The Agenda Physical and Emotional Impact

3/16/2021

Like a Footprint in Wet Cement: Understanding and Applying ACE Research

Victor I. Vieth Chief Program Officer, Education & Research Zero Abuse Project [email protected]

The agenda

• ACE: The most important research in the history of medical science • Ten ideas for addressing ACEs: – Children exposed to violence: school, medical, & mental health collaboration – Physical abuse: o No hit zones o Faith collaborations – Coordinate medical, mental health & spiritual care – ACE screening & education of patients – Addressing ACES by treating juveniles w/ sexual behavior problems – Trauma of boys and men: a simple urology reform – Trauma informed care begins in college

Physical and emotional impact

1 3/16/2021

The beginning of ACE: Weight Loss Program

• While operating a major weight loss program, medical professionals noticed the program “had a high dropout rate limited almost exclusively to patients successfully losing weight.” (Felitti 2010) (emphasis added) • “…led us to recognize that weight loss is often sexually or physically threatening and that certain of the more intractable public health problems such as obesity were also unconscious, or occasionally conscious, compensatory behaviors that were put in place as solutions to problems dating back to the earliest years, but hidden by time, shame, by secrecy…” (Felitti, 2010)

Ten Adverse Childhood Experiences

• Emotional abuse (humiliation, threats) (11%) • Physical abuse (hit hard enough to receive injuries) (28%) • Contact sexual abuse (28% women, 16% men) • Mother treated violently (13%) • Household member alcoholic or drug user (27%) • Household member imprisoned (6%) • Household member chronically depressed, suicidal, mentally ill, psychiatric hospitalization (17%) • Not raised by both biological parents (23%) • Neglect—physical (10%) • Neglect—emotional (15%)

1 or more ACE increases risk of:

• Cancer • Depression • Heart disease • Anxiety disorders • STDs • Hallucinations • Liver disease • Sleep disturbances • Smoking • Memory disturbances • Alcohol abuse • Anger problems • Obesity • Domestic violence risk • Drug dependence • Job problems • IV Drug Use • Relationship problems • Early intercourse, pregnancy

2 3/16/2021

Ron: Impact of Child Abuse

The ACE researchers’ epiphany

“In the context of everyday medical practice, we came to recognize that the earliest years of infancy and childhood are not lost but, like a child’s footprints in wet cement are often lifelong.” --Felitti 2010

What happens if doctors simply ask?

“When medical professionals asked 440,000 adults undergoing comprehensive medical evaluation about ACEs, there was a 35% reduction in hospital visits in the subsequent year (as opposed to the year before), an 11% reduction in emergency room visits, and 3% reduction in hospitalizations.” (Felitti 2010)

3 3/16/2021

Why would simply asking help?

• “…the impression of the clinicians evaluating these patients is that the reduction represents the benefit of having, through a comprehensive medical history, the worst secrets of one’s life understood by another, and still being accepted as a human being.” – Felitti (2010)

Polyvictimization research

• Exposure to multiple forms of victimization was common. • Almost 66% of the sample was exposed to more than one type of victimization, 30% experienced fıve or more types, and 10% experienced 11 or more different forms of victimization in their lifetimes. • Poly-victims comprise a substantial portion of the children who would be identifıed by screening for an individual victimization type, such as sexual assault or witnessing parental violence. • Poly-victimization is more highly related to trauma symptoms than experiencing repeated victimizations of a single type and explains a large part of the associations between individual forms of victimization and symptom levels. – (Turner, Finkelhor, et al, 2010)

Ten ideas for addressing ACEs

4 3/16/2021

1. Children’s Exposure to Violence: Addressing ACEs through school, medical and mental health collaboration

Effects of Exposure to IPV (Summers, 2006)

Infants Preschool Age School Age Adolescents

•Fussy •Aggression •Aggression •Dating violence •Decreased •Behavior problems •Conduct •Delinquency responsiveness •Regressive behavior problems •Running away •Trouble sleeping •Yelling, irritability •Disobedience •Truancy •Trouble eating •Trouble sleeping •Regressive •Early sexual activity Behavioral behavior

•Trouble interacting •Few and low •Dating violence with peers quality peer (victim or perpetrator) •Stranger anxiety relations •Increased risk for teen pregnancy Social

Effects of Exposure to IPV (Summers, 2006)

Infants Preschool Age School Age Adolescents •Attachment •Fear/anxiety, •Somatic complaints •Substance abuse needs not met sadness, worry •Fear & anxiety, •Depression •PTSD depression, low self‐ •Suicidal ideation esteem, shame •Negative affect •PTSD •PTSD •Feeling unsafe •Feeling rage, shame •Limited emotional

Emotional/ Psychological •Separation anxiety response •Unresponsiveness

•Inability to •Self‐blame •Self‐blame •Short attention span understand •Distracted, •Pro‐violent attitude inattentive •Defensive

Cognitive •Pro‐violent attitude

5 3/16/2021

Understand effects of DV on children through drawings

An eight‐year‐old was asked to draw a picture of his father. He wrote in Spanish:

“This is how I see my father because he often gets angry and drunk and his eyes turn red.”

The case of Kelly

• Greets new teacher with a punch • Is the classroom bully • Socially isolated • Expelled from three schools on the verge of a fourth expulsion • Doctors, psychologists, teachers not collaborating • ACE score of seven • The difference of one ACE-informed teacher

2. Addressing the ACE of physical abuse: No Hit Zones

6 3/16/2021

Physical abuse

Adverse Childhood Experience research found that 28% of 17,000 adults were beaten to the point of receiving injury – Felitti & Anda (2012)

Corporal punishment to physical abuse

• A majority of substantiated physical abuse cases in U.S. and Canada involved acts of physical discipline – Gershoff (2008) • Parents who use corporal punishment are 3 times as likely to physically abuse a child and 9 times as likely if they use an object – Zolotor (2011) • 5% of parents use corporal punishment on infants and up to 70% use CP on children on 2-3 year olds – Zolotor (2011)

Finkelhor (2019)

7 3/16/2021

The least effective discipline

Gershoff (2016)

• 75 studies over 50 years • More than 150,000 children • Traditional “spanking” linked to elevated risks of defying parents, acting aggressively, cognitive difficulties, mental health problems

The impact on developing brains

8 3/16/2021

Revised AAP statement (2018)

One concrete prevention idea

9 3/16/2021

3. Addressing the ACE of physical abuse: Engaging conservative Protestants

Conservative Protestants and CP (1986-2014)

• “(C)onservative Protestants maintained a high degree of support (for corporal punishment) regardless of their educational attainment, even while others who did attend college withdrew their support the most.”

10 3/16/2021

Commentary on Proverbs 13:24

“The rod refers to a branch or switch. It is a small object that stings, but does not inflict serious bodily harm. The use of the rod for spanking is clearly taught in Scripture in preference to spanking with a hand.”

Commentary of Proverbs 13:24

“The Hebrew word translated rod is shevet…In this verse rod occurs with another Hebrew word musar…Together the two words may refer to physical punishment; they may refer to verbal correction; and they may have to do with sharing knowledge with a young student.”

The alternative view used in Perrin research

• Webb is a seminary professor • Used to teach corporal punishment • Changed his views, at least in part, after dialoguing with survivors of child physical abuse

11 3/16/2021

William J. Webb

• If Bible literally followed, children would be: – Struck by an instrument – On the back – With no limitations as to amount of blows – No concern for injuries • Most conservative Protestants reject corporal punishment of this nature

The rejection of adult CP

• More Biblical references to adult CP: – “A fool’s lips bring strife, and a fool’s mouth invites a flogging (Pr. 18:6) – “…A rod is for the back of one who lack’s common sense” (Pr. 10:13) – “A whip is for a horse, a bridle for a donkey, and a rod for the back of fools.” (Pr. 26:3; 10:13) – “Blows that wound cleanse away evil; beatings make clean the innermost parts” (Pr. 20:30)

Why not physically discipline adults?

• Most Catholic and Protestant theologians no longer apply these verses literally because they simply reflected governmental punishments of the era in which they were written • Would not the same argument apply to child CP?

12 3/16/2021

Perrin & Perrin (2017)

Perrin and Perrin (2017)

13 3/16/2021

AVA & APSAC publications

4. Coordinate medical, mental health & spiritual care

14 3/16/2021

Religion and Child Abuse

Recommendations: - Foster respectful understanding between CACs and faith communities - Provide education to faith leaders - Train CAC staff on religious issues - Discuss religious issues in MDT case reviews

(Tishelman & Fontes, 2017)

Spirituality and trauma recovery

Spirituality and ACEs

15 3/16/2021

Jouriles (2019)

Gower (2020)

APA Notes Importance of Spiritual Impact

16 3/16/2021

Julie Valentine Center Chaplain

“Cultural competency is a fundamental component of the CAC philosophy… To effectively meet clients’ needs, the CAC and MDT must be willing and able to understand the clients’ worldviews, adapt practices as needed, and offer assistance in a manner in which it can be utilized.”

A resource that may help

17 3/16/2021

Keeping Faith

5. Addressing ACEs by treating juveniles with sexual behavior problems

The potential role of trauma among juveniles who commit a sexual offense

18 3/16/2021

Sexual victimization (Leversee 2014)

• Children who were sexually abused at younger ages, had a greater number of incidents, a longer period of waiting to report the abuse, lower level of perceived family support, are more likely to engage in sexual offenses. • More likely to have personality traits of forcefulness (deriving pleasure from inflicting pain) or submissiveness (close relationships necessary to feel comfortable and socially confident).

Physical abuse (Widom & Massey 2015)

Although individuals with a history of abuse and neglect were at increased risk to being arrested for a sex crime, “individuals with histories of physical abuse and neglect were at significantly increased risk for arrest for sex offenses” but those with histories of sexual abuse “did not reach significance.”

Multiple types of child maltreatment • A study of 667 boys and 155 girls adjudicated for sex offenses found that nearly all had “highly dysfunctional” families and high degrees of physical abuse, sexual abuse, emotional abuse and neglect – Cavanaugh, et al (2008)

19 3/16/2021

Sex offenders & ACE scores (Levenson, et al 2014)

In a study of male sex offenders, more than half had an ACE score of 4 or higher having endured multiple acts of sexual abuse, physical abuse, emotional abuse, emotional neglect, witnessing violence and otherwise experiencing family dysfunction at a high level.

We know what treatment works

Treatment lowers recidivism (Worling, et al, 2000, 2010)

20 3/16/2021

Shortage of treatment options

Many major health care systems decline to treat this population—what if that changed?

6. Improving medical and mental health care for men with high ACE scores

21 3/16/2021

Research on child abuse disclosures by boys

• Boys disclose less frequently than girls – Afraid of being labeled weak, gay, and worried about reaction of parents and peers • Boys disclose much later in life with one study finding that boys who did disclose took over 20 years to report • “Victimization and the way it is experienced are different for boys than girls.” – Parent & Benson (2012)

How often do abused boys or men seek medical care?

Gallo-Silva (2014)

“With my last heart attack, I almost did not call 911 because I was so afraid they would insert an IV [intravenous catheter] into my groin. I had told my cardiologist of my problem. When I was on the table in the operating room with IV Valium [diazepam] and morphine, I still, somewhere deep in my brain, realized that there was a needle stuck in my groin [for heart catheterization and implanting a stent]. I started flailing about in a full-blown panic attack. The doctor called for a crash team and had people hold me down while they administered restraints and got an anesthetist to put me completely under.”

22 3/16/2021

Gallo-Silva (2014)

“I went to a urologist due to prostate symptoms. I was not able to find a woman urologist that would see adult male patients. I told the urologist about the sexual abuse when I was a kid, but he seemed not to get it. He told me to ‘drop ’em’ (meaning pull down my pants) when he wanted to examine me. When he did the digital rectal examination, I winced due to the discomfort, and he joked: ‘And I didn’t even buy you a nice dinner.’”

Improved sensitivity in health care (Gallo-Silva 2014)

• As part of history taking, ask about adverse childhood experiences of physical and/or sexual abuse, and family violence. • Listen to the patient and stop doing any other nonemergency activity. • Ask your patient about concerns and preferences in the biologic sex of his physicians. If there are gender concerns, allow the patient to discuss them.

More recommendations (Gallo-Silva)

• If your patient indicates he is fearful, ask your patient about how to increase his feelings of safety. • For invasive procedures, ensure your patient understands informed consent and that he can change his mind at any point before sedation or anesthesia. • Help your patient anticipate the stressors of next steps before you order further tests or procedures. • Review procedures with your patient that involve undressing and touching.

23 3/16/2021

And still more…

• Inform your patient before touching and explain the specific purpose of touching. • Inform your patient at the beginning of the examination that you will request body positioning before making that request. • Take a “sounding” from your patient during invasive examination procedures (“How are you doing? Do you need me to…?)

Improved screening of men

• Mental health practitioners should “revise assessment procedures to include multiple questions for eliciting a history of CSA” among men. • Clinicians may want to use behavioral definitions of CSA and inquire about other adversities in childhood. • Clinicians should “disentangle” multiple forms of abuse in many men – Easton (2012)

7. ACE screening and education of patients

24 3/16/2021

Screening of parental ACEs

• Children of parents with high ACE scores have higher rates of adversity – Randell, et al (2015) • Parental ACE exposures “can negatively impact child development in multiple domains, including problem solving, communication, personal-social, and motor skills.” – Folger, et al (2018)

Gillespie & Folger (2017)

• Total of 2,283 parents assessed for past history of ACEs • Provider and parent feedback positive • “All providers reported that the information they found with the assessment tool was useful in their clinical practice…[providers] had more empathy for their patients, better understanding of the forces that shape parenting…had cultivated a more trusting relationship…”

The ACE conversation (Gundersen Health)

• 80% of patients felt comfortable receiving information from providers (only 5% uncomfortable) • 54% interested in the information, 41% neutral, 5% uninterested

25 3/16/2021

The ACE conversation (Gundersen Health)

• 9% disclosed an ACE for themselves or a child • Conversations lasted 1-2 minutes • 97% of patients preferred this information to come from physicians

8. Doctors and youth serving organizations

Follow the CDC standards • Screening/selection of employees & volunteers • Guidelines on interactions • Monitoring behavior • Ensuring safe environments • Responding to inappropriate behavior • Training of employees, caregivers, youth

26 3/16/2021

BSA & ACE training—1 million reached

9. Trauma informed care begins in college

Inadequate undergraduate and graduate training

• Undergraduate and graduate programs provide very little education on child abuse, domestic violence or elder abuse and those that do have only 1-4 hours – Woodtli (2002), Hatlevig (2006), Walker (2014) • This is consistent with 40 years of research

27 3/16/2021

The problem extends to graduate schools

• A 2003 study of APA accredited graduate programs found many of the programs “fall far short” of guidelines proposed by the APA for minimal levels of competence in handling child maltreatment cases – (Champion, et al, 2003)

Kenny & Abreu (2015)

Medical schools

• Dr. Ann Botash: “more than 40 years after the diagnosis of BCS entered the literature, our pediatric residency programs do not have a significant education requirement for preventing, recognizing or managing child abuse.” • 31% of AHT cases not recognized by physicians who first evaluated them (Jenny 1999) • Misdiagnosis common (Adams 2012)

28 3/16/2021

Wood, et al (2015)

CAST/CAAST Universities, Medical Schools, Law Schools Seminaries

Winona State University

29 3/16/2021

NorthWest Arkansas Community College

30 3/16/2021

Mock house NWACC

Use of actors

Mock House Alliant University

31 3/16/2021

USC Upstate

University of Illinois Springfield

Research on CAST medical school

• Improved knowledge in identifying and responding to child maltreatment • More likely to recommend or secure services while working as a team • Engagement in prevention – Pelletier & Knox

32 3/16/2021

Research on undergraduate CAST

More research around the corner

• Dr. Ted Cross and colleagues conducted two year study on CAST in Mississippi • Recently submitted grant with CFRC to study CAST nationally • Dr. Cindy Miller-Perrin lead researcher on CAST seminary course

Experiential training of MDTs in field: Mississippi Child Advocacy Training Institute

33 3/16/2021

Mississippi Child Advocacy Training Institute

From Crime Scene to Trial

34 3/16/2021

Trial Advocacy Courses

• Forensic Interviewer at Trial • Polyvictimization trial advocacy course

Train the trainer initiative

10. The Way to Wellville

35 3/16/2021

Population health

And still more…

“Till the night be passed”

“Silence in the face of evil is itself evil. Not to act is to act.” – Dietrich Bonhoeffer

36 3/16/2021

Investigating & Prosecuting Cases of Child Abuse

Victor Vieth, Director, Education & Research

The agenda

• What is neglect? • The tip of the iceberg: polyvictimization • Neglect and culture – Withholding medical care based on religious belief • Medical neglect/failure to thrive • Educational neglect – Child torture • Unusual sexual behaviors • Drug usage • Poisoning – Intent to harm, to calm, or to amuse? • Exposure to domestic violence • Tips of when to consider neglect • Case study

What is neglect?

1 3/16/2021

What is neglect?

• Neglect is a broad concept • Depriving a child of “necessaries” • Exposing a child to harmful substances or practices • Neglect is the most common type of abuse

The prevalence and impact of neglect

Ten Adverse Childhood Experiences

2 3/16/2021

The impact of emotional abuse/neglect

• In a review of 5,616 children with histories of physical abuse, sexual abuse, or emotional abuse/neglect, researchers concluded psychologically abused/neglected children face similar or worse outcomes than children enduring other abuse (APA 2014)

Polyvictimization research

(Turner, Finkelhor, et al, 2010)

What are options for the MDT?

• Differential response • Civil child protection action • Emergency relief • Termination of parental rights (abandonment, egregious harm) • Criminal charges

3 3/16/2021

When is a cultural practice neglect?

Coining Cupping

When is a cultural practice neglect?

• Snake handling • Face cutting • Female genital mutilation • Male circumcision • Healing by prayer

Faith healing

4 3/16/2021

State and federal courts

When the child’s life is at stake or “essential” medical care is needed “state interests in child welfare prevail.” – Professor John Myers

What is “essential” medical care?

• Cases turn on their unique facts • Degree of harm child may suffer • Likelihood of serious harm • Treatment experimental? • Risks and side effects • Child’s preference (blood transfusion, club foot)

How should MDTs respond?

5 3/16/2021

Working within the culture to protect a child

• Followers of Christ refuse all medical care • Jehovah’s Witnesses only prohibit the use of blood and its major fractions • Christian Scientists allow dentists and doctors for “mechanical” reasons such as setting bones or childbirth • Some faith healing communities will abide by court order

Working with Amish communities

• Jesus’ directive to “take no thought for your life” leads to lack of preventative care such as vaccinations • However, there is no per se opposition to medical care • No medical insurance thus payment plans needed – James Cates, Serving the Amish (John Hopkins Press 2014)

6 3/16/2021

The importance of education

• “If I had known that [Matthew] had meningitis, if I had known medicine had a 95% chance of healing him, then I would have taken him to a doctor. I’d never been to a doctor as a child…You can’t begin to understand the helplessness of someone who doesn’t know anything about medicine, how vulnerable we were in the face of our ignorance.” – Rita Swan (Offit 2015)

Provide education at birth—and follow up

“Rita and Doug Swan were instructed by their church to isolate themselves from all forms of medical information. If a television or radio program described a recent epidemic, they turned it off… As a consequence, the Swans knew little to nothing about health.”

Offit (2015)

Reach into isolated communities

• Natali Joy Mudd, 4 years old, developed a tumor near her right eye. Her parents relied on prayer and the tumor grew to the size of her head. After she died, the police found “streaks of blood along the walls in Natali’s home. Blinded and unable to stand upright, she had leaned against the walls for support.” • Natalie’s parents were members of the Faith Assembly Church who, along with Followers of Christ are “insular groups, sequestered from their surrounding communities.”

Offit (2015)

7 3/16/2021

Address the underlying fear

• “When people choose to withhold lifesaving medicines from their children, the fear that holds them in place is often something unseen. Maybe it’s an unspoken punishment from God, or denial of a place in Heaven, or simply the loss of a supportive community.” – (Offit 2015)

• Identify the fear and see if the team can address it

Failure to thrive

• Growth significantly under norms • Organic: medical cause • Non-organic: maltreatment • Malnutrition common factor in both • Prolonged process • FTT deaths may be misleadingly labeled with a “medical cause” (chronic abuse or neglect may weaken immune system)

8 3/16/2021

Failure to thrive defenses

• Underlying medical condition • Poverty (lack of resources such as transportation, food, etc.) • Lack of parenting skills - ignorance • Child wouldn’t eat; vomiting; diarrhea

More potential defenses

• Congenital - everyone in family is small • Child healthy until just recently • Another responsible for caretaking

Determine if FTT is organic condition

• Medical tests for organic disorders • Child fed in controlled environment • Document growth for several months • Establish whether parents sought out medical intervention, advice • Evidence child emotionally deprived also

9 3/16/2021

FTT Scene investigation

FTT Scene Investigation

• Age appropriate food • Bottles, cans of formula, mixing instructions • Freshness of food, evidence of recent purchases • Diapers and dirty laundry

FTT scene investigation

• Evidence other children well fed; photos • No current photos of victim • Photos of victim previously (contrast) • No toys for victim • Overall condition of home • Parenting books

10 3/16/2021

Undiagnosed medical condition

• If condition exists at all, is it obvious to a reasonable person child needed medical attention? • Caregiver legally competent and understood child needed medical attention?

Poverty defense

• Look for evidence of money spent on non-necessities: alcohol, drugs, cigarettes, cable t.v., or family received public assistance and had access to resources for the baby.

11 3/16/2021

Ignorance defense

• Parenting classes • Raised other children • Child survived fine for a period of time • Other evidence supporting competence (parenting books/subscriptions, prescriptions, parenting discussions with peers, previous social service involvement)

“We’re all short” defense

• Even short children do not waste away • Ask physician to adjust chart for premature child.

12 3/16/2021

Defenses

Child was healthy - lost weight rapidly 1. Thorough medical workup should demonstrate whether malnutrition is chronic or acute 2. Very rare that emaciation occurs rapidly

Educational neglect

• Historically permissible to deprive child of education • Today, education is seen as a necessity • When is a child being “educationally neglected?”

Child torture

13 3/16/2021

Medical definition (Knox, et al 2014)

• Two or more physical assaults on two or more occasions or a single prolonged incident causing “prolonged physical pain, emotional distress, bodily injury or death” and

• At least two elements of psychological abuse “such as isolation, intimidation, emotional/psychological maltreatment, terrorizing, spurning or deprivation.”

• Inflicted by child’s caretakers

Medical definition continued (Knox, et al 2014)

• “Neglect is usually present, and manifests as failure to seek appropriate care for injuries and/or malnutrition.”

• Resulting in “prolonged emotional distress, pain and suffering, bodily injury/disfigurement, permanent bodily dysfunction, and/or death.”

All torture involves polyvictimization

14 3/16/2021

Sexual torture a different category

• Sexual sadism disorder involves “recurrent and intense sexual arousal from the physical or psychological suffering of another person, as manifested by fantasies, urges or behaviors” – DSM-5

• In cases of sexual torture, the “perpetrator(s) motivation and relationship to the child were qualitatively different.” – Knox, et al (2014)

Typical characteristics (Knox, et al)

• Median age of victims 7.5 years – Victims ranged 9 mos to 14.3 yrs

• 45% of cases, the victim’s siblings coerced into participating in the torture

• 65% of siblings also abused, though less severely

Typical characteristics (Knox, et al)

• 93% beaten – 21% fractures – No medical care for injuries • 89% food deprivation • 79% fluid restrictions • 61% physically restrained • 64% bodily functions restricted • 36% died

15 3/16/2021

Typical characteristics (Knox, et al)

• 29% never went to school • 47% removed from school to be “home- schooled” • More than 50% of victims not known outside immediate family

Violence and isolation correlates

“As the level of violence and control in the homes increased, perpetrators increased the isolation of the victims from everyone but their immediate caretakers” “ Knox, et al (2014)

Prevalence of female offenders

“The role of female perpetrators in all cases is an atypical finding in most cases of physical abuse.’ “ - Knox, et al (2014)

16 3/16/2021

Possible motivation for torture

• 79% of primary abusers were not child’s first degree relative but were girlfriends/boyfriends, aunts/uncles, grandparents, adoptive parents, step-parents, etc. • “Most child victims appeared to be scapegoated within their family…” – Knox, et al (2014)

How common is torture?

• “1 to 2% of children being evaluated for abuse present with such a unique constellation of physical and psychological injuries which appears to represent torture” – Knox & Starling (2012)

How often is torture missed?

• More than 50% of torture cases had 1-15 prior referrals and/or CPS investigations before discovery • Common error is that CPS accepted caretaker’s explanation that child was emotionally disturbed or had eating disorder • Often accepted caretaker’s promise to feed child and closed the case – Knox, et al (2014)

17 3/16/2021

How often do doctors miss torture?

