teacher jailed over children porn
A former primary school teacher has been jailed for nine months after child pornography was found on his computer.
January 24, 2005 [BBC News]
Daniel Kinge, of Eaton Close, Leamington Spa, admitted nine counts of making indecent images of children and one of having indecent photographs.
Sentencing the 23-year-old at Warwick Crown Court, the judge told Kinge his offences were so serious he had no option but to send him to prison
He was specially commended in teacher training awards in 2004.
'Repulsive material'
Kinge, who taught religious education, was placed on the sex offenders' register for 10 years and prevented from working with children indefinitely.
Judge James Pyke told him: "You...must understand that those who provide or stimulate a market for this repulsive type of material, must bear their full share of responsibility for the abuse and degradation suffered by the children who were depicted in these images."
Warwickshire Police became aware of Kinge as part of their investigations into paedophile activity in Leamington.
But he was caught when the FBI arrested a man in Wisconsin as part of another investigation.
Kinge was arrested at Wellesbourne Church of England Primary School, Warwickshire, on 18 November 2004.
Two computers were found to have more than 110 indecent images on them.
Neil Bannister QC, prosecuting, said the 'evidence eliminator' on his computer was set at the highest level.
Award winner
Education department officials in Warwickshire said that Kinge had been dismissed from his school post.
They added that both the Department for Education and Skills and the General Teaching Council would be informed.
The school's head teacher, Graeme Burgess, who nominated Kinge for the outstanding teacher award, said he had "fully deserved" the nomination.
He added: "The children adored him. He only ever seemed to be interested in education and driving forward standards and caring.
"To find out something like this could be taking place is awful. I think everybody involved feels extremely let down and abused in their own way."
An order was also made preventing Kinge from having any access to a computer linked to the internet.
Posted by Nancy at 12:20 PM | Comments (0)
New court date set in child abuse case
Jan 23, 2005 [Herald Sun]
By John Stevenson
DURHAM -- A new court date has been set for what some officials have described as one of the worst nonfatal child-abuse cases in Durham history.
The case had been set for Durham County Superior Court last week. But it was postponed until Feb. 21, reportedly so two of three suspects could talk to a prosecution investigator.
Assistant District Attorney Mitchell Garrell said one or more of the suspects might plead guilty next month. If not, they will be arraigned and trial dates will be set, he said.
The incident involves a 4-year-old boy who allegedly was tied to a closet doorknob for so long May 6, 2004, that he contracted gangrene. One of his legs had to be amputated.
Tamekecia Justice, the child's mother, and Randall Lee Hargraves are accused of inflicting serious bodily injury on the boy. Desiree Justice, reportedly the boy's grandmother, faces the same charge.
Each faces prison time if convicted.
Hargraves was Tamekecia Justice's boyfriend at the time of the incident, and he has now agreed to speak with an investigator for the prosecution, Garrell said. Desiree Justice has done the same, Garrell said Thursday.
Garrell previously had said that, despite the suspects' relationships, one of them might turn against the others and cooperate with authorities to avoid a prison term. He declined to elaborate on any possible deals.
The suspects are free on bail. Court documents list the address for Hargraves and Tamekecia Justice as 2503-B S. Roxboro Road.
Cases of physical child abuse are not rare in Durham, though they generally appear in court less often than robberies or murders.
Another serious one was resolved in 2003, when Jeanene L. Scurlock was convicted of dipping her daughter into scalding water, leaving the child with burns to both feet and blisters on the right foot.
Scurlock was placed on probation for three years and ordered to attend parenting classes and perform 100 hours of unpaid community service work.
The same year, Tyrone Moore received an active prison sentence of 42 to 60 months after he pleaded guilty to felonious child abuse involving serious injury.
He was accused of shaking his girlfriend's daughter so hard that it caused bleeding in the child's brain and hemorrhaging in her eyes, among other injuries.
