European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - March 3, 1986, Darmstadt, Hesse                                By Allen Cowan staff writer a 3-year-old boy arrives at the army Hospital in Frankfurt beaten and burned. Hedges a few Days  15-year-old girl is sexually abused by her Stepfather for seven years. The girl whose Stepfather is in the army decides she s had enough. She gets help from a school Counselor in Stuttgart and does t go Home. A 10-year-old boy shows up at the air Force Hospital at Wiesbaden sodomized. A girl less than a year old is treated at the same Hospital for severe bruises. She s been beaten with a Belt. An enlisted Navy Man in an angry outburst throws his son in the air. The boy lands on his face the Jolt knocking out his two front Teeth. The Man now sees Navy Counselor in Naples Italy. Grim cases but not unusual. Child abuse is a regular occurrence in military families in Europe. It s not limited to any Branch of the service. It s not limited by rank social background or financial status although Safe said most of its cases Deal with enlisted personnel. It s not limited to the military. The National committee for prevention of child abuse estimates that at least 1 million children Are abused annually in the United states. Of those Between 2,000 and 5,000 die. Alarming As the numbers Are civilian officials and their military counterparts said their statistics Are woefully inadequate and that child abuse probably occurs with frightening regularity. The figures Don t include some cases listed As homicides or assault by local police departments. They Don t include cases that can t be confirmed abuses that never come out of the closet or those not sent in by social workers. Commanders always want hard numbers and we just can t come up with hard numbers said Kathleen Furukawa a technical information specialist at the military family resource Center in Washington. All we can Tell them is that the numbers we have probably represent Only the tip of the  the Only common denominator is the needless suffering inflicted on children. If some parents did to other adults what they do to children they would be considered torturing monsters said air Force it. Col. Richard . Marshall an assistant Legal adviser to Neucom in military civil and International Legal matters. Children Are defenceless from adults especially when it s a Parent Marshall said. They re physically defenceless and psychologically defenceless. The child depends on parents for its life support care and Well  some parents and guardians regularly abuse that Trust according to Counselor paediatricians social workers teachers doctors and investigators. Violence is very much a part of the american family life Wayne Duehn a professor of social work told military social workers last week at bad Kissinger. Some institutions encourage the striking beating hitting of one  in Sweden it s illegal for a Parent to hit a child Duehn said. Yet one Survey reports that Between 84 percent and 97 percent of american parents use physical punishment to discipline their children. There s a Good Chance i m talking to people in this room who believe in the physical punishment of children Duehn said. We re not that different. I m advocating a realistic View of family  consequently children Are brought to hospitals maimed their fingers slammed Between Dresser drawers to teach them a lesson. They re scarred from whippings. They be been fondled and raped. They re emaciated from being underfed. They re covered with cigarette Burns. They Lack self esteem self respect and Confidence they re cold in the Winter and inactive in the summer they live in fear. The numbers pile up despite the problems defining child abuse reporting it through military channels and even in setting age ranges. In Usa eur last year 844 reports of abuse were checked. Of those 546 were confirmed including one death. The remaining were classified As suspect which Means investigators believe an abuse occurred which they could t prove. In 1982, Usa eur checked 970 reports of child abuse. Of those 592 were confirmed including one death. In 1983, 720 reports of child abuse were checked. Of those 413 were confirmed including two deaths. In 1984,1,259 reports of child abuse were checked. Of those 850 were confirmed. There were no deaths. Safe investigated More than 615 reports of child abuse last year according to statistics compiled in the states. Of those 221 were confirmed. There were no deaths. In 1982 Safe checked 295 reports of child abuse. Of those 188 were confirmed including one death. In 1983,397 reported cases of child abuse were \ checked. Of those 199 were confirmed. There were no \ deaths. In 1984, 370 reports of child abuse were checked. Of those 269 were confirmed including two deaths. Usa eur and Safe officials said there s Little doubt their numbers Are deficient. Because of reporting weaknesses statistics might be difficult to track said maj. Tom Cayton assistant chief of the clinical Medicine division of the Safe command surgeon s office and the command s family advocacy program Monitor. Cases May be counted twice others not counted at All and it s impossible to Tell