• “A few children had been brought for medical evaluations with complaints of ‘excessive hunger or thirst’. Physicians evaluating these children did not recognize that the children’s behavior represented an appropriate response to their deprivation…severe malnutrition was missed. Lack of regularly obtaining and charting growth appeared contributory.” – Knox, et al (2014)

Case scenario

• After a school suspected or reported abuse or neglect, family would move

• In 8th grade, child disclosed abuse, case was unsubstantiated because parents convinced CPS child was a liar

• Child was then “home-schooled” and never left the house for four years

Case scenario continued

• Child kept in a basement with 16 dogs

• Child slept on floor with the dogs and feces

• Child expected to do all housework, care for the dogs and her 3 younger sisters (ages 13, 11, and 9)

18 3/16/2021

Case scenario continued

• Physical abuse: – Child beaten with belts, sticks, tools & boards – Burned on face, feet, hands and tongue – Teeth, fingers, and toes smashed with hammer – Forced to wear shock collar and shocked until she screamed – Shot in leg with a pellet gun

Case scenario continued

• Neglect: – Forced to do chores outside in the winter barefoot – Denied medical care – Denied education • Emotional abuse: – Mom cut her hair crudely as humiliation – Child only given old clothes of mother’s to wear – Child not allowed to participate in Christmas or other holidays – Child’s birthday not recognized

The use of religion in torture

• “Perpetrators seemed to utilize a framework of necessary discipline and corporal punishment to justify their abusive acts…some perpetrators saw it as a religious duty to discipline their children harshly.” – Knox, et al (2014)

19 3/16/2021

The Forensic Interview

Photo by Polina Zimmerman from Pexels

Forensic interview (Knox, et al 2014)

• Child may initially deny, perhaps repeating what offender has scripted • In one case, child said multiple injuries were self-inflicted, caused by fighting with other teens • In another case, child said injuries sustained during gang fight – Check the history • Work with medical and mental health providers for piecemeal disclosure

Consider an extended evaluation

• “Often disclosures only gradually come forth after the child has been stabilized” • Ask specifically about physical abuse: – “When extreme discipline is accepted as the norm by a child, the child may not disclose …the abuse they experienced unless specifically asked.” – Ask about sensory details (i.e. eating a mouse or spiders, etc.) – Ask about exercise

20 3/16/2021

Screen for poly-victimization

• “Tell me about meal time” • “Tell me about going to the bathroom” • “What are the rules about sleep or potty” – Knox, et al (2014) • “Tell me about family chores” • Distinguish between rules for this child and other siblings – Interview siblings • Ask about exercise • Who takes care of you when you get sick? • Ask about pets and favorite toys – Offenders often threaten animals or destroy things of value to victim

Suspect interrogation

Photo by Daniel McCullough on Unsplash

Interrogation subjects

• Relationship to victim (79% of torturers are not child’s first degree relative) • Most torturers scapegoat child, so ask: – Child’s eating, sleeping or other habits – Any “rules” or rituals o E.g. (shave child’s head, beat with belt, require pushups) – Explain each injury (use photos) – Ask for demonstration – Religious beliefs (many offenders considered harsh discipline a “religious duty”)

21 3/16/2021

Interrogating parent using religious theme in torture

• Any religious books offender relies on – find, photograph, seize

• Bible citations

• Armed with alternative explanations

Crime scene photographs (Knox, et al 2014)

Child slept under stairs Alarm to keep child from leaving

22 3/16/2021

Crime scene photographs (Knox, et al 2014)

4 year old with immersion and scalp burns suspended at night to Close up photograph prevent scratching of injuries

Contrast victim/offender’s quarters

The Neighbor’s House

• “The officers then entered through a front porch window and found the child locked in a 2-by-4-foot closet under a stairway. She had no food or water and appeared to be extremely malnourished with burns, scratches, and bruises all over her body.” – Media Report (North Carolina 9/17)

23 3/16/2021

Photograph/seize all objects used in the torture

Additional crime scene photos

• Document sufficient food in the house • Compare and contrast child’s room with other siblings’ and perpetrator’s • Document all religious artifacts, rules, “discipline charts” • Document anything of value in the house – gaming technologies, alcohol, expensive accessories, finished nails

Starvation photographs

• Take serial photographs of the victim from the time of removal until nutritional recovery.

24 3/16/2021

A helpful resource

Prosecuting torture in Maine (Ratnayake 2020)

Drug use

25 3/16/2021

Drug use

• By parents: increases risk child will be abused but is this enough to prove neglect? • By children: basis for child protection action if condoned or parent fails to get child treatment • Using drugs to control child: is it neglect to control or sedate child chemically? • Meth labs

Poisoning, drugging

Poisoning

• 50% of accidental poisoning cases occur in children 2-3 years old • Accidental poisoning uncommon in infants and kids between the ages of 6-10 • Is it a one-time event? Are parents willing to remedy situation? • Unusual poisoning (lethal dosages of household foods)

26 3/16/2021

Intent to Harm

• Some parents or care providers have used poison to get rid of a problem child. • Some parents have poisoned their children intentionally and then tried to sue formula companies. • Poisons are so common in the home that they can become an easy cover-up for a homicide. • Bleach, lye, drain cleaners, rat poison, pepper, radiator fluid

Intent to Harm

• Investigators should check for recently acquired life insurance policies. • Carefully check dates of prescriptions and dates purchased. • Interview friends, neighbors, babysitters to ascertain relationship between child and parent or care provider. • Contact doctors or hospitals for medical records that might indicate rejection of the child at time of birth.

Intent to Calm

• Parents or care providers frustrated with prolonged crying or restless nights sometimes use prescription drugs to make child sleep. • Sedatives are most commonly used. • Some parents use alcoholic beverages to get children to sleep. • Some parents have put marijuana in children's bottles to quiet them.

27 3/16/2021

Intent to Amuse

• Some parents/caretakers give alcoholic beverages to their child and find amusement in the child's drunken condition. • Some parents/caretakers while under the influence of hallucinogens, give that drug to the child in the mistaken and confused belief that their child will enjoy the feeling or high.

Domestic violence and neglect

Recording from the National Center on Domestic and Sexual Violence Available at http://www.ncdsv.org/ncd_911.html

Effects of Exposure to IPV (Summers, 2006)

Infants Preschool Age School Age Adolescents

•Trouble interacting •Few and low •Dating violence with peers quality peer (victim or perpetrator) •Stranger anxiety relations •Increased risk for teen pregnancy Social

28 3/16/2021

Effects of Exposure to IPV (Summers, 2006)

Emotional/ Psychological •Separation anxiety response •Unresponsiveness

•Inability to •Self‐blame •Self‐blame •Short attention span understand •Distracted, •Pro‐violent attitude inattentive •Defensive

Cognitive •Pro‐violent attitude

Signs of neglect

Consider neglect when the parent/caregiver:

• Appears to be indifferent to the child • Seems apathetic or depressed • Behaves irrationally or in a bizarre manner • Is abusing alcohol or other drugs

29 3/16/2021

Consider the possibility of neglect when the child:

• Is frequently absent from school • Begs or steals food or money • Lacks needed medical or dental care, immunizations, or glasses • Is consistently dirty and has severe body odor • Lacks sufficient clothing for the weather • Abuses alcohol or other drugs • States that there is no one at home to provide care

Always consider polyvictimization

Case Study

30 3/16/2021

Crime scene investigation

• Marks on child’s neck • Measure length of chain & child’s arm span • Can child access food? Water? Bathroom? Entertainment (TV, computer, books)? Chair? Bed? • Can child see park from window? • Child’s clothes (wetness/soiling) • Temperature in the house • Can dog access food, water, bed, toys, toilet area (paper, outdoors)?

Questions for prosecutors

• Are there any potential defenses? • How will you overcome these defenses?

31 3/16/2021

“Till the night be passed”

“Silence in the face of evil is itself evil. Not to act is to act.” – Dietrich Bonhoeffer

[email protected] www.zeroabuseproject.org

32 3/16/2021

Understanding and Responding to the Sexual Behaviors of Children

Victor I. Vieth Director of Education & Research Zero Abuse Project [email protected]

The Agenda • What is normal vs. abnormal sexual behavior for pre-adolescents? • What is normal vs. abnormal sexual behavior for adolescents and teens? • What do you do when you see abnormal behavior? – Practice scenarios

Presentation based on this article

1 3/16/2021

As well as this book chapter

A great resource

Another great resource

2 3/16/2021

What is normal for young children?

Photo by Chella Ravi from Pexels

Sexual behaviors (Johnson 2014)

• 40-85% of children 12 and younger engage in some sexual behaviors • Most of this behavior is “informational gathering” as children explore each other’s bodies by looking and touching (i.e. playing doctor) or exploring gender roles (i.e. playing house) • Most sexual behaviors are limited, voluntary, between children of similar ages, size and developmental status

Adults vs. children (Johnson 2014)

• Adults see sexual activity based on our grown up experiences of sexual desire and orgasm- seeking behaviors. • While pre-teens may be motivated by more adult like sexual desires, “this is rarely true of younger children.” • For these kids private parts are a “mystery and secrecy that inspires them to discover what they are all about.”

3 3/16/2021

Normal behavior (AAP)

• Children 2-6 commonly engage in: – self-touching –showing their genitals, looking at the genitals or others, trying to see an adult in the nude –talking about body functions, etc.

NCTSN pre-school children (less than 4)

• Explore/touch private parts (in private or public) • Rub private parts with hand or against objects • Showing private parts to others • Trying to touch mother’s or other women’s breast • Removing clothes and wanting to be naked • Attempting to see others undressing • Talking to same aged children about “poop” and “pee”

NCTSN 4-6 year olds

• Purposely touch genitals (masturbation)— sometimes in the presence of others • Attempting to see others naked or undressing • Mimicking dating behavior (kissing, holding hands) • Talking about private parts, using “naughty” words they often don’t understand • Explore private parts with children their own age (playing doctor, “show me yours, I’ll show you mine”)

4 3/16/2021

Case scenario (NTSN) • Three girls, all five years old, are playing together in a room and when someone checks on them finds their panties are off, they are giggling and pointing to and touching each other’s genitals • Normal or abnormal?

What do you say?

• “It looks like you’re touching each other’s private parts. This is not a good idea. You can touch your own private parts, but not other people. Other people are not allowed to touch your private parts either.” – Johnson (2014)

NCTSN 7-12 year olds

• Masturbation but usually in private • Playing games with children their own age (truth or dare, playing family, playing boyfriend/girlfriend) • Looking at pictures of naked people • Viewing/listening to sexual content in media (TV, movies, games, the Internet, music) • Wanting more privacy (when undressing, etc) • Beginnings of sexual attraction to peers

5 3/16/2021

What do you say?

• Two pre-teens exploring each other’s bodies • “There are a lot of responsibilities that go along with sexual looking and touching. Do you both understand how babies are made? Please go over this with your parents. You are too young to be making babies or putting your private parts together. Do you have any questions?” – Johnson (2014)

Abnormal Sexual Behavior (Friedrich CSBI)

• Placing child’s mouth on sex part • asking to engage in sex acts • masturbating with object • inserting objects in vagina/anus • imitating intercourse • making sexual sounds • french kissing

• undressing other people •asking to watch sexually explicit television •imitating sexual behavior with dolls

6 3/16/2021

Normal or abnormal? (NCSBY)

Mr. and Mrs. Cornelison’s four sons ranged in age from 5 to 10 years old. All the boys loved sports. Every evening and weekend was filled with practices, games, and other activities. One Saturday morning, Mrs. Cornelison told her sons to get in their uniforms for their games. As the children dressed, it was unusually quiet in the bedroom, so Mrs. Cornelison went to see what was happening. She found two of her sons, ages 7 and 9, undressed and touching each other’s private parts. She was shocked. She told her husband what she saw. Mr. Cornelison had the boys get dressed, and he talked to each of them separately. The boys seemed embarrassed. They reported that they were just getting dressed and were wondering what it would be like to touch each other.

Normal or abnormal? (NCSBY)

Ms. Blackwood is worried about her grandchildren, Summer, age 7, and Darren, age 5. Their father sexually abused them a year ago. Summer and Darren were sent to live with Ms. Blackwood after her daughter (the children’s mother) left to be with her husband. Since being in her home, her grandchildren seem to have no boundaries. No one is a stranger to them. They try to hug or kiss everyone. Summer especially likes to talk with men, even at the grocery store. Recently, Ms. Blackwood found Summer with her mouth on Darren’s privates while they were taking a bath together. Ms. Blackwood didn’t know what to do; she just froze watching them. After the initial state of shock, she told the children that they had better stop that. Summer wasn’t upset about the behavior or about how it might impact Darren.

MDT responses to concerning sexual behaviors (children below 12)

• The younger the child, the more likely they are mimicking behaviors seen or repeating behaviors they have experienced • An initial step for the MDT is to screen for the possibility of child abuse • Consider applying for a child protection petition – Ratnayake (2013)

7 3/16/2021

Normal vs. abnormal adolescent/teen sexual behavior

Photo by cottonbro from Pexels

Normal adolescent/teen sexual behavior (Salter)

• Sexually explicit talk with peers • Obscenity/jokes within cultural norm • Sexual innuendo, flirting, courtship • Interest in erotica • Solitary or mutual masturbation • Hugging, kissing, holding hands • Foreplay, even intercourse with consenting partner

Deviant level one (Salter)

• High degree of preoccupation/anxiety • Frequent use of porn/sex shows • Indiscriminate sexual acts w/ multiple partners • Sexually aggressive remarks, obscenities, graffiti • Embarrassing others with sexual remarks • Pulling skirts up, pants down • Violating others space

8 3/16/2021

Deviant level one MDT responses (Salter) • May be a red flag of sexually aggressive impulses • Some intervention might be helpful (voluntary services, child protection petition, etc)

Deviant level two (Salter)

• Compulsive masturbation • Degradation/humiliation of self or others with sexual overtones • Attempting to expose genitals of others • Chronic preoccupation with sexually aggressive porn • Sexually explicit conversation w/ young children • Sexually explicit threats • Obscene phone calls

Deviant level two (Salter) • Indicates a high degree of sexual preoccupation and/or deviant sexual interests • Requires intervention (voluntary services, child protection petition, delinquency charges, etc)

9 3/16/2021

Deviant level three (Salter)

• Genital touching without permission • Sexual contact with significant age difference • Forced sexual contact or penetration (vaginal/anal) • Sexual contact with animals • Causing genital injury to others

Deviant level three (Salter) •Victim-involved sexual assaults require intervention •Delinquency petition

What would you do with this case?

“I am six years old and my brother is 12. My brother persuaded me to lie down on the bathroom floor. There were some neighbor boys in the house. He promised not to let them in. He got me on the floor with my pants down and then opened the door. He laughed about it.”

10 3/16/2021

What would you do with this case?

A 16 year old youth in a position of leadership in a youth serving organization isolates a 12 year old youth and invites him/her to play Truth or Dare. The younger child chooses “dare” and the 16 year old “dares” the 12 year old to touch the older youth’s genitals.

Identify the concerns?

• Older youth in a position of authority (no mutuality involved) • Four year age difference—too great to consider them peers • Youth leader likely violating prohibitions of two deep leadership • Isolating the child from others communicates a secretive nature • Most youth leaders wouldn’t use truth or dare to have sexual overtones

“Tea bagging”

• Four teenage boys (all 16) are at hotel for a swim meet. Three of the boys gang up on a boy who is often picked on. While two of boys hold him to the ground, the third boy attempts to “tea bag” him by putting his testicles in the teen’s mouth. The teen’s yelling causes a YSO chaperone to walk into the room. • Normal or abnormal?

11 3/16/2021

Case scenario

• 14 year old boy has been warned at a youth camp about sexually aggressive remarks directed toward a girl his age. When he walks past the girl at a youth activity, he takes a pencil and forcibly pokes the girl’s breast, causing her pain. • Abnormal or normal?

SOMAPI

• More than 50 national experts • Criminal justice professionals, treatment providers, researchers, medical and mental health professionals

History of responding to juveniles committing sexual offenses

• Historically, the population was “not seen as a significant public safety threat and was instead viewed with a ‘boys will be boys’ attitude.” • Retrospective studies from 1970s-1980s showed that large number of adult offenders began offending during adolescence. • Heavy emphasis on addressing juvenile sex offenses with many approaches treating the population as analogous to adult offenders – Lobanov-Rostovsky (2014)

12 3/16/2021

The expansion of knowledge

• From 1982-1992, juvenile sex offender treatment programs increased 40-fold (Knopp 1992) • Research exploded with now more than 200 studies specifically focused on this population – Finkelhor (2009)

What is a juvenile sex offense?

• Most children (40-85%) will engage in some sexual behaviors with other children before they turn 18 (Russell 2014) • Criminal courts, juvenile delinquency courts and child protection courts typically only get involved when the conduct involves children of different ages, differences in power, when force or coercion is employed, or when the sexual behavior suggests child maltreatment.

The prevalence of juvenile sex offenses • Juvenile sex offenders comprise more than one-quarter (25.8%) of all sex offenders • Juveniles account for more than one third (35.6%) of those known to law enforcement to have committed sex offenses against minors – Finkelhor (2009)

13 3/16/2021

Who commits juvenile sex offenses?

• 5% are younger than 9 • 16% are younger than 12 • 38% are ages 12-14 • 46% are ages 15-17 • 93% are male, 7% female – Finkelhor (OJJDP 2009)

Who are the victims of juveniles?

• 59% are younger than 12 (39% of the victims of adult offenders are younger than 12) • For offenders ages 6-9, the mean age of their victims is 5-7 • For offenders ages 15-17, the mean age is 11-13 • Juveniles rarely target children older than they are • 78.8 of victims female, 24.7% male (overlap because some incidents involve abuse of both genders) – Finkelhor (2009)

Boys are much less likely to disclose

Photo by Juan Mendez from Pexels

14 3/16/2021

Research on child abuse disclosures by boys

The targeting of boys versus girls

• When teens target boys, they tend to focus on younger, sexually immature boys (more than half 4-7 years of age) • When teens target girls, they tend to focus on more sexually mature girls • This may be that it’s easier to dominate girls and young boys • Could also be that older boys are more reluctant to report – Finkelhor 2009

Relationship between JV offenders and victims

• 25% of victims are family members • 63.2% are acquaintances • 2.5% are strangers • 8.4% of the cases, the victim’s identify is unknown – Finkelhor 2009

15 3/16/2021

Location of offenses

• Residence/home 68.8% • 11.9% school • 3.8% store/building • 7.1% outside • 8.3% other/unknown – Finkelhor (2009)

Why do juveniles offend?

• Adolescent sexually abusive behavior is influenced by a variety of risk and protective factors occurring at the individual youth, family, peer, school, neighborhood and community levels. Consequently, policies and practices should include evaluations that consider a range of potentially relevant factors that might be related to the development or possibility of repeated sexually abusive behavior in a given youth and that can guide effective intervention. – ATSA (2012)

What does that mean?

“Some juvenile sex offenders appear primarily motivated by sexual curiosity. Others have longstanding patterns of violating the rights of others. Some offenses occur in conjunction with serious mental health problems. Some of the offending behavior is compulsive, but it more often appears impulsive or reflects poor judgment.” --Finkelhor (2009)

16 3/16/2021

Why do juveniles offend?

Sexual victimization (Leversee 2014)

Physical abuse (Widom & Massey 2015)

17 3/16/2021

How often are children beaten? • 28% hit so hard there are injuries (ACE) • Harsh physical discipline (pushing, grabbing, shoving, slapping, and hitting) even in the absence of more severe maltreatment (broken bones, sexual abuse, etc) is associated with higher risks of cardiovascular disease, arthritis, obesity, history of family dysfunction, and mental disorders (Afifi, et al, 2013).

The impact on developing brains

Multiple types of child maltreatment

• A study of 667 boys and 155 girls found that nearly all had “highly dysfunctional” families and high degrees of physical abuse, sexual abuse, emotional abuse and neglect –Cavanaugh, et al (2008).

18 3/16/2021

Most children abused in one way are abused in multiple ways

• Exposure to multiple forms of victimization is common • Almost 66% of the sample was exposed to more than one type of victimization, 30% experienced fıve or more types, and 10% experienced 11 or more different forms of victimization in their lifetimes. • Poly-victims comprise a substantial portion of the children who would be identifıed by screening for an individual victimization type, such as sexual assault or witnessing parental violence. • Poly-victimization is more highly related to trauma symptoms than experiencing repeated victimizations of a single type and explains a large part of the associations between individual forms of victimization and symptom levels. – (Turner, Finkelhor, et al, 2010)

Fewer protective factors

• Juveniles who offend sexually have fewer protective factors such as emotional support and social competency skills to buffer against early abuse experiences. – Grabell & Knight (2009)

Characteristics of those who offend against younger children vs. peers/adults (Hunter, et al 2003)

Children Peers/adults

• Use less aggression • Employ more force • More likely to abuse • More likely to use relatives weapon • Greater deficits in • Less likely to be related psychosocial functioning to victim • More likely to meet • Less likely to commit criteria for clinical offense in victim’s home depression and anxiety • Demonstrate less anxiety and depression

19 3/16/2021

But this isn’t always true

There appears to be a sub-group of adolescents who offend against younger children that are not submissive, dependent, socially isolated, and less aggressive in their sexual offenses. – Daversa, et al (2007)

Peer pressure?

• Nearly one fourth of all juvenile sex offenses involve multiple offenders (23.9%) as opposed to adult offenses (13.5%) • This suggests the possibility of peer pressure in some cases. – Finkelhor (2009)

Johnny Cash & Peer Pressure

• Sexual violation of delayed child when Cash was juvenile • Peer pressure • ACE score (childhood emotional abuse, alcoholism, perhaps DV) – Hillburn (2013)

20 3/16/2021

Me in Starkville, Mississippi

Research on recidivism

Weaknesses in recidivism research (Lobanov-Rostovsky 2014)

• Recidivism rates are typically based on additional charges or arrests and thus are not true re-offense rates. • Recidivism rates are often calculated differently from one study to the next (re-arrest, self report, length of period examined) • Recidivism rates for JV female offenders virtually unknown.

21 3/16/2021

Three meta analysis

• 79 studies conducted from 1943-1996 involving 10,988 subjects found sexual recidivism rate of 5% for one year, 22% for three years (Alexander 1999). • 9 studies involving 2,988 subjects with average follow up period of 59 months found sexual recidivism rate of 13% and nonviolent recidivism rate of 29% (Reitzel & Carbonell 2006). • 63 studies of 11,219 juveniles with a mean follow up of 59 months found sexual recidivism rate of 7% and general recidivism of 43% (Caldwell 2010)

Individual studies

• Juveniles released from correction settings have sexual recidivism rates of 0% to 41% and general recidivism rates of 23-77% (8 studies from 1984-2001) (SMART office) • Juveniles released from community-based intervention settings have sexual recidivism rates of 1-20% and general recidivism of 7-79% (12 studies 1993-2010) (SMART office)

Bottom line

• According to meta-analysis, juveniles have lower recidivism rates (7-13%) than adult offenders (14-24%) (SMART office) • Juveniles who commit sexual offenses have higher rates of general recidivism than sexual recidivism (SMART office)

22 3/16/2021

What do we know about treatment?

Photo by cottonbro from Pexels

Treatment lowers recidivism (Worling, et al, 2000, 2010)

Types of treatment

• Relapse prevention: When a sex offense is planned, it is possible to identify the sequence of events that triggers the cycle of offending (Kirsch, et al 2011) • Cognitive behavior therapy assumes sexually coercive behavior is learned and thus new ways of responding to distressing feelings or conditions can also be learned (DOJ 2010)

23 3/16/2021

What type of treatment?

• According to an analysis of 9 studies, cognitive- behavioral, relapse prevention, sexual trauma therapy and psychosocial education have lowered recidivism rates (Carbonell 2006) • Multisystemic Therapy (MST) works on the premise that individual, family, and environmental factors (e.g. school) all play a role has proved effective (Letourneau 2009)

Where should treatment be delivered?

• Growing body of evidence that delivering therapeutic services in natural environments (home, school) enhances treatment effectiveness (Letourneau & Borduin 2008) • Enhancing behavior management skills in parents “may be far more important in the treatment of sexually abusive behaviors than traditional clinical approaches.” (St. Amand, et al, 2008)

Recidivism factors (Ratnayake 2013)

• Deviant sexual fantasies with an interest in prepubescent children and/or sexual violence • Committing sex crimes despite prior charges or convictions • Multiple victims • Targeting strangers • Social isolation/unwillingness or inability to form peer relationships • Unwillingness/inability to participate in treatment • What about John?

24 3/16/2021

Factors not predictive of recidivism

• JV’s own history of sexual victimization (may play a role in initial conduct) • Degree of sexual contact (e.g. penetration) • Denial of sexual crimes (unless this means unwillingness to participate in treatment) – Ratnayake (2013)

Factors associated with lower recidivism

• Positive family functioning • Positive peer social groups • Availability of supportive adults • Commitment to school • Pro-social, non-criminal attitudes • Spirituality • What about John? – ATSA (2013); Walker (2009)

When do we reunite siblings?

Photo by Serhat Beyazkaya from Unsplash

25 3/16/2021

Reunification/safety plan (Bonner 2009)

• Meaningful progress in treatment • Close supervision • No babysitting or supervisory authority • Not involved in bathing or dressing children • Be fully dressed in public areas of home • No access to sexualized materials • Not share room with younger children • Not go into other children’s rooms • No hugs or kisses with victim • No horseplay, wrestling or tickling with children

Other considerations

• Recommendations of victim’s treatment provider • Willingness of victim and other family members to report re-offense or violations of the rules

Registration

• 27 states require at least some juveniles to register as sex offenders • 11 states have certain juveniles eligible for registration but leave it up to the judge • 10 states have no registration • Others have “hybrid” model (i.e. committed)

26 3/16/2021

Why we do what we do

Questions and Comments?

[email protected] www.zeroabuseproject.org

27 3/16/2021

28 11/11/2020

Shadow Children Addressing Child Sexual Abuse and Commercial Sexual Exploitation within the Family and Interviewing Considerations

Rita Farrell, Director, ChildFirst

Objectives

• Define Terminology involved with Trafficking

• Discuss child sexual abuse victims and commercial sexual exploitation within the family.

• Understanding the victim

• Interview considerations.

Shadow Children

• What does Commercial Sexual Exploitation look like?

• What do exploited children look like?

• What do traffickers look like?

1 11/11/2020

Laws and Definitions

Sources: Polaris Project and ABA

Human Trafficking Statistics

• 27 million – Number of people in modern-day slavery across the world • 4.5 million – Number of people in forced sexual exploitation globally • Around 3.9 million – Number of children exploited by the global commercial sex trade • 98% – Percent of victims of sex trafficking who are women and girls • 100,000 - 300,000 – Number of prostituted children in the U.S. • 12-14 – Average age of entry into prostitution for girls • 11-13 – Average age of entry into prostitution for boys

Statistics

• 244,000 U.S. children are at risk for commercial sexual exploitation each year. – (Estes & Weiner, 2002, APSAC, 2013) • Studies show that over half, and sometimes as many as 85% of the victims of child sexual exploitation have a history with the child welfare system. (Feldman, 2007) • Research shows that 66% of victims are victims of other forms of maltreatment. (DHHS, 2012) • 90% of runaways flee abusive environments

2 11/11/2020

Trafficking in Children

• Definition of Trafficking (United Nations Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, 2000) – The act of recruitment, transportation, transfer, harboring or receipt of a person… for the purpose of exploitation either within or outside a country.

Trafficking Victims Protection Act (TVPA)

• Federal law passed in 2000 – Created a legal framework to combat trafficking in persons – 3Ps: Prosecution, Protection, Prevention – Provided access to benefits, services, and immigration relief for victims

Human Trafficking

• Sex trafficking in which a commercial sex act is induced by force, fraud, or coercion, or in which the person induced to perform such an act has not attained 18 years of age; OR • The recruitment, harboring, transportation, provision, or obtaining of a person for labor or services, through the use of force, fraud, or coercion for the purpose of subjection to involuntary servitude, debt bondage, or slavery.

