Child Maltreatment Identification
Part 2: Sexual Abuse and Exploitation
TRAINEE’S GUIDE
Table of Contents
Segment / PageBackground 3
Personal Difficulties in Dealing with Sexuality and Victimization 5
What is Child Sexual Abuse and Sexual Exploitation? 9
California Welfare and Institutions Code Sections 300 D and J 11
California Penal Code Sections 11164-11165 13
Informed Consent 17
Prevalence of Child Sexual Abuse 19
When Consensual Sexual Intercourse is Deemed Child Abuse in California 23
Reference Chart: When Consensual Sexual Intercourse is/isn’t Reportable 27
When Does CWS Intervene? A Flow Chart for Cases of Child Sexual Abuse 31
Children’s Sexuality: Natural / Healthy vs. Problematic Behaviors 33
Behaviors Related to Sex and Sexuality in Preschool Children 37
Behaviors Related to Sex and Sexuality in Kindergarten through 4th Grade Children 39
Adolescent Sexual Experience Quiz 43
Statistics on Teen Sexuality 45
Child-Rearing Standards and Child Sexual Abuse in a Cultural Context 49
CSA Referrals vs. All Referrals in California (2007) by Ethnicity 55
Specific Issues and Cultural Groups 57
Indicators of Sexual Abuse: Elements Used to Identify Child Sexual Abuse and Exploitation 59
Sgroi’s Five Stages of Child Sexual Abuse 73
Summit’s Child Sexual Abuse Accommodation Syndrome 75
Child Disclosures, Reluctance to Disclose 77
The Non-Offending Parent/Caregiver 79
Myths and Research about Sexual Offenders 83
Adolescents with Illegal Sexual Behavior 87
Finkelhor’s Four Pre-Conditions to Child Sexual Abuse 89
Special Issues for Information Gathering in Child Abuse and Exploitation Assessments 91
Information Gathering: Child Victims 95
Information Gathering: Non-Offending Parent/Caregiver and Siblings 97
Information Gathering: Alleged Perpetrator 99
Validation of Allegations of Child Sexual Abuse/Exploitation 101
Impact of Sexual Abuse 103
Treatment Issues 107
SPECIAL ACKNOWLEDGMENTS: This curriculum was a joint project between CalSWEC and the Academy for Professional Excellence at San Diego State University. Donna Pence at SDSU formulated much of the material, but much of it was also based on an earlier CalSWEC curriculum by Miriam Wolf: Child Sexual Abuse (2002). This curriculum was updated and revised in August 2008 by Charmaine Brittain at the Butler Institute for Families, University of Denver.
Background
This trainee content contains icons indicating content related to California’s themes of practice:
Fairness & EquityFamily & Youth Engagement
Strength-based Practice
Outcomes-informed Practice
Evidence-based Practice
These themes are interwoven throughout the Common Core Curricula in California. Trainees are encouraged to pay special attention to the themes and make efforts to incorporate the concepts in their daily practice.
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Common Core | Child Maltreatment Identification, Part 2 | Trainee's Guide Version 1.2, August 2009
Personal Difficulties in Dealing with Sexuality and Victimization
Emotional reactions to child sexual abuse are normal and to be expected. However, it is important to recognize our emotional reactions to prevent them from impairing our professional judgment or performance of our duties as child welfare workers. Despite education and training, which specifies how to perform our professional roles, it is normal for each of us to have personal reactions to our work. Child sexual abuse probably arouses more personal reactions than many of the problems we encounter. Although these may become less intense over time, they do not disappear. Initially, the enormity of sexual abuse is likely to engender one of two opposing responses—disbelief or belief accompanied by an intense desire for retribution.
Gender
The gender of the professional is likely to influence reactions to cases of child sexual abuse. Both male and female professionals have empathy for victims. However, it is possible that gender identification causes each to be more sensitive when the victim is of his or her own gender. Professional reactions to sexual abuse may differ by gender because men and women experience living in society differently.
Life Experiences
Many life experiences can intrude upon professional practice, and working in sexual abuse can intrude upon a professional’s personal life. Three personal issues that seem particularly salient are: having been sexually victimized, being a parent, and sexuality.