How Many children were involved he said. That May explain Why Cayton said there were 325 confirmed cases of child abuse in Safe in 1984, while statisticians in the states report 269. There s another anomaly. Air Force statisticians in the states said there were 221 confirmed cases of child abuse in Safe in 1985. Cayton said for the first three quarters he had recorded 234 confirmed cases. The Navy Public affairs office in London said Counselor throughout Europe Are working on 90 confirmed cases of child abuse. When pressed military officials concede it s impossible to gauge the extent of child abuse in the military Community in Europe. Usa eur and stateside army officials and Safe and stateside air Force officials said they have no breakdown on the extent of injuries results of what happened to the abusers and their children or if any pregnancies or abortions resulted. I think child abuse is fairly chronic air Force it. Col. John Steele or. Said. It s fairly  Steele should know. He s a consultant in social work for Safe and the chief of social work family advocacy at the air Force Hospital at Wiesbaden. A lot of it is situational Steele said. A lot of it is neglect. I think a lot of our cases Corne from alcohol. There s a loss of inhibitions and impulse control. A lot of it occurs from spouse abuse. The child might try to step in. We re More aware of it Steele said and people Are beginning to ask for  the problems Are acute and the military acknowledges them. Yet solutions Aren t easy. Lashing out at the child abuse child advocacy if some parents did to other adults what they do to children they would be considered torturing monsters air Force it. Col. Richard . Marshall Neucom adviser in military civil and International Legal matters. Page 14 the stars and stripes Usa eur and Safe officials said they Don t have overseas resources for the continuing therapy needed by Many child abusers. Efforts Are hampered by shortages of Foster Homes crisis care investigators trained therapists psychiatrists programs and Money. Among the hardest to treat Are people who Burn children. That s generally a disturbed personality Steele said. Overseas i Don t think we can treat these people. Our Mission in t to treat internally All psychiatric people. I d want them Back in the  there s also difficulty treating people who abuse children sexually. As i read the literature Duehn said there Are no known cures. It s a problem throughout their lifetime until they take their last breath. I believe in Legal and criminal  Duehn said Many sexual abuse cases go unreported. It s a crime we abhor in the abstract he said at the conference but tolerate in  in the army for example in about 95 percent of All sexual abuse cases the victim knows the abuser. In 80 percent of the cases the abuser is either a Parent step Parent or Friend of the family. Often the abuse then becomes a family secret. At times abusers May be discharged to get them into the civilian sector where More help is available officials said. A discharge also focuses attention on the seriousness of the problem and that the abuser s livelihood is in jeopardy unless changes Are made. Usa eur and Safe have no mandatory programs to prevent the sexual abuse of children. The army is experimenting with a program that involves puppets teaching children about child abuse. It will evaluate results at the end of a year. The air Force has no mandated child abuse prevention program. One is in the works and will be tested at eight bases in Europe within a year. In England the bases Are Raf Alconbury Raf Lakenheath and Raf upper Heyford. In Italy they Are Aviano a and san Vito Dei Normanna. In Germany they Are Pitburg a and we Bruecken a. One program will be run at in Ciurlik a Turkey. The Navy in Europe said one Way it combats child abuse is through Peers a Volunteer program aimed at prevention and not after the fact treatment. The relatively new program is underway at naval installations in Simonella Sicily and la Maddalena Sardinia. It s in its infancy in Gaeta Italy and Rota Spain. Additional programs Are expected soon at holy Loch Scotland and London. Department of defense dependents schools has no system wide abuse prevention program although individual schools might have one said Bill Houston Dodds health curriculum coordinator for Germany. School nurses however Are trained to spot abuse and Deal with the abused child he said. No matter How a Case surfaces by a report from a teacher doctor social worker or neighbor the abuser and the family eventually Are consoled by family management teams and advocacy teams. These teams usually include social workers a chaplain investigators Counselor Legal advisers a military official and doctors. It s a High visibility program Cayton Saio i have yet to see a base commander who has t taken it seriously. I have yet to see it sloughed off. Because if something happens to a child we take it  some offenders Are prosecuted depending on the frequency and seriousness of the offence. But the military is reluctant to separate families. So some offenders Are counselled others go into treatment programs others Are sent to the states for treatment some Are