Youth Groups Fear Specter of Sexual Abuse

Youth Groups Fear Specter of Sexual Abuse

By Barbara Baird

Los Angeles Times - September 28, 1988

Shirley Rudolph relishes her unofficial title as the Lawndale Little League's mother-in-residence.

Often a crestfallen youngster will crawl up on her lap for consolation after a difficult game, or an exuberant teen-ager will throw his arms around her to help celebrate a big win.

Rudolph, a Lawndale recreation commissioner, and her husband, Lawndale Councilman Larry Rudolph, have been Little League volunteers since 1969, when the first of their three sons joined. Now, to their delight, they have a 6-year-old grandson in the league.

Rudolph enjoys her maternal role and prides herself in the open communication she maintains with boys and girls in the league.

But in recent years, Rudolph said, she has become more cautious about giving youngsters a reassuring hug or a peck on the cheek.

Because of the McMartin Preschool child molestation case, now in its second year of trial, South Bay parents are well aware of the specter of child sexual abuse, Rudolph said.

Little League Manager Accused

Their fears were reinforced, she said, when a Lawndale Little League team manager was accused in July of molesting four players by pulling down their pants and spanking them on repeated occasions. William Anthony Boguille, 23, pleaded no contest to two misdemeanor charges of sexual battery. None of the incidents were so egregious or sustained as to warrant the original felony charges, the prosecutor said. A first-time offender, Boguille was sentenced to perform community service, serve three years' probation and undergo psychological counseling. The terms of his probation prohibit him from coaching youth sports or contacting children under 15 without another adult present.

In the aftermath of this case, Rudolph said, "My No. 1 priority is the safety of the players. I am going to do everything in my power to ensure the safety of the kids."

The Lawndale Parks, Recreation and Social Services Commission on Tuesday will discuss whether the city should establish a policy requiring groups like the Little League that use city parks to screen volunteers, she said. The Little League board will also be seeking ways to weed out potential molesters as it prepares for January sign-ups.

Although Rudolph applauds current vigilance against child sexual abuse, she said that sometimes innocent expressions of affection can fall under suspicion.

"I am one of the people most involved with the kids in the league," said Rudolph, who recently was elected league president. "Even though I have my own kids, and people have known me for years, I can't completely be myself with the kids. I don't know whether to give them a hug or a kiss on the cheek. Sometimes I just freeze."

Rudolph's discomfiture reflects the uncertainty local youth organizations are confronting as they try to eliminate potential molesters from such All-American organizations as the Little League, Scouts and the YMCA.

Lawndale Little League officials said that although this is the first case of its kind in the organization's 31-year history, the arrest and sentencing of Boguille prompted a redoubling of efforts to detect potential molesters.

"We screen applicants closely," said Jim Watson, last year's league president. "It's not like we take anybody off the street."

He said that the league contacted Boguille's references and they checked out "A-OK. . . . There was nothing in his background to indicate there would be a problem." Officials from the Sheriff's Department confirmed that Boguille had no prior police record.

The Lawndale case illustrates one of the most intractable problems youth organizations face in identifying potential molesters: for a number of reasons, including the reluctance of young victims to report abuse, many child molesters and victims do not come to the attention of police or child protection agencies, authorities said.

"Unfortunately, most pedophiles do not have a prior record, so there is no way of detecting and identifying these people until the police become involved after the fact," said Detective Gary Lyon, a nine-year veteran of the Los Angeles Police Department's Sexually Exploited Child Unit.

Molesters go undetected because children often are afraid to report molestation, believing that "somehow it's their fault. . . . They feel guilty and they just don't talk about it," Lyon said.

Lyon's conclusions are supported by an authoritative nationwide poll on child sexual abuse conducted by the Los Angeles Times in 1985. (See related story, this page.)

"Unfortunately," said Dr. Roland Summit, a Harbor-UCLA Medical Center psychiatrist and sexual abuse expert, "most of those identified (accused) as molesters are never booked; most of those who are booked are dismissed without charges. And any charges are often negotiated down so that they are not recognizable as a sexual crime. The effective child molester will be active all his life without attracting accusations. Only the inept losers get caught."

According to an FBI study published by the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children in Washington, pedophiles seek out youth organizations as a place to meet children.

"Pedophiles are frequently `nice guys' in the neighborhood who like to entertain the children after school or take them on day or weekend trips," said the FBI's Kenneth V. Lanning in his report, "Child Molesters: A Behavioral Analysis." Pedophiles often take jobs dealing with children and "may often become a Scout leader, Big Brother, foster parent (or) Little League coach," he said in his 58-page report.

"Some pedophiles can watch a group of children for a brief period of time and then select a potential target," Lanning said. "More often than not, the selected child turns out to be from a broken home or the victim of emotional or physical neglect. This skill is developed through practice and experience."

Only the most disturbed or desperate molesters target children who are strangers, said Deputy Dist. Atty. Ken Freeman, who specialized for six years in prosecuting child sexual abuse cases.

More typically, he said, molesters present a likable appearance that wins the confidence of the child and parents alike.

Detective Lyon said child molesters are often "the people you'd be least likely to suspect.