3 11/11/2020

Shadow Children

• Definitions: – Commercial sexual exploitation of children occurs when individuals buy, trade, or sell sexual acts with a child – Sex trafficking is “the recruitment, harboring, transportation, provision, or obtaining of a person for the purposes of a commercial sex act.” Victims of Trafficking and Violence Protection Act of 2000 (United States of America). Public Law 106-386 (H.R. 3244). 28 October 2000. Section 103(9)

Victims and their Traffickers

Common Issues in Trafficking

• Relationship with the trafficker • History of abuse • Cultural and Linguistic barriers • Stigma/Shame • Trained to lie to law enforcement for survival • Lack of access to basic needs

4 11/11/2020

Commercial Sex Trafficking

• Precipitating Factors: – Dysfunctional family relationships and domestic violence – Victims of physical, sexual abuse, and neglect – Children are often runaways or homeless – Previous contact with juvenile justice system – Psychological and emotional difficulties – History of drug or alcohol abuse – Low educational level

Prostitution & Trafficking

• Modes of Entrance & Recruitment: – Seasoning or grooming techniques – Tactics of power and control – Connection to pornography – Sex for drugs or alcohol – Gang activity

Types of Child Sex Trafficking

• Pimp-Controlled Prostitution and Stripping – Sites may include street-based prostitution, hotels and motels, truck stops, and exotic dance clubs. • Residential Brothels – Typically informal, cash-based, underground businesses that operate in residential and non-commercial areas. • Escort Agencies – Pimps advertise minor victims under their control using coded language such as “barely legal” or “young” on websites or other media outlets. • Truck Stops – Purchasers of commercial sex will search “john boards” on the internet to find truck stops where commercial sex is available. Purchasers signal that they want to purchase sex by using their headlights or stickers on their windows.

5 11/11/2020

Identifying Victims of Trafficking

• Traffickers hide or disguise their victims in order to avoid detection. • Victims of both labor and sex trafficking are usually told to tell a story which disguises the threats and violence keeping them enslaved. – Traffickers often coach victims to answer questions with a cover story about being a wife, student, tourist, employee or willing “sex worker.” – Due to fear of the trafficker, a victim will often tell this story to customers, service providers and law enforcement. • Because human trafficking is a relatively newly recognized crime, it is rarely identified as “human trafficking” by members of the public or victims themselves. • Service providers and law enforcement often don’t initially recognize when a person is being trafficked.

Identifying Victims of Trafficking

• Many victims of human trafficking are first treated as: – Clients in need of other assistance. – Victims of other crimes such as domestic violence and/or sexual assault/sexual abuse. – Perpetrators of a crime such as illegal immigration or prostitution. • Victims may not always recognize that what is being done to them is a crime. Some victims: – May be unaware there are laws against the exploitation they are experiencing. – Blame themselves for their situations. – Develop loyalties or positive feelings toward the trafficker/s as a coping mechanism.

Key Questions …

… to determine if a person is a victim of human trafficking

• Is the person is experiencing or believes s/he would experience serious harm if s/he tried to leave a work or commercial sex situation? • Is this person free to leave their work situation? • Is this person experiencing violence, deception, or threats which make it difficult or impossible to leave the work situation? • Is this person experiencing or do they believe they would experience serious harm if they tried to leave the work situation? • Does this person owe a debt which makes it difficult or impossible to leave a work situation? • Is this person a minor who was induced to engage in commercial sex? – Any minor who is induced to engage in commercial sex is a trafficking victim according to federal law (18 U.S.C sec 1591).

6 11/11/2020

Challenges in Identifying Victims

• Frequent movement – may not be in one place long enough to form social connections • Distrust of service providers – generalized impressions and perceived judgmental attitudes • Lies and false stories – may be self-generated or trained to tell lies, fake names, fake SSN • Rarely come into contact with institutional systems – that are designed to help them • Low likelihood of multiple encounters – within institutions or through doing outreach

Indicators of Sex Trafficking

• Presence of an overly controlling and abusive ‘boyfriend’ • Inability to look in the eyes or face of people, especially her ‘boyfriend’ • Injuries/signs of physical abuse or torture • Signs of malnourishment • Restricted or controlled communication • Demeanor – Fear, anxiety, depression, submissive, tense, nervous

Indicators of Sex Trafficking

• Claims of being an adult although appearance suggests adolescent features • Lack of identification documents (ID, birth certificate, Social Security card) • Presence of different aliases and ages • Lack of knowledge of a given community or whereabouts • Frequent movement

7 11/11/2020

Indicators of Sex Trafficking

• Claims of “just visiting” and inability to clarify addresses • Few or no personal possessions • Few or no personal financial records • Inconsistencies in their story • Inappropriately dressed for court • Reporting an excessive amount of sexual partners during a health check-up

Who are the Traffickers?

Diverse Trafficking Operations • Individuals – Pimps – Neighbors, friends, relatives, intimate partners – International organization and diplomatic staff – Labor recruiters / brokers • Informal criminal operations – Family or extended family – Pimp networks – Gangs • Businesses (large or small) – Contractors / agents – Labor recruiters • International organized crime

Understanding Victims

8 11/11/2020

Why Don’t They Just Seek Help?

• Captivity/Confinement – locked indoors, locked in rooms, locked in closets • Frequent accompaniment/guarded – interactions are monitored or controlled by the pimp • Use and threat of violence – severe physical retaliation (beatings, rapes, sexual assault) • Fear – of physical retaliation, of death, or of arrest • Use and threat of reprisals against loved ones – against children or family members • Shame – about the activities they have been forced to perform

Why Don’t They Just Seek Help?

• Self-blame – brainwashed by the pimp to blame themselves • Dependency – on the pimp after years of control • Debt bondage – may have a debt to the pimp that they feel they need to pay off • Loyalty to the pimp – Stolkholm syndrome, similarities to Battered Women’s Syndrome • Social barriers and unfamiliarity with surroundings – due to frequent movement • No personal ID or documentation – which is often confiscated by the pimp

Why Don’t They Just Seek Help?

• Distrust of law enforcement – brainwashed to fear law enforcement by the pimp or learned distrust of law enforcement due to direct negative experiences • Isolation – from others, from other support structures, from means of relief • Misinformation and false promises – have been told lies or deceitful information • Hopelessness/Resignation – feelings of no self-worth, disassociation, giving up, apathy • Lack of knowledge of social systems – may not understand social service infrastructure or how and where to access help

9 11/11/2020

Impact of Trauma

• Inability to recall certain aspects of an experience • Inability to recall dates, times • Sleep disorders • Inability to concentrate • Shame and humiliation (withdrawal and isolation) • Difficulty trusting others • Irritability, angry outbursts • Inability to organize, manage appointments, etc.

Effects of Sex Trafficking

• Short term – Higher risk behaviors (i.e., drug and alcohol abuse) – Impaired judgment – Emotional exhaustion – Fear, anxiety, and nervousness – Muscle tension – Self-blame – Rage – Self-care issues – Flat affect / disconnection from feelings

Effects of Sex Trafficking

• Long term – Post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) – Trauma bonding – Severe depression / suicidal ideation – Anxiety disorders / sleep disorders – Feelings of being mentally broken – Multiple symptoms resulting from untreated STIs – Sexual dysfunction – Difficulty establishing/maintaining healthy relationships – Dissociative disorders

10 11/11/2020

Shadow Children and our Cases

• What is the allegation before us?

• How do I prepare for interview?

• Am I working with a multi-disciplinary team?

• Are we missing anything?

Selective Attention

Keeping your eye solely on the ball may cause you to miss………the GORILLA!

11 11/11/2020

What are we missing?

• Statistics show that many of these children had their cases reported but their allegations we unsubstantiated.

Ex: Hart family case

Hart Family Case Example

• Virginia case – “human trafficking” of their daughters

• Parents arranging for their 13 and 14 year-old daughters to provide companionship and affection to male individuals in exchange for money and goods.

• 2009-2011

The true disappointment

• Investigated in 2002 for attempting to “sell” their 3 month old daughter.

• Father entered plea agreement and sentenced two years in prison. Charges against mom dismissed (found incompetent)

• How is it possible that these two parents still had custody of their children

12 11/11/2020

Outcome

• Harts facing 20 years in prison

• Children in foster care

• Children will not be returned to their parents

Interview of Sally

• Sally (13 yr) – Interviewed on allegation of sexual abuse by a relative. During rapport, child talked about enjoying social media and hooking up with boys. When I explored, Sally had met many boys online and was dropped off every weekend by mom to friend’s house in another state. Sally was physically abused by bio dad, many forms of maltreatment in family. LE wanted to focus only on allegation before them.

Sally’s Case

• Sally was at risk to runaway, be exploited, enter world of prostitution

13 11/11/2020

Why is this problematic?

• Trafficking/commercial sexual exploitation cases being missed!

• Interviews should explore all forms of maltreatment

Understanding Child Sexual Abuse

Understanding Child Sexual Abuse Why is it important?

• Essential to understand how the child views(ed) their abuse and the dimensions of psychological maltreatment or manipulation • Essential to understand the child’s coping mechanisms • Essential to understand reasons children disclose how/when they disclose • Essential to be able to explain these dynamics

14 11/11/2020

Support for Abuse Allegation

• Must be found through corroboration • NO diagnostic tool exists in medical or mental health fields • Common issues that must be addressed include delayed disclosure and recantation and other behaviors, which may raise questions

Dynamics

Dynamics help to explain the experience of child sexual abuse • The child-victim tries to reconcile her/his experience (of abuse) with adult norms and realities • The juvenile’s necessary coping behavior/survival techniques contradict adult expectations and beliefs (i.e., do not correspond with how a “normal” adult victim would react in similar circumstances) • This coping behavior (i.e. delayed disclosure, secrecy, recantation) results in virtual abandonment of victim by disbelieving adults—which then drives victim farther into self-blame, alienation, re-victimization

Child Sexual Abuse Accommodation Syndrome

• Secrecy • Helplessness • Entrapment and accommodation • Delayed / unconvincing disclosure • Retraction / recantation

(Roland Summit, 1983)

15 11/11/2020

Not a true “syndrome”

• Medical dictionary – A set of symptoms occurring together • Merriam-Webster – A group of signs and symptoms that occur together and characterize a particular abnormality or condition • In 1992, Summit states he would have avoided term if he’d anticipated misunderstanding of intent

Key Points on CSAA(S)

• Not a diagnostic tool (Summit, 1992) • Used to explain problematic behaviors • Important for addressing defense attacks on child’s credibility • Know the literature and consider methodology • Interviewer must be prepared to help prosecutor address defense challenges

Barriers to Disclosure (Schaeffer, Leventhal & Asnes, 2011)

• The barriers to disclosure identified by the children (n=191, ages 3-18) are categorized into five domains: – Threats made by the perpetrator – Fears – Lack of opportunity – Lack of understanding – Relationship with the perpetrator.

16 11/11/2020

Sexual Exploitation within Family

McCall Case

Parents sold their daughters!

• Tennessee case – parents accused of selling their children to take part in child pornography

• Children (ages 5, 12, 15, 17)

• Selling children to take part in sex films, young girls were forced to perform sexual acts in a number of different places

• Parents strung out on bath salts

17 11/11/2020

McCall case continued…

• All started with report of poor living conditions

• Children had head and body lice, flea bits, ring worm and rotten teeth.

• U.S. Attorney’s office took charge of case after learning one child was taken to South Carolina to film a sex film.

Understanding Sexual Exploitation within family

• Definition:

• Understanding dynamics and barriers to disclosure is important

Case example: Whitney age 12

IN couple sells their baby to Drug Dealers calls it “adoption”

• $13,000, a Lincoln, and some Oxycontin • 4 month old son (born addicted to meth) • Parents charged conspiracy to deal in a narcotic and conspiracy to commit child selling

18 11/11/2020

More about the Case

• Welfare fraud

• $3,000 in food stamps and assistance

• Child, now 2 years old, now in care of DHS

• Parents claim they are good people!

Potential Indicators

• History of other forms of maltreatment • Current signs of maltreatment • Change in appearance • Runaway • Older boyfriend/girlfriend • Withdrawal or lack of interest in previous activities

Sexual Exploitation within family

• Dynamics may be the same, but potentially more intense, why?

– Example: Parents selling teen daughter for drug money? – Discussion

19 11/11/2020

Responding to Victims

Polaris

Victim-Centered Approach

Victim Service Provider

Victim of Trafficking

Prosecutors / Federal / Local Attorneys Law Enforcement

Service Provider Agencies…

• Should not serve as investigators • Avoid taking notes on the crime • Do not take signed statements from victims • Do not gather evidence unless it is in the victim’s possession • Should provide assessments of physical and emotional needs • Should provide information and resources that assist and empower the individual to make informed choices • Share information with the team (with informed consent)

20 11/11/2020

Service Needs of Victims

• Emergency, Transitional, and Long-term housing • Legal services • Medical and Mental health services • Clothing and food • Court and daily accompaniment • Crisis intervention • Emotional support and counseling

Service Needs of Victims

• Employment assistance • Protection/safety planning • Social service advocacy • Transportation • Literacy education (school, G.E.D.) • Assistance in accessing government benefits

The child victim of sexual exploitation

• Typically coerced and deceived into victimization • More extreme in terms of violence, threats, physical harm and entrapment • Entry into sexual exploitation may be sudden – Kidnapping – Acquaintance or relative • Parents introducing their children to sexually explicit information may be gradual (APSAC, 2013)

21 11/11/2020

When families sexually exploit children

• May be gradual • Child no longer has a “non-offending” caregiver • Guilt and blame increases • Child sees no way out • May accommodate abuse to protect siblings or as means to “support” necessities

Tips for First Encounters

• Building TRUST is a number one priority • REASSURE the potential victim that: – You are there to help and you care about them – You are NOT trying to arrest or incarcerate them • One-on-one interactions are ideal – Attempt one-on-one interactions as much as possible – If possible, no one else should be in the room or within listening distance (interactions should occur in private settings and out of sight) – One-on-one interactions are ideal for building trust and receiving an honest account • Terminology and cultural sensitivity are important – Avoid technical terminology and jargon – Knowing appropriate “street terms” helps to build trust

Tips for First Encounters

• Many victims do not self-identify as “trafficking victims” – Expect the potential victim not to know the term “human trafficking” • Do not expect to receive the full and honest story during a first encounter – Be aware of and expect lies, canned stories, untruths – Canned stories may include “I’m just visiting,” “I’m from out of town,” or “I do this on my own because I want to – I don’t have a pimp.” – Do not be offended if they lie; do not take it personally – Women and girls may have been coached to give certain stories – It often takes up to 3-5 encounters before the true story may emerge • Be on their level – Avoid victim-blaming attitudes, body language, or behaviors – Avoid “gasps” or acting “shocked” – Avoid pity, judgment, or patronization

22 11/11/2020

Tips for First Encounters

• Assess safety and threat levels – Ask the woman or girl if she feels like she is under threat or if she is with her “folks” • Anticipate and expect that the client may return to the pimp – Due to high levels of loyalty, brain-washing, and/or fear, victims may return to their pimp during the course of receiving services • Understand her world view – The victim may have a very difficult time understanding that she has been a victim of a crime and that the pimp may be arrested for what he has done to her. This difficulty occurs because: o Pimps brainwash the women by repeatedly telling her that no one will listens to a ‘ho’ if she tries to get help from the police or anyone else. o Typically the women in prostitution are arrested rather than the pimp or men who buy their services.

What do I do?

• Be sensitive, every incident of human trafficking is different • Make sure you are not putting yourself or the individual in danger (i.e., take care to notice who is around when you are asking questions or providing resources) • If you suspect that the victim is in immediate danger, notify the police • Try to document as much information about the situation as possible – being careful not to put yourself or the individual in any danger

What do I do?

• Present outreach cards and/or hotline numbers for local anti-trafficking service providers or other anti-trafficking hotlines to suspected victims – give this information directly to the victim and only when he/she is alone • Provide the individual with hotline number and encourage him/her to call if he/she needs help or would like to talk to someone • Call the National Human Trafficking Resource Center (NHTRC) to report the incident or locate local victims’ services: 1-888-373-7888 • Visit the Polaris Project website for more information on human trafficking: www.PolarisProject.org

23 11/11/2020

Interviewing Considerations

• Build rapport • Recognize dynamics • Clarify all communication • Explore relationships/world • Don’t interrupt • Consider and explore “secondary” reasons for non- disclosure • LISTEN

Interviewing Considerations

• Be neutral • Be cognizant of interview environment • Meet the child where they are • Show respect • Explore other types of questions – ChildFirst Protocol (sample questions for forensic interviewers)

Interviewing Compliant Victims

• Suggestibility is an issue if you suggest the answers (must have been forced, right?) • What if compliant victim was engaged in drug usage or theft (consult team, perhaps file a child protection and not delinquency action) • Prostituted child: must address concerns about delinquency charges, being returned to parents, fear of pimp, etc…

24 11/11/2020

Great source for information

Shared Hope International www.sharedhope.org

References

• Victims of Trafficking and Violence Protection Act of 2000 (United States of America). Public Law 106-386 (H.R. 3244). 28 October 2000. Section 103(9) • Estes & Weiner. (2002) The Commercial Sexual Exploitation of Children In the U. S., Canada and Mexico • APSAC, Practice Guidelines. (2013) The Commercial Sexual Exploitation of Children: The Medical Provider’s Role in Identification, Assessment and Treatment. • Cassi Feldman, Report Finds 2,000 of State’s Children are Sexually Exploited, Many in New York City, N.Y. Times, April 24, 2007, http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/24/nyregion/24child.html. • Summit, R. C. (1983). The child sexual abuse accommodation syndrome. Child Abuse and Neglect, 7, 177-193. • Lyon, T. (2002). Scientific support for expert testimony on child sexual abuse accommodation. In J.R. Conte (Ed.), Critical Issues in Child Sexual Abuse, 107-138. Newbury Park, CA: Sage • London, K, Bruck, M., Wright, D., & Ceci, S. (2008). Review of the contemporary literature on how children report sexual abuse to others: Findings, methodological issues, and implications for forensic interviews. Memory, 16, 29-47. • Lyon, T. D., Ahern, E. A., Malloy, L. A., & Quas, J. A. (2007). Children’s reasoning about disclosing adult transgressions: Effects of maltreatment, child age, and adult identity. Child Development. • Summit, R. C. (1992). Abuse of the child sexual abuse accommodation syndrome. Journal of Child Sexual Abuse, 1(4), 53-163. • Schaeffer, Leventhal & Asnes. (2011) Children disclosures of sexual abuse: Learning from direct inquiry. Journal of Child Abuse and Neglect, 343-352. • Ken Lanning, FBI (retired) A Law Enforcement Perspective on Compliant Child Victim, 14(2) APSAC Advisor (Spring 2002) • Lanning, K. V. (2010). Child Molester: A Behavioral Analysis. For Professionals Investigating the • Sexual Exploitation of Children. • National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, Innocence Lost Working Group, Fact Sheet, 2010)

Questions/Comments?

Rita Farrell 479-715-7975 [email protected]

25 11/11/2020

[email protected] www.zeroabuseproject.org

26 William Mitchell Law Review

Volume 40 | Issue 3 Article 3

2014 From Sticks to Flowers: Guidelines for Child Protection Professionals Working with Parents Using Scripture to Justify Corporal Punishment Victor I. Vieth

Follow this and additional works at: http://open.mitchellhamline.edu/wmlr

Recommended Citation Vieth, Victor I. (2014) "From Sticks to Flowers: Guidelines for Child Protection Professionals Working with Parents Using Scripture to Justify Corporal Punishment," William Mitchell Law Review: Vol. 40: Iss. 3, Article 3. Available at: http://open.mitchellhamline.edu/wmlr/vol40/iss3/3

This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Law Reviews and Journals at Mitchell Hamline Open Access. It has been accepted for inclusion in William Mitchell Law Review by an authorized administrator of Mitchell Hamline Open Access. For more information, please contact [email protected]. © Mitchell Hamline School of Law Vieth: From Sticks to Flowers: Guidelines for Child Protection Professio

FROM STICKS TO FLOWERS: GUIDELINES FOR CHILD PROTECTION PROFESSIONALS WORKING WITH PARENTS USING SCRIPTURE TO JUSTIFY CORPORAL PUNISHMENT

Victor I. Vieth†

I. INTRODUCTION: THE INTERSECTION OF LAW AND RELIGION IN CASES OF CORPORAL PUNISHMENT ...... 908 II. CASE STUDY: A WIDOWED MOM, A BOARD FROM THE GARAGE, AND THE MDT ...... 911 III. RELIGION AND AMERICAN CULTURE ...... 914 A. The Influence of Christianity on Corporal Punishment Practices ...... 916 B. Religious Affiliations and Corporal Punishment ...... 916 1. Liberal Protestant Teaching on Corporal Punishment .... 917 2. Conservative Protestant Teaching on Corporal Punishment ...... 918 3. Biblical Basis for Corporal Punishment ...... 920 a. Putting a Rag Doll to Bed: Extreme Interpretations of the Proverbs ...... 921 b. Dare to Discipline: Moderate Interpretations of the Proverbs ...... 923 c. Jewish Interpretations of the Proverbs ...... 925 d. The Conservative Protestant Basis for the Shrinking Acceptance of Corporal Punishment ...... 927 IV. WORKING WITH PARENTS JUSTIFYING CORPORAL PUNISHMENT WITH SCRIPTURE ...... 930 V. CONCLUSION: WORKING WITH CAROL ...... 942

† Executive Director, Gundersen Health System’s National Child Protection Training Center. The author is grateful to Michael Johnson, Mark Everson, John Schuetze, Robert Fathman, Nadine Block, Michele Knox, Duncan Rankin, Diane Langberg, Phil Monroe, Susanne Walters, Ann Budzak Garza, Donald Walker, David Corwin, and Rita Farrell for their review and comments. The author is also grateful to Dr. Melody Berkovits for reviewing the section on Jewish interpretation of the Proverbs and offering her helpful insights.

907

Published by Mitchell Hamline Open Access, 2014 1 William Mitchell Law Review, Vol. 40, Iss. 3 [2014], Art. 3

908 WILLIAM MITCHELL LAW REVIEW [Vol. 40:3

“At a well in a yard they met a man who was beating a boy. The stick burst into flower in the man’s hand. He tried to drop it, but it stuck to his hand. His arm became a branch, his body the trunk of a tree, his feet took root. The boy, who had been crying a moment before, burst out laughing and joined them.” —C.S. Lewis1

I. INTRODUCTION: THE INTERSECTION OF LAW AND RELIGION IN CASES OF CORPORAL PUNISHMENT There is a large and growing body of research documenting that corporal punishment is not an effective form of discipline,2 with numerous medical and mental health bodies discouraging the practice.3 For example, the American Academy of Pediatrics contends that the negative consequences of corporal punishment outweigh any benefits and urges parents to find “methods other than spanking in response to undesired behavior.”4 According to

1. C.S. LEWIS, PRINCE CASPIAN 201–02 (1951). In his autobiography, C.S. Lewis describes witnessing egregious acts of school authorities beating children under the guise of corporal punishment. He also noted the social injustice involved, commenting that the victims were “boys who fell below a certain social status.” C.S. LEWIS, SURPRISED BY JOY 25 (1955). The scene quoted from Lewis’s childrens novel Prince Caspian is meant to depict biblical liberation from all forms of bondage, including beatings offered under the pretense of discipline. For a fuller discussion of this imagery in Prince Caspian, see GENE VEITH, THE SOUL OF PRINCE CASPIAN 175–84 (2008), and DEVIN BROWN, INSIDE PRINCE CASPIAN 223–26 (2008). 2. See generally ELIZABETH T. GERSHOFF, REPORT ON PHYSICAL PUNISHMENT IN THE UNITED STATES: WHAT RESEARCH TELLS US ABOUT ITS EFFECTS ON CHILDREN (2008), available at http://www.nospank.net/gershoff.pdf (synthesizing over one hundred years of social science research on physical punishment and its effect on children). 3. Organizations that have endorsed the Report on Physical Punishment in the United States include: Academy on Violence and Abuse, American Academy of Pediatrics, American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, American Medical Association, American Professional Society on the Abuse of Children, American College of Emergency Physicians, Dave Thomas Foundation for Adoption, National Association of Counsel for Children, and National Association of Pediatric Nurse Practitioners. 4. Comm. on Psychosocial Aspects of Child & Family Health, Am. Acad. of Pediatrics, Guidance for Effective Discipline, 101 PEDIATRICS 723, 726 (1998). Researchers have found that harsh physical discipline (pushing, grabbing, shoving, slapping, and hitting), even in the absence of more severe child maltreatment, is associated with higher risks of cardiovascular disease, arthritis, obesity, history of family dysfunction, and mental disorders. Tracie O. Afifi

http://open.mitchellhamline.edu/wmlr/vol40/iss3/3 2 Vieth: From Sticks to Flowers: Guidelines for Child Protection Professio

2014] FROM STICKS TO FLOWERS 909

one literature review on corporal punishment research, “[A]t its worst corporal punishment may have negative effects on children and at its best has no effects, positive or otherwise.”5 Despite research and the discouraging of corporal punishment by respected medical and mental health organizations, most Americans continue to practice corporal punishment,6 and many schools permit hitting children as a means of discipline.7 Although there are multiple reasons for parental adherence to corporal punishment, one factor appears to be the influence of religion. To many of the faithful, their reading of scripture trumps every study on corporal punishment. Indeed, their reading of scripture may trump any law limiting their ability to strike children as a means of discipline. When this happens, there is an inevitable tension between the law and religion. Understanding this tension begins with understanding when, pursuant to the law, child protection professionals may intervene in a case of corporal punishment. In the United States, all fifty states permit parents to utilize corporal punishment provided the force is reasonable.8 In determining reasonableness, courts consider the child’s age and size, the means used to inflict discipline (disciplining with objects is generally frowned upon), the place on the child’s body where discipline is inflicted, the degree of injury or pain, the parent’s motive in hitting a child, and whether the discipline is part of an overall pattern of violence.9 Some courts also consider the “nature of the misbehavior” of the child being hit10 and thus leave open the

et al., Harsh Physical Punishment in Childhood and Adult Physical Health, 132 PEDIATRICS e333, e333–38 (2013). 5. Elizabeth T. Gershoff, Corporal Punishment, Physical Abuse, and the Burden of Proof: Reply to Baumrind, Larzelere, and Cowan (2002), Holden (2002), and Parke (2002), 128 PSYCHOL. BULL. 602, 609 (2002). 6. Approximately two-thirds of parents report hitting children below the age of two and, by the time a child reaches high school, 85% have been physically punished with 51% having been struck with a belt or other object. GERSHOFF, supra note 2, at 10. 7. For a detailed analysis of state laws on corporal punishment, see Discipline and the Law, CENTER FOR EFFECTIVE DISCIPLINE (Dec. 2012), http://www.stophitting .com/index.php?page=statelegislation#Minnesota. 8. See, e.g., JOHN E.B. MYERS, MYERS ON EVIDENCE OF INTERPERSONAL VIOLENCE: CHILD MALTREATMENT, INTIMATE PARTNER VIOLENCE, RAPE, STALKING, AND ELDER ABUSE 262–64 (5th ed. 2011). 9. Id. at 262–69. 10. Hamilton ex rel. Lethem v. Lethem, 270 P.3d 1024, 1038 (Haw. 2012).