Sexual Victimization
A professional who has been sexually abused her/himself or who is part of a family in which there has been sexual abuse must cope with this personal issue in addition to the common stresses of working with sexual abuse survivors. Persons who have sexual victimization in their background bring special sensitivity and experience that can be of great value in their work. Nevertheless, professionals who have personal experiences of sexual abuse need to have addressed these in therapy, be especially aware of countertransference issues, and be alert to the importance of protecting their own mental health.
Warning signs that the professional’s own victimization is impeding performance can include:
□ Feeling so overwhelmed by fear, anxiety, disgust, or anger that the victimization interferes with sound decision making or intervention, or evokes the strong desire for retribution;
□ Experiencing intrusive thoughts or having flashbacks at work;
□ Recalling previously repressed memories of victimization when involved in cases of sexual abuse;
□ Displaying overly punitive responses to the non-offending parent or offender; and/or
□ Minimizing or not seeing the safety issues involved in a case, or the severity of the effects on a child.
Being a Parent
The experience of parenthood can affect one’s reaction to a case of sexual abuse, and working with sexual abuse can influence parenting. Parenthood can make the professional more appreciative of the risks as well as more appalled at the transgressions of the parenting role. Parents are confronted with many situations in which the child’s behavior (e.g., wanting to sleep in bed between the parents) and parenting responsibilities (the need to assist the child in bathing, toileting, and understanding the differences between male and female anatomy) can present risks for sexual activity.
Sometimes, professionals who are parents are less willing to label client behaviors as sexually inappropriate because of their over-identification with the client as a parent. For example, a professional who is a father may minimize genital contact between an alleged offender father and his daughter, accepting the explanation that the daughter was being helped to learn about “wiping herself.”
Conversely, certain biological drives and normative proscriptions inhibit sexual activity with children for parents. Because of these personal experiences, parents may be more censorious than non-parents when these boundaries are crossed. Individual families will have differing norms for what are acceptable personal boundaries or privacy, male and female roles in parenting behaviors, and acceptable discussions around perceived or real sexual matters.
In terms of work influencing parenting, a common effect of professional involvement with sexual abuse cases is for the parent to become quite concerned about the risk of his/her own children being sexually abused or exploited. Parents may be hypervigilant to behavioral or physical indicators exhibited by their own children, such as urinary tract infections, masturbation, enuresis, and sleep disturbances.
Comfort and History with Sexuality
Being familiar and comfortable with all aspects of sexuality is essential in working in the field of child sexual abuse. For the professional, this means being able to talk freely about all types of sexual issues.
Professional involvement with cases of sexual abuse very frequently has an impact on personal sexuality.
Coping with Personal Issues
The best way to prevent personal reactions from undermining the quality of professional work is to be aware of their existence. Once these reactions are identified, several methods can be used to help to mitigate them, including:
□ Self-talk, in which the professional reminds him/herself of personal biases and reactions.
□ Talking about, acknowledging, and processing personal reactions and feelings about cases with a supervisor, mentor, or trusted colleague. (Note: Remember that all case information is confidential; child welfare workers need to request time with someone within the agency, such as your supervisor, to discuss any detailed information.)
□ Using established guidelines and research to guide decision making.
□ When possible, using collaborative decision-making with colleagues involved in the case.
□ When the above suggestions are not sufficient, talking about, acknowledging and processing personal reactions and feelings about cases with a counselor or therapist.
Avoiding Burnout
There is no denying that work in the field of sexual abuse is extremely stressful and may lead to burnout. There are several characteristics of cases that make the work potentially debilitating.
□ First, the acts themselves are terrible and terribly harmful. Sexual abuse violates fundamental social norms, and the lives of some victims dramatically attest to its devastating effects.
□ Second, cases are fraught with uncertainty. In many cases, it is not possible to determine whether abuse occurred. Likewise it is difficult to determine the risk of future sexual abuse.
□ Third, often as professionals, the normal course of an investigation will cause distress to the child and/or other family members, and/or the family unit.
□ Fourth, we are often unsuccessful. Victims are not adequately protected, and offenders may not be prosecuted or otherwise held accountable for their actions.
The best preventative measure and remedy for burnout is collaborative work. Teamwork during an investigation allows child welfare workers an opportunity of shared decision making and for processing any case-related distress.
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What is Child Sexual Abuse and Sexual Exploitation?
Defining Child Sexual Abuse
Child Sexual Abuse (CSA) is a general term that refers to sexual activity with children that is nonconsensual, produces sexual arousal or gratification, or involves sexual exploitation. These behaviors can include both physical and non-physical contact (as in voyeurism, showing pornography, making child pornography, etc.).
