The Children 's Assessment Center

According to the National Children’s Alliance, one in four girls and one in six boys under the age of eighteen are at risk of being sexually abused but only according to what is reported. In the State of Texas, a professional has forty-eight hours to report any cause to believe a child been abused as stated in Sec. 261.101. As a foster parent and principal, Angela Sugarek and Carol Jeffery had a major moral responsibility and legal duty to report what her three year old foster son was displaying: behaving strangely and an anal injury.

The statistics of prevalence for child sex abuse varies because of all the unique cases of child sex abuse that is reported. Although, statistic show that one in three girls will be sexually abused at one point in the United States and boys are one in seven to be sexually abused (Anderson, 2014). Children are not susceptible to crime as shown in the statistics because predators like pedophiles have fetishes towards little boy or girls. One study found that 10% of children experienced or came close to experiencing a form of sexual violence which would include rape, sexual assault, or harassment (Anderson, 2014). The numbers shown in the statistics are higher because of the unreported cases. 30% of cases involving child sex abuse are reported to the local authorities and 73% to 87% of female adolescents who are abused sexually are not treated or identified by by the community (Anderson, 2014). Child sex abuse is also costly because it costs the United States an estimated $103 billion for the abuse and negligence (Anderson, 2014). On another note, 80% of children who have been sexually abused have symptoms of PTSD (Anderson, 2014).

The sexual child abuse issue has become of significance within the United States as an alarming focus in the past 30 years. Sexual child abuse (SCA) is such an extensive topic and yet as time progresses this subject is more unrestricted for discussion, various dialogs are provided to make parents and care-takers aware of the signs of potential sexual child abuse. Seminars are provided to and for children to teach methods in identifying any possible perpetrators and report any peculiar behavior they may come across. However, how fortunate are children from other countries in reporting or discussing this same issue when something so violated occurs to them? According to Alpert, J.L., Brown, L.S., & Courtois, C.A., (1998), there have been findings that are constant in supporting that at least 20% of American women and 5% to 10% of American men have experienced some type of sexual abuse in childhood and that such abuse has transpired without regard to origin, race, or socioeconomic status. In an urban study however, which concentrated in Leon, Nicaragua, determined that sexual abuse defined childhood and adolescence as younger than age 19 Olsson, A., Ellsber, E., Berglund, S., Herrera, A., Zelaya, E., Pena, R., Zelaya, F., & Persson, L.A. (2000). Additionally, according to the Nicaraguan study sexual abuse was described as any sexual act by an older individual towards a child who is 12 years of age or younger.

Each year, the Henrico Court Appointed Special Advocates (Henrico CASA) program harnesses the power of over 100 volunteers, supervised by three staff members, to provide a complete investigation and reports to the Court during up to 400 cases with allegations of abuse and neglect of a child. Our program’s focused and intense training program empowers these everyday citizens to play a powerful role in these abused and neglected children’s lives. Our volunteer advocates investigate the children’s situations and make recommendations for ameliorating services and appropriate permanent homes. The program’s lean and efficient staff provides consistent support and continuing education to help ensure the best outcomes for each child at the minimal

“It all started in 1991 with a young girl in a yellow dress. She looked a bit sad, a bit lonely, a bit out of place. As Chief of Police Bill Hegarty walked through the Grand Rapids Police Department that day, the little girl caught his eye. And as he looked at her, he saw that she simply looked out of place. He saw that she looked scared” (Children’s Assessment Center, n.d.). About twenty years ago the Children’s Assessment Center of Grand Rapids opened their doors with the intention to reduce the amount of trauma children endured in the case of sexual assault. The Children’s Assessment Center is a place where children can be interviewed without being scared and can receive the treatment they need to heal from their abuse. “Traditionally, child forensic interviews have taken place in police departments, schools, and CPS offices. Such settings may be intimidating for children and could increase children 's beliefs that they are in trouble or have done something wrong” (Tavkar, 2007).