Published by Mitchell Hamline Open Access, 2014 3 William Mitchell Law Review, Vol. 40, Iss. 3 [2014], Art. 3

910 WILLIAM MITCHELL LAW REVIEW [Vol. 40:3

possibility that, in some instances, even mild forms of corporal punishment may be unlawful. In applying these and other factors, the definition of “reasonable force” in American society and law appears to be contracting.11 To the extent research discouraging corporal punishment continues to grow and societal support for the practice continues to wane, it is predictable that child protection professionals will increasingly become involved in parental discipline rooted in religion. In cases of corporal punishment, the intersection of child protection and religion happens on at least two levels. First, criminal justice professionals must decide when parental discipline is contrary to law and warrants charges even though the practice may be theologically based. Second, child protection workers must determine when to intervene and require parents to forego disciplinary techniques considered physically and emotionally harmful.12 To address this issue, this article includes a case study designed to illustrate some of the complexities multidisciplinary teams (MDTs)13 of child protection professionals encounter when

11. See, e.g., MYERS, supra note 8, at 260 (noting that “although many parents still use corporal punishment, the acceptability of spanking is on the wane”). 12. In reviewing the research, one scholar writes: “[R]ecent studies have suggested that a host of potentially harmful behavioral and psychological consequences may result from so-called ‘ordinary’ physical punishment. These negative outcomes include alcohol abuse, depression, suicidal thoughts, behavioral problems, low achievement, and future economic insecurity.” Clifton P. Flynn, Regional Differences in Spanking Experiences and Attitudes: A Comparison of Northeastern and Southern College Students, 11 J. FAM. VIOLENCE 59, 59–60 (1996). 13. There are three types of MDTs. First, there is the core investigative team typically consisting of law enforcement, child protective services, and the prosecutor’s office. This team responds to an initial report of abuse and arranges forensic interviews, medical examinations, mental health referrals, search warrants, interrogation of perpetrators, and other investigative functions. Second, there is a broader service planning or case review team that discusses the ongoing needs of a maltreated child and his or her family. The team typically consists of “professionals providing therapeutic and other support services” including medical professionals, child protection service workers, mental health practitioners, victim-witness advocates, and school guidance counselors or social workers. Third, the systems coordination team, consisting of the same individuals who participate in the service planning team, organizes public awareness events and generates support for prevention efforts. AM. PROSECUTORS RESEARCH INST., INVESTIGATION AND PROSECUTION OF CHILD ABUSE, at xxxiv, xxxviii (3d ed. 2004).

http://open.mitchellhamline.edu/wmlr/vol40/iss3/3 4 Vieth: From Sticks to Flowers: Guidelines for Child Protection Professio

2014] FROM STICKS TO FLOWERS 911

corporal punishment is practiced in the name of God. When should the team charge a parent with a crime? When should a child protection petition be filed? When the MDT is relying on research, and a parent is relying on the Bible, is there a way to bridge the gap? In addition to illustrating these questions through a case study, this article provides an overview of religious practices in the United States with special focus on religious teaching pertaining to corporal punishment. Although corporal punishment is found among all religious groups, it is more readily accepted and practiced among conservative Protestants. Accordingly, the article details the various nuances of this belief system and offers myriad suggestions for child protection professionals working with families who insist on hitting their children, even to the point of causing injury, because “the Bible tells me so.”

II. CASE STUDY: A WIDOWED MOM, A BOARD FROM THE GARAGE, 14 AND THE MDT When her husband died unexpectedly, Carol was forced to raise their little boy, only three years old, by herself. A twenty-two- year-old Caucasian woman from the Midwest, Carol had been a stay-at-home mom. However, she now had to work two jobs to make ends meet. Since she wanted more for her son, she also took college courses one night a week. Remarkably, she found the time to stay engaged with her son, and neighbors often saw her playing in the park with her boy and regularly praising and hugging him. Deeply religious, Carol relied heavily on her conservative Protestant faith in these difficult days and regularly turned to her pastor and older parents in the church for guidance. She was raised in a home where her father disciplined the children with corporal punishment by striking their buttocks with a board. Carol and her husband intended to follow suit when their son was old enough to understand the discipline was rooted in love and the word of God. Unfortunately, her husband was now dead and Carol was left alone to discipline her sometimes unruly son.

14. This case study is roughly based on a case the author was involved with more than twenty years ago. The author combines this case with facts from other cases he has worked on over the years in the hope that this one anecdote illustrates many of the points made throughout the article.

Published by Mitchell Hamline Open Access, 2014 5 William Mitchell Law Review, Vol. 40, Iss. 3 [2014], Art. 3

912 WILLIAM MITCHELL LAW REVIEW [Vol. 40:3

Based on her reading of the Bible, and the teaching of her church leaders, Carol began to paddle her son on the buttocks using a small board she found in her garage. She hated hitting her son and often broke down crying. One day, she confessed to a co- worker what she was doing and said she was afraid she was hitting her son too hard because she was leaving marks. She also worried that she was sometimes hitting him out of frustration. Although she was scared of hurting him, Carol saw no other recourse. Although she wasn’t convinced that corporal punishment was working, she reasoned that God must know what he is talking about. Carol’s co-worker was worried enough to call child protective services. The subsequent MDT investigation found a young mother with many parenting strengths but a glaring weakness that could not be ignored—Carol was hitting her son at a level that violated the law.15 Largely sympathetic to the mother and convinced they could help her raise the child without violence, the MDT chose not to file criminal charges but instead filed a civil child protection petition. Carol admitted the petition, acknowledging she had gone too far, and pledged to work with child protection to improve her parenting. At first, it seemed an easy case to resolve. In the weeks ahead, though, problems began to develop. Carol was willing to use corporal punishment less often, even as a last resort, but she was unwilling to forego the practice altogether. Carol also couldn’t promise to never use the board again because the Bible seemed to express a preference for using a “rod.”16 The social workers, mental health professionals, doctors, nurses, and parenting aids working with Carol explained corporal punishment was contrary to numerous scholarly studies and that myriad, nonviolent forms of discipline were more effective. These

15. Many child protection codes and many child protection professionals draw the line when a parent is hitting a child with an object or hitting a child hard enough to cause bruises or other injuries. Victor I. Vieth, Corporal Punishment in the United States: A Call for a New Approach to the Prosecution of Disciplinarians, 15 J. JUV. L. 22, 50–51 (1994). For example, Minnesota’s mandated reporting law requires professionals to report physical abuse but specifically states physical abuse “does not include reasonable and moderate physical discipline” that does not “result in an injury.” MINN. STAT. § 626.556(2)(g) (2012). 16. Bible verses influencing Carol included: “Do not withhold discipline from a child; if you punish him with the rod, he will not die” and “He who spares the rod hates his son, but he who loves him is careful to discipline him.” Proverbs 23:13; 13:24 (New International Version).

http://open.mitchellhamline.edu/wmlr/vol40/iss3/3 6 Vieth: From Sticks to Flowers: Guidelines for Child Protection Professio

2014] FROM STICKS TO FLOWERS 913

same professionals told Carol that many prestigious medical and mental health organizations were publicly opposed to physical discipline. Carol, though, was unimpressed. She went so far as to say she suspected that many of these researchers also supported evolution17 and otherwise denied the most basic teachings of the Bible. When a team member pointed out that some Protestant denominations had passed resolutions discouraging corporal punishment, Carol retorted that these denominations were liberal and didn’t really believe in the Bible. In the end, she said, God’s word was paramount, and that word told her she must sometimes hit her son, and to do so with an object. Without proper discipline, she told the MDT, the very salvation of her son was at stake. The subsequent case review meeting was contentious. Some members of the team felt it was time to charge Carol with a crime— reasoning that perhaps a criminal conviction and some time in jail would impress on her the serious nature of her conduct. Other team members felt it was time to terminate Carol’s parental rights to her son. After all, the team had done its best but she simply refused to put away the board. If the child was kept in such a home, the boy might be seriously injured or even killed. Given all the pressures in Carol’s life, one team member said he could see Carol in a moment of great frustration using the board on other parts of

17. Although Carol literally believed the world was created in six days and was only several thousand years old, Christian teachings on evolution are not uniform, even among conservatives. For example, conservative theologian Timothy Keller writes: Evolutionary science assumes that more complex life-forms evolved from less complex forms through a process of natural selection. Many Christians believe that God brought about life this way. For example, the Catholic church, the largest church in the world, has made official pronouncements supporting evolution as being compatible with Christian belief. However, Christians may believe in evolution as a process without believing in “philosophical naturalism”—the view that everything has a natural cause and that organic life is solely the product of random forces guided by no one. When evolution is turned into an All–encompassing Theory explaining absolutely everything we believe, feel, and do as the product of natural selection, then we are not in the arena of science, but of philosophy. TIMOTHY KELLER, THE REASON FOR GOD: BELIEF IN AN AGE OF SKEPTICISM 87 (2008) (citation omitted); see also JIMMY CARTER, OUR ENDANGERED VALUES: AMERICA’S MORAL CRISIS 47–52 (2005) (arguing there is no conflict between religion and science).

Published by Mitchell Hamline Open Access, 2014 7 William Mitchell Law Review, Vol. 40, Iss. 3 [2014], Art. 3

914 WILLIAM MITCHELL LAW REVIEW [Vol. 40:3

the child’s body—such as his head. Others said they simply needed to keep trying—after all Carol loved her son and in many ways was a good mother. The child was fed, clothed, brought to day care, had lots of toys, and was hugged often by his mother. Carol never used abusive language and often praised her son. Everyone conceded the child had a strong bond with his mother. Finally, one team member suggested another course. To this team member, Carol’s comments about evolution, “liberal” church teachings, and her son’s soul reflected a deeper fear. If this fear was understood and addressed, perhaps the team would be more successful. The same team member felt it important to speak with Carol’s pastor, to read some of the parenting books she was relying on, and to see if there was a way within her culture to move away from a form of discipline deeply concerning to the team. Although most of the team did not accept Carol’s worldview, and some even despised it, working within her culture seemed the only option remaining. In the months ahead, Carol and the MDT made startling discoveries. Although Carol never wavered from her religious beliefs, she eventually abandoned corporal punishment. Indeed, she became a strong opponent of the practice. Team members also did not change their beliefs about religion or research, but they learned to breathe new life into the concept of cultural sensitivity. In order to understand this transformation, it is necessary to understand Carol’s religious beliefs and the concerns that led her to cling to corporal punishment—and to eventually abandon the practice. This exploration of religious beliefs is also necessary because not every case is a success story. Some parents are abusive and, irrespective of whether or not their religious beliefs are sincere, the government must decide which parents are at such a high risk to hurt their children that prosecution and/or termination of parental rights is warranted. Let’s begin with an overview of the role religion plays in American culture.

III. RELIGION AND AMERICAN CULTURE Religion plays an important role in the culture of the United States.18 According to Gallup, more than 90% of Americans believe

18. See generally JON MEACHAM, AMERICAN GOSPEL: GOD, THE FOUNDING FATHERS, AND THE MAKING OF A NATION (2006) (detailing the influence of religion

http://open.mitchellhamline.edu/wmlr/vol40/iss3/3 8 Vieth: From Sticks to Flowers: Guidelines for Child Protection Professio

2014] FROM STICKS TO FLOWERS 915

in God and 55% claim religion plays a “very important” part in their lives.19 Historians have noted that church membership rates in colonial America were low, whereas twentieth-century Americans exhibited robust religious affiliation rates.20 Approximately 40% of Americans attend church weekly,21 and sociologists expect religious involvement to increase in the decades to come.22 Although the United States is increasingly diverse, our religious demographics have changed only slightly since the 1950s.23 According to Gallup, the religious make-up of the United States is:  53.9% Protestant/Other Christian  23.9% Catholic  1.7% Mormon  1.7% Jewish  0.5% Muslim  2.4% Other non-Christian religion  15.8% None/Atheist/Agnostic/Don’t Know24 Stated differently, approximately 80% of Americans identify themselves as Christian, and 95% of Americans who identify as religious are Christians.25 Given these dynamics, any discussion on the impact of religion on corporal punishment in America is primarily a discussion of the influence of Christianity on this practice.

throughout American history). Meacham concluded that “[t]o hope, as some secularists do, that faith will one day withdraw from the public square is futile. Humankind could not leave off being religious even if it tried. . . . The task of a republic like ours is to draw the best we can out of faith’s ‘permanent function’ while avoiding the worst.” Id. at 233–34. 19. FRANK NEWPORT, GOD IS ALIVE AND WELL: THE FUTURE OF RELIGION IN AMERICA 9–11 (2012). 20. Jon Butler, Jack-in-the-Box Faith: The Religion Problem in Modern American History, 90 J. AM. HIST. 1357, 1361–62 (2004). 21. NEWPORT, supra note 19, at 11. 22. This predicted rise may result from the aging of the population, an increase in the Hispanic population (which tends to be more religious), and migration to more religious regions of the country. Id. at 242–48. 23. Id. at 22–25. 24. Id. at 22. 25. Id. at 21–22.

Published by Mitchell Hamline Open Access, 2014 9 William Mitchell Law Review, Vol. 40, Iss. 3 [2014], Art. 3

916 WILLIAM MITCHELL LAW REVIEW [Vol. 40:3

A. The Influence of Christianity on Corporal Punishment Practices The Christian culture dominant in the United States has played a significant role in corporal punishment in American homes and schools. Throughout our history, courts have cited the Bible as legal justification for the physical punishment of children. In the State of New York, an appellate court concluded corporal punishment is a “recognition of the admonitions to parents contained in the Book of Proverbs of the Holy Bible which have been paraphrased, ‘Spare the rod and spoil the child.’”26 The Rhode Island Supreme Court has referenced the “spare the rod” Proverb in its rulings,27 and the State of Ohio likewise credits King Solomon’s Proverbs with granting parents the right to hit children as a means of punishment.28 In addition to court decisions, “substantial research has documented associations between religious affiliation and the endorsement and use of physical discipline of children.”29

B. Religious Affiliations and Corporal Punishment Moderate30 and liberal Protestants, as well as Catholics,31 are less inclined to support corporal punishment.32 However, at least

26. People v. Mummert, 50 N.Y.S.2d 699, 703 (Nassau Cnty. Ct. 1944); see also People ex rel. Ebert v. Baldani, 159 N.Y.S.2d 802, 806 (Mount Vernon City Ct. 1957) (“The permission to mete out reasonable and moderate punishment finds sanction in Holy Writ.”). 27. See State v. Thorpe, 429 A.2d 785, 788 (R.I. 1981). 28. See State v. Hoover, 450 N.E.2d 710, 715 (Ohio Ct. App. 1982). 29. Christopher W. Dyslin & Cynthia J. Thomsen, Religiosity and Risk of Perpetrating Child Physical Abuse: An Empirical Investigation, 33 J. PSYCHOL. & THEOLOGY 291, 291 (2005). 30. According to one study, “Moderate Protestant traditions tend to support corporal punishment, albeit only as a last resort.” Christopher G. Ellison & Darren E. Sherkat, Conservative Protestantism and Support for Corporal Punishment, 58 AM. SOC. REV. 131, 140 n.9 (1993) (citations omitted) (internal quotation marks omitted). 31. Consider, for example, this Catholic commentary on Proverbs 23:13–14: “The sardonic humor means the exhortation is not to be taken literally, an argument for corporal punishment. The next verses (vv. 15–16) are exceedingly tender toward the young.” THE CATHOLIC STUDY BIBLE 867 (Donald Senior et al. eds., 2d ed. 2011). 32. Ellison & Sherkat, supra note 30, at 136 (“Our findings dovetail with those reported earlier [by another researcher]: Catholics do not dispro- portionately support corporal punishment.”).

http://open.mitchellhamline.edu/wmlr/vol40/iss3/3 10 Vieth: From Sticks to Flowers: Guidelines for Child Protection Professio

2014] FROM STICKS TO FLOWERS 917

one study has demonstrated that conservative Protestants “are significantly more supportive of corporal punishment than other persons.”33 Additionally, “parents with conservative scriptural beliefs” appear to use corporal punishment more often. Although most liberal and conservative theologians agree there are clear biblical passages pertaining to corporal punishment, these passages are more easily dismissed in liberal church bodies. To understand why, it is necessary to understand different theological views of the Bible and how these views shape a reading of the corporal punishment texts.

1. Liberal Protestant Teaching on Corporal Punishment A liberal theologian is less inclined to take the Bible literally and more likely to discount miracles or even historically fundamental teachings of the church such as heaven and hell, salvation by grace, and the deity of Christ. Instead, liberal theologians strive to find underlying truths in the Bible that better prepare us to work in this world. To illustrate this viewpoint, seminary professor Gerald Birney Smith writes, [T]he history of religion has made us aware that, so far as the supernaturalistic details of a doctrine of salvation are concerned, these appear in various forms in pagan religions as well as in Christianity. . . . The distinctive qualities of Christian salvation must be looked for in the kind of moral and religious character produced by Christian faith.34 Smith also noted, “We shall then not ask concerning the ‘nature’ of Jesus, but rather concerning his religious consciousness and life. We shall emphasize his God-consciousness and his ability to create in his disciples a trust in God which gives spiritual insight and moral power.”35 Within this cultural framework, liberal theologians can readily rely on research in rejecting corporal punishment and simply note the broader Christian concepts of love and gentleness in support of abandoning the practice. For example, when the Presbyterian

33. Id. at 138. 34. Gerald Birney Smith, Systematic Theology and Christian Ethics, in A GUIDE TO THE STUDY OF THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION 483, 523 (Gerald Birney Smith ed., 1916). 35. Id. at 531–32.

Published by Mitchell Hamline Open Access, 2014 11 William Mitchell Law Review, Vol. 40, Iss. 3 [2014], Art. 3

918 WILLIAM MITCHELL LAW REVIEW [Vol. 40:3

Church USA passed a resolution urging schools and parents to refrain from corporal punishment, it did not specifically address the biblical texts but simply stated: Corporal punishment models aggressive behavior as a solution to conflict. Numerous research studies have associated corporal punishment with increased aggression in children and adults, increased substance abuse, increased risk of crime and violence, low self-esteem, and chronic depression. It is difficult to imagine Jesus of Nazareth condoning any action that is intended to hurt children physically or psychologically.36 The Presbyterian USA resolution cites a similar resolution passed by the United Methodist Church in 2004, which, again, is rooted almost exclusively in research without a single mention of the corporal punishment passages in Proverbs.37 Many conservative Protestants rejected the Presbyterian and Methodist resolutions not because these conservatives necessarily disagreed with the research on corporal punishment, but because the church resolutions did not address the biblical texts pertaining to physical discipline.38 In the context of our case study, this explains why Carol was not receptive to research or resolutions on corporal punishment from liberal church bodies. In order for Carol to move away from corporal punishment, the argument must be rooted in her cultural and religious framework. An analysis of that framework is provided below.

2. Conservative Protestant Teaching on Corporal Punishment Many conservative Protestants believe the Bible is holy, inspired, and inerrant.39 Conservative Protestants maintain the

36. Presbyterians Pass Resolutions Against Corporal Punishment, CHILD, INC., http://childrenshealthcare.org/wp-content/uploads/2010/07/CP-Presbyterian -resolutions.pdf (last visited Feb. 10, 2014). 37. For the United Methodist Church resolution see Discipline Children Without Corporal Punishment, UNITED METHODIST CHURCH, http://www.umc.org /site/apps/nlnet/content2.aspx?c=lwL4KnN1LtH&b=4951419&ct=6480593 (last visited Feb. 10, 2014). 38. See Presbyterians Denounce Corporal Punishment, DENNY BURKE (July 11, 2012), http://www.dennyburk.com/presbyterians-denounce-corporal -punishment. 39. See generally BRIAN R. KELLER, BIBLE: GOD’S INSPIRED, INERRANT WORD (Curtis A. John ed., 2002). Some conservative Protestants believe the Bible is infallible in terms of doctrine but may have errors of “chronological details,

http://open.mitchellhamline.edu/wmlr/vol40/iss3/3 12 Vieth: From Sticks to Flowers: Guidelines for Child Protection Professio

2014] FROM STICKS TO FLOWERS 919

Bible cannot be compared to other books because “they are the works of men.”40 This leads to a literal reading of many passages, including miracles such as the resurrection of Christ, and great concern about dismissing any part of scripture—fearing that if some teachings are abandoned, the primary teachings must also give way. According to one conservative theologian, “If the Bible were filled with falsehood, there could be no dependable certainty even of the fact that Jesus loves you.”41 Within this cultural framework, Carol’s comments about evolution or her dismissal of resolutions passed by more liberal church bodies reveal she does in fact have an underlying fear that contributes to her adherence to corporal punishment even though the practice makes her uncomfortable. Specifically, Carol fears that if she abandons scriptural teachings about corporal punishment, she must eventually deny God’s role in creation or even the deity of Christ. This fear is not recent or unique to Carol. Indeed, many Protestants immigrated to the United States because they were afraid that growing liberalism in European and other churches would render all of scripture meaningless.42 Carol’s concern about her son’s salvation is likely rooted in a conservative Protestant belief that children are born sinful, rebellious, and in need of correction.43 For example, James Dobson, whose parenting books have sold more than three million copies, writes: Parents who believe all toddlers are infused with goodness and sunshine are urged to get out of the way and let their pleasant nature unfold. On the other hand, parents who

precise sequence of events, and numerical allusions.” What We Believe and Teach, FULLER THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY, http://www.fuller.edu/About/Mission_and _Values/What_We_Believe_and_Teach/ (last visited Feb. 10, 2014). 40. KELLER, supra note 39, at 10. 41. Id. at 25. 42. See generally AUGUST R. SUELFLOW, SERVANT OF THE WORD: THE LIFE AND MINISTRY OF C.F.W. WALTHER 41–44 (2000) (noting the role “doctrinal deterioration” of the Christian faith played in German emigration to the United States). 43. MILLARD ERICKSON, CHRISTIAN THEOLOGY 639 (2d ed. 1998). This can be a nuanced argument since many conservative Protestants also believe that God does not hold children responsible for their sins until they reach the age of accountability—a fluid age in which a child can make a reasoned decision to accept or reject Christ as their savior. See WAYNE GRUDEM, SYSTEMATIC THEOLOGY 499–500 (1994).

Published by Mitchell Hamline Open Access, 2014 13 William Mitchell Law Review, Vol. 40, Iss. 3 [2014], Art. 3

920 WILLIAM MITCHELL LAW REVIEW [Vol. 40:3

recognize the inevitable internal war between good and evil will do their best to influence the child’s choices—to shape his will and provide a solid spiritual foundation. They recognize the dangers of willful defiance . . . . My entire book, you see, is a product of the biblical orientation to human nature. We are not typically kind and loving and generous and yielded to God. Our tendency is toward selfishness and stubbornness and sin. We are all, in effect, “strong-willed children” as we stand before God.44 As already noted, this reliance on scripture leads some conservative Protestants to “emphatically reject popular and academic criticisms of corporal punishment.”45 As noted by some researchers: Conservative Protestant writers on childrearing attach little importance to the latest findings of social science researchers. Instead, they gauge the usefulness of any nonbiblical information by its compatibility with biblical principles as they are understood within Conservative Protestant communities. For instance, Dobson . . . bluntly rejects the use of scientific principles as arbiters of truth concerning parent-child relations: “The principles of good discipline cannot be ascertained by scientific inquiry . . . .”46 Given the belief that corporal punishment is a directive from God rooted in scripture, the child protection professionals working with Carol may not be able to get her to stop hitting her child with a board unless they understand the biblical basis for corporal punishment and are able to work within this cultural construct.