`A Very Nice Person'

"Every pedophile I have come across is `a very nice person.' These individuals are good citizens, all except for their problem with kids. Their stock in trade is being a nice guy. They have to endear themselves to children, and more importantly to parents of the children, so parents will entrust their children to them," said Lyon.

Rather than forcing their attentions on a child, molesters often engage in a "seduction" period during which they befriend youngsters and shower them with attention and gifts, according to the FBI report. "If you understand the courtship process, it should not be difficult to understand why some child victims develop positive feelings for the offender," Lanning said in the report.

Dan Sexton, director of a national child abuse hot line sponsored by the nonprofit Childhelp USA, which operates a residential center in Beaumont for sexually abused children, said molesters often do not believe they are hurting children.

"Pedophiles do not go out looking to hurt kids, they go out to make friends," he said. They frequently target children of a specific sex and age range, he said.

Research shows that most child molesters were sexually abused as children, Lanning said in the FBI report. Other hints that someone could be a pedophile are premature separation from the military, frequent and unexpected moves, being over 25 and never married, living alone or with parents, a lack of peer and dating relationships and an excessive interest in children, the report said.

One of the most reliable indicators that a person is a molester, according to the FBI, is possession of a collection of child pornography or erotica.

"Child pornography . . . is the single most valuable piece of evidence of sexual abuse that any investigator can have," the report said. "The effects on a jury of viewing seized child pornography is devastating to the defendant's case."

While a combination of traits might make investigators suspicious, by no means does that prove a person is a molester, law enforcement officials say. There is no test or method that is 100% reliable in detecting molesters, they say, cautioning that youth organizations might have a false sense of security from testing or screening applicants.

Screening Methods Vary

Approaches among local youth organizations range from minimal screening to an intensive three-month selection process devised by Big Brothers of Greater Los Angeles. A spot sampling showed the following approaches:

"We don't screen anybody as such," said Dominic Iapello of the Long Beach Council, Boy Scouts of America. The organization is concerned that fingerprinting and criminal checks represent an invasion of the applicant's privacy, he said.

About 90% of the Boy Scouts' adult volunteers are parents of boys in the program, he said. The group does, however, check with the national organization to detect possible problems of a newcomer to the area.

The American Youth Soccer Organization screens volunteers informally at the local level, according to Tim Thompson, national executive director of Hawthorne-based organization.

Officials would become concerned "if a coach becomes overly social with the children," seeking social contact outside the games and practices, he said. "Ninety-nine out of 100 volunteers after the game are going to want to go home and turn on a Lakers game," Thompson said.

Soccer officials want to avoid jumping to conclusions because child molestation charges are so damaging, he said. A false accusation by a distraught child could ruin a person's reputation, he said.

Because the Hawthorne YMCA offers day-care programs, which must be licensed by the state Department of Social Services, the Y must submit fingerprints of all employees and volunteers for a criminal records check by the state Department of Justice.

In addition, said executive director Quin Gustason, the Y relies on "a lot of networking and closeness" among workers to detect signs of possible abuse.

Unlike other youth organizations, in which adults and children interact for the most part in public places under the scrutiny of other adults and children, Big Brothers of Greater Los Angeles specializes in developing personal, mostly private relationships between boys from single-parent families and men who are to serve as positive male role models.

With at least five Los Angeles-area Big Brothers convicted of molestation-related charges since 1982, the organization has developed a three-month intensive screening process that has won the admiration of law enforcement officials.

"They may screen people out who would be OK, but it's better to err on the side of caution," said Deputy Dist. Atty. Freeman

Nancy Dufford, spokeswoman for Big Brothers of Greater Los Angeles, said: "We are pretty confident that our interview techniques and process can weed out a person who might not be appropriate for any reason," including possible intent to molest.

The screening process includes fingerprinting and a check of state and federal criminal records, plus a check of military discharge records and references-including the applicant's employer and wife or girlfriend, Dufford said.

Applicants then undergo a three- to four-hour intensive interview covering their family background, social habits and sexual history, she said. Interviewers are looking for "a series of things that don't fit," such as a person who has failed to develop adult relationships or spends most of his time with children, she said.

If there are any doubts about the applicant, he must undergo further scrutiny, Dufford said. Only about 10% of applicants are accepted.

The Big Brothers program also approaches the problem from the youngsters' perspective, teaching boys how to identify and report molestation. "We want the kids to be knowledgeable about `good touch' versus `bad touch,' " Dufford said, using phrases coined to help children distinguish an affectionate touch from molestation.

Advice for Parents

A primary responsibility for preventing abuse rests with parents, said Childhelp's Sexton, who conducts clinical training in sex abuse prevention nationwide. Parents should "not be paranoid, just more careful," he said, advising parents to regularly set aside time when children know they can discuss their problems and feelings.

Children who may not be able to tell their parents they have been abused provide behavioral clues, such as sleeplessness, loss of appetite, acting up, doing poorly in school or suddenly not wanting to be around a certain person, he said.

Authorities cautioned against going to extremes in response to the problem of child sexual abuse. There are dangers both in denying that the problem exists and, at the other extreme, of overreacting to harmless demonstrations of affection, they said.

