MANDATORY Reporting of Child Abuse

by silentlambs 129 Replies latest watchtower child-abuse

• 

  ChristianObserver

  Hello :o)

  I don't know if this question has ever been asked or if such a situation has ever arisen, but I was wondering what would be the reaction of the elders and their *advised* course of action if approached by a member or child who had been abused by a *worldly* person or a member of *Christendom* - a Catholic priest, for example?

  A *questions from readers* article on the subject might be interesting:

  'What should you do if you suspect that your child has been subjected to *forceful sexual interference* by someone outside the congregation - a schoolteacher, a music teacher a sports coach etc?'

  'How should you prepare your child for the possibility that he/she may at some point in their life be vulnerable to inappropriate approaches or activities by an adult in authority?'

  etc etc!

  {{{{{{{to all those who have been subjected to any such activity}}}}}}
• 

  Seven

  And I still think unless you've seen it from the eyes of within...a monster's victim, son, daughter, wife, (and I don't care what anyone says, most molesters are men), you can only imagine, speculate, judge, should of's, would of's, could of's. For from even within, for example, my siblings, my mother's and my own experience, we individually chose complete different paths of disclosure, release, healing, etc. Even the way we dealt with the abuse as it happened is individual.

  Thank you morrisamb.

  seven
• 

  chezza

  This is a very painful subject for me, i had my 16 year old daughter at the police last night because she remembered something that had happened to her when she was 9, this sick individual who was her uncle and who did fellowship with the witnesses apparently had been doing this for years, in fact he abused my niece, the issue i have is that the elders knew of his "past" that he had abused before in the congregation, it was swept under the carpet, and not even the family were told, so i had this twisted sick person living under my roof, not knowing that he was even capable of doing such a hideous thing, and why, because the elders did not report it, and did he do any jail time, no, why, because everything had been hidden for too long, and now i have to try to explain to my daughter why i didnt protect her from this animal, if only they had spoken up years earlier when it first occured none of his other victims would have been victims at all.
• 

  Pathofthorns

  Any victim who is a child that has been molested that comes to my attention will immediately be reported to the police. Any adult who reports a molestation when they were a child will be strongly encouraged to turn the pedophile over to the authorities and given whatever support they need which may include counseling to get them to do so asap.

  I think we can agree the manner with which you handle cases of abuse that come to your attention is very practical. But it seems that you are requiring more of the WT by demanding they report all cases of molestation to the authorities, including adults who are no longer in imminent danger. If you find it so absolutely necessary for the WT to over-ride an adult victim's wishes if they do not want to go to the authorities, why are you not following this course yourself when it is in your power to do so?

  Now I don't know what elders are presently being told when they phone WT legal. But if in some cases of abuse of a minor they are told to contact the police or child services, then your position as stated above may be more similar to the WT than you realize. I do think there are situations when the police should be contacted, at least to check out even a potentially dangerous situation for a child. But like I said, I do not know what WT legal is telling elders presently phoning in with cases like that and if anyone could reveal what they are presently being instructed to do, it would be appreciated.

  I am not sure why exactly you feel I am "attacking" you or silentlambs. I am tossing out alternative ways of looking at the matter along with some reasonable supporting logic and endeavoring to understand the basis for your position. I am constantly refining and re-evaluating my thoughts on these matters.

  As I go through life, I appreciated all the people that gave me the high fives and slaps on the back. But more than these I appreciated those who gave me helpful criticism, advice and another perspective. Some made me feel good, but others helped me learn.

  When someone's good logic and sound reasoning forces me to alter my position on a matter I do not consider it a defeat, nor view the individual as having attacked me. Those days that I "lose" are the good days, because I have learned something new.

  Path
• 

  Marvin Shilmer

  Hello, Bill

  Thanks for your comments. The more you explain yourself and answer questions the greater chance people have to understand specifically what your comments mean. This is what questions are designed for, which is what I did above. Why you apparently take exception to questions as though they somehow represent a threat to you or the work of helping victims is something only you can understand (if even that is possible!). No amount of explaining will make me understand that.

  As I understand it your proposal would be that JW elders be directed to act as you would. According to what you described above, as it relates to reporting, you would react somewhat differently depending on circumstances. As follows:

  A child reports they are victims of child molestation:

  You would immediately report what you know to the police.

