NCJ Number
213784
Journal
Child Abuse Review Volume: 15 Issue: 1 Dated: January/February 2006 Pages: 55-70
Date Published
January 2006
Length
16 pages
Annotation
Based on 36 semistructured indepth interviews with women and men who have provided therapeutic intervention for children who had sexually assaulted another child, this paper examines the implications of the observation that most clients were from poor families.
Abstract
During the first few interviews, the therapists made many strong statements about the impact of poverty on children who are sexually violent. They linked clients' backgrounds of poverty to complications in and often the cause of intervention failures. Therapists tended to describe a poverty subculture of violent environments, parental neglect, and the lack of choices and opportunities in the areas of education and housing. Still, therapists affirmed their belief that sexual abuse occurs in all areas of society; however, children who were sexually violent and poor were more likely to be involved with the child protection system than sexually violent children from wealthier families. Such families often have problems in complying with treatment plans because of limited financial and social resources. Therapeutic principles, however, focus on the individual and changing his/her behavior. This precludes addressing poverty as an issue for intervention. In addition, the child protection and welfare system cannot address the issue of poverty under current practices because of the way Australian Government funding supports individual intervention. Although therapists recognize that individual behaviors emerge from family values and behaviors conditioned by socioeconomic factors that either facilitate or complicate therapy for individuals, there is little therapists can do to change those influences, which may finally undermine treatment. The study involved a qualitative analysis of the interviews with the therapists, which were conducted between January 1999 and November 2000. 30 references