Child sexual abuse is such an unthinkable crime that some adults may refuse to heed the behavioral signs, experts said.

Denial gives people the "psychological comfort" of believing that children are rarely victimized, although research findings would show otherwise, said psychiatrist Summit, who participated in a Los Angeles County task force formed in response to the McMartin case.

Summit, in the committee's voluminous 1984 report to the County Board of Supervisors, said that denial of the problem allows adults to "be more secure in the serene assurance that young children are safe in trusted environments." Society has engaged in "a vast conspiracy of silence" about child sexual abuse, he said in the report and reiterated in an interview last week.

The psychological defenses of victims themselves may help perpetuate the silence, Summit wrote, adding that victims "commonly grow up with no memory of the experience. The victim often remembers the perpetrator only in an idealized, blameless image. The most persistent, savage abuse may create in the victim the most loyal, slave-like identification with the aggressor."

Effect on Adults

Other experts said that one of the unfortunate side-effects of recent nationwide publicity on child abuse is that some adults have become hesitant to touch children because they fear being accused of molestation.

"Recent allegations of sexual abuse of preschool and school-aged children have set off a multitude of responses," said Dr. Michael Durfee, a child psychiatrist who is coordinator of the child abuse prevention program for the Los Angeles County Department of Health Services.

"Many, perhaps most, reactions will ultimately prove useful. The one clear short-term loss is an increased anxiety about touching and intimacy in any form. . . . Not touching a child is more than a hazard for general growth and development. Removing touch, removing intimacy, generates children who are only more susceptible to molestation."

It is up to parents to provide a loving, supportive, open environment at home so children learn from the earliest age about normal, healthy intimacy, Durfee said.

And one of the most foolproof ideas for preventing child sexual abuse is used by Lawndale Little League parent Daniel Lara. "Parents should get more involved instead of just dropping their kids off and leaving them with the coaches," he said. "At least that would lower the chances of something happening.

Spider-man Takes On Another Real Villain: Emotional Child Abuse

Spider-man Takes On Another Real Villain: Emotional Child Abuse

By Linnet Myers - September 18, 1988

When Spider-Man revealed in a 1985 comic strip that he had been sexually abused as a youngster, the response was phenomenal,` according to the National Committee for Prevention of Child Abuse.

``We actually got hundreds of letters here addressed to Spider-Man saying, `You know what happened to you? It`s happening to me, said Anne Cohn, executive director of the committee.

Now the committee and Marvel Comics have produced another comic strip in which Spider-Man takes on the issue of emotional child abuse.

The four-page color supplement is included in today's Tribune and has already appeared in several other newspapers across the country, including the Houston Chronicle, the Des Moines Register and the Columbus Dispatch, said Christine Benuzzi, the committee`s director of resource development.
The committee has turned its focus to emotional abuse because ``it`s probably the most hidden and yet most insidious type of abuse,`` Cohn said.

A child may be told, `You`re disgusting. I wish you were never born.` If they`re told day after day that they`re worthless-that they`re never going to amount to anything-then sure enough, they don`t.

Children believe what their parents tell them.

The new Spider-Man comic is part of the committee`s nationwide campaign against emotional abuse. Television spots showing parents angrily insulting their children are also featured.

Cohn said the committee has already seen responses to the ads and to the comic strip in areas where it has appeared. She said one woman-the mother of two boys-wrote that ``I first saw myself and my actions reflected on the TV in a short but painful commercial. I felt very ashamed of myself.

The 1985 Spider-Man comic, which dealt with sexual abuse, was produced after Pamela Rutt, Marvel Comics` publicity director, called the committee.

She spoke with Cohn, and the two came up with the idea, Rutt said. Since then, more than 16 million copies of the sexual-abuse comic supplement have been distributed through 150 papers nationwide, Rutt said. Two million more were distributed through the committee.

Spider-Man himself made appearances at schools, day-care centers and shopping malls in areas where the supplement was distributed, she said. When Spider-Man spoke of his frightening childhood experience, it was

``astonishing`` to see how children reacted, Rutt said.

When children came up and told Spider-Man that they also had the problem, ``Spider-Man would say, `I`m glad you came forward and told me that, "Rutt said. He would then refer the child to an expert for help, she said.

Spider-Man, (whose secret identity Rutt refused to reveal), is making similar stops for the new supplement, although there are no plans for a Chicago visit.

If copies in Sunday`s Tribune are included, about 4 million copies of the new supplement have been distributed, Rutt said. In the comic strip in today`s Tribune, Spider-Man discusses the problems of a boy and his sister, who are tormented by their cruel alcoholic father.

Professionals tread a fine line when Touching Children

Professionals tread a fine line when Touching Children

By Jean Heller

St. Petersburg Times - July 31, 1988

Edmond John Hartmann says he will never forget the moment in March of 1987 when the sheriff's deputy in New Port Richey told him why he had been ordered to come to the station.

