Thousands of Vulnerable Children Go Missing from Britain’s Protective Services, Oxford officer was silenced over sex abuse fears, New lawsuit alleges sexual abuse in Fort Worth Catholic Diocese

Thousands of Vulnerable Children Go Missing from Britain’s Protective Services
By Leah McGrath Goodman  March 3, 2015

A general view showing housing in Rotherham on September 1, 2014 in Rotherham, England. South Yorkshire Police are launching an independent investigation into its handling of the Rotherham child abuse scandal and will also probe the role of public bodies and council workers. A report claims at least 1,400 children as young as 11 were sexually abused from 1997- 2013 in Rotherham Care Homes but no council staff will face disciplinary action.

Many of the child sex abuse scandals that have shocked Britain in recent years involve victims who were supposed to be under the protection of the state—children identified as at risk by child protective services and in the care of local authorities.

Many in Britain have characterized the abuses as a thing of the past. Surely such horrors could never happen today. But an analysis of the most recent official data shows that each year the government loses track of around 2,000 vulnerable children in care, even as reports of human trafficking inside the country are on the rise….

Bad record-keeping has been a feature of the abuse scandals. Last autumn, a review by the U.K.’s National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children found that between 1979 and 1999, the U.K. Home Office had “lost or destroyed” 114 files relating to reported child abuse by high-ranking people, including senior politicians. The review came after a report last year from Rotherham, South Yorkshire, revealed that at least 1,400 minors were subjected to widespread, organized child-sex abuse from 1997 to 2013, including many who were in care….

The U.K.’s Human Trafficking Centre’s latest assessment shows a total of 2,744 people, including 602 children, reported as trafficked for exploitation in the U.K. in 2013, up 22 percent from 2012. The organization stresses that the numbers reflect only what’s been reported and are rough figures. Not all reports indicate confirmed trafficking, but, at the same time, the totals could be much higher, as not all incidents are reported. Victims were forced to work in brothels, hotels, private homes or on the street as sex workers, and also forced into domestic servitude or to work on building sites or in farms and factories….
http://www.newsweek.com/2015/03/13/britains-missing-children-310701.html

Oxford officer was silenced over sex abuse fears

Police treated abuse victims as if they were ‘wayward girls’, report says
Paul Peachey Tuesday 03 March 2015

A council worker who wrote a series of increasingly exasperated emails warning of child abuse by Asian men in Oxfordshire was silenced after an official complaint by senior officials about his attitude, it has emerged.

Details came to light in a report published yesterday revealing that 373 girls were likely to have been victims of grooming, rape and trafficking after police and social services failed to take victims and their own staff seriously.

The worker, an ex-detective, raised repeated concerns with the director of children’s services and other officials at the county council in 2007 after seeing a 13-year-old in bed with an adult. He also reported a stream of men going into a flat every night and emerging in the early hours.

But instead of dealing with his complaints, a senior council official complained about his behaviour and his manager made an unreserved apology for the “unprofessional way” in which he had acted….

The serious case review, produced by Dr Alan Bedford, found that children as young as 12 were treated by police as “wayward girls”, complicit in their own abuse, despite being groomed by adults who had ensnared them through drink, drugs and menace.

One detective reported that a 14-year-old girl had initiated sex with two adult men, and reports used the term “boyfriend” for men in their 30s seen with girls as young as 13….

The report said the victims’ accounts were often ignored or seen as exaggerated when they did come forward to authorities….

In one incident, a girl told of how she turned up at a police station after 2am covered in blood after a sex attack. “They dismissed me as being naughty, a nuisance. I was bruised and bloody,” she told the report.
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/crime/oxford-officer-was-silenced-over-sex-abuse-fears-10083504.html

New lawsuit alleges sexual abuse in Fort Worth Catholic Diocese By Elizabeth Campbell 03/05/2015
FORT WORTH

A man who lives near Spokane, Wash., is suing the Fort Worth Roman Catholic Diocese saying he was sexually assaulted in the 1990s by a priest who was his seventh-grade history teacher at a Catholic school in Wichita Falls.

