European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - March 3, 1986, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Defining maltreatment child abuse by Charlie Bowden Munich Bureau c an a simple spanking Cross the invisible Barrier and become abuse is leaving a child alone in a locked apartment neglect Are parents neglecting children by not sending them to school the answer to each question is yes no or maybe depending on perspective and individual background. Defining child abuse and neglect is among the most controversial issues social workers face in attempting to Deal with the problem. The confusion leads to problems in identifying abuse cases and containing them. The confusion has been going on for years compounded by Early beliefs that parents had rights and children were chattel. Those beliefs Are easily illustrated by the Case of Mary Ellen which spawned child protectionism fever in the United states. New York Charity workers in 1874 discovered Mary Ellen s guardians beat her regularly and kept her chained to her bed. The workers intervened and went to court to get Mary Ellen released. But the court ruled child abuse and neglect were not illegal. Undaunted the Charity workers pressed on. Assisted by the american society for the prevention of cruelty to animals they returned to court. This time they prevailed based on a Law making it illegal to abuse an animal. The court declared Mary Ellen a member of the animal kingdom who was being treated cruelly. She was taken from her parents. Within a year the new York City society for the prevention of cruelty to children was organized. By 1905, More than 400 similar organizations existed. Mary Ellen s Case Drew attention and action. But it did Little to define abuse or neglect other than to equate the abuse of children with mistreating animals. Today Federal and state Laws agree that child abuse is illegal but that is about ail they seem to agree on. The Federal government offers a Broad definition More victims than military data indicates defining child abuse and neglect As the physical or mental injury sexual abuse or exploitation negligent treatment or maltreatment of a child under the age of 18 by a person who is responsible for the child s  states can change that definition when enacting child Protection Laws. The Legal age can be different the wording can be More specific or More general. For example a new Jersey judge differentiating Between abuse and neglect said abuse requires an overt act. Neglect he said is an act of omission in which parents do not provide something they should. He did not define that  the military through a process of evolution starting in the mid-1960s, became More aware of the problem within its ranks and began to develop programs to Deal with abusive behaviour. But the services were hampered by disagreement. They had no common definition for abuse or even what Ages constituted a child. That inter service confusion created problems in collecting data identifying common problems creating common programs and containing abuse. What has evolved is a growing awareness that child abuse affects readiness. That led to a team concept that draws on the expertise of doctors Community nurses chaplains lawyers police and social workers to Deal with child abuse. The team s objective is to Deal with a problem that leaders have come to realize directly affects military readiness said James Grey a social worker for the army at Augsburg Germany. That made a big difference for us Grey said. We get a Little More Money a Little More  the team receives allegations of abuse or neglect investigates them determines their Validity formulates a rehabilitation plan and monitors Progress. If we get a report of abuse or neglect we interview the family and try to determine from certain questions if there Are problems Grey said. When we detect problems we go from  included is a social assessment by a social worker a military police investigation and a doctor s examination. By Chuck Vinch Washington Bureau t he Good news confirmed cases of child abuse in the military fell 18 percent in fiscal1985.the bad news the military concedes it data is incomplete and that child abuse is More widespread than is documented. The lower numbers result from Many factors said Kathleen Furukawa a technical information specialist at the military family resource Center. She said various reporting differences frustrate resource Center efforts to gauge the intensity of child abuse. Commanders always want hard numbers and we just can t come up with hard numbers Furukawa said. All we can Tell them is that the numbers we have probably represent Only the tip of the  confirmed cases totalled 7,219 in fiscal 1984 against 5,908 last fiscal year the lowest total in the three years statistics have been kept according to the defense department s annual child abuse and neglect statistical report. While cases of physical abuse neglect abuse neglect and emotional neglect declined cases of sexual abuse increased from 925 in fiscal 1984 to 1,002 last fiscal year. Child deaths Rose from 13 to 19. Based on a military family child population of about 1.6 million the rate of abuse dropped from 4.6 per 1,000 in fiscal 1984 to 3.7 per 1,000 last fiscal year. The National rate according to american humane association statistics was 27.3 per 1,000 in 1984. The military s figures Are included in the National figures which Means that while the civilian rate exceeds the military rate it is less than 27.3 per thousand. Military family advocacy officials said it is almost impossible to judge the accuracy of the military figures recognizing that the actual rate is probably much higher. I think Well continue to always have a lower rate than the civilian sector because of the problems inherent in our reporting system Furukawa said. Many military families live off base and civilian agencies handle abuse cases she said. When civilian agencies investigate an abuse Case involving military personnel they very Seldom talk to us about it said Bob Stein resource Center director. Some feel that the military child welfare system is archaic that we will tar and Feather the perpetrator. That s a misperception but perceptions Are sometimes stronger than  Stein said civilian agencies May not understand the military system or Are unable to find the right people to talk to. Also i think that a lot of times the civilian agencies Don t really feel  to Tell the military about these cases Stein said. They feel they re already handling it. If the abuser worked for ism would the social at Ramstein a Germany All reports of sexual abuse Are looked into within 24 hours said capt. Mark West family advocacy officer. Guidelines require reports of physical abuse to be investigated within 48 hours for children 13 to 18 and within 24 hours for children 12 and under. In actuality West said they act on the reports almost immediately just can t sleep at night if i Don t  most caseworkers support the team approach praising the concept which has no single person pointing a Finger. If someone says they believe a child is being neglected or abused our reaction is to believe them Grey said. We want to help that child. We re glad that someone was at least willing to come  the idea is not to harass or Embarrass a family or Hurt a Soldier s career. We just want to find out the facts Grey said. We want to go to that Parent and say we have received this report of alleged neglect and we just want to talk about it. We re not accusing you we just want to find out the facts " More often than not the reports cannot be confirmed Grey said. Issues sometimes Are confused when a report enters that Gray area of neglect said capt. Susan Rhein Augsburg s director of human resources. For example a dentist joined the family advocacy team recently because it was determined that poor dental care for a child could constitute neglect particularly overseas where dental care is free. Determining neglect is not easy complicated also by varying Community standards. The Augsburg Community commander has issued a policy letter requiring school attendance Rhein said. That makes truancy a Case of child neglect. Whatever definition is used however applied the goal remains the same and intervention by the family advocacy team May be the Only Way to get the abusive Parent s attention. We want to get the family fully functional again Rhein said. Besides our intervention could save a child s  workers go to ism and Tell them Many military cases remain unreported Stein said. Spouses fear that reporting abuse could Lead to the breakup of the family imprisonment of the offender or More abuse. According to the defense report the army had the most incidences of child abuse among the services followed by the Navy including Marine corps statistics and the air Force. In fiscal 1985, the army had 2,954 cases. The Navy and Marine corps had 1,943. The air Force had 1,011. The resource Center discourages service comparisons Furukawa said because of the problems in compiling the statistics. We just can t Point any fingers right now and say that the army has More of a problem than the air Force or whatever Furukawa said. Until recently the services had different definitions of abuse abuse classifications and what Ages constituted childhood. That has greatly affected the statistics Furukawa said. We know that the numbers we have Are substantiated cases of child abuse but we can t be sure of the numbers we Don t  Furukawa said the resource Center is correcting the shortcomings. For example the services on oct. 1 began using a Standard form to report abuse cases. But consistency still is a few years off she said. Monday March 3, 1986 the stars and stripes Page 17