Posted by Nancy at 12:11 PM | Comments (0)
January 23, 2005
Chronic fatigue syndrome
Study shows link to inactive children
[US News] By Elizabeth Querna
Imagine having a hangover that never went away, or feeling exhausted even after the simplest errand. Chronic fatigue syndrome has been described as an "incapacitating tiredness" and afflicts more than half a million Americans. Still, little is known about what causes the disease–doctors usually diagnose it only when other conditions are ruled out. Now, scientists from the Royal Free and University College Medical School in London say there might be a link between childhood activity level and chronic fatigue syndrome as an adult.
What the researchers wanted to know: What childhood habits might cause adult chronic fatigue syndrome?
What they did: The researchers used data from a large, multisubject survey that is currently following more than 10,000 British people born at the beginning of April 1970. When the participants were 5, 10, 16, and 29 years old, the researchers checked in on them with a variety of surveys about their healthand physical and educational development. When the children were 10 years old, parents and teachers were interviewed about things including parental illnesses, parents' mental health, students' educational achievement, and the amount of physical activity children had in school. At 29, the participants were asked whether or not they had chronic fatigue syndrome.
What they found: The people who told the researchers they had chronic fatigue syndrome were more likely to be from a high socioeconomic background and not to have regularly played a sport when they were 10 years old. This result is at odds with an earlier study, which concluded that children who exercised a lot had a higher risk of developing chronic fatigue. Previous research has shown that children whose parents have had a long illness or a mental illness are more likely to develop chronic fatigue; this study found no link between to those parental issues. Overall, fewer than 1 percent of the study participants reported having chronic fatigue syndrome.
What it means to you: Chronic fatigue syndrome remains a mystery, but each study that chips away at the causes and mechanisms of the disease helps. This study, in contrast to others, supports the idea that having an active lifestyle, even as a child, helps to prevent later health problems–including chronic fatigue.
Caveats: Chronic fatigue syndrome is notoriously hard to diagnose, and many people go for years without knowing that they have it. This study asked people if they had chronic fatigue syndrome but not if they had been medically diagnosed with it. The study likely missed some people that do actually have it but aren't aware that they do, and may have picked up a few people who are often tired (either from stress or from another condition) but do not have chronic fatigue syndrome.
Find out more: Several organizations support chronic fatigue syndrome research and patients. One is the American Association for Chronic Fatigue Syndrome http://www.aacfs.org and another is The CFIDS Association of America. http://www.cfids.org There is also a good description of the condition on the National Institutes of Health website. http://www.niaid.nih.gov/factsheets/cfs.htm
If you want to learn more about the study that is giving researchers this trove of information, check it out at: www.cls.ioe.ac.uk
Read the article: Viner, R. and Hotopf, M. "Childhood Predictors of Self Reported Chronic Fatigue Syndrome/Myalgic Encephalomyelitis in Adults: National Birth Cohort Study." British Medical Journal. Oct. 23, 2004, Vol. 329, No. 7472.
tract online: http://bmj.bmjjournals.com
Posted by Nancy at 07:31 PM | Comments (0)
Fibromyalgia Support Group
January 2005
A new fibromyalgia support group is forming at Florida Hospital Heartland in Sebring. This group is for those with fibromyalgia and/or their caregivers. This support group is also suggested as the next step after attending the Fibromyalgia Self-Care class, offered by the Arthritis Foundation, through Florida Hospital Heartland Division. For support group dates, call 386-6468. Leave a name and number, and staff will return the call.
Posted by Nancy at 07:21 PM | Comments (0)
San Jose man sentenced to 102 years in prison for kidnapping and rape
January 23, 2005
San Jose, CA [Associated Press]
San Jose, Calif. A San Jose man who was convicted of kidnapping and raping a 9-year-old girl has been sentenced to 102 years in prison.
Daniel Montiel Cruz was sentenced Friday by Santa Clara County Judge Rene Navarro for the three-day abduction in 2003, when the girl was kidnapped from her San Jose home after she returned from school.
