The Professionalization of Police in Child Sexual Abuse Cases

No abstract available for this article.     

Evaluating Allegations of Child Sexual Abuse Within Complex Child Custody Cases

SUMMARY

This article provides a framework for identifying and assembling the interdependent elements of a child custody evaluation with allegations of child sexual abuse. The identification of several myths regarding child sexual abuse (CSA) introduces the subject matter of this article. A forensic evaluation model (Heilbrun, 2001) is then used to organize the custody evaluator's tasks into the following sequential classifications: (a) preparation; (b) data collection; (c) data interpretation; and (d) communication of results. Through this model, the entwined tasks of evaluating the child's needs and the parents' capacities to meet the child's needs, while simultaneously examining the question of child sexual abuse, are addressed.     

Child Abuse Investigations: Reasons for using Child Advocacy Centers and Suggestions for Improvement

Child protective service (CPS) and child abuse law enforcement (LE) investigators have been required by the majority of states to work together when investigating criminal cases of child abuse. Child Advocacy Centers (CACs) and other^. multidisciplinary models of collaboration have developed across the United States to meet these requirements. This study surveyed 290 CPS and LE investigators who use a CAC in their investigations of criminal cases of child abuse. Reasons given for using, centers, include legal or administrative mandate and protocol, child appropriate environment, support, referrals, capacity for medical exams, expertise of center interviewers and access to video and audio technology. Respondents also identified ways that centers could be more helpful.     

Professionals’ Attitude Toward Reporting Child Sexual Abuse in Saudi Arabia

Child sexual abuse (CSA) requires specialized knowledge and training that includes forensic interview skills. The aim of this study was to determine variations in professionals’ attitudes toward CSA by measuring three aspects of forensic attitudes (sensitivity, specificity, and skepticism) and evaluating disagreements concerning the assessment of CSA cases in Saudi Arabia. A cross-sectional, web-based study, in which the Child Forensic Attitude Scale was used to measure professionals’ attitudes, was conducted. Professionals who dealt with suspected cases of CSA as part of their jobs or were in professions that necessitated involvement with such cases, were selected as participants. Of 327 participants, 53% were aged ≤40 years, and 54% were men. In addition, 24% were doctors/nurses, 20% were therapists/psychiatrists, 24% were social workers, 17% were educators, 9% were law enforcement professionals, and 5% were medical examiners. Attitude subscale scores differed significantly according to participants’ sex, specialty, and training. Women, healthcare professionals, and those who had participated in more than five training courses were more concerned about the underreporting of abuse (high sensitivity) relative to other professionals. In comparison, men, medical examiners, law enforcement officers, and undertrained professionals tended to underreport suspected sexual abuse cases (high specificity). High specificity in attitudes toward suspected cases of CSA could affect professionals’ judgment and contribute to low reporting rates. Certain strategies, including increasing self-awareness of personal bias, specific CSA recognition courses, and team approaches to case assessment and management, should be implemented to control the influence of subjective factors.     

Incorporating the Principles of Scientifically Based Child Interviews into Family Law Cases

Abstract

In recent years, scientific work has been directed toward the evaluation of suspected sexually abused children. While in many ways this remains a controversial area, sound evidence has emerged regarding how children should be interviewed in order to enhance their ability to report their experience and as to avoid contamination of their memory. In this article, the authors take the position that the science is now sufficiently evolved so that such interviewing techniques can be applied to interviewing children in child custody evaluations.     

The Secret of Intrafamilial Child Sexual Abuse: Who Keeps It and How?

This article analyzes how women survivors of intrafamilial child sexual abuse perceive the family members who took part in keeping it secret and their tactics for doing so. Analysis of 20 in-depth interviews with Jewish Israeli women revealed unique ways of guarding the secret. These were attributed to the perpetrator, the mother and the family. Secret-keeping tactics included presenting a normative public identity or an unstable psychological identity, presenting multiple personas, reframing the abuse, concealing any trace of the secret after it was disclosed, as if the abuse had never happened, and making a monument of the abuser. These tactics are discussed in the context of silencing, the interpersonal relations orientation model, and the wider concepts of secrecy in society. Implications for professional practice and for society are considered, and new attitudes toward intrafamilial child sexual abuse secrecy are suggested.     

The National Elder Mistreatment Study: Race and Ethnicity Findings

The prevalence of elder mistreatment with respect to race and ethnicity was examined in an unweighted sample of 5,777 participants (5,776 participants in weighted sample). Random Digit Dialing methodology was used to select a representative sample of community-dwelling older adults, and the survey was available in English and Spanish. Mistreatment types included emotional, physical, and sexual abuse. Race- and ethnicity-based differences were largely absent, and the only observed increase was for physical mistreatment among non-White older adults; however, this association was not sustained in multivariate analyses controlling for income, health status, and social support. Findings are in contrast to prior reports of increased risk of mistreatment in minority populations and point to correlated and modifiable factors of social support and poor health as targets for preventive intervention.     

Dimensions of Transvestism and Transsexualism

A 55 item questionnaire was developed to assess cross-genderism in adult males. The subjects were a nonclinical sample of 518 self-described heterosexual transvestites, 78 marginal transvestites ("borderline transsexuals"), and 86 transsexuals living full-time as women. Using factor analyses, several hypotheses were tested concerning the factorial structure of cross-genderism. The best solution was a model wherein cross-genderism was seen as consisting of four correlated but independent factors: Cross-gender Identity, Cross-gender Feminization, Cross-gender Social/Sexual Role, and Cross-gender Sexual Arousal. Procedurally, 692 subjects were randomly divided into validation and cross-validation samples of equal size. A series of exploratory analyses and item selection processes was followed by a replication using the cross-validation sample; the replication results were nearly identical. Scale reliabilities were satisfactory as were three tests of goodness-of-fit for the four factor solution. Partial validation evidence was based on analyses of variance showing that each of the four factor means scores differs significantly across three self-reported levels of cross-genderism (transvestites, marginal transvestites, and transsexuals).     

Sexual Abuse in the Preschool Years: Blending Ideas from Object Relations Theory,Ego Psychology,and Biology

This paper uses concepts from relational psychodynamic theories and findings from neurobiology to conceptualize a young child’s experience of sexual abuse. Selected developmental tasks are discussed using an integrated theoretical framework. Literature which highlights the importance of the child’s environment is reviewed. A case of a sexually abused 5-year-old girl demonstrates consequences of sexual abuse using ideas from psychodynamic theories and neurobiology. It is recommended that social work practitioners expand on the biology domain when conducting a bio-psycho-social assessment. Social work students may benefit from additional content on biology in social work curricula.     

Harm by Her Own Hand

Abstract

Recent research regarding violence among juveniles has left important questions unanswered. One question involves the effect of gender. This paper reports the results of a study examining gender differences in violent behavior. The records of 136 juveniles (m = 71; f = 65) were reviewed to test the hypothesis that sexual abuse, low levels of family support, and low levels of support from friends would predict self-directed violence more effectively among females than among males. Logistic regression models correctly classified 71% of the girls and 76.06% of the boys. The model for girls identified 79.49% (9.59% improvement) of the non-mutilators and 57.69% (16.62% improvement) of the mutilators. The model for boys predicted non-mutilation with 100% accuracy (25% improvement), but did not correctly classify any mutilators (23.61% decrease in predictive capacity). The study supported the hypothesis and has important implications for social work practice.