``She says to me, `You're charged with child molesting. Do you want a lawyer?' `` Hartmann recalled. ``I said, `No, I'm innocent.' She read me my rights and locked me up. I spent two months in jail.``

Last Tuesday, 16 months after the ordeal began for the 61-year-old Pasco County school bus driver, it ended. After two alleged young victims testified that, in fact, Hartmann had never assaulted them, Circuit Judge Edward H. Bergstrom dismissed the case saying the lack of evidence made him think he'd just walked through the looking glass into Alice's Wonderland.

Hartmann says he is unsure if he will return to his bus. If he does, he says, it will be with a different attitude:

``It used to be when kids got on the bus with runny noses, I'd wipe them. If their shoes were unlaced, I'd tie them. Now? Hell, no. No way. Never. I can't do it any more. It's not that I don't want to. I don't dare.``

The National Committee for Prevention of Child Abuse estimates that incidents of reported abuse and molestation of children are up 2,000 percent in the last decade, according to the current issue of Parenting magazine.

Most of the reported cases originate in private homes, but more and more of them involve schools, day-care centers, youth organizations and support groups.

The staggering increase in cases and the irreversible damage they can inflict has caused a wide-ranging group of child-care professionals to alter their work habits, attitudes and daily routines. Many of them say they now approach their jobs with one eye on the needs of their kids and the other eye on the lawbooks.

Some counselors, for instance, are prevented from riding in a car with a member of the opposite sex unless another adult is present.

Teachers are protecting themselves against possible abuse charges by joining unions that will help pay legal expenses. And youth groups fear that the number of men willing to work with children is in rapid decline.

``One of the problems all this has created is that teachers, bus drivers, anyone who has contact with children, knows (abuse charges) could happen to them,`` said Tom Weightman, superintendent of Pasco County public schools, the system in which bus driver Edmond Hartmann worked.

``For education to be successful, pupils have to know that their teachers care about them, but the little hugs or pats on the shoulder which are meant innocently can be misconstrued and turned into serious trouble,`` said Weightman, whose school system endured another celebrated case two years ago in which a teacher spent eight months clearing himself of charges that he fondled two 10-year-old pupils.

``We find teachers thinking twice before they touch, however innocently,`` he said.

Even if cleared, a teacher or other child-care professional faces a ruined career from the mere allegation of child abuse.

``That innocent teacher will live the rest of his life with a comma after his name, as in: `Teacher John Doe, who was once accused and later cleared of child molestation,' `` said Dr. Gus Sakkis, retired superintendent of Pinellas County schools.

The repercussions of false allegations perhaps were underscored by the case of Douglas Tarrant.

An assistant superintendent of the Pinellas County School District, Tarrant committed suicide earlier this month after a 15-year-old girl accused him of lewd and lascivious behavior. Family members said the accusation had deepened his depression over failing health.

Tarrant died two days after the girl changed her story, but no one told him. Sensitized

The litany of accusations, convictions and exonerations has sensitized the so-called children's caretaker industry - teachers, counselors and support groups - and the children in their care.

David Voss, director of communications for state Education Commissioner Betty Castor, says that such sensitivity might victimize some innocent adults, but he insists that false accusations might be an unavoidable part of dealing with the problem of child abuse.

``Being aware of the abuse possibilities, being aware of the need to be watchful for real abuse and wary of actions which could bring false accusations, is part of teacher training and teacher in-service training,`` Voss said.

``On the other side, parents take their kids to classes that sensitize them about improper touches and how to report them. That training could lead a child who is angry with a teacher to lie about an incident or to misinterpret an innocent gesture for something sinister. But false reporting is a consequence we simply have to pay in order to get greater reporting of incidents that are true.``

Many experts worry that caretakers' growing concern with their legal position is hurting their job performances. Moreover, they wonder if discouraging false or mistaken allegations also might discourage youngsters from reporting genuine cases of abuse.

Sakkis, the retired Pinellas superintendent, says teacher awareness of child abuse has grown dramatically in the eight years since he retired. He said such sensitivity could affect a teacher's judgment.

``At any given moment, a teacher might avoid hugging a child he might otherwise have hugged, and that might be the child who really needed it at that moment,`` he said.

Bill Hayes, president and co-founder of the Clearwater-based Chi Chi Rodriguez Foundation for troubled youths, agrees.

``All children, up to the age of about 10, are incapable of dealing in academia and logic,`` Hayes said. ``They can deal only in love. And if we don't deal in love back to them, there's a group of kids not getting what it takes to make school successful.

The Rodriguez Foundation deals with youngsters through a golf program.

``We create a camaraderie between a child and an adult,`` Hayes said. ``It's not `we' and `they.' It's a partnership.``

Hayes acknowledged that he and his staff are vulnerable to charges of abuse and molestation, but he said it does not affect the way they react to students.

``Some people are very conscious of the law and avoid getting involved with children on a personal basis these days,`` he said. ``We don't. We take the risk.``

Not everyone is willing to take the risk. Some counselors have adopted special rules.

``Members of our staff can't drive with students of the opposite sex without another adult present, and we try to have a lot of adults and a lot of kids around in all situations,`` said Scott Bruner, director of St. Petersburg's Youth for Christ program.

But some situations call for different measures.