In September, a jury found Cruz guilty of 10 felonies for an assortment of crimes, including burglarizing the house, binding and raping the girl, and assaulting the girl's mother and teen brother.
The victim, now 11, was not in court, but she wrote a letter telling the judge she would feel safer if Cruz was jailed for the rest of his life.
Cruz's attorney vowed to appeal the conviction and sentence. He maintains that Cruz was incapable of knowing right from wrong, and suffered post-traumatic stress disorder from childhood abuse.
Posted by Nancy at 07:16 PM | Comments (0)
Violence hinders brain development
January 23, 2005 [Kansas City Star]
By Mará Rose Williams
Witnessing violence can make anyone feel bad, but it especially hurts children because their immature brains are more vulnerable to stress.
So says Linda Chamberlain, a research scientist who spoke Thursday about the effects of childhood exposure to violence on brain development.
Chamberlain, an epidemiologist who founded the Alaska Family Violence Prevention Project, was the keynote speaker at a workshop organized by the Maternal and Child Health Coalition of Greater Kansas City.
She discussed the still-maturing brain of adolescents and the often-traumatic effect that violence, including domestic violence, can have. She said trauma experienced by a child might not show up in destructive behaviors until the teen years.
Chamberlain suggested that when teachers, school counselors or social workers work with children who are abusing alcohol and drugs, having sex, experiencing eating disorders or threatening suicide, the adults should look closely for violence in the home.
“It doesn't matter if the child has seen it, heard it or just sensed the violence in the home — it will have an effect on them,” she said.
Several workers from a battered women's shelter said that Chamberlain's association of the developing brain, violence and teen behavior made sense, saying that it explained outbursts they witnessed in children of their shelter clients.
Chamberlain described each area of the brain and its role in human development. Many changes in the brain, she said, occur during adolescence. For some, adolescence extends until age 20; for others, as late as 26.
Because the young brain is not fully developed, especially the prefrontal lobe, which determines judgment, organization and self-control, that area is more vulnerable to stress brought on by exposure to violence.
The younger a child's age, the more development of the brain is compromised and the longer lasting the effects.
“By age 12, children exposed to violence are more likely to be diagnosed with depression, anxiety and defiance disorders associated with post-traumatic stress disorder,” Chamberlain said.
All types of violence are culprits, including television and video-game violence in which consequences for actions are not clear.
“Parents, cut the cable, save a brain,” Chamberlain said.
But the worst violence for children and adolescents, she said, is family violence.
“Seeing parents or other adults fight can feel as bad to a teen as being hit themselves,” she said.
Posted by Nancy at 07:05 PM | Comments (0)
180 people with post-traumatic stress disorder needed for UW study
January 2005 {University of Washington] uwnews.org
Approximately 70 percent of people in the United States experience a traumatic event during their lifetime and a significant number of these people later develop post-traumatic stress disorder, a chronic and debilitating condition that can persist for months or even years.
While there are several tested treatments for the disorder, very little is known about their comparable effectiveness. That's why University of Washington researchers are looking for 180 Puget Sound men and women who are suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder to participate in a new study that will compare the effectiveness of state-of-the-art medication and psychotherapy treatments.
Between 8 and 14 percent of the people who experience such events develop persistent symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder that can impair their lives, according to Lori Zoellner, a UW associate psychology professor. These symptoms include recurrent thoughts of the trauma; intense feelings of fear and anxiety when reminded of the event; nightmares; avoiding situations, people or thoughts associated with the trauma; feeling numb or having difficulty experiencing strong emotions; sweating, racing heart or hot or cold flashes when reminded of the trauma; and jumpiness or a tendency to be easily startled.
Participants in the study will receive free treatment for 10 weeks and follow-up assessments over a 24-month period, said Zoellner. In addition to the treatment, participants can earn up to $300 for completing follow-up assessments. At the UW, Zoellner is directing the $2.6 million multi-site study funded by the National Institute of Mental Health.