The victim, identified in court documents as John Doe 117, also named Fort Worth Bishop Michael Olson in the suit filed this week in Tarrant County district court.

The victim is seeking over $1 million in damages for emotional anguish, medical expenses and diminished earning capacity because of what is described in the suit as a “sadistic ritual of sexual abuse” by the late priest John Sutton.

Sutton, who died in 2004, told the student that if he told anyone of their encounters that “I have the power to ruin your life,” according to the suit….
http://www.star-telegram.com/news/local/community/fort-worth/article12653882.html

Small Upswing in Child Abuse Despite Reports, Abuse of smallest babies may have risen, study finds

Small Upswing in Child Abuse Despite Reports
By Crystal Phend, Senior Staff Writer, MedPage Today
October 01, 2012

Reviewed by Robert Jasmer, MD; Associate Clinical Professor of Medicine, University of California, San Francisco and Dorothy Caputo, MA, BSN, RN, Nurse Planner

A national study found that serious injuries from child abuse appear to have risen modestly over the past decade or so, and suggested that downward trends in other studies of abuse may reflect reporting changes rather than real improvement.

Hospitalization for abuse-related injury rose 4.9% overall among children 18 and under over the 12-year span from 1997 through 2009, wrote John Leventhal, MD, and Julie Gaither, RN, MPH, MPhil, both of Yale University in New Haven, Conn.

Children were increasingly likely to die from these injuries before discharge as well, they reported in the November issue of Pediatrics.

However, “these results are in sharp contrast to data from child protective services,” they noted. A national reporting system from these agencies indicated a 55% decline in substantiated child abuse cases from 1992 through 2009.

A second more extensive report by the Congress-mandated National Incidence Studies suggested a 23% decline in physical abuse.

While called evidence of “positive changes in the provision of services to children and families, there have been concerns that some of this decrease may be due to changes in reporting of cases to child protective services agencies and changes in which cases get investigated by child protective services and which cases are actually substantiated as physical abuse,” Leventhal and Gaither wrote….

http://www.medpagetoday.com/Pediatrics/DomesticViolence/35038

 

Abuse of smallest babies may have risen, study finds
By Maggie Fox, NBC News  9/30/12

A new look at child abuse reports suggests there may have been a small but worrying rise in injuries to babies over the past decade or so. While most research suggests child abuse is down overall, the report published on Monday in the journal Pediatrics shows infants are far from safe.

The study contradicts government data collected over the same time, and it shows that health officials need to take a better look at whether child abuse is getting better, worse or staying the same, experts said.

“I think it’s premature to make any conclusions about whether it is going up or down,” says Dr. James Anderst, chief of the section on child abuse and neglect at Children’s Mercy Hospitals and Clinics in Kansas City, Mo., who was not involved in the study. “Medical providers may be getting better at identifying abuse over time.”….

Child abuse is a serious problem in the United States. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says more than 740,000 children and youth are treated in hospital emergency departments for injuries resulting from violence every year.

“Child abuse, neglect or violence can actually affect the development of a child’s brain – impacting the child now and for years to come. Our Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACE) study shows a connection between child maltreatment and some of the nation’s worst health problems, including depression and heart disease,” CDC child abuse expert Linda Degutis says in a blog on the agency’s website….

http://vitals.nbcnews.com/_news/2012/10/01/14163696-abuse-of-smallest-babies-may-have-risen-study-finds?lite

New documents released from Powell custody case, Hollie Greig Demands Justice

New documents released from Powell custody case
By Brooke Adams, Nate Carlisle and Melinda Rogers
The Salt Lake Tribune Mar 3, 2012

….other documents among 1,699 pages released by Washington authorities Friday show that long before the state took protective custody of Powell’s children, his oldest son was clearly struggling with the disappearance of his mother and scrutiny that surrounded the family.