``Sometimes you have a kid, let's say he's in an incest situation at home, who might take one adult into his confidence and open up, but would never talk to a room full of adults,`` Bruner said. ``In those cases, sometimes you have to take a chance. There are times when you just have to put your arm around a kid's shoulders and tell him you appreciate him. You just have to take care not to go any further.``

Fixing the problem

Despite a growing concern with these issues among individual children's caretakers, there is little or no coordinated national effort to resolve the situation.

Dan Sexton, director of the Los Angeles-based Childhelp U.S.A., the only national hotline for abused children, said he ``does not doubt for a minute`` statistics showing incidents of reported child abuse are up 2,000 percent in the last 10 years.

``This hotline started in 1982, and that year we recorded 8,600 calls,`` Sexton said. ``Last year, we had 150,000. But while the reports of abuse are up dramatically, funding for programs to deal with abuse is only up 20 percent.``

And little new financing is expected in the near future.

With the Reagan administration winding down, the U.S. Department of Education's acknowledged expert on child abuse issues left Washington several weeks ago to become dean of the School of Education at Boston University.

Peter Greer, former deputy undersecretary of the U.S. Department of Education, says the level of the problem today is far outpacing the search for solutions.

``Principals are being told more and more by superintendents to bring these matters up at the first staff meeting each year, and they wind up advising their teachers, `Don't touch, don't hug,' `` said Greer, superintendent of the school system in Portland, Maine, when it implemented one of the toughest child abuse reporting laws in the country.

``I think it affects secondary school teachers more than elementary teachers,`` Greer said. ``Elementary teachers naturally touch and hug, and that's the way it's always going to be. When you talk about secondary schools, I question whether it's proper to kiss and hug students of that age, anyway. But I would never tell a teacher who does it innocently and naturally to stop. I would simply tell him to be cautious.`` A decline in volunteers

One effect of the rising number of abuse reports is the apparent downturn in the number of men volunteering for youth support work.

``We have had, both nationally and locally, a gradual decline in the numbers of men coming into our program,`` said Thomas Esslinger, director of the Big Brother and Big Sister programs in Largo. ``I think that's due to a variety of things, but the proliferation of abuse charges is one of the concerns, definitely.``

Barbara Knowles, director of the Pinellas County Licensing Board for day-care centers, fears that the threat of abuse charges ``will deter additional quality men from coming into loving contact with children who need such contact from women and men, alike.``

In fact, some children's caretakers, particularly teachers, have begun arming themselves against possible abuse charges by joining unions that will help pay the cost of their legal defenses.

But even the unions don't pretend to have all the answers.

``When we go to convention, we have speakers who tell us how important it is to hug kids, to hold hands, touch them and teach them how much you care,`` said Sam Rosales, executive director of Classroom Teachers Association of Tampa, which helps pay legal expenses.

``That speaker is generally followed by an attorney warning teachers to watch it, not to touch because they're inviting a lawsuit,`` he said. ``We know we're sending out mixed signals, but they're both correct, and it's very frustrating.``

Hayes, of the Chi Chi Rodriguez Foundation, summed up that frustration:

``What kids need is to know that someone cares, but in this day and age of one-parent families or two-parent families with both parents working, of classroom computers, school busing and lunchrooms that look like the Department of Motor Vehicles offices, life for our children is more and more impersonal.

``And the one potential chink in that impersonality - our teachers - are trying to do their jobs with chalk in one hand and lawbooks in the other. It hasn't worked, it isn't working, and it never will work.``

Case of Victor Einhorn

Case of Victor Einhorn

Owner of Two Brooklyn-Based Bus Companies

(Williamsburg) Brooklyn, NY

Victor Einhorn, 37, of Williamsburg, pleaded guilty to two of 12 counts of unlawfully transporting minors to a New Jersey hotel for sex.

_______________________________________________________________________________

Disclaimer: Inclusion in this website does not constitute a recommendation or endorsement. Individuals must decide for themselves if the resources meet their own personal needs.


Table of Contents:

1988

1. Brooklyn Man Sentenced in Sex Case  (05/07/1988)

_______________________________________________________________________________

Brooklyn Man Sentenced in Sex Case

By Patricia Hurtado

Newsday (NY) - May 7, 1988

An attorney and a rabbi for a Brooklyn man who pleaded guilty to transporting two girls, one 12 and one 13, across state lines for sex asked the sentencing judge for leniency yesterday in a courtroom that included the defendant's wife, youngest child and his friends.

Victor Einhorn, 37, of Williamsburg, pleaded guilty in February to two of 12 counts of unlawfully transporting minors to a New Jersey hotel for sex. Einhorn, the owner of two Brooklyn-based bus companies, had faced up to 20 years in prison and a fine of $500,000.

But through his attorney, Einhorn yesterday requested a sentence of community service rather than imprisonment. He called upon his rabbi, Abraham Neiman, of the Khal Toras Chaim congregation, to describe for U.S. District Court Judge Edward Korman how Einhorn had already been censured by his Hasidic community.