3. Biblical Basis for Corporal Punishment The Bible consists of at least sixty-six “books”47 consuming several thousand pages written over a period of fifteen centuries.48

44. Ellison & Sherkat, supra note 30, at 133 (emphasis omitted) (quoting JAMES DOBSON, THE STRONG-WILLED CHILD: BIRTH THROUGH ADOLESCENCE 174–75 (1976)). 45. Id. at 132. 46. Id. (citation omitted) (quoting JAMES DOBSON, DARE TO DISCIPLINE 13 (1970)). 47. Some of the “books” are only a page or two in length. Catholic and Greek Orthodox Christians have more than sixty-six books, adding books written between the Old and New Testaments. Hans Dahl, Introduction to the Bible, in LUTHERAN STUDY BIBLE 19, 26–29 (Augsburg Fortress 2009).

http://open.mitchellhamline.edu/wmlr/vol40/iss3/3 14 Vieth: From Sticks to Flowers: Guidelines for Child Protection Professio

2014] FROM STICKS TO FLOWERS 921

Although all of these books were written at a time in which severe corporal punishment was practiced,49 there are relatively few passages pertaining to physical discipline—with the most explicit passages pertaining to the corporal punishment of adults, not children. With respect to the corporal punishment of children, the verses cited by conservative Protestants primarily consist of the following Proverbs:  “Those who spare the rod hate their children, but those who love them are diligent to discipline them.”50  “Folly is bound up in the heart of a boy, but the rod of discipline drives it far away.”51  “Do not withhold discipline from your children; if you beat them with a rod, they will not die. If you beat them with the rod, you will save their lives from Sheol [the grave or premature death].”52  “The rod and reproof give wisdom, but a mother is disgraced by a neglected child.”53

a. Putting a Rag Doll to Bed: Extreme Interpretations of the Proverbs In recent years, the teaching of some conservative Protestants on corporal punishment has drawn national attention. Some clergy have told parishioners not to be concerned about the number of blows, or the leaving of marks, going so far as to say a “hundred” blows may be necessary and that even babies should be struck for “selfish” crying.54

48. The earliest biblical manuscript dates back to the thirteenth century BC and the latest dates to the second century CE. Id. at 20. 49. The Apostle Paul, for example, was beaten with rods. 2 Corinthians 11:25. Jesus himself was severely flogged by the Roman authorities. Mark 15:15. 50. Proverbs 13:24 (Lutheran Study Bible 2009). 51. Id. at 22:15. 52. Id. at 23:13–14. 53. Id. at 29:15; see also id. at 29:17 (“Discipline your children, and they will give you rest; they will give delight to your heart.”). 54. In some Independent Fundamental Baptist (IFB) churches, parishioners have been taught that babies sometimes have a “cry of the will” that must be broken. See 20-20: Shattered Faith (ABC television broadcast Apr. 8, 2011), available at http://abcnews.go.com/2020/video/scarred-childhood-13334532; see also Rose French, Church Members Are Accused of Child Abuse, STAR TRIB. (Minneapolis), Mar. 26, 2011, at 1B, available at 2011 WLNR 6013967 (detailing the arrest of

Published by Mitchell Hamline Open Access, 2014 15 William Mitchell Law Review, Vol. 40, Iss. 3 [2014], Art. 3

922 WILLIAM MITCHELL LAW REVIEW [Vol. 40:3

With respect to hitting babies, one of the most popular writings among this group is authored by Michael and Debi Pearl entitled To Train Up a Child. The book includes the following parenting advice: When your baby is tired and sleepy enough to become irritable, don’t reinforce irritability by allowing the cause and effect to continue. . . . Get tough. Be firm with him. Never put him down and then allow him to get up. For the sake of consistency in training, you must follow through. He may not be able to sleep, but he can be trained to lie there quietly. He will very quickly come to know that any time he is laid down there is no alternative but to stay put. To get up is to be on the firing line and get switched back down. It will become as easy as putting a rag doll to bed.55 Although the Pearls deny advocating extreme violence, more than one child has died at the hands of parents influenced by the writings of the Pearls—including repeatedly striking children with plastic tubing.56 In addition to death, others punished in this manner report long-lasting physical and emotional damage. One survivor explained that her parents precisely followed the disciplinary techniques in a book written by Roy Lessin.57 The victim described the procedures used as follows: My first spanking was when I was six months old. My mother spanked me for crying after she put me to bed. She had to spank me repeatedly to teach me not to cry when she put me down. I know about this incident because my mother used to tell all the new mothers about how young I was when she started spanking me. My last spanking occurred when I was thirteen years old. The Roy Lessin spankings that I remember most vividly took place between the ages of three and seven . . . .

church leaders advocating that babies as young as one-and-a-half months are “worthy” of physical blows from a “rod”). 55. MICHAEL & DEBI PEARL, TO TRAIN UP A CHILD ch. 9 (1994), available at http://web.archive.org/web/20101104141241/http://www.achristianhome.com /to_train_up_a_child.htm. 56. Editorial, Thou Shalt Not Abuse: Misuse of Biblical Teaching on Spanking Can Have Deadly Consequences, CHRISTIANITY TODAY, Jan. 2012, at 55, available at http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2012/january/editorial-spanking-abuse .html. 57. See ROY LESSIN, SPANKING, WHY, WHEN, HOW? (1979).

http://open.mitchellhamline.edu/wmlr/vol40/iss3/3 16 Vieth: From Sticks to Flowers: Guidelines for Child Protection Professio

2014] FROM STICKS TO FLOWERS 923

My father would explain the reason for the spanking. . . . I had already developed irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), and would feel my guts cramp up with anxiety during his speech. Then he would ask me to take off my pants and underwear. I would feel deeply embarrassed because my father was not supposed to see me naked. . . . The stick, paddle inscribed with scripture verses, or belt would swish violently through the air before slapping painfully . . . . I would scream in pain and anguish. . . . My parents were never concerned about the marks they left on my body. . . . Pulling up my pants was incredibly painful . . . . After we prayed, it was time for me to be happy. But my insides would be a mess. . . . It would be a lesson I’d learn for life—being falsely happy regardless of how my body felt.58 Most prosecutors would consider conduct of this nature to be criminal59 and some have even successfully prosecuted pastors preaching abusive practices.60 In our case scenario, Carol does not seem to fit into this camp. Although she wants to retain the right to hit her son and believes the use of an object is preferable, she is willing to place limits on the practice. Indeed, she seems not to like the practice at all. Accordingly, Carol may have a more moderate view of the biblical texts and, if so, the MDT may be able to work successfully within her cultural framework.

b. Dare to Discipline: Moderate Interpretations of the Proverbs “The most notable spokesperson for corporal punishment in the evangelical Christian context is James Dobson and the Focus on the Family organization.”61 The first and second editions of Dobson’s book Dare to Discipline have sold more than 3.5 million copies and are prominently displayed in many conservative Protestant church libraries.62

58. Letter from Bethany A. Fenimore to Roy Lessin (Sept. 7, 2005), available at http://www.drmomma.org/2010/01/how-spanking-changed-my-life.html. 59. See generally Vieth, supra note 15 (analyzing the history of corporal punishment and calling for criminalization of acts of corporal punishment). 60. Pastor Who Preached Infants Should Be Beaten Convicted of Child Abuse, NEWSONE (Mar. 23, 2012), http://newsone.com/1952855/philip-caminiti-black -earth. 61. WILLIAM J. WEBB, CORPORAL PUNISHMENT IN THE BIBLE 25 (2011). 62. Id. at 25 n.2.

Published by Mitchell Hamline Open Access, 2014 17 William Mitchell Law Review, Vol. 40, Iss. 3 [2014], Art. 3

924 WILLIAM MITCHELL LAW REVIEW [Vol. 40:3

In his book, Dobson speaks positively about the corporal punishment he received as a child, including being “cracked” with a shoe or a “handy belt” by his mother.63 On one occasion, his mother threw a girdle at him for “sassing her.”64 He said, “The intended blow caught me across the chest, followed by a multitude of straps and buckles, wrapping themselves around my mid-section. She gave me an entire thrashing with one massive blow!”65 Dobson’s recommendations for modern era parents are less harsh, and over the years the recommendations of Focus on the Family—the organization Dobson once headed—are increasingly mild. Specifically, “Focus on the Family places a cap on the number of spanks at two but adds a scaling strategy that reserves a single spank for lesser infractions and two spanks for greater infractions.”66 The organization also instructs that blows should only be administered to the buttocks, should never be hard enough to leave a bruise, can be done with a hand and not an instrument, and emphasizes noncorporal discipline as a first resort and as the exclusive discipline for school age children.67 Other conservative Protestants are also now claiming that corporal punishment should only be a “last resort” and “only for more severe offenses.”68 Billy Graham, considered by some to be the most influential Protestant in American history,69 has modified his views on corporal punishment. Although Graham received corporal punishment as a child, his adult views on the subject shifted to the point where he said: “Children are more impressed by the conduct of others than by lectures or spanking.”70

63. JAMES DOBSON, DARE TO DISCIPLINE 30 (1970). 64. Id. (internal quotation marks omitted). 65. Id. 66. WEBB, supra note 61, at 33 (citations omitted). 67. Id. at 35 (buttocks), 37 (bruising), 46–47 n.38 (hand and noncorporal first). 68. Id. at 46. 69. See, e.g., NANCY GIBBS & MICHAEL DUFFY, THE PREACHER AND THE PRESIDENTS: BILLY GRAHAM IN THE WHITE HOUSE, at vii (2007) (detailing Billy Graham’s influence of multiple presidents and other political leaders). 70. JANET LOWE, BILLY GRAHAM SPEAKS 106 (1999) (quoting Billy Graham: The Man at Home, SATURDAY EVENING POST, Spring 1972, at 105) (internal quotation marks omitted).

http://open.mitchellhamline.edu/wmlr/vol40/iss3/3 18 Vieth: From Sticks to Flowers: Guidelines for Child Protection Professio

2014] FROM STICKS TO FLOWERS 925

c. Jewish Interpretations of the Proverbs One scholar finds it “amazing that there is very little contact between Jewish and Christian scholars regarding the subject of smacking” and laments that is unfortunate because “[w]e Christians can learn a lot about the Bible from our Jewish brethren.”71 It is noteworthy that many rabbis and other Jewish scholars do not interpret the references to corporal punishment in the Proverbs the same way as many Christian clergy. One scholar on Jewish law sees a “progressive trend” to “make Jewish law more attuned to socio-cultural shifts such as the rising emphasis on children’s rights.”72 However, even under the more “conservative-traditional trend,” there are severe limitations on corporal punishment.73 Specifically, this scholar writes: In theory, Jewish law deems corporal punishment an auxiliary tool . . . . Yet as we will see, the halakhic sources are more nuanced than is suggested by the biblical verse ‘He who spares the rod,’ despite its importance. Analysis of these sources reveal that in practice, recourse to corporal punishment has been subject to a complex system of qualifications that diminish its scope, prevent arbitrariness, and make physical punishment difficult to resort to. When the educator does not abide by the said qualifications, Jewish law does not leave recourse to corporal punishment to his discretion, but imposes an unequivocal prohibition.74 Jewish scholar Rabbi Shmuel Wosner interprets the verse “he who spares the rod hates his child, and he who loves his child disciplines him early” as intended to instruct us that the correct way for a father to discipline his son is through verbal chastisement. As long as that helps, the rod can be hung on the wall. The child should be aware that corporal punishment is a possibility if he

71. SAMUEL MARTIN, THY ROD AND THY STAFF THEY COMFORT ME: CHRISTIANS AND THE SPANKING CONTROVERSY 34 (2006), available at http://whynottrainachild.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/Thy-Rod-And-Thy -Staff-They-Comfort-Me-Mar-2013.pdf. 72. Benjamin Shmueli, Corporal Punishment of Children in Jewish Law, 18 JEWISH L. ANN. 137, 141 (2009). 73. Id. 74. Id.

Published by Mitchell Hamline Open Access, 2014 19 William Mitchell Law Review, Vol. 40, Iss. 3 [2014], Art. 3

926 WILLIAM MITCHELL LAW REVIEW [Vol. 40:3

ignores his parents’ guidance. This is the meaning of “he who spares his rod hates his child.”75 Rabbi Shlomo Wolbe contends the word “rod” is used in the broadest sense possible. Specifically, Wolbe writes: When punishment does become necessary, bear in mind that the rod King Solomon speaks of (“He who spares his rod hates his son . . . .”) is to be understood in a broad sense. It includes many things, such as a frown and pretended disappointment. . . . The prophet Zecharia can help us to understand the concept of “rod” more deeply. He says: “I took for myself two rods staffs: one I named Pleasantness and the other Severity . . . .” It emerges that there is not just one “rod” for disciplining—even when understood broadly, as above. There is a rod of pleasantness as well, and one can use it even more successfully than the “rod of severity.”76 According to Rabbi S.N. Brazovsky, to “attempt to stamp out [bad traits] with ill will and corporal punishment is like dousing a fire with oil. Instead, we must hold our temper and show the child an even greater amount of boundless love and mercy than we had previously.”77 As summarized by one Israeli scholar, “[i]n the circles of Jewish scholarship, we find a large body of information about events that should take place prior to a smacking. This is because a smacking is not the place to start with eliminating bad habits or traits. If used at all, it is the last resort.”78 As noted earlier, American courts have largely deferred to the religious and cultural practice of corporal punishment. Indeed, American courts have “for almost 150 years . . . heard [and rejected] challenges to the practice of . . . [corporal punishment] in the public schools based on alleged violations of tort law, criminal law, state legislation and constitutional guarantees.”79 The Israeli court system has not been as deferential to the cultural practice of corporal punishment.

75. MEIR MUNK, SPARING THE ROD: A TORAH PERSPECTIVE ON REWARD AND PUNISHMENT IN EDUCATION 14 (1989) (citation omitted). 76. Id. at 30–31; see also SHLOMO WOLBE, PLANTING AND BUILDING: RAISING A JEWISH CHILD 33–38 (2000) (discussing that “rod” can be understood in different ways, not only in the sense of hitting). 77. MARTIN, supra note 71, at 37. 78. Id. 79. Ronnie Warburg, Corporal Punishment in School: A Study in the Interaction of Halakha and American Law with Social Morality, 37 TRADITION 57, 60 (2003).

http://open.mitchellhamline.edu/wmlr/vol40/iss3/3 20 Vieth: From Sticks to Flowers: Guidelines for Child Protection Professio

2014] FROM STICKS TO FLOWERS 927

In 2000, the Israeli Supreme Court ruled that even mild corporal punishment inflicted by a parent violated the child’s constitutional right to “dignity and bodily integrity.”80 Although not universally popular,81 the decision has not been altered.

d. The Conservative Protestant Basis for the Shrinking Acceptance of Corporal Punishment The severe limitations placed on corporal punishment under Jewish law may be finding some parallels among conservative Protestants. William Webb, a professor at Tyndale Seminary in Toronto, notes that the increasingly moderate view of corporal punishment among conservative Protestants is because the Bible requires discipline, but not necessarily corporal punishment.82 If the scriptures were literally followed, children would be struck by an instrument, on the back, with no limitations to the amount of blows, and with no concern about injuries.83 However, most conservative Protestants reject corporal punishment of this kind.84 Most conservative Protestants also reject, or at least do not advocate for, the corporal punishment of adults even though there are very specific passages in scripture pertaining to the physical punishment of adult men and women. These verses include:  “A fool’s lips bring strife, and a fool’s mouth invites a flogging.”85  “On the lips of one who has understanding wisdom is found, but a rod is for the back of one who lacks sense.”86

80. Tamar Ezer, Children’s Rights in Israel: An End to Corporal Punishment?, 5 OR. REV. INT’L L. 139, 139 (2000); Yuval Yoaz, Beinisch Takes Fight Against Graft: Jewish Extremism to Supreme Court, HAARETZ (Sept. 15, 2006, 12:00 AM), http:// www.haaretz.com/print-edition/news/beinisch-takes-fight-against-graft-jewish -extremism-to-supreme-court-1.197358. 81. Evelyn Gordon, Court Shows Supreme Arrogance in Ban on Spanking, JWEEKLY.COM (Feb. 25, 2000), http://www.jweekly.com/article/full/12638/court -shows-supreme-arrogance-in-ban-on-spanking. 82. See generally WEBB, supra note 61, at 92. The editorial board of Christianity Today, a magazine founded by evangelicals including Billy Graham, has written, “The Bible never forbids spanking. But Webb’s case is convincing that the Bible does not require it.” Editorial, Thou Shalt Not Abuse, CHRISTIANITY TODAY (Jan. 16, 2012, 10:16 AM), http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2012/january/editorial -spanking-abuse.html. 83. See WEBB, supra note 61, at 76 tbl.3.1. 84. See, e.g., supra notes 61–67 and accompanying text. 85. Proverbs 18:6 (Lutheran Study Bible 2009).

Published by Mitchell Hamline Open Access, 2014 21 William Mitchell Law Review, Vol. 40, Iss. 3 [2014], Art. 3

928 WILLIAM MITCHELL LAW REVIEW [Vol. 40:3

 “Condemnation is ready for scoffers, and flogging for the backs of fools.”87  “A whip is for the horse, a bridle for the donkey, and a rod for the back of fools.”88  “By mere words servants are not disciplined, for though they understand, they will not give heed [will not be obedient].”89  “Strike a scoffer, and the simple will learn prudence; reprove the intelligent, and they will gain knowledge.”90  “Blows that wound cleanse away evil; beatings make clean the innermost parts.”91 The reason many conservative Protestants do not literally adhere to the verses about adult corporal punishment is because they recognize that these verses are reflecting governmental punishments in place during the time they were written and do not necessarily require similar punishments in the modern era. While a thief may have been whipped in biblical times, a jail sentence is perfectly fine today. The verses simply reflect an underlying wisdom that crimes often bring punishments, and foolish misdeeds have consequences. A growing number of conservative Protestants apply the same analogy to the Proverbs pertaining to the corporal punishment of children. For example, The Lutheran Study Bible, published by the conservative Protestant Missouri Synod, includes the following language in their commentaries: “Flogging was a common form of punishment. The ceremonial scepter held by rulers symbolized their authority to judge and discipline. Children are best ‘trained with kindness and delight. For children who must be forced with rods and blows will not develop into a good generation.’”92 With respect to the “spare[] the rod” Proverb93 verse often used to justify hitting children, another conservative Protestant Bible commentary notes

86. Id. at 10:13. 87. Id. at 19:29. 88. Id. at 26:3. 89. Id. at 29:19. 90. Id. at 19:25. 91. Id. at 20:30. 92. Id. at 10:13 n.10:13 (emphasis added) (quoting Martin Luther’s Large Catechism) (commenting on the verse “a rod is for the back of him who lacks sense”). 93. Proverbs 13:24 (New International Version) (“He who spares the rod hates his son, but he who loves him is careful to discipline him.”).

http://open.mitchellhamline.edu/wmlr/vol40/iss3/3 22 Vieth: From Sticks to Flowers: Guidelines for Child Protection Professio

2014] FROM STICKS TO FLOWERS 929

that “[p]arents are encouraged to apply the rod of punishment to drive out folly so that the child will not follow a path of destruction. The rod ‘impart[s] wisdom’ and promotes a healthy and happy family.”94 However, this same commentary states the “rod” is “[p]robably a figure of speech for discipline of any kind.”95 This interpretation is similar to some Jewish interpretations of Proverbs.96 Not only are these verses simply reflecting governmental and family punishments in use at the time, Webb argues the verses were often a clear attempt to limit the amount of punishment received—an argument that is also consistent with that of some Jewish scholars.97 To understand Webb’s point, he references the troubling text in the book of Exodus in which the writer notes the following rule: “If a man beats his male or female slave with a rod and the slave dies as a direct result, he must be punished, but he is not to be punished if the slave gets up after a day or two, since the slave is his property.”98 Although offensive to modern ears, Webb points out that in ancient near east cultures “there was nothing holding back masters from beating a slave to death if they wished.”99 When combined with other passages limiting the harm that can be done to a slave, Webb sees deeper lessons emerging—including the importance of protecting the weak from the strong by limiting the severity of punishments.100 As a further illustration, Webb cites the Proverb, “Give beer to those who are perishing, wine to those who are in anguish. . . . “101 Webb points out that today there are better ways to address the underlying principle in this Proverb. For example, “morphine

94. Id. at 13:24 n.13:24 (citations omitted). 95. Id. 96. According to one scholar of Jewish law: The straightforward interpretation, which understands ‘rod’ as an instrument for flogging, is the accepted interpretation of the verse; but it is not the only possible interpretation. A second interpretation of the verse takes the rod to be a symbol of leadership and authority. Thus, ruling by the rod means wielding authoritative leadership rather than beating one’s subjects . . . . Taken in this sense, the verse means that a father who does not impose his authority to set norms of conduct and acceptable limits on behavior hates his son. Shmueli, supra note 72, at 144–45. 97. See supra notes 71–81 and accompanying text. 98. Exodus 21:20–21 (New International Version). 99. WEBB, supra note 61, at 64 (footnote omitted). 100. See generally id. at 62–70. 101. Proverbs 31:6 (New International Version).

Published by Mitchell Hamline Open Access, 2014 23 William Mitchell Law Review, Vol. 40, Iss. 3 [2014], Art. 3

930 WILLIAM MITCHELL LAW REVIEW [Vol. 40:3

might be much better than alcohol to give people who are dying and in physical agony.”102 According to Webb, Christians are often “more biblical” when they reflect on a verse and recognize how they can live out its meaning today.103 Applying this principle to the corporal punishment passages, Webb argues that if the twofold purposes of physical beatings— avoiding folly and living wisely—could be achieved by noncorporal discipline, then Christians using alternative forms of discipline “should still be seen as biblical in the sense that they accomplish the purpose meaning of the text.”104 To the extent noncorporal forms of punishment are more effective in meeting the underlying goals in these Proverbs, Webb argues such parents have “become more (not less) biblical in their child rearing practices.”105

IV. WORKING WITH PARENTS JUSTIFYING CORPORAL PUNISHMENT WITH SCRIPTURE Medical and mental health professionals, social workers, law enforcement officers, children’s advocacy center workers,106 and other child protection professionals often interact with parents who discipline their children by hitting them. When these parents justify their conduct in the name of religion, the following guidelines may help.

A. Be Aware of Our Biases There is research suggesting a clinical psychologist’s personal biases and orientations toward religion may “affect the therapeutic course and outcome with religious clients.”107 Even those whose biases did not influence therapeutic interventions were often poorly trained to work with religious clients.108 A simple remedy for ignorance is training and a simple means to check biases may be to

102. WEBB, supra note 61, at 87–88. 103. Id. at 64. 104. Id. at 91. 105. Id. 106. For an overview of the Children’s Advocacy Center movement, see Nancy Chandler, Children’s Advocacy Centers: Making a Difference One Child at a Time, 28 HAMLINE J. PUB. L. & POL’Y 315 (2006). 107. Edward P. Shafranske & H. Newton Malony, Clinical Psychologists’ Religious and Spiritual Orientations and Their Practice of Psychotherapy, 27 PSYCHOTHERAPY 72, 77 (1990). 108. See id. at 77–78.

http://open.mitchellhamline.edu/wmlr/vol40/iss3/3 24 Vieth: From Sticks to Flowers: Guidelines for Child Protection Professio

2014] FROM STICKS TO FLOWERS 931

have multiple team members involved in a case—exactly what some researchers on child protection biases have recommended.109 Indeed, some have suggested the value of having theologians involved with multidisciplinary team case reviews to assist the team in understanding and responding to instances of abuse within the context of religion.110

B. Distinguish Between Parents Who Need Education and Those Who Are Abusive Although conservative Protestant parents are more likely to accept and to administer corporal punishment,111 this does not necessarily mean they are otherwise abusive. One study found that conservative Protestants did not have an elevated risk for committing child physical abuse.112 Indeed, these researchers suggested that strict conservative Protestant rules, such as the “two swat rule” discussed previously, might discourage escalation of the punishment.113 A study by Rodriquez and Henderson found that parents with a literal interpretation of the Bible did have a “higher child abuse potential scores,” but “individuals who are more [i]ntrinsically religiously oriented do not appear to be at increased risk, despite the fact that they may at times be more socially conformist or more literal interpreters of the Bible.”114 The Rodriquez and Henderson study suggests that determining abuse potential is more complicated than simply determining religious orientation or views of the Bible. In other words, it is not simply a literal interpretation of the Bible, but a

109. Mark D. Everson & Jose Miguel Sandoval, Forensic Child Sexual Abuse Evaluations: Assessing Subjectivity and Bias in Professional Judgments, 35 CHILD ABUSE & NEGLECT 287, 297 (2011) (“[A] ‘team’ approach to assessment that emphasizes diversity in professional position or discipline, gender, and experience level is likely to . . . counterbalance individual biases.”). 110. Victor I. Vieth et al., Chaplains for Children: Twelve Potential Roles for a Theologian on the MDT, 3 CENTERPIECE (Nat’l Child Prot. Training Ctr.), no. 6, 2013, available at http://www.gundersenhealth.org/upload/docs/NCPTC /CenterPiece/CenterPiece.NL.Vol3.Iss6.pdf. 111. Ellison & Sherkat, supra note 30, at 138. 112. Dyslin & Thomsen, supra note 29, at 295. 113. Id. 114. Christina M. Rodriguez & Ryan C. Henderson, Who Spares the Rod? Religious Orientation, Social Conformity, and Child Abuse Potential, 34 CHILD ABUSE & NEGLECT 84, 91–92 (2010).

Published by Mitchell Hamline Open Access, 2014 25 William Mitchell Law Review, Vol. 40, Iss. 3 [2014], Art. 3

932 WILLIAM MITCHELL LAW REVIEW [Vol. 40:3

particular mindset that accompanies that literal interpretation. These and other predictors of an elevated abuse potential are discussed below.

1. Predictors of Potential Abuse: Frequency of Spanking and Use of Objects In determining actual or potential abuse, research suggests child protection professionals consider the frequency of spanking and the use of instruments. Research indicates that mothers who spank a child are 2.7 times more likely to engage in harsher behavior including kicking, beating, burning, shaking, or hitting a child’s body in places other than the buttocks.115 When objects are used, mothers are nine times more likely to report abusive behaviors.116 Similarly, as the frequency of spanking increased, the risk of severe abuse also increased.117 Accordingly, parents who insist that children be hit with objects and must be hit frequently are more likely to commit egregious acts of abuse than parents who adhere to a “two swat rule” and use corporal punishment “as a last resort.” This is not to say that milder corporal punishment is wise, but simply to suggest that milder discipline likely warrants only education about alternatives to physical discipline.