When a child is physically beaten or sexually abused, the ideal set of eventsis that doctors treat the injuries, therapists counsel the child, social services works with the family, police arrest the offender, and attorneys prosecute the case. To promote this response, effective community interventioninvolves the formation of a child protection team that includes professionals from medicine, criminal justice, social work, and educationwhounderstandandappreciate the different roles, responsibilities, strengths,

Childhood sexual abuse (CSA) is growing and becoming more prevalent around the world (Aspelmeier, Elliott, & Smith, 2007; Karakurt & Silver, 2014; Mikulincer & Shaver, 2007). As such, CSA acquired concern as being a serious problem in recent decades. CSA is any type of sexual relation with a child, who is unable to consent, through force, threat, or dishonesty to assure participation. Consequently, CSA associates with psychological difficulties, such as Posttraumatic Stress Disorder.

There are interventions and services available to perpetrators in Indianapolis, Indiana. Child abuse in the United States can be defined as “the engaging of child in sexual acts that the child does not understand, to which the child cannot give informed consent or which violate the social taboos of society (Hertherton & Beardsall, 1988).” Based on the understanding of the child sexual abuse, perpetrators of sexual abuse will be referred to as perpetrators and victims of sexual abuse will be referred to as victims.

After completing your reading, viewing the TEDx video, and reviewing the Decision Maker's Guide to Program Evaluation discuss at least one way program evaluation (in environment, teaching strategies & adult-child interactions or program administration and management) can support every child's success by addressing quality of programs and serving as a diagnostic for supports. In addition, explain why this is important. Be specific and use literature to support your assertions.

Research studies were done that shined a light on the issue of child and sexual abuse that was largely quiet and unheard, similar to the small and innocent voice of a child. Briefly discussing major provisions in the CAPTA Reauthorization Act of 2010 includes, states eligibility and length of program involvement, monitoring how the funds are used, annual reporting, CPS grants, and State plans including laws (Child Welfare Information Gateway, 2016). Another recent and important policy implemented by the Federal Government is the Child and Family Services Improvement Act of 2006. This policy included, “a 5- year authorization, with $325 million for each fiscal year 2007-2011” and thus allowed “a broader array of services and activities and promotes more flexibility for States to design their programs accordingly” (Child Welfare Information Gateway, 2016). This paper will only highlight a minor portion of the vast amount of laws and policies passed by the Federal Government. The Federal Children’s Bureau has done an outstanding job passing laws to protect children, however, each State has the freedom to implement their own programs run it as they see fit and subsequently, some states have more efficient programs than other. Currently, the national spotlight is shining a very bright on the failures of Texas child protection programs, “Marcia Robinson Lowry, founder and formerly executive

Today, Americans fail to realize the prevalence and severity of child sexual abuse within the United States. Though crimes of adult rape are of equal importance, the sexual victimization of children, ages seventeen and under, accounted for nearly 70% of all reported sexual assault cases in 2015. To further the issue, arrests were made in only 29% of these child sexual abuse cases; this means that for every ten sexual abuse cases involving children, only three of the perpetrators are convicted and jailed. Why are these supposed perpetrators jailed less frequently than the number of reported child sexual abuse cases? The United States Criminal Justice System fails to provide the deserved protection and justice for the victims of child sexual abuse by not giving proper sentences to perpetrators equal to the damage they have inflicted upon the victim and the continued implementation of the statute of limitations in cases of child sexual abuse.

Sharon is an 8 year old girl, experiencing aggressive outbursts towards her grandparents at home.

Enos, W. F., Conrath, T. B., & Byer, J. C. (1986). Forensic Evaluation of the Sexually Abuse Child. Pediatrics, 78(3), 385.

Childhood sexual abuse (CSA) is loosely defined as the use of “persuasion, enticement, and other inducements to coerce a child to engage in sexually explicit conduct or simulation of sexual acts” (Wilson, 2010, p. 56). While all CSA is austere, the form and severity level of CSA falls on a spectrum ranging from non-contact CSA (lowest severity) to non-penetrative contact CSA (moderate severity) to penetrative CSA (highest severity; Negriff, Schneiderman, Smith, Schreyer, & Trickett, 2014). Since the form and severity level of CSA fall on a spectrum, there is no standard clinical presentation of CSA, which may obscure a clinician’s ability to identify the signs of CSA (Yancey, Naufel, & Hansen, 2013).

Sexual abuse to children happens across every socioeconomic status, ethnic, cultural, religion and education. Getting treatment for a victim of child sexual abuse is a difficult process because of the lack of trust by the child. When child sexual abuse occurs the victim’s family has a difficult time talking about the abuse, which leads to the family pretending the abuse never happened. Once the family