The National Center on Child Abuse and Neglect defines child sexual abuse as:
Contacts or interactions between a child and an adult in which the child is used for sexual stimulation of the perpetrator or another person. Sexual abuse may also be committed by a person under the age of 18 when that person is either significantly older than the victim or is in a position of power or control over another child.[1]
Child sexual abuse always involves a lack of consent and a power differential because of one or more of the following:
· age difference (chronological or developmental);
· bribery, manipulation, coercion, threat, force, or use of a weapon;
· nature of the relationship contains implied authority or control; and
· relationship of developmental age to sexual behavior.
In some instances, the victim does not view the activity as abusive or non-consensual and may even find it physically pleasurable; this does not mean that it should be construed as non-abuse.
Types of Sexual Abuse (adapted from Rycus & Hughes, 1998)
Types of sexual abuse include:
· child sexual exploitation (survival sex, pornography, etc.);
· intrafamilial sexual abuse (incest);
· extrafamilial sexual abuse (molestation);
· child sexual abuse by strangers;
· exposure to developmentally inappropriate and/or sexually stimulating activities and materials;
· child rape/sexual assault; and
· unlawful sexual intercourse.
Generally, child welfare workers become involved in intrafamilial cases. However, per the definition above, CWS may also become involved when the parent does not intervene to protect or prevent abuse. Examples of such cases include:
· allowing a child to be involved in pornography;
· knowingly allowing a 15-year-old to have a sexual relationship with a 25-year-old; or
· when the family can benefit from CWS services.
California Welfare and Institutions Code Sections 300 D and J
From http://www.leginfo.ca.gov
The California Welfare and Institutions Code (W&I Code)
Section 300 of the California W&I Code defines when the Child Protective Services agency may intervene in cases of child abuse or neglect. It forms the basis for petitions in Juvenile Court, and determines when a child may be considered a dependent of the court. Child welfare workers must have a working knowledge of the W&I Code in order to know when they can legally intervene with a family.
In some instances, the W & I Code refers to the Penal Code. For example, section 300(d) of the W & I Code refers to section 11165.1 of the Penal Code to define the term, “sexual abuse.” The text of the sections related to child welfare practice follow; the full text of the codes can be found at http://www.leginfo.ca.gov.
Sections 300 (d) & (j) of the W&I Code
300. Any child who comes within any of the following descriptions is within the jurisdiction of the Juvenile Court which may adjudge that person to be a dependent child of the court:
Note: Areas of Section 300 unrelated to sexual abuse are not listed here, but can be found in Child Maltreatment Identification, Part I.
(d) The child has been sexually abused, or there is a substantial risk that the child will be sexually abused, as defined in Section 11165.1 of the Penal Code, by his or her parent or guardian or a member of his or her household, or the parent or guardian has failed to adequately protect the child from sexual abuse when the parent or guardian knew or reasonably should have known that the child was in danger of sexual abuse.
(j) The child's sibling has been abused or neglected, as defined in subdivision (a), (b), (d), (e), or (i), and there is a substantial risk that the child will be abused or neglected, as defined in those subdivisions. The court shall consider the circumstances surrounding the abuse or neglect of the sibling, the age and gender of each child, the nature of the abuse or neglect of the sibling, the mental condition of the parent or guardian, and any other factors the court considers probative in determining whether there is a substantial risk to the child.
It is the intent of the Legislature that nothing in this section disrupt the family unnecessarily or intrude inappropriately into family life, prohibit the use of reasonable methods of parental discipline, or prescribe a particular method of parenting. Further,
nothing in this section is intended to limit the offering of voluntary services to those families in need of assistance but who do not come within the descriptions of this section. To the extent that savings accrue to the state from Child Welfare Services funding obtained as a result of the enactment of the act that enacted this section, those savings shall be used to promote services which support family maintenance and family reunification plans, such as client transportation, out-of-home respite care, parenting training, and the provision of temporary or emergency in-home caregivers and persons teaching and demonstrating homemaking skills. The Legislature further declares that a physical disability, such as blindness or deafness, is no bar to the raising of happy and well-adjusted children and that a court's determination pursuant to this section shall center upon whether a parent's disability prevents him or her from exercising care and control.