"It states in the Talmud that if you sin and a person has shame . . . then he is forgiven," Neiman said. "He said he has shame . . . So much shame is alone a terrible penalty." Neiman told the judge that if Einhorn was sent to prison, his six children would be punished by being ostracized by their religious community.

Korman called Einhorn's crime "a serious exploitation of two children," and sentenced him to three years in prison and five years' probation. He also fined him $100. Einhorn was ordered to surrender to authorities on June 15.

In his pre-sentence remarks to the judge, Einhorn's attorney, Kenneth Kaplan, said that prosecutors had unfairly made a federal case out of his state crime. Kaplan argued that the girls looked 18 and were  professional prostitutes. Kaplan also said several factors had led Einhorn to commit the crime, including the fact that he had an arranged marriage and had sexual problems with his wife.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Charles Gerber argued that Einhorn deserved a prison sentence, as he had shown no remorse. He said the girls' youth had even caught the attention of a Ft. Lee motel maid who saw Einhorn and the girls check out of the motel together and flagged down a police car.

Gerber said Einhorn's case became a federal matter when it was determined that he had crossed state lines. Gerber said that while Einhorn had a previous conviction for receiving stolen property, neither of the girls had a criminal record.

"I have kids just like he has kids," the tearful mother of one of the girls told Korman before sentencing. "What if this happened to one of his kids? I don't feel it's right for what he did to my baby to just get community service. I'm sorry."

_______________________________________________________________________________

FAIR USE NOTICE

Some of the information on The Awareness Center's web pages may contain copyrighted material the use of which has not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. We are making such material available in our efforts to advance understanding of environmental, political, human rights, economic, democracy, scientific, and social justice issues, etc.

We believe this constitutes a 'fair use' of any such copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, the material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes.

For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml . If you wish to use copyrighted material from this update for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use', you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.

_______________________________________________________________________________

"Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has."–– Margaret Mead

_______________________________________________________________________________

A healing haven for abused kids

A healing haven for abused kids

By Sally Ann Stewart 

USA Today - April 11, 1988

His name has been changed, but his sad story is true. Now, he lives in a place where adults help, not hurt.

The place: the Village of Childhelp USA, a 240-acre ranch with 76 kids, 16 horses, five geese and a pig, 25 miles west of Palm Springs. The Village marks its 10th birthday this month as the USA's only residential treatment center solely for abused kids.

Tuesday, Childhelp officials and ``ambassadors,'' including Cheryl Ladd, Phyllis Diller and Jack Scalia, meet in Washington with Congress members to announce plans to study the spread of AIDS among sexually abused kids.

April also marks National Child Abuse Prevention Month, and Childhelp's national hot line - (800) 4-A-CHILD - shows an alarming increase in child abuse.

When the hot line opened in 1982, experts answering the calls for help recorded 8,600 calls. In 1987, they marked 148,452 calls.

Hot line director Dan Sexton believes we're better at reporting child abuse, but also thinks there's more to report.

``When you deal with stress like our society does, with a let's-have-a-few-drinks-and-forget-about-it mentality, then it breaks down inhibitions and lets people abuse more,'' says Sexton, 36, a self-described abuse ``survivor.''

``We don't do anything as a society in teaching people how to parent and it's difficult to hope that the problem is going to go away on its own.''

The American Humane Association in Denver counted 2.2 million reported cases of child abuse in 1986, compared to 1.9 million in 1985. But spokeswoman Katie Bond disagrees with Sexton.

``We're just learning more about child abuse every day,'' Bond says. ``Even 20 years ago, a severe spanking was just considered discipline, even if you broke your child's back.''

What's the difference between discipline and abuse? ``If you're hitting your child hard enough to leave a mark, that's abuse,'' Sexton says. ``If you call your child stupid and ugly and a jerk, that's abuse.''

Sherry, 9, and sister Linda, 8, also live at Childhelp. They are blonde and beautiful, and their parents put them in porno movies with their brother, 6.

Studies show sexual abuse also has skyrocketed in the USA. The American Humane Association counted 6,000 reports of sexual abuse in 1976.By 1985, there were 113,000.

Abuse doesn't end, either. A whopping 80 percent of abusive parents were abused when they were kids, Sexton says. The Village's mission is to break that cycle.

Actor Jack Scalia says he and his wife, Karen, won't spank their 6-month-old daughter, Olivia.

``We have a definite hands-off policy and a definite love-on policy,'' says Scalia, who visits the ranch and helps raise money for Childhelp.

``Being with these kids out at the Village has taught me that God thinks enough about me that he has entrusted me with his most precious gift. No child ever, ever deserves to be hit.''

Joy Beyers, public awareness coordinator for the National Center for the Prevention of Child Abuse in Chicago, says Childhelp's mission is important but expensive.

``Everything they're doing, they're doing in good faith, but putting that kind of money into the ranch, you have to realize that it's for a relatively few number of children.

``I'd like to see more money go to prevention, to parenting classes. Even though these kids need help, we're not going to solve the problem by mopping up after the abuse.''

But Childhelp co-founder Sara O'Meara says all abused children benefit.

``We're trying to be a research lab,'' she says. ``We have research projects, the hot line, training programs for professionals. We work very hard to raise as much money as we can because we really believe in doing as much as we can.''

