Sexual Abuse in Foster Care

Have you ever wondered about the rate of sexual abuse experienced by foster care survivors?

• As many as 75 percent of all children in foster care, upon leaving the system, will have experienced sexual abuse. 
• One study by Johns Hopkins University found that the rate of sexual abuse within the foster-care system is more than four times as high as in the general population
• In group homes, the rate of sexual abuse is more than 28 times that of the general population.
• Foster children who suffer sexual abuse tend to be those who live with those caregivers who have the least verbal contact with child-welfare workers. 

Sources:
Benedict, M., Zuravin, S., Brandt, D. and Abbey, H. (1994). Types and frequency of child maltreatment by family foster care providers in an urban population. Child Abuse & Neglect,18 (7): 577-585.
Child Welfare League of America. (2003). Child maltreatment in foster care: CWLA best practice guidelines. CWLA, Inc.: Washington, D.C.
Poertner, J., Bussey, M., & Fluke, J. (1999). How safe are out-of-home placements? Children and Youth Services Review, 21(7): 549-563.
Rosenthal, J., Motz J., Edmondson, D., and Groze, V. (1991). A descriptive study of abuse and neglect in out-of-home placement. Child Abuse and Neglect 15(1): 47-49.
Tittle, G., Poertner, J., Garnier, P. Child maltreatment in out-of-home care: What do we know now? Accessed online at: http://cfrcwww.social.uiuc.edu/pubs/Pdf.files/knownow.pdf
Zuravin, S., Benedict, M., and Somerfield, M. (1993). Child maltreatment in family foster care. American Journal of Orthopsychiatry, 63(4): 589-596.

Childhood Sexual Abuse

Postcard created by an alumna of foster care, as part of an ongoing postcard project by Foster Care Alumni of America.






Sexual Abuse in Foster Care
In the general public, physical abuse of children occurs twice as often as sexual abuse.

Within the foster care system, however, foster care youth and alumni report experiencing sexual abuse at a higher than physical abuse.

While there are no significant gender differences regarding physical abuse or neglect in foster care settings, studies have demonstrated that girls are at greater risk for sexual abuse within the foster care system.

Eighty-five women between the ages of 18-25 years old participated in a study supported by the Orphan Foundation of America:

- 65% of participants reported a history of sexual abuse.
- 35% reported experiencing that abuse during their time in foster care.

Not surprisingly, participicants who experienced sexual abuse both at home and in foster care settings demonstrated the highest rate of self-blame, feelings of betrayal and powerless, and stigmatization.

Fearing the Victim
Foster and adoptive parents are concerned about their ability to meet the needs of these young people. They worry about the risk to other children who live in their homes. They fear being subject to allegations themselves.

Girls with a history of sexual abuse are subject to twice as many placement changes as girls without a history of sexual abuse. They are more likely to be housed in group homes and residential placements.

How to Care for Victims of Sexual Abuse
1.) Close supervision: Children often imitate what they have experienced, and live out what they know. If a child's first introduction to touching was sexual touching, that child might inadvertently pass on the abuse to other children.

2.) Effective sexual education: Young people who have been exposed to too much, too soon, often had the physical experience without truly understanding what was going on. What they do know about sex has been horribly distorted.

3.) Modification of inappropriate behaviors: Victims of abuse need to learn how to set healthy boundaries for physcially relating to other people. Often, their response to touch leaps to polar extremes, between fear and fascination.

4.) Therapeutic attention to the child's deeper unmet needs: It is vital to have a thorough understanding of the young person's history, so that their current behaviors are seen in the context of past trauma and experiences.

Ideally, foster parents would be given the information they need in order to prepare their home. A study funded by the Department of Health showed that in order half the cases, the sexual abuse history of children was not shared with their foster caregavers.

Even in cases where this information was shared, the extent, severity and identity of the abuser was often omitted from the case files.

Source:
(2007) Breno, Anjey and Galupo, M. Paz. Sexual abuse histories of young women in the U.S. child welfare system: A focus on trauma-related beliefs and resilience, Journal of Child Sexual Abuse, 2007, Vol. 16 Issue 2, p97-113.