2. Predictors of Abuse: Extrinsic Versus Intrinsic Religiosity Although more research is needed, two studies suggest that child abuse potential appears less related to a particular faith tradition and more related to whether the parent has an extrinsic or intrinsic view of religion.118 An extrinsic view of religion applies to those who “view religiosity as a means for attaining other goals rather than as an end in itself.”119 Other researchers have defined extrinsic religiosity this way: “Persons with this orientation are disposed to use religion for their own ends. . . . Extrinsic values are always instrumental and utilitarian. Persons with this orientation may find religion useful in a variety of ways—to provide security

115. Adam J. Zolotov et al., Speak Softly—and Forget the Stick: Corporal Punishment and Child Physical Abuse, 35 AM. J. PREVENTATIVE MED. 364, 364 (2008). 116. Id. at 367. 117. Id. at 364. 118. Dyslin & Thomsen, supra note 29, at 295–96; Rodriguez & Henderson, supra note 114, at 84. 119. Dyslin & Thomsen, supra note 29, at 296.

http://open.mitchellhamline.edu/wmlr/vol40/iss3/3 26 Vieth: From Sticks to Flowers: Guidelines for Child Protection Professio

2014] FROM STICKS TO FLOWERS 933

and solace, sociability and distraction, status and self- justification.”120 Parents with an extrinsic orientation may use biblical teachings as “self-justification” for child abuse. As noted by some researchers: There may indeed be cases in which abusive individuals . . . are attracted to Conservative Protestant churches precisely because the church’s traditional theological doctrine unwittingly allows the abuser to take advantage of selectively literal interpretations of scripture that support their abusive behavior—for example, choosing a literal interpretation of Proverbs 13:24 (“He that spareth the rod . . . .”), while brushing aside Ephesians 6:4 (“. . . fathers, provoke not your children to wrath . . . .”).121 Extrinsic religiosity—and an increased risk to commit egregious acts of abuse—may also be present when a parent sees discipline as fulfilling the parent’s needs, and not the child’s. For example, Protestant clergyman Voddie Baucham advises parents: [T]he first few years of life [are] incredibly important. This is where we lay the foundation for everything else. The discipline and training phase. In this phase is where we are saying to our children “give me your attention, give me your attention.” “You need to pay more attention to ME than I do to YOU, give me your attention.” “The world doesn’t revolve around YOU, YOUR world revolves around ME.” That’s what we need to teach our children in those first few years of their life. Because [children] come here and just by nature of things they believe that the world revolves around them. And for the first few weeks that’s okay, but eventually we need to teach them that that’s over, that, “The world no longer revolves around YOU. YOUR world TODDLER, revolves around ME, around me.”122

120. Rodriguez & Henderson, supra note 114, at 85 (quoting Gordon W. Allport & J. Michael Ross, Personal Religious Orientation and Prejudice, 5 J. PERSONALITY & SOC. PSYCHOL. 432, 434 (1967)). 121. Dyslin & Thomsen, supra note 29, at 296. 122. Julie Anne, Voddie Baucham: Prescription for Spanking and the Shy Child, SPIRITUAL SOUNDING BOARD (June 17, 2013), http://spiritualsoundingboard .com/2013/06/17/voddie-baucham-prescription-for-spanking-and-the-shy-child (transcribing a Baucham sermon from November 4, 2007).

Published by Mitchell Hamline Open Access, 2014 27 William Mitchell Law Review, Vol. 40, Iss. 3 [2014], Art. 3

934 WILLIAM MITCHELL LAW REVIEW [Vol. 40:3

Baucham goes on to say that children need to be “spanked often” and says “unless you raised Jesus II, there were days when Junior needed to be spanked 5 times before breakfast.”123 Baucham even goes so far as to say that “shy” children often need to be disciplined (presumably with corporal punishment): Let me give you an example, a prime example. The so- called shy kid, who doesn’t shake hands at church, okay? Usually what happens is you come up, ya’ know and here I am, I’m the guest and I walk up and I’m saying hi to somebody and they say to their kid, “Hey, ya’ know, say Good-morning to Dr. Baucham,” and the kid hides and runs behind the leg and here’s what’s supposed to happen. . . . I’m supposed to look at their child and say, “Hey, that’s okay.” But I can’t do that. Because if I do that, then what has happened is that number one, the child has sinned by not doing what they were told to do, it’s in direct disobedience. Secondly, the parent is in sin for not correcting it, and thirdly, I am in sin because I have just told a child it’s okay to disobey and dishonor their parent in direct violation of scripture. I can’t do that, I won’t do that. I’m gonna stand there until you make ‘em do what you said.124 Ironically, Baucham is making these comments in reference to Ephesians 6:1–4, verses that instruct children to obey their parents but do not reference corporal punishment in any way. Indeed, these same verses instruct parents to “not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord.”125 Other conservative Protestant commentators draw a very different lesson from this passage. Commenting on these same passages, theologian Jerald C. Joersz writes: “In Paul’s day Greco- Roman fathers had absolute power and control over their children. Children’s’ education often included excessively harsh discipline. Training and discipline of children that is distinctly Christian requires parental self-control and restraint (especially of one’s temper).”126 Apart from any theological shortcomings, Baucham’s words fit very well with an extrinsic religiosity that centers on the needs and desires of the parent as opposed to the needs of the child. Research

123. Id. 124. Id. 125. Ephesians 6:1–4 (New Revised Standard). 126. JERALD C. JOERSZ, GALATIANS, EPHESIANS & PHILIPPIANS 161 (2013).

http://open.mitchellhamline.edu/wmlr/vol40/iss3/3 28 Vieth: From Sticks to Flowers: Guidelines for Child Protection Professio

2014] FROM STICKS TO FLOWERS 935

suggests that this sort of religiosity increases the risk for potential abuse.127 In contrast, persons with an intrinsic religiosity “find their master motive in religion. Other needs, strong as they may be, are regarded as of less ultimate significance, and they are, so far as possible, brought into harmony with the religious beliefs and prescriptions.”128 These parents may view parenting as a sacred, holy and blessed activity and treasure children as gifts of God.129 Martin Luther, the principal founder of the Protestant movement, viewed children in this context, openly questioned the effectiveness of corporal punishment,130 and scolded parents who acted as if children were given to them for their own amusement.131 When confronted with the unseemliness of changing a diaper, Luther tenderly said a father should respond:

127. See generally Rodriguez & Henderson, supra note 114, at 85 (studying “the connection between religious beliefs and child abuse potential”). 128. Id. (quoting Gordon W. Allport & J. Michael Ross, Personal Religious Orientation and Prejudice, 5 J. PERSONALITY & SOC. PSYCHOL. 432, 434 (1967)). 129. See generally Jean E. Dumas & Jenelle Nissley-Tsiopinis, Parental Global Religiousness, Sanctification of Parenting, and Positive and Negative Religious Coping as Predictors of Parental and Child Functioning, 16 INT’L J. PSYCHOL. RELIGION 289, 294 (2006) (discussing parents who view their role in a sacred context). 130. Not only did Luther challenge the utility of corporal punishment, he may have declined to use corporal punishment on his own children. FRANK C. SENN, LUTHERAN IDENTITY: A CLASSICAL UNDERSTANDING 80 (2008) (noting that Luther’s “discipline of his children avoided corporal punishment”). With respect to his son, Hans, who was then five years old, Luther said: I wouldn’t like to strike my little Hans very much, lest he should become shy and hate me. I know nothing that would give me greater sorrow. God acts like this [for He says], “I’ll chastise you, my children, but through another—through Satan or the world—but if you cry out and run to Me, I’ll rescue you and raise you up again.” For God doesn’t want us to hate Him. Martin Luther, Severe Whipping Makes Children Resentful: Between May 20 and 27, 1532, in FAITH AND FREEDOM: AN INVITATION TO THE WRITINGS OF MARTIN LUTHER 305, 305 (John F. Thornton & Susan B. Varenne eds., 2002). Luther’s misgivings about corporal punishment likely stem from his own childhood experiences. Luther was beaten by his mother until blood was drawn, beaten by his father to the point that Luther ran away, and was caned in school for “nothing at all.” ROLAND H. BAINTON, HERE I STAND: A LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER 17 (1950). 131. Victor I. Vieth, A Lutheran Approach to Ministering to Victims and Perpetrators of Child Abuse: What Does This Mean?, 10 CARING CONNECTIONS 21, 23 (2013) (citing TIMOTHY J. WENGERT, MARTIN LUTHER’S CATECHISMS: FORMING THE FAITH 35 (2009)).

Published by Mitchell Hamline Open Access, 2014 29 William Mitchell Law Review, Vol. 40, Iss. 3 [2014], Art. 3

936 WILLIAM MITCHELL LAW REVIEW [Vol. 40:3

O God . . . . I confess to Thee that I am not worthy to rock the little babe or wash its diapers, or to be entrusted with the care of the child and its mother. . . . Neither frost nor heat, neither drudgery nor labor will distress or dissuade me, for I am certain that it is thus pleasing in Thy sight.132 Parents who view their obligations in a tender, sacred way are more likely to have an intrinsic view of religiosity, which, in turn, may mean they have a lower potential to abuse their children.133 In considering the distinction between intrinsic and extrinsic religiosity, at least one word of caution is warranted. Human beings do not often fit neatly within academic definitions. In the real world, parents may have both intrinsic and extrinsic aspects of religiosity. Accordingly, to the extent this distinction is relevant, child protection professionals should recognize the distinction in terms of a continuum with child abuse potential perhaps increasing as a parent becomes more extrinsic.

C. Emphasize the Parent’s Strengths Although conservative Protestants are more likely to support and use corporal punishment, studies also indicate they are more likely to be involved with their children’s lives, to praise and hug them more, and to yell less.134 Although research suggests that parental warmth does not moderate the association between spanking and increased child aggression,135 professionals working with these parents should nonetheless praise their efforts and offer suggestions for building on these strengths in a way that doesn’t involve physical discipline. A generation ago, many parents allowed their children to ride bicycles without wearing helmets, to sit in a car without a car seat or belt, and to be in the room when adults were smoking. These parents were not abusive, they simply didn’t fully appreciate the dangers or realize there were better options. With increased education, parenting improved all the more. The same lesson

132. FAITH AND FREEDOM: AN INVITATION TO THE WRITINGS OF MARTIN LUTHER, supra note 130, at 249. 133. Rodriguez & Henderson, supra note 114, at 85. 134. Dyslin & Thomsen, supra note 29, at 295–96. 135. See Shawna J. Lee et al., Does Warmth Moderate Longitudinal Associations Between Maternal Spanking and Child Aggression in Early Childhood?, 49 DEVELOPMENTAL PSYCHOL. 2017, 2017–18 (2013), available at PsycNET, doi: 10.1037/a0031630.

http://open.mitchellhamline.edu/wmlr/vol40/iss3/3 30 Vieth: From Sticks to Flowers: Guidelines for Child Protection Professio

2014] FROM STICKS TO FLOWERS 937

applies to most parents who spank. They are not child abusers, they are genuinely loving parents who, with education, will take their parenting to an even higher level.

D. Emphasize the Importance of Effective Discipline Many religious parents adhere to corporal punishment because they believe children need discipline and because they want their children to engage in good behavior. This is an area where secular child protection professionals and religious parents can agree. Accordingly, a child protection professional should not simply tell a parent that corporal punishment has negative consequences. Instead, the professional should support the parent’s goal of instilling good behavior by speaking about proven disciplinary methods. Indeed, there are a number of evidence- based parenting programs that can include the integration of scripture but without using corporal punishment.136 Utilizing this more culturally sensitive approach, a child protection professional can readily agree with a parent about the importance of disciplining children but can emphasize the importance of doing so in an effective manner.

E. Make Clear You Are Not Serving in a Pastoral Capacity Many conservative Protestants fear governmental encroach- ment on their religious beliefs.137 Accordingly, it is critical that the

136. See, e.g., Donald F. Walker & Heather Lewis Quagliana, Integrating Scripture with Parent Training in Behavioral Interventions, 26 J. PSYCHOL. & CHRISTIANITY 122 (2007). 137. There are a number of scholarly articles suggesting the need to limit emotionally abusive religious teachings and practices around children. See, e.g., Jeffrey Shulman, The Outrageous God: Emotional Distress, Tort Liability, and the Limits of Religious Advocacy, 113 PENN ST. L. REV. 381, 408–09 (2008). One legal commentator contends there is a “form of religiously motivated abuse” involving “terrorizing children with horrific threats of devils and demons, ‘spiritual warfare,’ eternal damnation, and even an angry god that knows all of one’s most secret thoughts and actions.” Chase Cooper, Confronting Religiously Motivated Psychological Maltreatment of Children: A Framework for Policy Reform, 20 VA. J. SOC. POL’Y & L. 1, 24 (2012). Although not going this far in proposing limitations on the practice of religion, Cooper notes that some intellectuals believe that any religious instruction of children is harmful. For example, author Frank Schaeffer contends, “Religious freedom means freedom to worship in the Church of your choosing and—after you are eighteen—to believe anything that you want. Before you’re eighteen, society should protect you.” Id. at 27 (citing Frank Schaeffer, When Freedom Is a

Published by Mitchell Hamline Open Access, 2014 31 William Mitchell Law Review, Vol. 40, Iss. 3 [2014], Art. 3

938 WILLIAM MITCHELL LAW REVIEW [Vol. 40:3

child protection professional make clear she is not serving in a pastoral capacity and is certainly not advocating for any particular religious teaching. The child protection professional is involved in the case because she is concerned about the welfare of the child. To the extent religion is discussed, it is because the parent is raising the topic by suggesting biblical or other religious texts play a significant role in his or her disciplinary practices. Because the parent is raising the subject, the child protection professional is discussing the topic simply to gain a better understanding of the parent’s belief system and to explore with him or her whether there is a way to work within that belief system to achieve the result both parties want.

F. Acknowledge the Benefits of Religion for Many Children To the extent an adherent to corporal punishment worries the government is hostile to his or her religious beliefs, it may be helpful for a child protection professional to acknowledge there is evidence of the benefits of religion. According to an analysis of 676,000 Gallup-Healthways Well-Being Index interviews, very religious Americans score higher on “overall life evaluation, emotional health, physical health, healthy behaviors, work environment, and access to basic wellbeing necessities.”138 In addition to the general benefits of religion, there is research that abused children may benefit from a sense of spirituality. Some researchers have found that a victim’s “spiritual coping behaviour” may play either a positive or negative role in the survivor’s ability to cope with the abuse and with life in general.139 Victims of severe abuse may remain “stuck” in their spiritual development such as remaining angry with God. Children abused at younger ages are “less likely to turn to God and others for spiritual support.”140 Nonetheless, even victims describing a difficult relationship with God often rely on their spirituality for healing.141

Dirty Word, HUFFINGTON POST (Sept. 29, 2009), http://www.huffingtonpost.com /frank-schaeffer/when-freedom-is-a-dirty-w_b_294891.html). 138. NEWPORT, supra note 19, at 49. 139. Terry Lynn Gall, Spirituality and Coping with Life Stress Among Adult Survivors of Childhood Sexual Abuse, 30 CHILD ABUSE & NEGLECT 829, 829 (2006). 140. Id. at 838 (arguing that those “stuck” at a young age are less likely to turn to God later in life). 141. See generally Donald F. Walker et al., Changes in Personal Religion/Spirituality During and After Childhood Abuse: A Review and Synthesis, 1 PSYCHOL. TRAUMA:

http://open.mitchellhamline.edu/wmlr/vol40/iss3/3 32 Vieth: From Sticks to Flowers: Guidelines for Child Protection Professio

2014] FROM STICKS TO FLOWERS 939

Indeed, victims who experience “greater resolution” of their childhood abuse are able to “actively turn to their spirituality to cope . . . rather than attempt to cope on their own.”142

G. Play in the Parents’ Ball Field As noted earlier, some conservative Protestants reject research studies on corporal punishment, claiming that all such research is trumped by the Bible.143 Accordingly, it is unlikely a parent with this mindset will change his or her view or behavior unless the parent can be shown that noncorporal means of discipline is consistent with the parent’s belief systems.144 When a parent raises this issue, the child protection professional can legitimately ask the parent questions to assist him or her in determining whether or not hitting a child is truly a part of his or her faith tradition. As one example, it may be wise to ask whether or not the parent also subscribes to the biblical passages pertaining to adult corporal punishment. If the parent responds that the verses pertaining to adult corporal punishment are simply reflecting the governmental punishments of that era, the same analysis for child corporal punishment may follow. By the same token, ask the parent if he or she believes corporal punishment is required or simply authorized by scripture. If it is simply authorized, perhaps the child protection professional and the parent now have a basis to work together in exploring other disciplinary techniques. Also keep in mind that a parent inflicting corporal punishment often does so with the mindset that he or she is God’s representative to the child.145 For this reason, a clinician may want

THEORY, RES., PRAC. & POL’Y 130 (2009) (exploring spirituality’s impact on child abuse). 142. Gall, supra note 139, at 839. 143. See Ellison & Sherkat, supra note 30, at 132. 144. There is a growing body of literature to assist mental health professionals in working with children and parents for whom spirituality is a critical aspect of any intervention. See, e.g., AM. PSYCHOLOGICAL ASS’N, SPIRITUAL INTERVENTIONS IN CHILD AND ADOLESCENT PSYCHOTHERAPY (Donald F. Walker & William L. Hathaway eds., 2012). 145. For example, C.F.W. Walther, the first president of the conservative Protestant Missouri Synod Lutheran Church prayed: O Lord God, we tremble when we recall that You have placed us over our children as Your representatives to lead and guide them on earth, and that You will someday say to us: “Where are the children whom I have given you? Have any of them been lost?” For again and again we

Published by Mitchell Hamline Open Access, 2014 33 William Mitchell Law Review, Vol. 40, Iss. 3 [2014], Art. 3

940 WILLIAM MITCHELL LAW REVIEW [Vol. 40:3

to work within this belief system and ask a series of questions particularly pertinent to the parent. These questions may include:  What is your child learning about God from the way you discipline her?  Do you think this will shape your child’s view of God throughout her life?  What did you learn about God from how you were disciplined as a child?146 Consistent with these questions, a clinician may want to share the following anecdote with a parent. When Astrid Lindgren, the author of Pippi Longstocking, received the German Book Trade Prize in 1978, she shared this lesson about the message hitting children sends: When I was 20 years old, I met an old pastor’s wife who told me when she was young and had her first child, she didn’t believe in striking children, although spanking kids with a switch pulled from a tree was standard punishment at the time. But one day when her son was four or five, he did something that she felt warranted a spanking—the first of his life. And she told him that he would have to go outside and find a switch for her to hit him with. The boy was gone a long time. And when he came back in, he was crying. He said to her, “Mama, I couldn’t find a switch, but here’s a rock you can throw at me.” All of a sudden the mother understood how the situation felt from the child’s point of view: that if my mother wants to hurt me, then it makes no difference what she does it with; she might as well do it with a stone. And the mother took the boy onto her lap and they both cried. Then she laid the rock on a shelf in the kitchen to remind herself forever: never violence.147

have been guilty of neglecting them, due either to a lack of love or to misguided love, to a lack of earnestness or to sinful zeal, to a lack of wisdom or to the deceptive wisdom of this world. C.F.W. WALTHER, FOR THE LIFE OF THE CHURCH 136 (Charles P. Schaum ed., Rudolph Prange trans., 2011). 146. The author thanks Dr. Mark Everson for suggesting these questions. 147. Never Violence: A Story Told by Astrid Lindgren, ALLIANCE FOR TRANSFORMING LIVES CHILD., http://www.atlc.org/Resources/never_violence.php (last visited Feb. 10, 2014).

http://open.mitchellhamline.edu/wmlr/vol40/iss3/3 34 Vieth: From Sticks to Flowers: Guidelines for Child Protection Professio

2014] FROM STICKS TO FLOWERS 941

The pastor’s wife in Lindgren’s anecdote sounds similar to Carol, the widowed mother in our case scenario who likewise didn’t personally believe in striking children but felt she had to.

H. Engage the Faith Community as a Whole Given the importance of faith in many families, it is important for child protection professionals to engage community faith leaders in discussing the intersection between religion and the law. When properly educated about the dynamics in many cases of abuse, faith leaders can be much more effective in speaking out against egregious acts of corporal punishment—such as hitting infants with sticks for “selfish” crying. Although conservative Protestant clergy may maintain that corporal punishment is acceptable, they may nonetheless agree that corporal punishment is particularly dangerous in the hands of parents who are frustrated or who may be low functioning. If this is true, conservative Protestant clergy may recognize a responsibility in helping these parents understand that alternative forms of discipline are likewise acceptable. Child protection professionals should also take a leadership role in educating faith leaders about the contracting definition of reasonable force. It is an important issue for faith leaders and seminaries to consider because it brings to a head the issue of whether corporal punishment is merely authorized or required by scripture. If corporal punishment is required, parishioners will be taught to hit their children irrespective of the law. If, though, corporal punishment is simply authorized, parishioners will be taught to comply with the law in limiting, if not eliminating, the practice. This is an important concept because conservative Protestants also take seriously the scriptural admonition to abide by governmental decrees provided they do not require the faithful to act contrary to God’s word.148

148. Specifically, the Apostle Paul instructed Christians: Let everyone be subject to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which God has established. The authorities that exist have been established by God. Consequently, whoever rebels against the authority is rebelling against what God has instituted, and those who do so will bring judgment on themselves. Romans 13:1–2 (New International Version).

Published by Mitchell Hamline Open Access, 2014 35 William Mitchell Law Review, Vol. 40, Iss. 3 [2014], Art. 3

942 WILLIAM MITCHELL LAW REVIEW [Vol. 40:3

V. CONCLUSION: WORKING WITH CAROL In our case study, Carol had a number of parenting strengths and did not want to hit her son. Although the MDT cited research or otherwise made what the team considered rational arguments for abandoning the practice, Carol interpreted this to be insensitive—that the ultimate end of the road would be a complete rejection of her faith tradition. When the team shifted focus and explored Carol’s fears and cited biblical along with other authorities she respected, her entire demeanor changed. Eventually, Carol completely abandoned the use of corporal punishment and urged other parents in her faith tradition to do the same. When the child protection case was eventually dismissed, Carol rose to her feet and thanked the court and all the members of the MDT for helping her become the parent she always wanted to be and, she added, that God always wanted her to be.

http://open.mitchellhamline.edu/wmlr/vol40/iss3/3 36 Mitchell Hamline Law Review

Volume 45 Issue 4 Article 6

2019

Wounded Souls: The Need for Child Protection Professionals and Faith Leaders to Recognize and Respond to the Spiritual Impact of Child Abuse

Victor I. Vieth

Pete Singer

Follow this and additional works at: https://open.mitchellhamline.edu/mhlr

Part of the Family Law Commons, and the Juvenile Law Commons

Recommended Citation Vieth, Victor I. and Singer, Pete (2019) "Wounded Souls: The Need for Child Protection Professionals and Faith Leaders to Recognize and Respond to the Spiritual Impact of Child Abuse," Mitchell Hamline Law Review: Vol. 45 : Iss. 4 , Article 6. Available at: https://open.mitchellhamline.edu/mhlr/vol45/iss4/6

This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Law Reviews and Journals at Mitchell Hamline Open Access. It has been accepted for inclusion in Mitchell Hamline Law Review by an authorized administrator of Mitchell Hamline Open Access. For more information, please contact [email protected]. © Mitchell Hamline School of Law Vieth and Singer: Wounded Souls: The Need for Child Protection Professionals and Fa

Vieth & Singer: Wounded Souls

WOUNDED SOULS: THE NEED FOR CHILD PROTECTION PROFESSIONALS AND FAITH LEADERS TO RECOGNIZE AND RESPOND TO THE SPIRITUAL IMPACT OF CHILD ABUSE

Victor I. Vieth† and Pete Singer††

I. INTRODUCTION ...... 1214 II. THE INTERSECTION BETWEEN CHILD PROTECTION AND RELIGION ...... 1216 A. Sexual Abuse ...... 1216 B. Physical Abuse ...... 1218 C. Withholding Medical Care on the Basis of Religious Belief ...... 1220 D. Torture ...... 1220 III. THE SPIRITUAL IMPACT OF CHILD ABUSE & NEGLECT ...... 1221 IV. POSITIVE AND NEGATIVE RELIGIOUS INFLUENCES BEFORE, DURING, AND AFTER THE FORENSIC INTERVIEW ...... 1224 V. EFFECTIVE MDT RESPONSES TO THE SPIRITUAL IMPACT OF CHILD ABUSE ...... 1226 A. Coordinating Mental Health and Spiritual Care ...... 1226 B. Coordinating Medical and Spiritual Care ...... 1227 C. A Faith Leader or Chaplain on the MDT ...... 1228 D. Care in Action: A Promising Practice for Faith and Child Protection Collaborations ...... 1230 1. Adopt a Social Worker ...... 1230 2. Email/Facebook Partners ...... 1231 3. Youth in Transition ...... 1232 4. Community Education ...... 1232 VI. CONCLUSION ...... 1233

† Victor Vieth is the Director of Education and Research of the Zero Abuse Project, and President of the Academy on Violence & Abuse. †† Pete Singer is the Founding Director of Care in Action Minnesota, which has helped the faith community respond to and prevent child maltreatment since 2005. Mr. Singer is a licensed therapist and clinical social worker. He also serves as a consultant to the Zero Abuse Project.

