Posted on January 27, 2009 by Debbie Ausburn

Children Abusing Children

The U.S. Supreme Court's ruled last week that  a student who has been sexually harassed can sue the school and individual administrators under 42 U.S.C. § 1983.  There has been plenty of legal analysis of the decision, so I decided to blog about the underlying problem of child-on-child abuse.

That particular case started when a kindergarten child told her parents that other children were coercing her into exposing herself on the school bus.  The parents were not satisfied with the school's response, and eventually sued.  This case is rare only in that it made it all the way to the Supreme Court.  Child-on-child abuse in youth organizations actually is more common than abuse by adults. The problem for supervisors is knowing how to respond.

 

In the Supreme Court case, the allegations, if true, clearly set out abuse.  But what about less intrusive behavior, such as a child touching himself or dropping his pants?  Is that normal behavior, or should the school start watching the child more closely?

Dr. Bill Friedrich did the earliest and best research about distinguishing between normal and problematic sexual behavior.  His studies set the foundation for most of what we know about the area, and are the best place to start, if you have the patience to read scientific literature.

The NYU Child Study Center has a much more accessible article that has a helpful list of what sort of behaviors are normal and which ones are red flags for abuse.  If you see any of the children or teenagers in your program exhibiting any problematic behaviors, then you need to address it.  You may not need to do more than talk to the child and his or her parents about your concerns.  More severe cases may warrant a report to the authorities of suspected child abuse.

Above all,  protect the other children in your program.  That goal may require only close supervision of a given child, or it may require you to expel him or her.   Never assume that "a good talking-to" has solved the problem.  Be just as vigilant about protecting your clients from each other as you are about protecting them from adults.
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Posted on January 26, 2009 by Debbie Ausburn

Preventing Child Abuse

Prevention Science today released the results of a survey, funded by the CDC, that studied the effects of parent support programs.  The researchers found that when parents have access to information and help dealing with common parenting problems, the incidence of maltreatment falls dramatically.

The CDC has more information about the study and related links here.

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Posted on December 7, 2008 by Debbie Ausburn

Spillover Effect from Domestic Violence

Scott Carroll and Mark Hoekstra have published the final report of their ground-breaking and controversial  study into how domestic violence affects, not only the children in the home, but those children's classmates.  The New York Times highlighted the working paper  this past summer, and it has reverberated ever since around the Internet and among social services professionals.

The study concluded that children from families filing domestic violence claims "significantly decrease their peers' reading and math test scores and significantly increase the misbehavior of others in the classroom."  Thus, "any intervention that reduces family conflict may well have larger positive effects than previously thought."

This study has profound implications not only for schools, but for public policy.  I generally dislike calls for public funding of this or that pet project, but child abuse prevention is one area that needs much more money, both public and private.  If the implications of domestic violence are as profound as this study indicates, then proven programs that reduce that violence are a wise, even necessary, investment.

Hat tip: Children and the Law Blog

 

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