Arkansas legislators to tackle the issue of child abuse

By Pat Hambrick

Friday, August 18, 2006 6:23 PM CDT

The Daily Citizen

(Part one of a two part series)

LITTLE ROCK — Victor Vieth, a nationally known expert on child abuse, addressed members of
the Arkansas Legislature, members of the Task Force on Abused and Neglected Children,
prosecutors, investigators, law enforcement, counselors, educators and other invited guests at
the State Capitol on Friday. He called child abuse an epidemic and said the nation is not devoting
enough financial resources to solving the problem.

“We are adrift in a sea of blood and it is time to stop it,” Vieth said. However, he did compliment
Arkansas, saying: “It is rare for legislators to reach out and ask how they can address child
abuse. Arkansas is taking a leadership role.”

Arkansas was one of the first states in the nation to overhaul its incest laws and to do away with
the “incest exception” when the legislature passed Act 1469 in 2003, which does not allow a
lesser charge to be brought for familial sexual abuse than for non-familial abuse. Senator Percy
Malone, D — Arkadelphia, introduced the bill and is co-chair with Senator Sue Madison, D —

Fayetteville, of the task force.

Arkansas could make history again by being one of the first states to pass a “Children’s Rights”
law, which the senators hope to introduce in January 2007, Malone told the task force on Friday.
He said the legislation will be drafted based on information they are hearing from child abuse
experts such as Vieth.

“What if Arkansas became the first state to say that a child has a right not to be yelled at in court?
What if Arkansas became the first state to pass a Children’s Bill of Rights?” Vieth asked.

He said children have a right to understand the question they are being asked, and questions
should be appropriate to the child’s age and level of understanding. They should be comfortable
in the courtroom, be able to see over the box when they are testifying, and their feet should touch
the floor. In evaluating the impact of the abuse on the victim, children should be allowed to draw
how they feel rather than trying to put those feelings into words, Vieth believes, and some states
allow the children to have stuffed animals or therapy pets with them in the courtroom.

The rate of child abuse is ten times the rate of cancer, but Americans only invest a nickel for
every $100 of societal costs associated with child abuse while investing $2 for every $100 of
societal costs associated with cancer, Vieth said. It is estimated that there are 1.1 million
runaway/throwaway kids in the United States, many of whom ran away because of abuse, and
that 70 percent of those in youth shelters are victims of child abuse.

Child abuse victims, including those whose abuse was not reported, are often seen later in our
court system as delinquents, runaways, and prostitutes. Vieth said the nation spends
approximately $94 billion a year dealing with the aftermath of child abuse.
Vieth said that the first step in ending child abuse is to see that suspected child abuse is reported.
In 2000, a study showed that suspected child abuse was only reported 65 percent of the time by
social workers. Physicians reported only 53 percent and physician’s assistants reported 58
percent of suspected child abuse. A 2001 study said that teachers report only 26 percent of
suspected familial abuse - and 11 percent if the suspected abuser was another teacher.
Mandated reporters should get annual training about reporting requirements and signs of
potential abuse, Vieth said.

Even when abuse is reported, most children’s cases are never investigated. In 1999, there were
more than 3.2 million reported cases of abuse or neglect; only 28 to 33 percent of those were
ever investigated.

“Abused children must be reported into the system, and the report must be of high quality,” Vieth
said.

When they are investigated, the investigators and other responders are often poorly trained in
dealing with abuse cases. By the time an investigator substantiates abuse and gets the victim into
the system, they are often older and it is more difficult to address the hardships caused by the
abuse. However, among women who were sexually abused as children, more than 50 percent
report they were abused before the age of five. The younger the child, the lower the number of
substantiated abuse cases referred to the prosecutors and courts. Vieth said physical findings are
rare in young children and they have no words to discuss the abuse. Investigators aren’t trained
in interviewing the children; prosecutors are often not trained at handling these cases and don’t
prosecute.

Vieth, a former prosecutor himself, said that prosecution is an essential part of prevention. One
study showed that 561 non-incarcerated sex offenders accounted for the sexual abuse of
195,000 victims.

In 1985, the National District Attorneys Association received $1.5 million to create the National
Center for Prosecution of Child Abuse (NCPCA), which provides training, technical assistance
and publications to investigators and prosecutors. NCPCA travels to states across the nation to
provide training for child protection professionals. Training programs such as Half a Nation and
Finding Words are also available to child protection service workers and law enforcement. Vieth
estimates that by the end of decade approximately one million kids will have been interviewed by
trained interviewers.

A trained, multidisciplinary team should interview a child, and the child should only have to tell
their story once. Law enforcement officers, prosecutors, social workers and others dealing with
abused children should no longer have to get on-the-job training, Vieth said.

“Someday, somewhere, somebody will write the history of our nation’s victory over child
abuse...child abuse will end,” Vieth said.

Part two of this series: The community’s role in ending child abuse.

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