1213

Published by Mitchell Hamline Open Access, 2019 1 Mitchell Hamline Law Review, Vol. 45, Iss. 4 [2019], Art. 6

Mitchell Hamline Law Review, Vol. 45, Iss. 4, Art. 6

1214 MITCHELL HAMLINE LAW REVIEW [Vol. 45:4

“We must accept finite disappointment but never lose infinite hope.” —Martin Luther King1

I. INTRODUCTION A seven-year-old girl has detailed sexual abuse during a forensic interview conducted at a Children’s Advocacy Center.2 “I’ve asked you a lot of questions,” the forensic interviewer says in wrapping up the interview, “Do you have any questions of me?” The girl squirms, twirls her hair, and stares at her toes. Her voice trembling and nearly inaudible, she asks: “Am I still a virgin in God’s eyes?”3 A twelve-year-old boy, placed in foster care because of years of beatings from his single mother, tells his therapist that he is aware of a passage in the Bible that states “all things work together for good to those who love God.”4 The boy notes that he has permanent injuries from the beatings, that his mother is likely going to prison, and that everyone in school looks at him oddly because of the news coverage of his mother’s crimes. “What ‘good’ has come to me from all this suffering?” the boy asks.5 A seventeen-year-old girl says her father sold her body so that he could make enough money to feed his drug addiction. “I have a lot of hatred,” the teenager tells her social worker, “I want to get even with the people who have hurt me. Is it sinful to inflict pain on the people who have been so cruel to me? What does God have to say about anger?”6 Each of these scenarios raises spiritual or religious questions posed by a maltreated child to a professional—a forensic interviewer, a psychologist, and a social worker. These and similar questions are often raised in cases of child abuse.7 Failing to address them may impair a child’s physical

1. CASEY GWINN & CHAN HELLMAN, HOPE RISING 182 (2019). 2. For a history of the development of Children’s Advocacy Centers, see generally Nancy Chandler, Children’s Advocacy Centers: Making a Difference One Child at a Time, 28 HAMLINE J. PUB. L. & POL’Y 315, 315–38 (2006). 3. The author (Vieth) consulted on a case involving this exact scenario, and the author (Singer) has heard similar questions while providing therapy to maltreated children. 4. Romans 8:28 (King James). 5. This case example and the one that follows are composites of numerous cases that the author (Vieth) has prosecuted or consulted on over the course of thirty years. 6. See id. 7. Amy C. Tishelman & Lisa A. Fontes, Religion in Child Sexual Abuse Forensic Interviews, 63 CHILD ABUSE & NEGL. 120, 122–29 (2017).

https://open.mitchellhamline.edu/mhlr/vol45/iss4/6 2 Vieth and Singer: Wounded Souls: The Need for Child Protection Professionals and Fa

Vieth & Singer: Wounded Souls

2019] THE SPIRITUAL IMPACT OF CHILD ABUSE 1215

and mental health.8 At the same time, restoring a child’s spiritual health may provide a source of resiliency that improves the probability of successful life outcomes.9 Spiritual questions may arise because a perpetrator utilizes a religious theme or concept in the abuse of a child.10 Spiritual questions may also arise simply because a child is searching for meaning in the aftermath of trauma.11 This article explores situations in which religion and child protection may conflict.12 The article provides a synopsis of research on the spiritual impact of child abuse and neglect.13 An overview of how this dynamic may play out before, during, and after a forensic interview14 is also provided.15

8. Donald F. Walker et al., Changes in Personal Religion/Spirituality During and After Childhood Abuse: A Review and Synthesis, 1 PSYCH. TRAUMA: THEORY, RES., PRAC. & POL’Y 130 (2009). 9. See Thema Bryant-Davis et al., Religiosity, Spirituality, and Trauma Recovery in the Lives of Children and Adolescents, 43 PROF. PSYCH.: RES. & REV. 306 (2012); Thema Bryant Davis & Eunice C. Wong, Faith to Move Mountains: Religious Coping, Spirituality, and Interpersonal Trauma Recovery, 68 AM. PSYCH. 675 (2013); Terry Lynn Gall, Spiritu- ality and Coping with Life Stress Among Adult Survivors of Childhood Sexual Abuse, 30 CHILD ABUSE & NEGL. 829 (2006); Jungmeen Kim, The Protective Effects of Religiosity on Maladjustment Among Maltreated and Nonmaltreated Children, 32 CHILD ABUSE & NEGL. 711 (2008), https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2568974/ [https://perma.cc/8J9Y-K5MA]; Katie G. Reinhert et al., The Role of Religious Involvement in the Relationship Between Early Trauma and Health Outcomes Among Adult Survivors, 9 J. CHILD & ADOLESCENT TRAUMA 231, 239–40 (2016), https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4969318/ [https://perma.cc/57DW-2ZR4]. 10. Victor I. Vieth, When Faith Hurts: Overcoming Spiritually-Based Blocks and Problems Before, During and After the Forensic Interview, 2 CTR. PIECE 1, 1–6 (2010) [hereinafter Vieth I], https://www.ok.gov/health2/documents/centerpiece%20when%20faith%20hurts.pdf [https://perma.cc/VW2X-BWJ4]. 11. See id. at 2 (“Some researchers have found that a victim’s ‘spiritual coping behavior’ may play either a positive or negative role in the survivor’s ability to cope with the abuse and with life in general.” (citing Gall, supra note 9, at 839)). 12. Infra Part II. 13. Infra Part III. 14. “A forensic interview of a child is a developmentally sensitive and legally sound method of gathering factual information regarding allegations of abuse or exposure to violence. This interview is conducted by a competently trained, neutral professional utilizing research and practice-informed techniques as part of a larger investigative process.” Chris Newlin et al., Child Forensic Interviewing: Best Practices, JUV. JUST. BULL. 3 (2015), https://www.ojjdp.gov/pubs/248749.pdf [https://perma.cc/VZ29-ZAE6]. 15. Infra Part IV.

Published by Mitchell Hamline Open Access, 2019 3 Mitchell Hamline Law Review, Vol. 45, Iss. 4 [2019], Art. 6

Mitchell Hamline Law Review, Vol. 45, Iss. 4, Art. 6

1216 MITCHELL HAMLINE LAW REVIEW [Vol. 45:4

Lastly, the article outlines effective multi-disciplinary team (“MDT”)16 responses to the spiritual impact of child abuse.17

II. THE INTERSECTION BETWEEN CHILD PROTECTION AND RELIGION In cases of child abuse and neglect, the work of child protection professionals may intersect with religious practices or doctrines in multiple ways. In many instances, it is not mainstream religious beliefs—but the distortion of these beliefs—that may prompt the child-victim’s theological concerns. The following sections explain and provide examples of distor- tions of mainstream religious beliefs that impact child-victims of sexual abuse, physical abuse, medical neglect, and torture.

A. Sexual Abuse Many sex offenders describe themselves as “religious.”18 Those who operate within a religious body accumulate more victims, younger victims, and get away with their crimes for longer periods of time than offenders operating within secular youth-serving organizations.19 One reason for this is that churches and other religious communities often have weak child- protection policies, poor training, and are otherwise easily manipulated.20 As one convicted sex offender notes:

16. It is widely considered the best practice to respond to an allegation of child abuse is with a MDT. See APRI INVESTIGATION AND PROSECUTION OF CHILD ABUSE xxix (3d ed. 2004). There are two teams that respond to an allegation. Id. at xxxvii. The investigative team typically consists of law enforcement, social services, and the prosecutor’s office. Id. During the investigation, this team draws on other experts, such as forensic interviewers, doctors, and mental health professionals. Id. If a case results in a determination of abuse, a broader team, commonly called a “case review” or “service team,” reviews the case period- ically to ensure the needs of both child and family are being addressed. Id. To learn more about MDTs and their myriad purposes and benefits, see id. at xxix–xliv. 17. Infra Part V. 18. GENE ABEL & NORA HARLOW, THE STOP CHILD MOLESTATION BOOK (2001). 19. Donna Eshuys & Stephen Smallbone, Religious Affiliation Among Adult Sexual Offenders, 18 J. CHILD SEXUAL ABUSE 279 (2006). 20. See generally Cory Jewell Jensen, Understanding and Working with Adult Sex Offenders in the Church, 45 CURRENTS THEOLOGY & MISSION 36, 38 (2018), http://currentsjournal.org/index.php/currents/article/view/133/152 [https://perma.cc/9J3P- W4MM]; Victor I. Vieth, What Would Walther Do? Applying Law & Gospel to Victims and Perpetrators of Child Sexual Abuse, 4 J. PSYCH. & THEO. 257, 261–64 (2012) [hereinafter Vieth II],

https://open.mitchellhamline.edu/mhlr/vol45/iss4/6 4 Vieth and Singer: Wounded Souls: The Need for Child Protection Professionals and Fa

Vieth & Singer: Wounded Souls

2019] THE SPIRITUAL IMPACT OF CHILD ABUSE 1217

I consider church people easy to fool. . . . They have a trust that comes from being Christians. . . . They tend to be better folks all around. And they want to believe in the good that exists in all people. . . . I think they want to believe in people. And because of that, you can easily convince [them], with or without convincing words.21 Sex offenders who are “religious” may effectively use the tenets of faith to keep a child quiet or otherwise manipulate the boy or girl.22 An offender may cite a child’s biological reaction to sexual touching as “proof” the child is equally responsible for the “sin.”23 An offender might also in- voke concepts of forgiveness and claim that a child who is unwilling to for- give the offender is not truly part of the family of God.24 In one case, a Protestant minister told his daughter that although sexual abuse is normal- ly condemned by God, the Bible makes exceptions—such as at the creation of the world or after the great flood.25 The pastor contended that God had come to him in a dream and said this was one of these exceptions, and therefore, he must sexually touch his child.26 When dynamics such as these are present,27 issues of religion may arise during the forensic interviews of victims and the interrogations of offenders, as well as in a social worker’s case planning and mental health services.28

https://www.thefreelibrary.com/What+would+Walther+do%3f+Applying+law+and+gospel+t o+victims+and. . .-a0314565107 [https://perma.cc/EH5Q-MLFW]. 21. Jensen, supra note 20, at 38 (quoting ANNA C. SALTER, PREDATORS 29 (1991)). 22. Vieth I, supra note 10, at 2. 23. Id. The author (Vieth) has consulted on a number of cases where this dynamic was present. 24. Vieth II, supra note 20, at 209 (discussing the difficult nature of forgiveness for many victims of abuse). 25. Victor I. Vieth, Ministering to Sex Offenders: Ten Lessons from Henry Gerecke, 112 WIS. LUTHERAN Q. 208, 210 (2015), http://www.gundersenhealth.org/app/files/public/4939/Ministering-to-Adult-Sex- Offenders.pdf [https://perma.cc/PVZ8-3C7X]. 26. Id. 27. For an overview of the characteristics of sex offenders operating in the Protestant community, see generally Andrew S. Denney et al., Child Sexual Abuse in Protestant Christian Congregations: A Descriptive Analysis of Offense and Offender Characteristics, 9 RELIGIONS 1, 1–13 (2018), https://www.mdpi.com/2077-1444/9/1/27/htm [https://perma.cc/U7CL-LGXB]. For an overview of characteristics of sex offenders operating within Catholic communities, see generally MARIE KEENAN, CHILD SEXUAL ABUSE & THE CATHOLIC CHURCH: GENDER, POWER, AND ORGANIZATIONAL CULTURE (2012). 28. See Basyle Tchividjian & Victor I. Vieth, When the Child Abuser Has a Bible: Investigating Child Maltreatment Sanctioned or Condoned by a Religious Leader, LIBERTY UNIV. 3–4 (2011),

Published by Mitchell Hamline Open Access, 2019 5 Mitchell Hamline Law Review, Vol. 45, Iss. 4 [2019], Art. 6

Mitchell Hamline Law Review, Vol. 45, Iss. 4, Art. 6

1218 MITCHELL HAMLINE LAW REVIEW [Vol. 45:4

B. Physical Abuse In the United States, research has consistently found that a majority of child physical abuse cases involve acts of corporal punishment.29 In Canada, these figures climb to seventy-five percent.30 Some theologically conservative Protestants believe God requires physical discipline,31 and some Bible commentaries contend that scripture has a clear preference for physical discipline with a switch.32 When placed in the hands of an unstable or volatile parent, these interpretations of scripture can distort a child’s image of God.33 As one example, a victim of child physical abuse writes:

https://digitalcommons.liberty.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?referer=https://www.google.com/&ht tpsredir=1&article=1053&context=lusol_fac_pubs [https://perma.cc/GF6C-9ZQN]. 29. “From the earliest days of research on the dynamics of child physical maltreatment, studies have revealed that most physical abuse incidents were the result of parents attempting to punish their children. Since then, findings have been consistent in demon- strating that most physical abuse takes place in situations where caregivers attempt to correct children’s behavior or to ‘teach them a lesson.’” ELIZABETH T. GERSHOFF, REPORT ON PHYSICAL PUNISHMENT IN THE UNITED STATES: WHAT RESEARCH TELLS US ABOUT ITS EFFECTS ON CHILDREN (2008), http://www.nospank.net/gershoff.pdf [https://perma.cc/TS8Q-G69D] (citations omitted). 30. Joan Durrant & Ron Esnsom, Physical Punishment of Children: Lessons from 20 Years of Research, 184 CAN. MED. ASS’N J. 1373, 1375 (2012), https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3447048/ [https://perma.cc/CF9P-HKK9]. 31. For example, Albert Mohler, president of the Southern Baptist Theological Sem- inary writes: “Does the Bible instruct parents to spank their children? The answer to that must be an emphatic, Yes. Though the words ‘spare the rod and spoil the child’ do not appear in the biblical text, the Bible makes the same point in an unmistakable way.” R. Al- bert Mohler, Jr., Should Spanking be Banned? Parental Authority Under Assault, ALBERT MOHLER (June 22, 2004), https://albertmohler.com/2004/06/22/should-spanking-be- banned-parental-authority-under-assault/ [https://perma.cc/HF5D-K6DW]. For an alternative interpretation of these texts, see WILLIAM J. WEBB, CORPORAL PUNISHMENT IN THE BIBLE: A REDEMPTIVE-MOVEMENT HERMENEUTIC FOR TROUBLING TEXTS (2011); See also, Victor I. Vieth, Augustine, Luther and Solomon: Providing Pastoral Guidance to Par- ents on the Corporal Punishment of Children, 44 CURRENTS THEOLOGY & MISSION 25, 31–32 (2017), https://www.gundersenhealth.org/app/files/public/6441/NCPTC-Augustine- Luther-Solomon.pdf [https://perma.cc/NP6C-2VLL]. 32. For example, one conservative commentary states the “use of the rod for spanking is clearly taught in Scripture in preference to spanking with one’s hand.” EDWARD E. HINDSON, KING JAMES STUDY BIBLE 942 (2013) (providing commentary on Proverbs 13:24). 33. See Alex Bierman, The Effects of Childhood Maltreatment on Adult Religiosity and Spirituality: Rejecting God the Father Because of Abusive Fathers?, 44 J. SCI. STUDY

https://open.mitchellhamline.edu/mhlr/vol45/iss4/6 6 Vieth and Singer: Wounded Souls: The Need for Child Protection Professionals and Fa

Vieth & Singer: Wounded Souls

2019] THE SPIRITUAL IMPACT OF CHILD ABUSE 1219

Dad didn’t call it violence. He called it discipline. “Spare the rod and spoil the child.” “Quit your crying or I will give you something to cry about.” It always seemed like a stupid statement since I had something to cry about—that is why I was crying. But I learned not to show an ounce of emotion when he whipped me. The only emotion I remember was anger.34 Even apart from instances of severe physical abuse, a large body of research finds hitting children as a means of discipline is ineffective and poses significant risks.35 Nevertheless, these studies have produced little change in the adherence of conservative Protestants to corporal punishment,36 simply because scripture takes precedence over research.37 Howev- er, two studies from researchers at Pepperdine University found that addressing the theology often used to justify the practice may result in change.38 Accordingly, child protection experts and professional organiza-

RELIG. 349, 357 (2005), http://midus.wisc.edu/findings/pdfs/126.pdf [https://perma.cc/SD7T-ANXB]. 34. GWINN & HELLMAN, supra note 1, at 177–78. For example, consider these words from a survivor of child physical abuse: “When you are abused as a child, you think God is like your abuser. Only many years later, after I went to counseling did I understand the depth of my distortion. I was talking to a therapist and made reference to my dad’s death except I said ‘When God died . . .’ She caught it and, then with a look, caused me to realize what I had said. My dad was God to me—often mad at me, focused on my achieve- ments, and always expecting me to earn my way out of misconduct and sin.” Id. at 179. 35. Elizabeth T. Gershoff & Andrew Grogan-Kaylor, Spanking and Child Outcomes: Old Controversies and New Meta-Analysis, 30 J. FAM. PSYCH. 453, 453–69 (2016), https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/0d03/a2e9f085f0a268b4c0a52f5ac31c17a3e5f3.pdf?_ga=2. 213138642.777599874.1552193662-339353858.1552193662 [https://perma.cc/8U3U- ZHZW]; Robert D. Sege & Benjamin S. Siegel, Effective Discipline to Raise Healthy Chil- dren, 142 AM. ACAD. PEDIATRICS 1, 3–6 (2018), https://pediatrics.aappublications.org/content/142/6/e20183112 [https://perma.cc/AF9T-7TZ6]. 36. John P. Hoffman et al., Conservative Protestantism and Attitudes Toward Cor- poral Punishment, 63 SOC. SCI. RES. 81 (2017). 37. Christopher G. Ellison & Darren E. Sherkat, Conservative Protestantism and Support for Corporal Punishment, 58 AM. SOC. REV. 131, 132 (1993); Christopher G. El- lison & Matt Bradshaw, Religious Beliefs, Sociopolitical Ideology, and Attitudes Toward Corporal Punishment, 30 J. FAM. MED. 320, 322–23 (2009), http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.919.5228&rep=rep1&type=pdf [https://perma.cc/YEP2-VD5Y]. 38. Robin Perrin et al., Changing Attitudes about Spanking Using Alternative Biblical Interpretations, 41 INT’L J. BEHAV. DEV. 514 (2017); Cindy Miller-Perrin & Robin Perrin, Changing Attitudes about Spanking Among Conservative Christians Using Interventions that Focus on Empirical Research Evidence and Progressive Biblical Interpretations, 71 CHILD ABUSE & NEGL. 69 (2017).

Published by Mitchell Hamline Open Access, 2019 7 Mitchell Hamline Law Review, Vol. 45, Iss. 4 [2019], Art. 6

Mitchell Hamline Law Review, Vol. 45, Iss. 4, Art. 6

1220 MITCHELL HAMLINE LAW REVIEW [Vol. 45:4

tions have proposed guidelines to assist child protection professionals in developing culturally sensitive approaches to parents who sincerely believe God mandates physical discipline but whose conduct exceeds what is permissible by law.39

C. Withholding Medical Care on the Basis of Religious Belief In the United States, there are at least twenty religious sects that withhold some or all medical care from children, even in situations where the child’s life is in danger.40 For example, Brandon Schaible was a seven- month-old baby who died from pneumonia because his parents interpreted the Bible as requiring them to rely only on prayer.41 When confronted with cases such as this, child protection professionals and courts are forced to balance a parent’s right to practice their religion against the welfare of the child.42 In balancing these competing interests, it is necessary to understand the religious framework of a family denying necessary medical care and, perhaps, to address any theological constructs endangering the child.43

D. Torture Child torture is defined as two or more physical assaults, on two or more occasions or a single prolonged incident causing “prolonged physical pain, emotional distress, bodily injury or death,” accompanied by at least two elements of psychological abuse, “such as isolation, intimidation, emo-

39. Victor I. Vieth, From Sticks to Flowers: Guidelines for Child Protection Profes- sionals Working with Parents Using Corporal Punishment to Justify Corporal Punishment, 40 WM. MITCHELL L. REV. 907, 930–32 (2014); ACAD. ON VIOLENCE & ABUSE, WORKING WITH RELIGIOUS CARETAKERS USING SCRIPTURE TO JUSTIFY CORPORAL PUNISHMENT (forthcoming 2019). 40. PAUL A. OFFIT, BAD FAITH: WHEN RELIGIOUS BELIEF UNDERMINES MODERN MEDICINE 32 (2015). 41. Id. at ix. 42. JOHN E. B. MYERS, MYERS ON EVIDENCE OF INTERPERSONAL VIOLENCE: CHILD MALTREATMENT, INTIMATE PARTNER VIOLENCE, RAPE, STALKING, AND ELDER ABUSE 422–28 (2011). 43. See generally Troy Troftgruben, Toxic Theology: A Pastoral Response to Bible Passages Often Used to Justify the Abuse of Children or Prevent Them from Seeking Care, 45 CURRENTS THEOLOGY & MISSION 56, 57–58 (2018), http://www.currentsjournal.org/index.php/currents/article/viewFile/137/157 [https://perma.cc/PE2C-6T4R] (providing an overview of Biblical justifications for corporal punishment, withholding medical care, and resistance to mental health resources).

https://open.mitchellhamline.edu/mhlr/vol45/iss4/6 8 Vieth and Singer: Wounded Souls: The Need for Child Protection Professionals and Fa

Vieth & Singer: Wounded Souls

2019] THE SPIRITUAL IMPACT OF CHILD ABUSE 1221

tional/psychological maltreatment, terrorizing, spurning or deprivation.”44 The perpetrators are generally caretakers who “utilize a framework of necessary discipline and corporal punishment to justify their abusive acts . . . . [S]ome perpetrators [see] it as a religious duty to discipline their children harshly.”45 When a child views extreme discipline as normal, he or she is less likely to disclose the conduct as abusive.46 As a result, disclosures are more likely to come in response to open-ended questions, such as “tell me about meal time,” and only after a child “has been stabilized in a safe setting.”47

III. THE SPIRITUAL IMPACT OF CHILD ABUSE & NEGLECT Abuse or neglect not only affects a child physically and emotionally,48 it can also impact a child spiritually.49 Spirituality has been defined as a “search or quest for the Sacred” or as a “private, personal, affective experience with ‘the Divine.’”50 Religiousness is more commonly thought of as “an institutional set of beliefs and practices.”51 Although academics differ- entiate between religiosity and spirituality, most laypersons consider them to be interchangeable terms.52 Irrespective of its definition, child abuse often impacts a child’s sense of spirituality. For example, in a study of 527 male victims of child maltreatment, researchers found significant spiritual injuries, including feelings

44. Barbara L. Knox et al., Child Torture as a Form of Discipline, 7 J. CHILD & ADOLESCENT TRAUMA 37 (2014), http://alaska.nationalchildrensalliance.org/wp- content/uploads/2017/01/Knox-Torture-as-a-Form-of-Child-Abuse-article.pdf [https://perma.cc/RTW8-2MPX]. 45. Id. 46. Id. 47. Id. 48. Vincent J. Felitti & Robert F. Anda, The Relationship of Adverse Childhood Ex- periences to Adult Medical Disease, Psychiatric Disorders, and Sexual Behavior: Implica- tions for Healthcare, in THE IMPACT OF EARLY LIFE TRAUMA ON HEALTH AND DISEASE: THE HIDDEN EPIDEMIC 78 (Ruthe A. Lanius et al. eds., 2010), https://www.unnaturalcauses.org/assets/uploads/file/ACE%20Study-Lanius.pdf [https://perma.cc/75RQ-UPJD]. 49. Amy Russell, The Spiritual Impact of Child Abuse & Exploitation: What Re- search Tells Us, 45 CURRENTS THEOLOGY & MISSION 14, 15–16 (2018), http://currentsjournal.org/index.php/currents/article/view/128/147 [https://perma.cc/6H2Q- RLMG]. 50. Walker et al., supra note 8, at 131. 51. Id. 52. Id.

Published by Mitchell Hamline Open Access, 2019 9 Mitchell Hamline Law Review, Vol. 45, Iss. 4 [2019], Art. 6

Mitchell Hamline Law Review, Vol. 45, Iss. 4, Art. 6

1222 MITCHELL HAMLINE LAW REVIEW [Vol. 45:4

of guilt, anger, grief, despair, fear of death, and a belief that God is unfair.53 In one case, a survivor said he was terrified of dying because he wasn’t sure God understood child abuse. The man explained that as a boy he had been beaten, sexually violated, emotionally abused, and forced to witness violence against others he loved. As an adult he then suffered alcohol and drug problems, marital problems, and was incarcerated for criminal vehicular homicide. The man wondered if God would hold him account- able for his many “sins” or if God would “give him a pass” because of the traumatic childhood he had endured.54 In another case, an adolescent girl was sexually abused by a doctor who worked for her church. The doctor explained that he had chosen the child because, of all the girls he worked with, her breasts were the most developed. As an adult, the victim reported she developed a tremendous hatred for God. After all, she reasoned, God must have known the man would be attracted to her if her breasts developed early. Since God did not slow the growth of the child’s body, the victim held God responsible.55 A seven-year-old child who was beaten, locked in closets, witnessed domestic violence, and was eventually abandoned, reached the following conclusions about God: “There’s lots of bad things in the world. That’s just how God created the world. Murderers. Kidnappers. He [God] pressed a button, and he made a mistake . . . . He shouldn’t have let those people do those things! He made a mistake.”56 When the perpetrator is a member of the clergy or otherwise closely connected to the child’s faith tradition, the spiritual impact may be particularly pronounced.57 Researchers have found that “religion-related abuse has significantly more negative implications for its victims' long-term psychological well-being” than similar abuse that is not inflicted in the name of God.58 Age further appears to make a difference, with young children

53. Ronald Lawson et al., The Long Term Impact of Child Abuse on Religious Be- havior and Spirituality in Men, 22 CHILD ABUSE & NEGL. 369 (1998). 54. This is a case the author (Vieth) consulted on. 55. This is a case the author (Vieth) consulted on. 56. This is a case the author (Singer) is familiar with. 57. Barbara McLaughlin, Devastated Spirituality: The Impact of Clergy Sexual Abuse on the Survivor’s Relationship with God and the Church, 1 SEXUAL ADDICTION & COMPULSIVITY 145 (1994); Kenneth I. Pargament et al., Problem and Solution: the Spir- itual Dimension of Clergy Sexual Abuse and its Impact on Survivors, 17 J. CHILD SEXUAL ABUSE 397 (2008). 58. Bette L. Bottoms et al., Religion-Related Child Physical Abuse, 8 J. AGGRESSION, MALTREATMENT & TRAUMA 87, 87–88 (2004),

https://open.mitchellhamline.edu/mhlr/vol45/iss4/6 10 Vieth and Singer: Wounded Souls: The Need for Child Protection Professionals and Fa

Vieth & Singer: Wounded Souls

2019] THE SPIRITUAL IMPACT OF CHILD ABUSE 1223

being more spiritually impacted than older children—perhaps because their spirituality is still in development.59 Moreover, there may be differences among survivors of different faith traditions or denominations.60 Although these examples highlight the spiritual harm inflicted as a result of child abuse, there is also a significant body of research indicating that spirituality can be a source of resiliency and may aid an abused child, or other victim of violence, in coping physically and emotionally with their trauma.61 Even without meaningful intervention, child abuse victims who maintain a connection to their faith communities have fewer mental health conditions throughout their lives than those who do not maintain such connections.62 Casey Gwinn63 and Chan Hellman64 provide this summary: The research around religious and spiritual coping shows strong and convincing relationships between psychological adjustment and physical health following trauma. Spirituality provides a belief system and sense of divine connectedness that helps give meaning to the traumatic experience and has been shown over and over to aid in the recovery process.65

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/261572891_Religion- Related_Child_Physical_Abuse [https://perma.cc/W9YZ-KRLF]. 59. Gall, supra note 9. 60. Christi M. Collines et al., Catholicism and Childhood Sexual Abuse: Women’s Coping and Psychotherapy, 23 J. CHILD SEXUAL ABUSE 519 (2014) (finding that “Catholic identity can both compound and relieve the suffering many women experience in healing from child sexual abuse”). 61. See generally Bryant-Davis et al., supra note 9, at 306; Walker et al., supra note 8, at 130. 62. Reinert et al., supra note 9, at 239–40 (2016), https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4969318/ [https://perma.cc/4TE9-M3VP]. 63. Casey Gwinn is the President of Alliance for HOPE International, a social change organization focused on meeting the needs of survivors of domestic violence and sexual assault. Our Team, ALL. HOPE INT’L, https://www.allianceforhope.com/about- us/our-team/ [https://perma.cc/E4XQ-HSS6]. He is also the founder of Camp HOPE America, a program focused on children who have been exposed to domestic violence. Our Team, CAMP HOPE AM., https://www.camphopeamerica.org/about-us/our-team/ [https://perma.cc/6VSL-SGV3]. 64. Chan Hellman is a professor in the Anne & Henry Zarrow School of Social Work and his research is focused on hope as it helps children and adults overcome trauma. GWINN & HELLMAN, supra note 1, at 237–38. 65. GWINN & HELLMAN, supra note 1, at 180.