….The documents offer a complicated portrait of Powell. He is described as sometimes making inappropriate comments in the presence of his sons about police, his in-laws and others he considered as out to get him and becoming agitated when one son said his mother had been found in the desert; a psychologist who evaluated him said he appeared to be putting on a front. But Powell also is described as a loving, involved father whose supervised visits with his sons that could have been the script for a parenting manual.

….But the documents show that months after Powell relocated, people who interacted with his sons were noting odd behavior. On Aug. 20, 2010, a daycare worker at the YMCA in Puyallup, Wash., called Child Protective Services about comments made by Charlie, then 5. Charlie was asked why he didn’t want to play with other children. During the exchange, Charlie responded that, “My little brother Braden tried to kill me, so he’s in Utah now living with my grandparents” — something that wasn’t true. Charlie also had described to other children how to kill and bury a bear, something he said he learned from a television program.  The document says daycare workers considered the stories “suspicious” and a DSHS caseworker relayed both stories to West Valley City Police.

….Days after his sons were placed in protective custody, Powell sent an email to a DSHS caseworker stating his children were not exposed to any pornographic material his father might have had in the home, which was “why we never thought there was a problem.”

Powell also claimed that his mother Terri would provide a statement saying Steve Powell “never left pornographic materials laying around and never gave any hint at creating porn on any level during her 20-year marriage” — a claim refuted by documents filed in the couple’s 1993 divorce. In those documents Terri Powell said her husband kept a stash of pornographic material and shared it with their older sons. http://www.sltrib.com/sltrib/news/53633137-78/powell-sons-charlie-washington.html.csp

Letters Josh Powell wrote to his sons  http://www.scribd.com/doc/83559020/Letters-Josh-Powell-wrote-to-his-sons

Hollie Demands Justice – Working directly with Hollie, Anne Greig & Robert Green http://www.holliedemandsjustice.org/

In the summer of 2000, Hollie told her mother, Anne, that she had been repeatedly sexually abused http://holliedemandsjustice.org/about_hollie_greig/

Brian Gerrish with Mark Windows outside The Royal Courts of Justice. Part two of our report on the latest in the Hollie Greig case. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kbvfek8UvPk

THIS FRIDAY, March 2nd 2012, we need you to show your support for Hollie by being at The High Court in London http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1dVMkY_cj8I

You Don’t Have to Play Me Backwards…
Satanic Ritual Abuse: The Evidence Surfaces
Daniel Ryder, CCDC, LSW http://www.care1.org/articles/a10_play_me_backwards.html

11 children, some tied to beds, removed from Texas home, some suffered abuse

Deputies: Children found tied up in Liberty County home
21 people were living in house Feb 21 2012

DAYTON, Texas –

Eleven children removed from a Liberty County home are in the custody of Children’s Protective Services.

Investigators said 21 people were living in a home on Ford Avenue in Dayton.

The children, ages 5 months to 11 years, were removed from the home on Jan. 24. Detectives said some of them were found tied up to a bed. Some of them suffered physical abuse and physical and medical neglect, officials said. The children belonged to seven separate families, officials said.  http://www.click2houston.com/news/Deputies-Children-found-tied-up-in-Liberty-County-home/-/1735978/8815936/-/iy2v6az/-/index.html

11 children, some tied to beds, removed from Texas home

Eleven children, some of whom police say were tied to a bed, are removed from a Dayton, Texas, home north of of Houston where at least 21 people were discovered living. KPRC’s Ryan Korsgard reports.

By NBC News, msnbc.com staff and news services  2/21/02

DAYTON, Texas — Authorities said Tuesday they removed 11 children from a crowded home used as an address by a registered sex offender after they found eight confined in a small, dark bedroom with restraints tying some to their beds.

Along with the children, 10 adults were living in the one-story, 1,700-square-foot brick home in Dayton, about 30 miles northeast of Houston, Child Protective Services spokeswoman Gwen Carter said. One month after a raid on the house, authorities are still trying to determine how the children are related and why they were there, she said.