Childhelp's celebrity support has attracted high visibility and big bucks.

Last month, the National Football League Players Association hosted 1,500 at a black-tie dinner at the posh Century Plaza. Guests included Danny Thomas, Jimmy Stewart, Connie Sellecca, and football's Joe Namath, Rosie Grier, Bob Golic and Dave Duerson.

The dinner raised about $300,000 toward running the $7.5 million-a-year charity.

``At the Village, you really see the difference that care and love and treatment make with these children,'' says actress Cheryl Ladd, a Childhelp volunteer since the Village opened. ``The minute they are given the nurturing and love and protection they need, it's amazing how they blossom.''

It takes an average 14-month stay for each child - ages 2 to 12 - at the Village to recuperate. They live in cottages with eight or 10 other children. At least two staff members are always there. Each child has a bicycle and a weekly allowance (25 cents to $1).

Whatever the children need, they get. A child who had been ``shaken cross-eyed'' by her father had eye surgery. Others undergo plastic surgery.

``One little boy had `bad kid' written in cigarette burns across his back, so we had that removed,'' O'Meara says. ``We've had noses rebuilt, complete faces rebuilt.''

It's a little harder to heal a child's spirit. Jamie, 5, tugs a stranger's hand at the Village. ``Are you my mother?'' Jamie asks. No, the stranger says. ``Well, then,'' Jamie says. ``Will you sit next to me at lunch?''

About half the ranch's children go to public school. The others attend a smaller ranch school.

From 6:30 a.m. wake-up until 8 p.m. bedtime, every minute is filled with homework, group therapy, household chores, art lessons and family-style meals. There's still plenty of time for kids to get in trouble, but discipline is swift, fair and controlled.

Four-year-old Mark sits in a chair, tears dripping down his cheeks while an egg timer ticks away five minutes. When the alarm sounds, staff counselor Elaine Chavez kneels by the chair.

``Do you know why you got a timeout?'' Chavez asks.

Mark nods.

``When it's nap time, you're supposed to be quiet because you need to rest. You're not allowed to jump on Timmy's bed. Are you ready to take a nap now?''

Mark nods again. ``Will you carry me?''

``You're too big for me to carry you,'' she says. ``But I'll hold your hand and walk with you, OK?''

When a child gets too old to discipline with timeouts, parents can take away phone and TV privileges, says Ladd, whose daughters are 13 and 11.

``I don't want to sound like I never lose my temper with them, because I do,'' Ladd says. ``It's important that even though I get angry and send them to their rooms, at some point we sit down and talk.

``Communication - that's the thing. You can help your child be a better friend to you by being a better friend to them.''

HISTORY LESSON: Help For Those Exploited By A Therapist A Support Group Grows Out Of A Counselor's Anger At Some Peers

By Kitty Dumas

Philadelphia Inquirer - January 3, 1988

"I was furious, and I began looking for others who shared my outrage," she said. 

Baron formed the Association Against Client Exploitation by Professionals, a local group that provides support and referral services to those who are distressed about their relationships with their counselors. It also works with therapists and other professionals who believe that such sexual involvement with patients is an abuse of power. The group held its first meeting last April. 

The drive against therapists who become sexually involved with their patients has spread to the Pennsylvania House of Representatives, where two bills are pending that would make such conduct a crime and would enable victims to sue. 

"Most therapists are ethical and do their best and don't exploit their clients," said Baron, who holds a master's degree in psychiatric nursing and is a member of two professional organizations - the American Nurses Association and the American Group Psychotherapy Association. 

Some therapists belong to professional groups, such as the American Psychological Association and the American Psychiatric Association, that set standards of conduct forbidding sexual relations between therapists and clients. Some, such as psychologists and psychiatrists, also are licensed by the state. And still others call themselves "counselors" without any specific credentials or rules of conduct.

Stories told by those who say they have been abused by therapists sound like the basis for a TV mini-series - sex, abuse of power and emotional trauma. 

But this is a real-life problem. Statistics indicate that sexual abuse by therapists is the most frequent reason for state licensing boards to hear complaints, said Kenneth Pope, a psychologist who is chairman of the American Psychological Association's ethics committee and who was quoted on the topic in Sexuality Today, a newsletter circulated to professionals. 

According to a study last year directed by Nanette Gartrell, a psychiatrist at Beth Israel Hospital in Boston, 6 percent of the 1,423 psychiatrists who responded said they had had sex with patients. Many defended their actions by saying that the affairs helped the patients. A third of that 6 percent acknowledged having had sex with more than one patient. 

Offending therapists are "a minority but they're a minority that's a critical mass that we're concerned about," said Nancy Felipe Russo, a former director of women's programs at the American Psychological Association. 

Sharon Baron said that all of her patients who have had sex with therapists have suffered emotionally. The problems that sent them in search of counseling often were not addressed by the therapists. Instead, those problems were compounded by new ones created by their sexual relationship. 

Some of her patients have improved since changing therapists, she said, but others have not.

"They're not all better. Some of them can't trust me." 

Since she began her support group, she said, she has received calls from people who say they have been sexually abused by ministers, priests, rabbis and nuns. 

