Good News
By Paul J. Ashton, Psy.D., D.Min.
Consultant to the VIRTUS® Programs
Consultant to the VIRTUS® Programs
May Christ inflame the desires of all people to break through the barriers which divide them, to strengthen the bonds of mutual love, to learn to understand one another, and to pardon those who have done them wrong. Through Christ’s power and inspiration may all peoples welcome each other to their hearts as brothers and sisters, and may the peace they long for ever flower and ever reign among them.
—Blessed Pope John XXIII
Pacem in Terris 171
Working together these past eight years has brought about a change. For some, the change may have come too late, for others it has come just in time, and for others yet, it has saved them from a destruction whose powers aren’t fully known. We should never forget the immense devastation that sexual abuse caused so many victims. Keeping this in the forefront of our minds propels us to continue teaching sexual abuse prevention and, in the words of Blessed Pope John XXIII above, we have called upon Christ to inflame the desire of all people to break through the barriers which divide us, strengthen the bonds of mutual love, and learn to understand one another. The last part of the quote is one that many feel they are not ready to hear: “pardon those who have done them wrong.” For them, for me, for all victims, we continue to work toward healing and forgiveness.
The daunting task, in many cases, has unified the efforts of the Protecting God’s Children® program and others like it. For us, it has always been about protecting children and vulnerable adults from predators. Knowing the who, what, where, when, and why is greatly beneficial, no doubt. Uniting our efforts to protect children, to keep them from harm and jointly to monitor our behavior and other’s behavior around minors is paramount. The Universal Church has always been open to its universality for at its core is the teaching of Christ’s love for all women and men. It is our individual views, the way we look at the world and the lenses from which we peer out at each other that often clouds our ministerial call to love all as Christ loved His Church.
Thousands of men and women across the United States and beyond have been trained to know the signs of sexual abuse, to recognize the ways perpetrators groom children in preparation to harm them, and the ways we as individuals and communities can prevent this from happening. Thousands of members of our Dioceses and Archdioceses—parishes, schools, hospitals, nursing homes, Catholic Charities programs, orphanages, and varied charitable institutions—now employ new standards, have implemented criminal background checks, monitor activities, and check volunteer ministers and their programs to keep children and vulnerable adults safe.
Yet, we are still faced with those who seek to do harm against the most vulnerable among us. Thus, we need to continue our awareness and prevention efforts.
The Fourth National Incidence Study of Child Abuse and Neglect just released its findings which are good news. The National Incidence Study (NIS) is a congressionally mandated, periodic effort of the United States Department of Health and Human Services. In 1974, Public Law 93–247 mandated the first NIS (NIS–1), which collected data in 1979 and 1980. The NIS–2 was mandated under public law (1984) and collected data in 1986. The NIS–3, mandated by the Child Abuse Prevention, Adoption, and Family Services Act of 1988, and the Child Abuse, Domestic Violence, Adoption and Family Services Act of 1992 collected data in 1993. The Keeping Children and Families Safe Act of 2003 mandated the NIS–4, which collected data in 2005 and 2006. The principal objectives of the NIS–4 were to provide updated estimates of the incidence of child abuse and neglect in the United States and measure changes in incidence from the earlier studies.[1]
The NIS serves as the nation’s needs assessment on child abuse and neglect. It offers a unique perspective on the scope of the problem beyond the children that child protective service (CPS) agencies investigate. While the NIS includes children whose situations were investigated by CPS agencies, it also obtains data on other children who were not reported to CPS or who were screened out by CPS without investigation. These additional children were recognized as maltreated by community professionals. Thus, the NIS estimates include both abused and neglected children who are in the official CPS statistics and those who are not.[2]
The study shows that in the period from 1993 to 2005/2006 the annual rate of sexual abuse declined substantially (44 percent under the “Harm” Standard (HS) and 47 percent under the “Endangerment” Standard (ES), a broader definition of child maltreatment). The rate of physical abuse declined as well (down 23 percent under the HS and 29 percent under the ES). The rate of emotional abuse declined 33 percent under the HS and 48 percent under the ES. Interestingly, the rate of emotional neglect rose 83 percent under the ES.[3]
The good news of the study is clear; the sad news remains the crux of our call to action. We must continue to spread our knowledge of prevention of child sexual abuse over and over, until all hear, all are warned and, all are on notice.
I leave the in-depth analysis of the National Incidence Study of Child Abuse and Neglect (NIS-4), 2004-2009 to research experts. But to you our loyal ministers in the field, I continue the challenge and repeat the request to please do all you can to support all of God’s children and to keep them safe from harm.
[1] Sedlak, A.J., Mettenburg, J., Basena, M., Petta, I., McPherson, K., Greene, A., and Li, S. (2010).
Fourth National Incidence Study of Child Abuse and Neglect (NIS–4): Report to Congress, Executive Summary. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Administration for Children and Families.
[2] Ibid.
[3] Ibid.
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