The children, belonging to seven separate families, ranged in age from 5 months to 11 years, said NBC station KPRC of Houston.
http://usnews.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/02/21/10469420-11-children-some-tied-to-beds-removed-from-texas-home

Casey Introduces Bill to Strengthen Child Protection Laws

Casey Introduces Bill to Strengthen Child Protection Laws

Casey: All Adults Have Responsibility to Report Abuse to Authorities

Wednesday, November 16, 2011
Bill Would Emphasize Awareness Training for Those Most Likely to Witness Abuse

WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senator Bob Casey (D-PA) today introduced legislation to require all adults to report child abuse and neglect to the appropriate authorities….

The Speak Up to Protect Every Abused Kid (Speak Up) Act of 2011 would require all states to pass and enforce a law requiring all adults to report instances of known or suspected child abuse in order for states to receive funding through the Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act (CAPTA), the federal statute focused on child abuse and neglect prevention and response.

The Speak Up Act will specify that child abuse must be reported directly to law enforcement or the state’s Child Protective Services agency. Currently, federal law does not specify to whom mandated reporters must report suspected abuse or neglect. In Pennsylvania and many other states, the reporter must notify only the person in charge of the relevant institution, creating a loophole that tragically prevents or delays action against suspected abusers.

The bill will also:

Provide support to states to carry out educational campaigns and training to inform individuals about what constitutes child abuse and neglect, and promote greater responsibility;

Promotes new approaches and techniques to improve reporting; and

Evaluate states’ progress on mandatory reporting.

The Speak Up Act is cosponsored by Senator Barbara Boxer (D-CA).

http://casey.senate.gov/newsroom/press/release/?id=4870f6e4-6537-44d8-ad1b-3c41da07751e

Jewish Communities – Child Sex Scandals, Agencies Failed to Rescue Lilly Manning

Tempest in the Temple – Jewish Communities and Child Sex Scandals
Amy Neustein, ed.

Brandeis Series in American Jewish History, Culture and Life
Brandeis University Press
2009 Sociology / Jewish Studies 978-1-58465-671-5

Tempest in the Temple brings together fifteen practicing rabbis, educators, pastoral counselors, sociologists, mental health professionals, and legal advocates for abuse victims, each of whom offer insights into different facets of the problem.

This book is divided into three sections. The first section, “When the Vow Breaks,” describes rabbis who break their “vows” through active pedophilia. The second section, “Sacrificing Victims,” illuminates the community dynamics surrounding abuse: how a community unwittingly contributes to the cover-up of abuse; why victims of abuse are all too often ignored or cast off by their religious communities; and the mechanisms by which powerful religious institutions protect their own. The third section, “Let Me Know the Way,” addresses how Jewish communities can overcome the ignorance, bias, and corruption associated with clergy sexual abuse. Solutions—some already successful, others yet to be tried—are explored here.
http://www.dartmouth.edu/~upne/1-58465-671-9.html

describes severe abuse

California, Texas agencies all failed to rescue Lilly Manning
By Marjie Lundstrom Jul. 31, 2011

Lilly Manning was 15 when she escaped from a cramped closet in south Sacramento, after being stabbed and beaten and shoved into the darkness.
This time, she said, she knew she would have to save herself.

Government documents confirm she was right. Four different agencies visited the family at least 11 times on reports of suspected abuse or neglect in a five-year period but did not move to protect her or her siblings, according to confidential records obtained by The Bee.

“They came, they looked, they left,” said Lilly, now 19, reflecting on the parade of visitors from law enforcement, Child Protective Services and the schools, some of whom she had secretly called. “We just gave up.” Today, Lilly Manning lives with more than 100 scars etching her 5-foot-3 body, physical reminders of the hammer attacks, beatings, burns and strikes to the head with a 2-by-4 and a padlock swinging from a cord. Earlier this month, her adoptive mother and great-aunt, Lillian Manning-Horvath, was sentenced to up to six years in a mental health facility, followed by consecutive life terms in state prison.

