NCJ Number
96311
Date Published
1984
Length
9 pages
Annotation
An interview with a psychiatric nurse clinician reveals how she worked with adolescent boys who had been involved in a sex ring for 3 years.
Abstract
Traditional methods of initiating contact with a long-victimized youth were generally not effective. Meeting with the boy on his own territory, using school break times, and meeting at the school playground or a neighborhood park made for the most effective initial contact, because it gave the boy some degree of power in the meeting. Also important in establishing rapport are using the youth's vocabulary, noting his ongoing behavior, and attending to his nonverbal behavior. Victims' belief systems often inhibit their developing trust. Treatment phases required for the victim to move away from identification with the ring are (1) disclosure -being confronted with society's negative view of the ring's activities; (2) examination -- developing awareness of the ring's exploitation; and (3) postadaptation -- dealing with the stress response patterns adopted by the victim. Critical issues in developing effective therapy are the child's sense of betrayal by the adult world, the need for a social support system, and the need to meet these children and their families on their own turf. Drawing and art therapy can be used to identify sexually molested children and to treat traumatized children. Some recommendations for therapeutic work with sexually abused children are as follows: (1) early case finding is facilitated when health care personnel and teachers as well as parents recognize that a child can be sexually exploited; (2) caseworkers should be alert to magazines and books related to sex and violence in the family's home as well as the unusual amounts of sexual talk in the family; and (3) when the family does not acknowledge the child's sexual exploitation, caseworkers must clarify their suspicions and reasons for concern. Two endnotes are included.