To be eligible for the study, men and women must be between the ages of 18 and 65 and have chronic post-traumatic stress disorder after experiencing a traumatic event such as sexual assault, robbery, automobile accident, assault with a weapon, combat or a natural disaster.
People in the study will receive at least 10 weeks of treatment -- either the medication sertraline (Zoloft) or a form of cognitive behavioral therapy called prolonged exposure. Both treatment options are well established and have previously been shown to be effective in treating post-traumatic stress disorder in large-scale randomized controlled trials. One of the main goals of the study is to directly compare these two treatments. Following the 10 weeks of treatment, participants may continue on the medication or receive booster therapy sessions, as needed, for 24 months. Those people who do not respond to the treatment they receive can switch to the other treatment option.
The study also is designed to look at the role of choice in treatment compliance and outcome. Half of the participants will select the treatment of their choice while the others will be randomly assigned to medication or therapy.
"In the real world people pick their treatment. Our study will let us look at the role of choice in treatment outcomes, " Zoellner said.
In addition, the study also is designed to measure long-term treatment effectiveness through the 24-month follow-up and to assess relapse.
Through this process, the researchers hope to better understand what treatments work better for particular patients both in the short term and long term for the disorder, according to Zoellner.
People who would like to participate in the study or have questions about it should contact Helen Miller, a research assistant at the UW's Center for Anxiety and Traumatic Stress, at (206) 685-3617
Posted by Nancy at 06:54 PM | Comments (0)
First Lady of Tennessee Takes Action
January 2005
Andrea Conte, first lady of Tennessee is walking across the state of Tennesee to raise awareness and funds to help abused children in Tennessee.
First Lady Andrea Conte is a long time victim advocate and has been involved for many years with Child Advocacy Centers in Tennessee. The fund raising goal for this walk across the state of Tennessee is $1 Million Dollars. (Let's hope she raises more)
In her walk across the state she is inviting others to walk short segments with her. This walk spans several months and is raising awareness of child abuse. The walk is also raising much needed funds for 27 different organizations that provide counseling for child victims, awareness programs or professional training.
To contribute to her project, to walk with her, or to read more, visit Andrea Walks
Statistics from AndreaWalks.com website:
Staggering Statistics on Child Abuse In Tennessee
In 2003, 11,801 children were victims of some type of abuse.
2,229 of those children were victims of sexual abuse
and 1,529 were victims of physical abuse
9 children died as a result of physical abuse.
The Tennessee Department of Children’s Services offers a 24 hour hotline for reporting suspected child abuse: 1-877-237-0004
You may also report suspected child abuse to your local law enforcement officials.
AndreaWalks comes to East Tennessee in February through April 2005 To view the entire AndreaWalks schedule, click here
Posted by Nancy at 06:22 PM | Comments (0)
Child abuse still matters to many as progress is being made
January 23, 2005 [Grand Island Independant] By Mike Bockoven
Around six months ago, Dori Bush and other members of the Association for Child Abuse Prevention set up a Walk for Child Abuse Prevention aimed at raising funds for agencies working to protect children.
The response wasn't what they expected.
"We had just a bad response," said Bush, a longtime child advocate. "We had thought, with the Molina situation, we'd have a lot of walkers. We didn't."
Of course, one event isn't enough to discourage those interested in children's issues nor enough to paint an accurate picture of volunteerism in the community. However, it's not hard to look around the state and see that child abuse is still a big problem, and many are still not aware of the situation.
The Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services reported last week that the number of reported child abuse and neglect cases increased from 2,316 cases where evidence was found in 2002 to 2,423 in 2003. Numbers for 2004 were not yet available.
In addition, this week saw a man sentenced to between 50 and 60 years in prison for beating his 3-year-old stepdaughter to death in Omaha. It's a case that mirrors that of Diana N.