(2003) Farmer, Elaine and Pollock, Sue. Managing sexually abused and/or abusing children in substitute care. Child & Family Social Work, May2003, Vol. 8 Issue 2, p101-112.

What are the "whys" behind these statistics?

This week, I met a young man who had moved to my state from California. He was Latin American. His English was broken; his family even more so. He was 19 years old, and had been out on his own since he was 14.

Afraid of entering the California foster care system, he had joined a gang and they became his substitute family. However, by moving several states over to obtain a lucrative construction job, he had now lost contact with his friends, and was looking to make local connections.

He asked me to look up his gang and see if they had any local presence in my city. They did not (and I was secretly glad about that fact). Then, he asked me to look up his family members – but his surname did not appear in any online phone books or databases.

“Oh, I know why!” he said, “It’s because they are illegal.”

According to research, 81% of young children of immigrants live with a non-citizen parent, and almost 50% live with an undocumented parent. If those families break down, it’s hard to find a safety net in this strange new country.

Newly published research from Urban Institute's Child Welfare Research Program reveals that Latin American immigrant children are three times more likely to enter the foster care system because of sexual abuse.

When I read this information, my first question was, “Why?”

1.) Is it because Latin American immigrants are afraid to report abuse in other cases, because many immigrant households are made up of both citizens and non-citizens, and they fear government scrutiny?

That must be a tough decision to make: Save a child and be deported. Stay in this country and allow a child to suffer. Add that to distrust of the United States foster care system, and you have a recipe for secrecy when it comes to neglect and physical abuse.

In fact, as a whole, Latin American children are under-represented in the U.S. foster care system, in contrast with other minority groups which tend to be overrepresented.

2.) Are these children unaccompanied minors? Runaways are more vulnerable to sexual abuse because they are older, unsupervised and need basic necessities like food and shelter.

3.) Does this higher statistic point to the commercial sexploitation of children? According to John Miller, the U.S. Ambassador, as many as 17,500 men, women and children are trafficked into the United States each year.

Once Latin American immigrant children enter foster care, it is unlikely that they will be placed with relatives (8%). Nor will the state where they reside be reimbursed by the federal government for helping them. Title IV-E funding is the largest source of federal support for state welfare services – and, due to federal restruations, only 5% of Latin American immigrant child are eligible.

Source: Child Welfare Research Program: Identifying Immigrant Families Involved in Child Welfare Systems, Findings from Texas, 2007.

Foster Care & Statutory Rape

I recently spoke with a former foster child, who is now a college-educated young woman. She revealed to me that, when she was 16 years old, her foster father raped her. He made a bet with her, and when she won, he "rewarded" her with alcohol.

I asked her if charges had been filed. She responded that her social worker knew that sex had taken place, but assumed that it was consensual. That was how the incident was documented in her case files.

I pressed on, "But it can't be considered consensual. That's impossible. You were sixteen and he was an adult. Legally, you were a child and unable to consent to this act with him."

In my opinion, that social worker should be held accountable for her severe lapse in judgement. I offered to help to legally pursue this matter. However, this young woman has not had enough time to heal. She is not now, and does not know if she will ever be emotionally ready to prosecute.

I told her that I would respect her decision, but remain available if she ever needed my support. Having had a similar experience at the same age, I found myself wanting to protect and defend her. But -- to tell the truth, I never pressed charges, either.

Statutory Rape
Rape is a charge that can be difficult to prove. If there were witnesses present, in most cases, the rape would not take place. Proving rape can be even more difficult if the victim is a foster child (remember the labels and stigmas discussed in my previous blog entry).

Laws vary widely in their definition of statutory rape and the legal age of consent. In Virginia, for example, carnal knowledge of a 13-14 year old is a Class 4 felony, while carnal knowledge of a 15-17 year old is a class 1 misdemeanor. (Strange distinction).