Published by Mitchell Hamline Open Access, 2019 11 Mitchell Hamline Law Review, Vol. 45, Iss. 4 [2019], Art. 6

Mitchell Hamline Law Review, Vol. 45, Iss. 4, Art. 6

1224 MITCHELL HAMLINE LAW REVIEW [Vol. 45:4

IV. POSITIVE AND NEGATIVE RELIGIOUS INFLUENCES BEFORE, DURING, AND AFTER THE FORENSIC INTERVIEW In a qualitative study published in 2017, researchers spoke with thirty-nine forensic interviewers from twenty-two states and each region of the country.66 In total, these child protection professionals conducted over 42,000 forensic interviews of alleged child abuse victims.67 The researchers discovered that religion may have both positive and negative influences on a child before, during, and after the forensic interview.68 Prior to the interview, a perpetrator may use “religiously-oriented grooming” to access a child or keep a child quiet about maltreatment.69 In one instance, a minister made his victim get on her knees and “pray with him and then [made] her pinky-swear that she would not tell.”70 Some offenders would say that it was their God-given mandate to instruct their child about sexuality.71 Nonetheless, the study also found positive influences of religion prior to the interview. For example, clergy and other faith leaders were found to have supported child abuse victims, provided them with shelter, and reported the maltreatment to the authorities.72 During the forensic interview, researchers found that positive religious influences, such as the moral conviction to tell the truth, aided children in making a disclosure.73 However, researchers also discovered multiple negative religious influences that impaired a child’s willingness to disclose abuse. Such reluctance may occur when a child believes their own conduct was sinful or otherwise feels guilty before God.74 One victim told a forensic interviewer, “I feel like God is mad at me because I did this.”75 Religious children were also inhibited if they felt it was wrong to speak about abuse when an offender had been forgiven by a church.76 After the forensic interview, there were a number of reported instances of clergy working collaboratively with child protection professionals and families impacted by abuse. In one instance, parents were troubled

66. Tishelman & Fontes, supra note 7, at 120. 67. Id. at 121. 68. See id. at 125–26. 69. Id. at 122–23. 70. Id. at 123. 71. Id. 72. Id. 73. Id. at 125. 74. Id. at 125–26. 75. Id. at 126. 76. Id.

https://open.mitchellhamline.edu/mhlr/vol45/iss4/6 12 Vieth and Singer: Wounded Souls: The Need for Child Protection Professionals and Fa

Vieth & Singer: Wounded Souls

2019] THE SPIRITUAL IMPACT OF CHILD ABUSE 1225

that their daughter was penetrated and was thus no longer a virgin.77 A priest, however, comforted the family by explaining that the child was still a virgin in God’s eyes.78 Conversely, there are several cases in which faith leaders have testified as character witnesses for offenders79 or otherwise failed to support victims through the court system and beyond.80 As a result of these findings, the researchers “strongly recommend” that Children’s Advocacy Centers (“CACs”) develop a “respectful understanding” of faith communities by learning about their practices and beliefs, providing education to local faith leaders on child abuse, addressing the spiritual needs of child abuse victims in team staffing of cases, increasing the religious diversity of staff, and otherwise developing collaborative relationships with area faith leaders.81 These recommendations are consistent with the National Children’s Alliance’s accreditation standards for Children’s Advocacy Centers. These standards note that to effectively meet clients’ needs, the CAC and MDT must be willing and able to understand the clients’ worldviews, adapt practices as needed, and offer assistance in a manner in which it can be utilized. Striving toward cultural competence is an important and ongoing endeavor and integral part of a CAC’s operations and service delivery.82

77. Id. at 128. 78. Id. 79. See Victor I. Vieth, Keeping the Faith: A Call for Collaboration Between the Faith and Child Protection Communities, in MEDICAL, LEGAL & SOCIAL SCIENCE ASPECTS OF CHILD SEXUAL EXPLOITATION 947 (Sharon W. Cooper et al. eds., 2005), https://www.ok.gov/health2/documents/Keeping%20the%20Faithtwo.pdf [https://perma.cc/BP7V-HUFJ]. 80. See VICTOR I. VIETH, ON THIS ROCK: A CALL TO CENTER THE CHRISTIAN RESPONSE TO CHILD ABUSE ON THE LIFE AND WORDS OF JESUS 38–45 (2018) (noting inadequate responses from faith leaders to crimes against children). 81. Tishelman & Fontes, supra note 7, at 129. 82. NAT’L CHILDREN’S ALLIANCE, STANDARDS FOR ACCREDITED MEMBERS 17 (2017 ed.), http://www.nationalchildrensalliance.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/NCA- Standards-for-Accredited-Members-2017.pdf [https://perma.cc/HQ82-BHMU].

Published by Mitchell Hamline Open Access, 2019 13 Mitchell Hamline Law Review, Vol. 45, Iss. 4 [2019], Art. 6

Mitchell Hamline Law Review, Vol. 45, Iss. 4, Art. 6

1226 MITCHELL HAMLINE LAW REVIEW [Vol. 45:4

V. EFFECTIVE MDT RESPONSES TO THE SPIRITUAL IMPACT OF CHILD ABUSE

A. Coordinating Mental Health and Spiritual Care The American Psychological Association mandates that clinicians consider religion in addressing a patient’s needs, and the organization has published a textbook to aid clinicians in addressing spiritual injuries during the course of child and adolescent therapy.83 If a child has articulated spiritual questions during a forensic interview or in another setting, child protection professionals need to work with the child and his or her family in selecting a mental health professional that is both fluent in spiritual-injury research and capable of addressing spiritual issues within the context of evidence-based treatment models.84 This may include integrating scripture85 or other sacred texts86 into behavioral or other therapy.87 The American Psychiatric Association88 (“APA”) recognizes that “people experiencing mental health concerns often turn first to a faith leader.”89 Accordingly, the APA has developed a guide to assist faith leaders in recognizing signs of mental illness and making appropriate referrals.90 CACs and MDTs should be familiar with the APA guide, as well as

83. DONALD F. WALKER & WILLIAM L. HATHAWAY, SPIRITUAL INTERVENTIONS IN CHILD AND ADOLESCENT PSYCHOTHERAPY (2012); see also DONALD F. WALKER ET AL. SPIRITUALLY ORIENTED PSYCHOTHERAPY FOR TRAUMA (2015). 84. Victor I. Vieth et al., Child Abuse and the Church: A Call for Prevention, Treat- ment, and Training, 40 J. PSYCHOL. & THEOLOGY 323, 323–33 (2012) (discussing options for addressing spiritual injuries in the context of evidence-based therapies), https://www.thefreelibrary.com/Child+abuse+and+the+church%3a+a+call+for+prevention% 2c+treatment%2c+and. . .-a0314565112 [https://perma.cc/3TNN-98JH]. 85. See, e.g., Donald F. Walker & Heather Lewis Quagliana, Integrating Scripture with Parent Training in Behavioral Interventions, 26 J. OF PSYCHOL. & CHRISTIANITY 122 (2007). 86. For an overview of sacred texts pertaining to children drawn from various world religions, see DON S. BROWNING & MARCIA J. BUNGE, CHILDREN AND CHILDHOOD IN WORLD RELIGIONS (2011). 87. See generally Terri S. Watson, Counseling the Abuse Victim: Integrating Evi- dence-Based Practice Guidelines with Spiritual Resources, in THE LONG JOURNEY HOME: UNDERSTANDING AND MINISTERING TO THE SEXUALLY ABUSED 248 (Andrew J. Schmut- zer ed., 2011). 88. Not to be confused with the American Psychological Association. 89. AM. PSYCHIATRIC ASS’N, MENTAL HEALTH: A GUIDE FOR FAITH LEADERS 2 (2016). 90. Id.

https://open.mitchellhamline.edu/mhlr/vol45/iss4/6 14 Vieth and Singer: Wounded Souls: The Need for Child Protection Professionals and Fa

Vieth & Singer: Wounded Souls

2019] THE SPIRITUAL IMPACT OF CHILD ABUSE 1227

other resources for coordinating mental health and spiritual care,91 and should share this knowledge with community faith leaders.

B. Coordinating Medical and Spiritual Care The American Academy of Pediatrics “recognizes the importance of addressing children’s spiritual needs as part of the comprehensive care of children.”92 Approximately ninety percent of medical schools have course content addressing the intersection between spirituality and health.93 There is also a large body of research showing a correlation between religious involvement and positive medical and mental health.94 In the same way a cancer patient is offered spiritual care from a hospital chaplain, spiritual assistance should be routinely offered to survivors of abuse who desire this comfort.95 One practical guide for addressing the spiritual needs of children can easily be adapted to the needs of child abuse victims.96 After such an adaption, the guide would recommend the following: • Anticipate the spiritual needs of child abuse victims and their families.

91. E.g., Pete Singer, Coordinating Pastoral Care of Survivors with Mental Health Providers, 45 CURRENTS THEOLOGY & MISSION 31 (2018), http://www.currentsjournal.org/index.php/currents/article/view/132/151 [https://perma.cc/K5UN-BWV5]. 92. Am. Acad. of Pediatrics, Conflicts Between Religious or Spiritual Beliefs and Pe- diatric Care: Informed Refusal, Exemptions, and Public Funding, 132 PEDIATRICS 962, 964 (2013), https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/8e15/1a29eb021f4187a4477e28e267775e05ad3e.pdf [https://perma.cc/LRA6-ZW6Y]. 93. Harold G. Koenig et al., Spirituality in Medical School Curricula: Findings from a National Survey, 40 INT’L J. PSYCHIATRY MED. 391 (2010). 94. HAROLD G. KOENIG, MEDICINE, RELIGION & HEALTH (2008); Harold G. Koenig, Religion, Spirituality, and Health: A Review and Update, 29 ADVANCES MIND- BODY MED. 19 (2015), https://www.hindawi.com/journals/isrn/2012/278730/ [https://perma.cc/MP9U-DTGE]. 95. Victor I. Vieth, Coordinating Medical and Pastoral Care in Cases of Child Abuse and Neglect, 45 CURRENTS THEOLOGY & MISSION 27 (2018). 96. Linda L. Barnes et al., Spirituality, Religion, and Pediatrics: Intersecting Worlds of Healing, 104 PEDIATRICS 899, 903 (2015) (providing “General Guidelines for Integrating Spiritual and Religious Resources Into Pediatric Practice”).

Published by Mitchell Hamline Open Access, 2019 15 Mitchell Hamline Law Review, Vol. 45, Iss. 4 [2019], Art. 6

Mitchell Hamline Law Review, Vol. 45, Iss. 4, Art. 6

1228 MITCHELL HAMLINE LAW REVIEW [Vol. 45:4

• Become aware of “your own spiritual history and perspec- tives” and how this may influence your response to spiritual questions or needs from patients.97 • Become “broadly familiar” with religious traditions and views within the population served. • Allow children and their families “to be your teachers” about the specifics of their faith traditions and how it may be influencing them or impacting their health. • Develop a collaborative relationship with the hospital’s chaplains and understand how they may be able to help with spiritual questions of survivors. • “Listen for understanding” as opposed to “agreement or dis- agreement.”98

C. A Faith Leader or Chaplain on the MDT In 2013, leaders from several national child protection organizations proposed twelve potential roles for a chaplain on an MDT.99 For instance, a chaplain could consult with the MDT on institutional abuse within a religious setting. Given the multiple sexual abuse scandals that have occurred in recent decades and the significant scholarship assisting MDTs to understand religious or other dynamics that may play out in Catholic,100

97. In 2019, Robert Hamilton, a pediatrician and Christian missionary, wrote an opinion piece for the Wall Street Journal suggesting that anti-spanking bias influenced the American Academy of Pediatrics to strongly oppose corporal punishment. Robert C. Ham- ilton, The Right Way to Spank a Child, WALL ST. J. (Feb. 5, 2019), https://www.wsj.com/articles/the-right-way-to-spank-a-child-11549410421 [https://perma.cc/B7JT-6RCK]. Hamilton took issue with the large body of research finding corporal punishment to be ineffective and associated with multiple risks. Id. Instead, Hamilton cited anecdotal evidence of the benefits of hitting children as a means of discipline, as well as “multiple biblical injunctions regarding child discipline.” Id. According to Hamilton, it is “unreasonable to demand that believing Jews and Christians dismiss clear teachings” in the Bible. Id. Accordingly, Hamilton recommends “limiting spanking to one to three swats with a wooden spoon, not a hand.” Id. In elevating some Biblical interpretations and anecdotal evidence over peer-reviewed research, Hamilton may be allowing his religious beliefs to influence his parenting advice. Id. 98. Barnes et al., supra note 96, at 903. 99. Victor I. Vieth et al., Chaplains for Children: Twelve Potential Roles for a Theo- logian on the MDT, 3 CTR. PIECE 1 (2013), https://www.zeroabuseproject.org/wp- content/uploads/2019/02/4ae4f19a-centerpiece-vol-3-issue-6.pdf [https://perma.cc/5BKP- PNYE]. 100. See, e.g., KEENAN, supra note 27.

https://open.mitchellhamline.edu/mhlr/vol45/iss4/6 16 Vieth and Singer: Wounded Souls: The Need for Child Protection Professionals and Fa

Vieth & Singer: Wounded Souls

2019] THE SPIRITUAL IMPACT OF CHILD ABUSE 1229

Protestant,101 Jewish,102 or other faith communities, a chaplain with knowledge of these dynamics—or with close working relationships with multiple faith leaders in a community—could provide valuable assistance to the team in navigating cultural or other issues arising in a particular case. A chaplain could further serve as a consultant to mental health professionals that are working with a victim who raises spiritual questions such as those posed in this article. A chaplain could also be a support person for a child victim throughout the court process. In the same way that a hospital chaplain might pray with a patient before surgery, a chaplain assisting the MDT might pray with or otherwise offer spiritual sustenance to a child frightened of appearing in court or of other actions resulting from an abuse allegation. Moreover, a chaplain assisting the MDT could play a prominent role in prevention by assisting area faith communities in implementing appropriate child protection policies and ensuring that out-of-home placements are sensitive to a child’s faith tradition and culture. 103 Lastly, an MDT chaplain could assist in explaining the child protection process to faith leaders. In January 2017, the Julie Valentine Center (“JVC”), a Children’s Advocacy Center in Greenville, South Carolina, became the nation’s first CAC to add a chaplain to its staff.104 The job of the JVC chaplain is to “help adults, children and families process spiritual questions pertaining to abuse and [to] coordinate this work with the medical and mental health professionals assisting the child.”105 The CAC chaplain “will also oversee training of clergy throughout the state to assist them in better addressing the spiritual impact of child abuse and sexual assault.”106 If successful, this

101. See, e.g., Denney et al., supra note 27, at 25. 102. See, e.g., Shira M. Berkovits, Institutional Abuse in the Jewish Community, 50 TRADITION 11 (2017), http://traditiononline.org/pdfs/50.2/0011-0049.pdf [https://perma.cc/G7SH-5C3V]. 103. For a comprehensive guide to implementing child protection policies in faith communities, see BASYLE TCHIVIDJIAN & SHIRA M. BERKOVITS, THE CHILD SAFEGUARDING POLICY GUIDE FOR CHURCHES AND MINISTRIES (2017); see also Shira M. Berkovits, Preventing Abuse in Christian Organizations That Serve Youth: Ten Policies to Create Safer Environments, 45 CURRENTS THEOLOGY & MISSION 20 (2018), currentsjournal.org/index.php/currents/article/download/129/148 [https://perma.cc/W2GY-K3A2]. 104. Julie Valentine Center Becomes first Child Advocacy Center in U.S. to Add Chaplain to Its Staff, BIZWIRE.COM (Jan. 17, 2017), http://gsabizwire.com/julie-valentine- center-becomes-the-first-child-advocacy-center-in-the-us-to-add-chaplain-to-its-staff/ [https://perma.cc/N4V3-BGX5]. 105. Id. 106. Id.

Published by Mitchell Hamline Open Access, 2019 17 Mitchell Hamline Law Review, Vol. 45, Iss. 4 [2019], Art. 6

Mitchell Hamline Law Review, Vol. 45, Iss. 4, Art. 6

1230 MITCHELL HAMLINE LAW REVIEW [Vol. 45:4

model could be replicated in other CACs or MDTs throughout the Unit- ed States.

D. Care in Action: A Promising Practice for Faith and Child Protection Collaborations Modeled after a promising practice recognized by the Office of Vic- tims of Crime,107 Care in Action Minnesota (“CIAM”) was formed in 2005 to develop effective faith and child protection collaborations and improve a community’s response to child maltreatment.108 CIAM seeks to accomplish this in several ways, including through the Adopt a Social Worker program, email and Facebook partners, aiding youth in transition, and community education.

1. Adopt a Social Worker Through the Adopt a Social Worker (“ASW”) program, CIAM facil- itates relationships between county Child Protective Services109 (“CPS”) and community partners, typically churches and Bible study groups.110 The community partner maintains an ongoing connection with a specific CPS worker and supports the worker in a variety of ways.111 The worker maintains contact with the partner about needs on his or her caseload that they are unable to meet.112 While CIAM oversees the partnership, the CPS worker and community partner communicate directly about the details.113 Common requests include food, rent, moving assistance, camp fees, beds, and more.114 Requests often reveal a deeper need. For example, in one case, a worker called her community partner about a young mother with three small children. The family fled the mother’s abusive partner, and their only housing option was a mobile home with a large hole in the floor that was covered by a loose piece of plywood. The danger to the

107. The practice is called the “HALOS Strategy.” For additional information, visit the OVC website at: https://www.ovc.gov/halos/ [https://perma.cc/4RT4-ZFQE]. 108. About Us, CARE ACTION MINN., https://careinactionmn.org/about-us/ [https://perma.cc/Z438-6W2S]. 109. Care in Action Minnesota currently partners with five counties in the state of Minnesota. Id. 110. Id. 111. Id. 112. Our Impact, CARE IN ACTION MINN., https://careinactionmn.org/our-impact/ [https://perma.cc/Q3HL-X4AH]. 113. About Us, supra note 108. 114. Our Impact, supra note 112.

https://open.mitchellhamline.edu/mhlr/vol45/iss4/6 18 Vieth and Singer: Wounded Souls: The Need for Child Protection Professionals and Fa

Vieth & Singer: Wounded Souls

2019] THE SPIRITUAL IMPACT OF CHILD ABUSE 1231

children was heightened by the Minnesota winter. The church presented the need to the congregation, and a member who installed floors profes- sionally donated the labor while the church paid for the materials. The personal contact, which is relatively rare, revealed other needs that the church was able to help with. Beyond that, the entire family felt loved and cared for, and the mom reported that it helped restore her personal faith.115

2. Email/Facebook Partners Over one hundred people have joined CIAM’s Email Partners, and nearly two hundred follow the Facebook page.116 When a CPS worker without a community partner has a need that they are unable to meet, they notify CIAM. CIAM then sends an email to all partners and mirrors that request on the Facebook page.117 This allows people who are not in a group that partners with CIAM to still have an impact. While many requests are similar to ASW, the broader reach of this program allows larger needs to be met. This happened in 2018 when a CPS worker called CIAM. Three siblings were removed from their home after repeated abuse and neglect from their parents. The children were placed in separate foster homes because no family could take the three children together. During regular sibling activities, one of the foster families fell in love with all three children and asked to adopt them. The county denied the request because their home was not large enough for all three children. The family then asked if converting their attached garage to living space would give them enough room. They were told it would, but the family could not afford the huge expense. Email/Facebook Partners subsequently paid for materials, and people from the family’s church per- formed the labor. The children now all live together in their “Forever Home.”118

115. This example of CIAM’s approach is based on the personal experience of the author (Singer). 116. Care in Action Minn., FACEBOOK, https://www.facebook.com/careinactionmn [https://perma.cc/FTM7-QW58]. 117. See id.; Become an Email Partner, CARE ACTION MINN., https://careinactionmn.org/get-involved/become-an-email-partner/ [https://perma.cc/PBU4- DB65]. 118. This example of CIAM’s approach is based on the personal experience of the author (Singer).

Published by Mitchell Hamline Open Access, 2019 19 Mitchell Hamline Law Review, Vol. 45, Iss. 4 [2019], Art. 6

Mitchell Hamline Law Review, Vol. 45, Iss. 4, Art. 6

1232 MITCHELL HAMLINE LAW REVIEW [Vol. 45:4

3. Youth in Transition Ideally, foster care is a short-term solution while a family prepares to be reunited.119 That is not always the case, however, and youth who remain in foster care until they become adults and transition to independence often face many challenges.120 This causes very high rates of homelessness.121 With funding from the Edina Realty Foundation, CIAM established a partnership with one county as a way to help youth transition out of foster care.122 The county provides mentoring and skill-building opportunities, and CIAM provides funds to help with housing stabilization.123 The request to help with housing sometimes opens other doors. One of the first requests CIAM received in this partnership was for an ex- pectant teen that was getting ready to move out on her own. CIAM provided money to assist with housing stabilization, but then discovered that this young mother-to-be was on her own and had never been given a baby shower. CIAM hosted a shower, and seventy women provided her with love, motherly advice, and many of the things she needed to care for her new baby.124

4. Community Education Helping children and families impacted by child maltreatment is only part of CIAM’s mission.125 Those who partner with the organization gain an increased awareness of the dynamics that contribute to child maltreatment, learn of concrete ways they can prevent and respond to child maltreatment, and benefit from an increased understanding of and empathy

119. Jim Roberts, The Dawn of a New Approach to Foster Care, FAM. CARE NETWORK (May 30, 2013), https://fcni.org/content/dawn-new-approach-foster-care [https://perma.cc/V9N8-W5ZP]. 120. Supporting Older Youth in Foster Care, NAT’L CONF. ST. LEG. (Feb. 25, 2019), http://www.ncsl.org/research/human-services/supports-older-youth.aspx [https://perma.cc/RL4K-SQVY]. 121. Id. 122. See EDINA REALTY FOUNDATION, https://www.edinarealty.com/community- involvement-edina-realty-foundation#/ [https://perma.cc/PCC6-VJ69] (last visited Aug. 6, 2019). 123. See Programs and Services, DEP’T HUM. SERVICES, https://mn.gov/dhs/people- we-serve/children-and-families/services/adolescent-services/programs-services/ [https://perma.cc/SZX9-D82Z] (last visited Aug. 6, 2019). 124. This example of CIAM’s approach is based on the personal experience of the author (Singer). 125. Our Impact, supra note 112.

https://open.mitchellhamline.edu/mhlr/vol45/iss4/6 20 Vieth and Singer: Wounded Souls: The Need for Child Protection Professionals and Fa

Vieth & Singer: Wounded Souls

2019] THE SPIRITUAL IMPACT OF CHILD ABUSE 1233

for those who have been touched by abuse and neglect.126 In addition to the education that comes through direct involvement, CIAM sets up informational displays at events and provides speakers to discuss child maltreatment.127

VI. CONCLUSION Historically, missionaries and other religious leaders have played a central role in child protection in the United States.128 It was a minister named Charles Loring Brace whose concern for impoverished, often physically and sexually abused, children in New York led him to develop schools, lodging, and other services for children in need.129 From 1854 to 1929, Brace relocated more than 100,000 orphans to the Midwest via “or- phan trains.”130 In 1874, a Methodist missionary named Etta Angell Wheeler discovered a nine-year-old girl who was routinely beaten, denied food, and otherwise tortured.131 Wheeler’s persistence in saving this child’s life was the catalyst for the creation of the New York Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children—the nation’s first entity devoted exclusively to protecting children from abuse.132 It was the son of a minister, Walter F. Mondale,133 who played a central role in the passage of the Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act (“CAPTA”)134 in 1974.135 CAPTA created the modern child protection system.136

126. See Adopt a Social Worker Program, CARE ACTION MINN., https://careinactionmn.org/get-involved/adopt-a-social-worker-program/ [https://perma.cc/ER7L-BVRV]. 127. See Get Involved, CARE ACTION MINN., https://careinactionmn.org/get-involved/ [https://perma.cc/RGE3-EHEF] (last visited Aug. 6, 2019). 128. See generally JOHN E.B. MYERS, A HISTORY OF CHILD PROTECTION IN AMERICA (2004); John E.B. Myers, A Short History of Child Protection in America, 42 FAM. L. Q. 449 (2008). 129. MYERS, supra note 128, at 46–58 (2004). 130. Id. at 58. 131. Id. at 130–36. 132. Id. at 136–41. 133. Mondale’s father was a Methodist minister. FINLAY LEWIS, MONDALE: PORTRAIT OF AN AMERICAN POLITICIAN 32–33 (1980). 134. Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act, 42 U.S.C. §§ 5101–5116i (2018); The Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act: 40 Years of Safeguarding America’s Children, U.S. DEP’T HEALTH & HUM. SERVICES CHILD. BUREAU 8–9 (2014),

Published by Mitchell Hamline Open Access, 2019 21 Mitchell Hamline Law Review, Vol. 45, Iss. 4 [2019], Art. 6

Mitchell Hamline Law Review, Vol. 45, Iss. 4, Art. 6

1234 MITCHELL HAMLINE LAW REVIEW [Vol. 45:4

Although religious influence in the child protection system is waning, MDTs must be mindful of the spiritual needs of maltreated children and their families. Such a response is not only culturally sensitive, a growing a body of research suggests it may be critical to the short- and long-term welfare of abused and neglected children.

https://www.acf.hhs.gov/sites/default/files/cb/capta_40yrs.pdf [https://perma.cc/CRS6- 7GAY]. 135. LEWIS, supra note 133, at 298–303. 136. About CAPTA: A Legislature History, U.S. DEP’T HEALTH & HUM. SERVICES CHILD. BUREAU 1 (Feb. 2019), https://www.childwelfare.gov/pubPDFs/about.pdf [https://perma.cc/WV4U-EXSY].

https://open.mitchellhamline.edu/mhlr/vol45/iss4/6 22 Vieth and Singer: Wounded Souls: The Need for Child Protection Professionals and Fa

Mitchell Hamline Law Review The Mitchell Hamline Law Review is a student-edited journal. Founded in 1974, the Law Review publishes timely articles of regional, national and international interest for legal practitioners, scholars, and lawmakers. Judges throughout the United States regularly cite the Law Review in their opinions. Academic journals, textbooks, and treatises frequently cite the Law Review as well. It can be found in nearly all U.S. law school libraries and online. mitchellhamline.edu/lawreview

Published by Mitchell Hamline Open Access, 2019 23