Preventing Child Sexual Abuse: Sharing the Responsibility (Child, Youth, and Family Services)

647 Pages·1993·1.57 MB·English

by  Sandy K. Wurtele

Preventing Child Sexual Abuse : Sharing
title: the Responsibility Child, Youth, and Family
Services
author: Wurtele, Sandy K.; Miller-Perrin, Cindy L.
publisher: University of Nebraska Press
isbn10 | asin: 0803297505
print isbn13: 9780803297500
ebook isbn13: 9780585003627
language: English
Child sexual abuse--United States, Child
subject
sexual abuse--United States--Prevention.
publication date: 1992
lcc: HQ72.U53W87 1992eb
ddc: 362.7/6
Child sexual abuse--United States, Child
subject:
sexual abuse--United States--Prevention.
Page ii
Child, Youth, and Family Services
General Editors
Gary B. Melton
University of NebraskaLincoln
Carolyn Stineman Schroeder
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Editorial Board
Jane Close Conoley
University of NebraskaLincoln
Felton Earls
Harvard University
James Gallagher
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Paul Lerman
Rutgers University
Eli Newberger
Harvard Medical School
Ross Parke
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
N. Dickon Reppucci
University of Virginia
Michael C. Roberts
University of Alabama
Page iii
Preventing Child Sexual Abuse
Sharing the Responsibility
Sandy K. Wurtele and
Cindy L. Miller-Perrin
University of Nebraska Press
Lincoln and London
Page iv
Copyright © 1992 by the University of Nebraska Press
All rights reserved Manufactured in the United States of America
First paperback printing: 1993 Most recent printing indicated by the
last digit below:
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Wurtele, Sandy K. (Sandy Kay), 1955
Preventing child sexual abuse:
sharing the responsibility/Sandy K. Wurtele and Cindy L. Miller-
Perrin.
P. cm.
Includes bibliographical references (p. ) and index.
0-8032-9750-5 (pa)
ISBN
0-8032-4753-2 (cl)
ISBN
1. Child molesting United States.
2. Child molesting Prevention United States.
I. Miller-Perrin, Cindy L. (Cindy Lou), 1962
II. Title.
72. 53 87 1992 362.7'6 20 92-3600
HQ U W DC
CIP
Second cloth printing: 1993
¥
Page v
Contents
List of Tables vi
Foreword vii
Preface xi
1 Understanding Child Sexual Abuse: Implications for 1
Prevention
2 Child-Focused Prevention Programs: A Partial 54
Solution
3 Parents as Partners in Prevention 91
4 The Roles and Responsibilities of Professionals 134
5 The Roles of Policymakers, Researchers, and the 179
General Public
Concluding Remarks 204
References 213
Author Index, 267
Subject Index, 280
Page vi
Tables
1 Large-Scale U.S. Prevalence Studies 9
2 Possible Risk and Protective Factors Associated With 48
Child Sexual Abuse
3 Reasons Endorsed by Parents for Not Discussing 94
Child Sexual Abuse
4 Behavioral, Emotional, and Physical Indicators of 105
Sexual Abuse According to Level of Development
5 Age-Appropriate Sexual Knowledge 110
6 Age-Appropriate Sexual Behavior 113
7 Examples of Appropriate and Inappropriate Parental 127
Responses to Disclosure
8 Operational Definition of Child Sexual Abuse 148
9 National Legislation on Mandatory Reporting of 162
Child Sexual Abuse
10 National Legislation Related to Child Sexual Abuse 167
Reporting
Page vii
Foreword
The Board urges each citizen to recognize that a serious emergency related to
the maltreatment of children exists within American society and to join with
all other citizens in resolving that its continued existence is intolerable.
(1990, 1)
U.S. ADVISORY BOARD ON CHILD ABUSE AND NEGLECT RECOMMENDATION
In its first report, the U.S. Advisory Board on Child Abuse and
Neglect ( , 1990), of which I am a member, surveyed the state of
ABCAN
child protection in the United States and declared it to be in a state of
emergency. rested its declaration on three broad findings. First,
ABCAN
the stunning magnitude of the problemnow more than 2.5 million
reports of suspected cases per year in the United Statesis sufficient in
itself to warrant a declaration of national emergency. More than
doubling in the 1980s, the number of reports has risen at a
breathtaking rate. Second, the child protection system has been unable
to cope with the increasing number and complexity of cases.
Regardless of the component of the system that is assessed, it is
"overwhelmed, it is on the verge of collapse, and if and when it does
[collapse], children will be even more seriously at risk than they are
now, thus causing countless additional American children to suffer
irreparable harm" ( , 1990, p.43, emphasis in the original). Third,
ABCAN
the costs resulting from the problem of child maltreatment are
enormous. Billions of dollars are being spent on a failing child
protection system, and probably billions more are being spent in an
attempt to respond to the consequences of child maltreatment.