The rationale behind a statutory rape charge is that a young person, while biologically mature enough to desire intercourse, is not mature enough to make wise sexual decisions. This makes the young person vulnerable to an adult who tries to manipulate, deceive or coerce them.

It's also important to realize that minors are legally, economically and socially unequal to adults. They lack full legal rights. Typically, they are economically dependent wards of their legal guardians. Think of the implications for a young person in foster care.

Promiscuity Defense
The most common defense against a charge of statutory rape is the 'promiscuity defense,' demontrating that the girl has had other sexual partners.

Why would this make a difference?
As Michelle Oberman explains, "At its core, the promiscuity defense reflects a belief that, by virtue of multiple sexual partners, girls become less vulnerable to coercion, and in essence gain the capacity to consent to sex... (as if) there is no longer any compelling need for protective measures for the sexually experienced child."

In contrast, Oberman believes such promiscuity signals a history of vulnerability, rather than worldliness. She argues that, if it were true that girls were powerless until they lost their virginity, society would encourage them to have sex at a younger age.

The promiscuity defense also seems to state that, if a girl is not a virgin, any man alive has the right to have carnal knowledge of her. If she has willingly consented in the past, is she now denied the legal right to say no?

Coming of Age As A Young Woman
Michelle Oberman has asserted that, while both boys and girls share the crisis of adolescence, they experience it in different ways. Young men might seek pleasure and experimentation, while young women might be more motivated by a desire for emotional closeness and attention.

For young women, the physical changes of adolescences often represent a loss of control:
-Their body is changing before their eyes.
-Men around them begin to express desire.
-They begin to see themselves through the eyes of others.
-They measure themselves against impossible ideals.

To experience the physical changes of puberty within the instability of foster care is challenging for a young woman. It makes her vulnerable... emotionally, physically and sexually.

Sadly, there are older men in this world who take advantage of that kind of vulnerability.

Source:
Oberman, Michlle. Turning girls into women: Re-evaluating modern statutory rape law. The Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology, 85 (1994).

Virginia Department of Health website: http://www.vahealth.org/civp/sexualviolence/varapelaws/laws_rape.asp

Emotional Risks for Females Aging Out of Foster Care

Young women often emerge from foster care emotionally vulnerable. They have a deep (and legitimate) need for permanency, security and emotional constancy.

And there are men who prey on vulnerable women. Men who might offer to be a "father figure" or a "big brother." Men who offer themselves up as an oasis of safety (and maybe they even mean it at the time)... and then they want more.

Emotional vulnerability can translate into sexual vulnerability. According to the National Survey of Family Growth: “Women who spent time living in foster homes or with relatives other than their parents have an elevated risk of engaging in high risk sexual behaviors.”

These high risk sexual behaviors include:
- Teenage pregnancy (60% risk of unwanted pregnancy)
- A greater number of sexual partners
- Losing their virginity at a younger age as compared to women of “normal” backgrounds.

Two extremes of behavior exist:
- Emotional isolation
- Toxic relationships

One can result from the other. One can feed the other. A woman who is emotionally isolated is more vulnerable to predators. Likewise, a series of dysfunctional relationships might cause some women to fear intimacy and retreat from relationships altogether.

These difficulties can be overcome. I was raped when I was 16 years old. I distrusted men. I feared intimacy. I refused to date for eight years. And, where am I now? Married, to a man who loves me. Stepmother to two wonderful children. There is definitely hope.

My concerns is the "platform syndrome." By that, I mean, whenever I hear about a program for foster alumni, they are up on a platform somewhere. "You went through a hard life, kid, and now you owe it to us to save the world."

Saving the world is great -- I certainly want to do it. But postponing emotional healing is unwise.

When I hear about groups like CYC (California Youth Connection) that limit their members to under 23 years old, I feel concern. Perhaps because I look back at the person I was when I was 23, and I still had some growing and healing to do. Granted, everyone is different, but -

Where are the resources for foster alumni in their 20's who are unlearning all the emotional damage from their childhood?