Sexual Abuse Offenders Of Children example essay topic

Running Head: Sexual Abuse Sexual Abuse in Families, Nobody is Really Safe Kelly M auck Saginaw Valley State University Part I 1. Identifying Information Becky is an eighteen year old Mexican-American, Baptist female. She is a freshman at Saginaw Valley State University, studying to become a secondary history teacher. She is employed part-time at a daycare center, run by her cousin.

She has never been married and resides with her immediate family in Clio, Michigan. 2. Presenting Problem The major problem that brings Becky into the social work relationship is that when Becky was fifteen years old, her twenty-two year old brother sexually abused her. 3. Family Background The Moore's adopted Becky when she was five years old. The Moore's are Caucasian.

She has no contact with her biological family. Her birth mother and father were not married. The father was out of the picture, while the mother decided she could not take care of Becky and her younger brother and sister. The Moore's have been foster parents for over twenty children and have adopted five of the children. Becky is the third youngest child out of the nine children that the Moore's have.

Living at home, Becky is the second oldest. Her biological sister, Amanda, is sixteen years old and her biological brother, Matthew, is fifteen years old. Matthew is a football player for his high school and as a substance abuse problem with Marijuana. Amanda is a volleyball player for her high school and is very well situated at home and school. Doris and Michael Moore have been married for over twenty-five years and have four biological children, all older than Becky. The family has always gone to a culturally diverse church in Bridgeport, Michigan.

They practice Christian beliefs and try to make the same imprint on their children. The family believes in accepting everyone, no matter their faults. Their second child, Michael Jr., was born eight weeks premature and is legally blind, with slight developmental delays. Everyone is expected to pull their own weight and contribute to the family. There are very high family values. 4.

Developmental History There are no significant facts within her lifetime. She is a perfectionist with a tendency to go to the extreme to make sure her work is the best. She is an honor roll student. 5. Adult Adjustment Patterns She has had the same job for three years. She has always kept A's and B's throughout her entire school history.

She was a snare drummer in her high school band and she was also a pom-pom dancer. She performed in many plays within her school, church, and community. She has many friends, mostly males. She has had only one major relationship, which she is still in. But the relationship is volatile with her boyfriend being emotionally abusive. 6.

Assessment of Current Situation Currently Becky has almost daily contact with her abuser, since it is her brother, Michael Jr. She stays away from her abuser as much as possible. She is doing very well within her work and school environment. She has problems within the relationship environment with her boyfriend. She refuses to leave him because she says that she loves him, although he has a temper and becomes emotionally abusive towards her. Her goals in life are to become a high school history teacher and to be a good wife and mother.

She has been discussing becoming a wife and mother with her boyfriend, whom she says, is proposing to her in a few months. She says that she does not want to make the same mistakes as her biological mother made. Part II Most states define sexual abuse as "non consensual physical contact with a minor for the purpose of sexual gratification". Other states define sexual abuse as "including any of the following acts committed by an adult upon a child eighteen years of age or younger: attempted or completed sexual intercourse (i. e., oral, anal, vaginal); touching, grabbing, kissing, or rubbing up against the child in the context of a sexual situation; photographing the child nude; exhibiting body parts to the child, or having the child view a sexual act" (Fieldman par. 3). The statistics are that "about one in four girls and about one in eight boys are estimated to be sexually abused during childhood... these statistics do not include children who don't tell" (Faller par.

38). Child sexual abuse is taboo behavior that is usually shrouded in secrecy. Due to the fact that there are generally no witnesses to sexual abuse and that it occurs in a very private space, the adult will calculate the behavior to confuse the child and allow the child to think that what the adult is doing to them is normal. There are six ways that Faller discusses that are ways that the adult ensures that the child does not discuss what happened to them, with the sexual abuse. "The offender may trade on his / her relationship with the child, threatening loss of love, loss of material benefits, or loss of privileges" (par. 10).

An example of this would be a father forbidding his daughter from getting her driver's license until she decides that she is ready to start the sexual abuse up again. "The offender may warn that disclosure will result in his / her having to leave the family or the parents' marriage breaking up" (par. 11). An example of this would be if a father tells their young son / daughter that if they tell anyone that they would have to go and live with strangers and cannot be around their family anymore.