  An adult reports they were molested when a child:

  You would strongly advise the victimized individual to turn the pedophiles over to authorities and provide whatever assistance you could toward helping them do so.

  Given the straightforward scenarios above, I would agree that your actions would be the most appropriate. But your responses would not represent a blanket mandatory reporting. What you have described is almost identical to what Pathofthorns and myself have been saying from day one. Maybe now we finally understand one another.

  I would press for one clarification to a variation of one of the scenarios above. It is the same one I asked above on this thread, but I will ask it again here in different words.

  If presented with a situation where a minor came to you and said they had been abused but persisted that they would not talk about their experience to anyone who would automatically report the matter to authorities, would you offer them help on the condition of leaving the prerogative of reporting to them or would you turn them away?

  Having directly helped quite a few victims of child abuse myself, a simple straightforward and unambiguous answer to this question is important to my understanding of your views.
• 

  silentlambs

  It appears twiddledee and twiddledum are back with further misinformation and twisting of what my positions are. If you little men are sooooo concerned for getting to the bottom of this matter I suggest you contact me privately and it should take about five minutes.

  I have never taken the positions you describe above regarding any similarity from what I do and how wt deals with abuse. You both have never given an inch on your reasoning, never apologized for your false assumptions, never tried to find middle ground, consistently tried to say wt policy is not all that bad, never offered an iota of help to silentlambs, you argue to infinity a position that has no point or application to the real problem, you waste my time.

  If you are so mentally challenged that you are not able to read the sl website and my previous posts to understand what we stand for and what is required of WT Policy, call me, I will be glad to take time out of my schedule to try and help you get beyond the problem you both seem to have with reasoning on this issue. Otherwise you will be ignored publicly and I will simply repost this comment to your shallow attempts to bring discord to a meaningful effort to protect children.
• 

  Marvin Shilmer

  What?!

  It seems Bill does not want to answer on this forum, on the thread he started, one remaining basic question I asked to clarify an understanding. I don't understand this. Why undertake an initiative expressly to create better understanding and clear up supposed misunderstandings and then refuse an explicit request to do that very thing? I don't understand that sort of behavior either.

  I can only speak for myself but, given the nature of the subject and the advantages of helping potential allies to better understand for sake of possibly combining efforts to the same end of helping victims, it seems to me that the two minutes it would take type an answer to the simple question I asked would be well worth the investment of time. It must have taken more time to type the diatribe Bill just posted! As for taking the time by voice versus in writing, I prefer writing, and I have no problem with a public forum to express these thoughts either. As far as I'm concerned the more discussion on the subject of child molestation done in the light of day the better; if it's done in writing then all the better.

  Help me out folks, am I misreading or overlooking some fundamental detail here, or is there something I'm missing when saying Bill's responses above do not represent a blanket mandatory reporting. What am I missing here? Bill's statements look pretty clear on the question of whether he practices blanket mandatory reporting.

  Bill,

  As for all your accusations against me, they deserve as much attention as I give them after this sentence.
• 

  joelbear

  Bill sounds more and more like You Know every day.

  Messiah complexes do that to people.

  Joel
• 

  waiting

  ((((((((((hello chezza)))))))))))

  I know a post is sometimes overlooked in the middle of a semi-heated discussions of a not black/white issue. I wanted to make sure that you knew I (and I'm quite sure) some other posters read your heartbreaking account.

  What do you tell your daughter? I don't know, my situation with my daughter was similar. I guess you hold them, listen, cry with them, and then argue/cajole with them to get on with their life. Btw, have you and your daughter reported this man to the police yet? Would seem that people in your position are the crux of this argument. I hope so. Take care of yourself and your daughter.

  waiting
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  Marvin Shilmer

  Dear chezza,

  I appreciate that Waiting called our attention to your situation. Thanks, Waiting!

  Elders that act as you described are doing something horribly wrong. It only underscores just how disingenuous and amoral the Society's child abuse policy is, and the training that goes with it.

  Hopefully your daughter (and family) will find and get the kind of help needed to deal with things and heal up, and that this will lead to reporting both the direct victimizer and those accomplice elders for their sorry actions.