"Let our hearts break for the things that break God's heart and our service be in His NAME"
Kenneth
F. Joe Sr., is the Chief Administrator for the Georgia Department of
Family & Children Services (DFCS), former Director of Integrated
Family Support for the Georgia Department of Human Resources (DHR),
former DFCS Regional Director/Administrator of Fulton County (Atlanta),
the largest public Child Welfare System in Ga. and the former DFCS
Director of Richmond County (Augusta, second largest city in Ga). He
was the Executive Director and the Chief Operating Officer of Chicago
Child Care Society, the oldest Child Welfare agency in the state of
Illinois. He has worked in Child Welfare for 20 years.
I pledge my life to the protection of children now. I pledge to be a champion for the innocent always……….no matter where it takes me.
Kenneth F. Joe Sr.
Impact
of Child Sexual Abuse
It is estimated that there are 60 million
survivors of childhood sexual abuse in America today.
Source: Forward, 1993.
Approximately 31% of women in prison state that
they had been abused as children.
Source: United States Department of Justice, 1991.
Approximately 95% of teenage prostitutes have
been sexually abused.
Source: CCPCA, 1992.
It is estimated that children with disabilities
are 4 to 10 times more vulnerable to sexual abuse than their
non-disabled peers.
Source: National Resource Center on Child Sexual Abuse, 1992.
Long term effects of child abuse include fear,
anxiety, depression, anger, hostility, inappropriate sexual behavior,
poor self esteem, tendency toward substance abuse and difficulty with
close relationships.
Source: Browne & Finkelhor, 1986.
Clinical findings of adult victims of sexual
abuse include problems in interpersonal relationships associated with an
underlying mistrust. Generally, adult victims of incest have a
severely strained relationship with their parents that is marked by
feelings of mistrust, fear, ambivalence, hatred, and betrayal. These
feelings may extend to all family members.
Source: Tsai and Wagner, 1978.
Guilt is universally experienced by almost all
victims. Courtois and Watts described the "sexual guilt" as "guilt
derived from sexual pleasure"
Source: Tsai and Wagner, l978.
Sexuality is regarded not simply as a part of
the self limited to genitals, discrete behaviors, or biological aspects
of reproduction, but is more properly understood as one component of the
total personality that affects one's concept of personal identity and
self-esteem.
Source: Whitlock & Gillman, 1989.
Sexual victimization may profoundly interfere
with and alter the development of attitudes toward self, sexuality, and
trusting relationships during the critical early years of development.
Source: Tsai & Wagner, 1984.
If the child victim does not resolve the
trauma, sexuality may become an area of adult conflict.
Source: Courtois & Watts, 1982; Tsai & Wagner, 1984.
There is the clinical assumption that children
who feel compelled to keep sexual abuse a secret suffer greater psychic
distress than victims who disclose the secret and receive assistance and
support.
Source: Finkelhor & Browne, 1986.
Early identification of sexual abuse victims
appears to be crucial to the reduction of suffering of abused youth and
to the establishment of support systems for assistance in pursuing
appropriate psychological development and healthier adult functioning .
As long as disclosure continues to be a problem for young victims, then
fear, suffering, and psychological distress will, like the secret,
remain with the victim.
Sources: Bagley, 1992; Bagley, 1991; Finkelhor et al. 1990; Whitlock
& Gillman, 1989.
Adolescents with a history of sexual abuse are
significantly more
likely than their counterparts to engage in sexual behavior that puts
them at risk for HIV infection, according to Dr. Larry K. Brown and
associates, from Rhode Island Hospital, in Providence.
Adolescents with a history of
sexual abuse are significantly more likely than their counterparts to
engage in sexual behavior that puts them at risk for HIV infection,
according to Dr. Larry K. Brown and associates, from Rhode Island
Hospital, in Providence.
Inconsistent condom use was three times more likely among youths who had
been sexually abused than among the 55 who had not. A history of sexual
abuse was also significantly associated with less impulse control and
higher rates of sexually transmitted diseases.
According to Dr. Brown, "These results suggest two things. Abused kids
need adequate counseling around abuse issues. A lot of these kids keep
re-experiencing the anxiety and trauma for years." The second issue, he
said, is that "most therapy does not address current sexual behavior"
and the anxieties that sexually abused adolescents experience.
Source: Larry K. Brown, M.D., et al, American Journal of Psychiatry
2000;157:1413-1415.
Young girls who are forced to have sex are
three
times more likely to develop psychiatric disorders or abuse alcohol and
drugs
in adulthood, than girls who are not sexually abused.
Sexual abuse was also more strongly linked with substance abuse than
with
psychiatric disorders. It was also suggested that sexual abuse may lead
some
girls to become sexually active at an earlier age and seek out older
boyfriends
who might, in turn, introduce them to drugs.
Psychiatric disorders were from 2.6 to 3.3 times more common among women
whose CSA included intercourse, and the risk of substance abuse was
increased more than fourfold, according to the results.
Family factors -- parental education, parenting behavior, family
financial status, church attendance -- had little impact on the
prevalence of psychiatric or substance abuse disorders among these
women, the investigators observe. Similarly, parental psychopathology
did not predict the association between CSA and later psychopathology.
Source: Kenneth S. Kendler, M.D., et al, Medical
College of Virginia
Commonwealth University, Archives of General Psychiatry 2000;57:953-959.
Among both adolescent girls and
boys, a history of sexual or physical abuse appears to increase the risk
of disordered eating behaviors, such as self-induced vomiting or use of
laxatives to avoid gaining weight.
Among those at increased risk for disordered eating were respondents who
had experienced sexual or physical abuse and those who gave low ratings
to family communication, parental caring and parental expectations.
In light of these findings, the researchers conclude that "strong
familial relationships may decrease the risk for disordered eating among
youth reporting abuse experiences."
Source: Dr. Dianne Neumark-Sztainer, et al, University of
Minneapolis,
International Journal of Eating Disorders 2000;28:249-258.
Young girls who are sexually abused are more
likely to develop eating disorders as adolescents.
The findings also add to a growing body of research suggesting that
trauma in childhood increases the risk of developing an eating disorder.
Abused girls were more dissatisfied with their weight and more likely
to diet and purge their food by vomiting or using laxatives and
diuretics.
Abused girls were also more likely to restrict their eating when they
were bored or emotionally upset.
Wonderlich suggests that abused girls might experience higher levels of
emotional distress, possibly linked to their abuse, and have trouble
coping. Food restriction and perhaps other eating disorder behaviors
may (reflect) efforts to cope with such experiences.
The report also indicates that while girls who were abused were less
likely to exhibit perfectionist tendencies (such as making extreme
efforts to avoid disappointing others and a need to be 'the best'), they
tended to want thinner bodies than girls who had not been abused.
Source: Stephen A. Wonderlich, M.D., et al, University of North
Dakota School of Medicine and Health Sciences in Fargo, Journal of the
American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry 2000;391277-1283.