"Offenders may also try to ensure silence by warning victims of the consequences of disclosure to themselves, such as being sent to foster care or being blamed because they did not resist or agreed to participate in the sexual acts" (par. 12). An example of this would be when a father would persuade his daughter to do some sort of sexual act, and when she got older and wanted to tell people, he would say that it was her fault because she did not stop the act from occurring. "Offenders without continued access to their victims may try to persuade the children they are omniscient" (par. 13). An example of this is when one sexual abuse offender told a preschool-age child that all UPS trucks are his tracking the child's every move to make sure that the child does not tell.

"Some offenders employ threats of bodily harm" (par. 14). An example of this would be a father telling his daughter that if she told that he would kill her and her boyfriend. "Finally, offenders may threaten people close to the child, or the child's pets" (par. 15).

An example of this would be a sexual abuse offender telling a little girl that if she told people what he did to her that he would kill her entire family. Most sexual abuse offenders of children are adult family members and the first adult family member that a child discloses to is usually the mother. Kellogg suggests that there are four types of family types that have to deal with sexual abuse; they are safe, secure families, safe, insecure families, unsafe, enmeshed families, and unsafe, insecure families. Safe and secure families are families that children tend to suffer abuse through less severe forms, non penetrative sexual acts. These are families that tend to lack dysfunction, un protectiveness, and abusive behaviors, shown outwards. The safe, secure families appear to protect the children from any type of abuse (par.

20). Safe, insecure families are families that pose a considerable risk for children to be abused. The way that there is family dysfunction compromises the protective skills of the caretakers of the children and increases the access of perpetrators to the children. The dysfunction in the family tends to overshadow the bonding, nurturing, and protection of the children. These families are generally characterized as missing a father figure, so the mother is usually out trying to find a father figure for her children (par.

23). The unsafe, enmeshed families are stable families that are isolated and controlled by an abusive father figure. It is ingrained into the children at an early age that what happens in the family, stays in the family, no sharing of secrets to outsiders. The children will not disclose to adults outside of the family because of a strong sense of entrapment and general lack of adult relationships and friendships outside of the home.

Usually in this type of family the mother is dependent on her children because of the abuse that she obtains from her husband, their father (par. 26). Unsafe, insecure families are comprised of a mother who has multiple, short-term volatile relationships with various men and may have children with different fathers. There are two types of outcomes when the children disclose about what has happened to them when they are in this type of family, stop the abuse and lose their mother or keep their mother and continue the abuse. Many of the children refuse to disclose in fear of losing their mother. The prognosis for these children in psychological recovery is fair to poor (par.

29). These are pretty much every type of family that there is, every family falls into one of these categories. Main portions of sexually abused children undergo memories that are lost and then recovered. Many do not remember ever being sexually abused until they are in some sort of relationship that might trigger a memory. Whether it is seeing the abuser again, after not seeing them since the abuse, or from maybe them and their partner doing something that the abuser might have done to them, these would easily trigger the memories to be coming back into their minds. For many children, repressing the memories are the only way that they can see to get out of the situation; they go to another realm in their mind and pretend that the abuse did not and is not happening.

They wish it away (Hampton 23). Part The client, Becky, enters the office of the interviewer, Kelly, and sits down. Kelly: How are you doing today, Becky? Becky: I could be doing better. I came here today to confide in you about something that happened to me. Kelly: Well, I am here for you in any way that I can be.

I am ready to listen, if you are ready to talk. Becky: I finally have to get all of this out, there is no way around it, this is just eating into my life. My brother, Mikey, sexually abused me three years ago. And I do not know what to do. Kelly: Have you told your parents? Becky: Yes, but they don't believe me and I don't know how to convince them that I am telling the truth.

Kelly: Is your brother living in the same house as you are? Becky: Yes. Kelly: How do you feel living in the same house as your abuser? Becky: It is very hard but I don't want to leave my home and my family but then again I don't know what else to do. Kelly: Ok, I want to make sure that I am getting everything down right. You live at home with your parents and Mikey, your abuser, who your parents do not feel that he abused you.

You don't feel comfortable at home but you don't want to leave either? Becky: That is right. Kelly: How do you confront those conflicting feelings? Becky: Well, a lot of the times I try to pretend that nothing is wrong and that like is just wonderful. Kelly: Don't you feel that if you do that, that it might be sending mixed feelings to your parents.

That although your brother abused you, you are ok with it because you don't care if you live in the same house as him. At least how you are showing it as. Becky: Well, I never really thought of it that way. Maybe you are right, maybe I should not be showing things that way.

Just maybe I should just speak my mind and not be afraid. Thank you for helping me see that. Kelly: Well, I am glad that I was able to help you with that. Now, let's talk about what is going on with you and your boyfriend, Josh. (To be continued later... in the video.)

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