NCJ Number
75604
Journal
Journal of Clinical Child Psychology Volume: 7 Issue: 3 Dated: (Fall 1978) Pages: 177-180
Date Published
1978
Length
4 pages
Annotation
A community-based model for intervention in cases of child abuse and incest as well as clinical and legal issues involved are discussed.
Abstract
Due to the lack of professional concern with sexually abused minors, the University of California (UCLA) Child Trauma Intervention Project recently expanded its outreach efforts to treatment of multicultural families traumatized by incest or molestation of a minor. As a result of the stigma attached to such molestation, mothers of molested children and the molesting fathers must be treated in separate groups to diffuse the extreme hostilities directed against the fathers. Also, the victim and siblings must receive psychotherapy, either in age-specific victim groups or individually. To coordinate the multiple therapeutic interventions, the interdisciplinary, multicultural treatment team must meet regularly and discuss treatment plans and progress. Before families fragmented by abuse of a child can be united, the therapy team must explore the emotional and physical consequences for both the family and child. In ambivalent situations, the child's welfare must have first priority. Several treatment centers in Southern California provide an opportunity for the whole family to be treated as a unit on a short-term, residential basis. Unresolved legal issues surrounding child abuse intervention are numerous. For example, licensed health professionals sued for not reporting suspicions of child abuse may not be covered by malpractice insurance. Moreover, while the law provides for appointment of a guardian to assure every child rightful representation, the guardian need not in some States be a lawyer. Also, the rights of the abusive parent may in some cases be better protected than those of the child victim. Finally, the juvenile court judge faced with the ultimate decisionmaking responsibility must depend on the collective wisdom of those involved in the evaluation and treatment of abused children, which may prove confusing without standards for intervention and judicial resolutions. Forty-two references are supplied.