Abuse by professionals does not always involve sex. Baron said a physician who talked his patients into investing in his property in Florida would be guilty of abuse. So would be the divorce lawyer who asked his client out on a date. These examples are what psychiatrists call "boundary issues," she said, issues that walk the line between what is appropriate and what is not. 

Because people usually visit lawyers, doctors, therapists and clergy when they are suffering emotionally or physically, they are easily victimized by professionals who are seen by society as wise and ethical people, Baron said. Often the client is flattered when asked to start a relationship that goes beyond the professional one.

For four years, Rita Brown, 32, a Philadelphia nurse, carried the secret alone. A soft-spoken woman with short blond hair, she hides her anguish well beneath her calm demeanor - until she begins to talk about what happened. Then her voice is filled with thinly disguised anger. Her eyes narrow as she recounts her four-year relationship with a therapist. 

Brown, who asked that her real name not be used, began seeing a therapist when she needed help in dealing with low self-esteem and a history of family problems that included an alcoholic father. But the 50-year-old therapist, who had an office in the suburbs, told her she had "sexual hang-ups," she said. Her boyfriend warned her about becoming too involved with the man, but she began to trust him. The therapist often told her about his own problems, including the troubles he was having with his wife. 

The therapist "would call me at work and call me at home. I ended up feeling sorry for him," she said. 

After she and her boyfriend of seven years broke up, she said, she began sleeping with the therapist. 

"I was very depressed after it (the sexual relationship with the therapist). I was suicidal. I had trouble when someone asked me for a date," Brown said. "I felt sleazy. They take every vulnerability and insecurity and turn it against you." 

And to top it off, Brown said, the therapist continued to charge her for counseling sessions.

In 1984, Brown finally ended the relationship with the therapist. It was not until last year that she discovered that the therapist also had had intercourse with six or seven other women in her therapy group. 

Also last year, she learned that while her therapist had several master's degrees, he neither was a member of any professional group nor was he licensed by the state. She said that when she tried to bring the therapist before a state board, she discovered he had no license to revoke. 

When asked why she didn't take action sooner, Brown said she was intimidated by the therapist.

"Part of the reason that it wasn't talked about was because he knew so many intimate things about you," she said. "Your childhood. So many things I told him about growing up - how rotten it was. He once said to me 'I know everything about you.' " 

Brown believed that he was making a thinly veiled threat to expose some of her most painful secrets. 

"Who can I tell that he did this?" she asked sadly. "He knows everything about me."

Gary Schoener is executive director of the Walk-In Counseling Center in Minneapolis, which deals with people who say they have been abused by a counselor or therapist. Since 1974, when the center began specializing in these cases, more than 800 people have sought help. About 80 percent of the patients have been women who said they were victimized by a male therapist and about 10 percent have been women alleging abuse by a female therapist. About 5 percent have been men saying they were abused by a male therapist, while the remainder have been males accusing female therapists. 

In several states, including Minnesota, Wisconsin, Florida and Michigan, it is a felony for counselors to have sex with a client or former client. 

In creating laws, states had to define psychotherapist, Schoener said. "Our definition of a psychotherapist is very broad - licensed clergy, paraprofessionals and others who claim to offer help with personal problems - if he is doing the kind of work a therapist does." 

The Pennsylvania House Judiciary Committee is considering two bills. One of them would make having sex with a client a crime carrying fines and jail terms. The other would enable a victim to file a civil suit and seek damages for mental or physical injury; also, those with knowledge of the abuse, such as the therapist's staff members or colleagues, would be required by law to report the incident or risk fines. Those reporting would not risk liability, according to the bill. Both bills are sponsored by Rep. H. William DeWeese (D., Greene). 

Neither New Jersey nor Delaware has legislation dealing specifically with such abuse. Currently, in all states, victims may file complaints with the professional association to which the therapist belongs, if any. A complaint also can be filed with the state, which could revoke a therapist's license to practice. A civil suit or malpractice suit could be filed or criminal charges of rape can be filed. 

However, a therapist who loses a license in one state may continue to practice in other states, according to Schoener. Some continue to practice in the state where the offense occurred, simply changing their title. No law bars them from hanging out a different type of shingle, Schoener said. 

What are the warning signs for patients in therapy to look for? Beware, Schoener said, if a therapist is doing as much or more talking than the patient. 

Early on during therapy sessions, the roles seem to get reversed - the client appears to be taking care of the therapist. "The client is flattered that the therapist would trust him or her. Here this big-gun professional picks them from his entire client load," Schoener said. 

Some people find it hard to believe that they could ever be taken advantage of by a therapist. To these people, Schoener advised, "don't think of yourself now. Think of yourself at your lowest ebb, when things don't mean much anymore. You don't have anything to hang onto. That's when the sex occurs. It doesn't happen when you're on top of the world."

On May 6 and 7, (1988) the Association Against Client Exploitation by Professionals will sponsor with the University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing a national conference titled "Exploitation by Professionals: The Abuse of Power" at the Hershey Philadelphia Hotel. Attending will be national experts in the field, local professionals and victim