The woman’s husband, Joseph Horvath, was convicted by a jury in 2009 and also sentenced to multiple life terms. Documents and interviews with family members also reveal how a domineering matriarch terrified people who witnessed and endured years of her verbal tirades and physical abuse….

Authorities swept in, and the rest of the children were taken into protective custody in the early morning hours of Nov. 6, 2007. The children would never go home again. Help that didn’t come

Lilly says she does not remember much about those chaotic first days and has “lots of blank spots” about her childhood. She knows that she and her four siblings were removed from their biological mother in the early 1990s and placed with their great-aunt Lillian, who later adopted them. In 2002, their adoptive mom married Horvath, a felon 18 years her junior.
Lilly wants to know more. She recently sought and received nearly 700 pages of documents from the Sacramento Juvenile Dependency Court, which detail the many missteps among government agencies. She shared those records with The Bee. CPS also is preparing to give her her file….

Ann Edwards, director of Sacramento County’s Department of Health and Human Services, which oversees CPS, said she could not legally comment on Lilly’s case for confidentiality reasons. However, she agreed to talk in general terms about issues raised by the case.
“It’s not uncommon for siblings to want to remain together,” said Edwards. “And it’s not uncommon for children to be afraid of the unknown.

“It’s quite remarkable that even children who are horribly abused typically still love their parents, or the people who are abusing them.”
Lilly says today that their adoptive mom often manipulated the kids into keeping quiet or lying, promising she would stop the abuse.
http://www.sacbee.com/2011/07/31/3806037/california-texas-agencies-all.html

Effects of sexual abuse last for decades, study finds

Effects of sexual abuse last for decades, study finds

Levels of so-called stress hormone are altered for years, sometimes causing physical and mental problems, researchers find

By Joan Raymond  msnbc.com contributor
6/30/2011

Young girls who are the victims of sexual abuse experience physical, biological and behavioral problems that can persist for decades after, a new study shows.

Researchers, who tracked a group of girls ranging in age from 6 to 16 at the start of the study in 1987 for the next 23 years, found that they had higher rates of depression and obesity, as well as problems with regulation of brain chemicals, among other issues, compared to a control group of girls who were not abused.

The study, published in the Cambridge University Press journal Development and Psychopathology, was conducted by researchers from the University of Southern California and the Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center. Those in the study were assessed by researchers six times at varying ages and developmental stages. Researchers hope to continue the study looking at the women, who are now in their 30s, as well as their children.

The racially-diverse group of 80 girls, who lived in the Washington, D.C., area, were victims of incest, broadly defined as suffering sexual abuse by a male living within the home. On average, the girls were abused for about two years prior to the abuse coming to the attention of child protective services. Some girls were abused when they were as young as age 2.

Compared to a non-abused control group, the researchers found the study participants, all of whom were provided three therapy sessions on average in group and individual settings, suffered severe effects during different stages of their lives, which affected their sexual and cognitive development, mental and physical health, as well as their brain chemical profile. Study participants were more likely to be sexually active at younger ages, have lower educational status, and have more mental health problems.

As children, they had higher levels of cortisol, the so-called “stress hormone,” which is released in high levels during the body’s “fight or flight” response. But by about age 15, testing showed that cortisol levels were below normal, compared to the control group. Lower levels of cortisol have been linked to a decrease in the body’s ability to deal with stress, as well as problems with depression and obesity. Lower levels of the hormone have also been linked to post-traumatic stress disorder.

“The cortisol levels (of some study participants) wound up looking like Vietnam vets,” says study co-author Dr. Frank Putnam, professor of pediatrics and psychiatry at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center. “That tells us they are in a chronic state of stress, and never feel safe.”

….The long-term effects of the abuse “were absolutely profound,” says lead author and child psychologist Penelope Trickett, USC professor of Social Work. “It’s just not mental health issues. Some of these women are suffering from a lot of problems today like sleep issues, poor health utilization, and have a lot of risky behaviors. It’s very disturbing.”

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/43594639/ns/health-health_care/