Experts Ponder Child Abuse Policy
Newsday - November 14, 1985
For a judge trying a child abuse
case, the issue is clear. "My bottom line is the one little girl
sitting on the witness stand crying," Family Court Judge Jeffrey H.
Gallet said yesterday ata conference at Long Island Jewish Medical Center. "I have to decide whether to send her home, and I want to know as much as possible about that case."
But for a minister who may have heard the whole story from someone
who abused a child, there is another issue to weigh - a congregant's
legal right to confidentiality.
"People come
to us for help and expect what they say to be held confidential," said
Rev. Kevin Sullivan, of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of New York.
"It's right that that expectation exists, and we should do everything in
our power to support it."
Sometimes the interests of the courts clash with the right to privacy, a central issue in a growing nationwide debate on clergy
confidentiality. A year ago, a Florida clergyman was the first minister
in the country jailed for refusing to divulge details of his
conversation with a parishioner accused of child abuse. And as public awareness about child abuse continues to grow, clergy
say they have to walk a fine line between protecting the rights of
abusers who confide to ministers and protecting the rights of the
children harmed.
One solution, members of the clergy
said yesterday, is to actively encourage abusers to seek professional
help. "Faith must be fleshed out and become action," said Rev. Robert
Ross Johnson, pastor and founder of St. Albans Congregational Church,
and one of 30 people attending the conference. "Prayer must be
accompanied by actions."
He recalled an
incident in which a teacher came to him and told him of a preschool
student who was displaying behavior indicative of sexual molestation victims.
"What should I do? Well, I didn't just pray about it," Johnson
said. "I picked up the phone and got help," both for the child and her
stepfather, who had been molesting her.
Despite such success stories, sometimes health care professionals, who are legally required to report abuse, may not understand why the clergy
doesn't follow the same procedures. "About a year and a half ago, two
abused children were admitted to the hospital, and in each case the
mother had gone first to the clergy,"
said Dr. Bruce Bogard, director of the Child Protection Team at LIJ.
"They didn't report the cases. Both those kids got abused again and
ended up in the hospital."
But clergy members contend there is no clear solution to balancing both concerns.
"I don't think you can give a definitive answer," said Rabbi
Herschel Billet, of Woodmere. "There are any number of possibilities,
depending on a situation."