discharged. There Are no prescribed punishments. The decision rests with the Community commander and procedures Are As varied As Are the communities. We Are not a police Force and the military services at the highest Levels Are trying to keep it that Way said Bennett Samuels family advocacy representative for the psychiatric department of the Navy Hospital in Naples. Our Job for the most part is to try and keep the family  the immediate goal is the child s safety. The Long Range goal essentially is support for the child and behaviour modification for the abuser. There Are generally two types of abusers and therapy for each is different. The Parent who abuses because of situational stress is not the same personality As one who abuses from Learned behaviour. That stems from the Cycle of violence in which abused children often become abusive parents. Some people learn to be child abusers from their parents said Shirley Ross family advocacy specialist at the Navy s family services Center in Naples. Usually there is a sense of Inadequacy. Often these people feel powerless to change because of fear or shame. They feel there Are no  Steele agreed people May not know it s wrong to beat a  Legal expert Marshall disagrees. I think anyone of adult sensibilities can recognize child abuse when they see it Marshall said. Child abuse is like Art. It s difficult to define in words but you know it when you see  research shows that As Many As 75 percent of All abusive parents were abused As children. The army said it found 75 percent of All its sexual abusers were abused As children. Without intervention along the maturing process researchers Are unable to explain what types of support work Best those deep seeded emotional problems Are difficult to overcome. Situational stress is More easily controlled the officials agreed. Counselor can teach abusers How to manage stress and diffuse their anger without violence. Some abuse results from the Strain of military life the time spent by one spouse away from Home Lack of enough Money pressures of stairwell living and the sheer frustration of dealing with the bureaucracy of military living. The stress factors in Europe Are High said maj. Phil Savoie command judge advocate for 7th medical come. He pointed out the stress from communal living Lack of privacy and Mission accomplishment at the expense of everything  some Deal with the stress by becoming alcoholics Savoie said and others take it out on the basketball court. And others become  and there Are those people who Are simply not mature enough for the responsibility of parenthood. A lot of the abuse comes from immaturity Steele said. I think parents need to be taught something. We just Don t receive training for it. We re not prepared for  when i first came Here i was very negative toward child abusers Samuels said. But in one of the first cases i interviewed i had to go to the Gaeta naval clinic and talk to a spouse with three children 3 years old and younger who was suspected of abuse. When i interviewed her she brought her three children Samuels said. The kids were into everything. They pulled books off the shelves and just made a mess. The woman could t have been More than 21. Her husband was always out to sea. She was having a real difficult time adjusting to Italy. I actually Felt empathetic Samuels said. It could not have been very easy for her. My whole Way of thinking changed. I began to realize that in some cases the suspected offender was also a  child abuse programs generally Are run through army Community services or the mental health clinic of the nearest medical facility. There also Are training programs for parents and teens. Foster Homes and crisis Homes Are available for immediate intervention. Counselling is available for the abused and the abuser. We try to work with the experience they Are having and adjust to the trauma said or. Col William Klein head of the youth health clinic at Frankfurt High school. They often Are confused Hurt frightened and feel badly about themselves. We use play techniques and verbal techniques Klein said. Play for children is really part of the work of childhood. It s a Way to try out solutions to problems and understand themselves. We invite them to come and play with the doll houses where they can recreate the setting and family. We use building blocks games modelling dough colouring for children younger than puberty slowly painfully he elicits the truth for even the youngest can demonstrate with dolls and motions How they were abused. They May recant later under pressure from a Parent. But in general investigators find continuing truth coming from the children. We re just now learning abuse is As widespread As it has been Cayton said. Awareness comes from the Media and campaigns of child advocates. And with that creeping realization is a recognition that the defenceless need defending because As Cayton said we Are molding the future of our nation by the Way our children Are  stars and stripes staff writers Betty Bell Charlie Bowden Dave Lehl Marv Hladky Robert Leonard Tony Nauroth Chuck Vinch and Dan Wollam contributed to this report monday March 3, 1986 the stars and stripes Page 15