Presented By Jody Gorran, Founder, National Foundation to Prevent Child Sexual Abuse to the Child Sexual Abuse Litigation Group of the Association of Trial Lawyers of America and the Emerging Torts Committee of the American Bar Association

According to an article entitled "Is your child safe?" written by Andrea Atkins in the September 1994 issue of Redbook Magazine, parents should investigate groups in which their children will be spending a great deal of their time. The reality is, according to Redbook, that sexual abuse of children happens all too often in places parents assume are safe, including youth groups such as Little League, Boy Scouts, the local YMCA and the Boys & Girls Clubs. Consider the following cases:

     At the East Dallas YMCA between 1989 and 1991, David Wayne Jones, 20, a counselor in an after-school program molested 41 children between the ages of 3 and 11 who were in his care. Jones confessed after a three-month investigation and is serving 15 years. In a civil suit brought by the family of two of Jones' victims, the national YMCA was found negligent and responsible for 10% of the actual damages.

     In 1993 in Tiverton, Rhode Island, Michael Aballo, who was once named Tiverton's Man Of the Year for his work with community youth organizations, was convicted of sexually molesting two boys he worked with - one over a period of five years. Aballo, 43, is serving seven years.

     In 1993 Richard DeHuff, 30, a volunteer with the Big Brothers/Big Sisters in King County, Washington, pleaded guilty to raping an 11-year-old boy who was in his care. He was sentenced to seven and a half years.

     Dennis Bedard, 44, of Harrison, Maine, had been a Little League coach for several years when he was convicted in 1993 of two counts of gross sexual assault and eight counts of unlawful sexual conduct. The offenses occurred over a six-month period and involved five boys between the ages of 9 and 12.

The good news is that over the last decade, most national organizations have strengthened existing policies or developed new ones aimed at keeping child molesters from their ranks. But even groups with the best intentions face a troubling reality: "It's very difficult to screen for pedophilia. Most pedophiles don't look like sick people. They seem like good employees or volunteers," says Brainard Hines, Ph.D., a Miami-area psychotherapist who treats sex offenders.

A. Nicholas Groth, Ph.D., a clinical psychologist in Orlando, Florida, who has treated sexual molesters, agrees. "Very often these people get outstanding evaluations as teachers, as coaches. Everyone thinks they're great." Many child molesters have a genuine affection for kids that's not just sexual, says Fred Berlin, M.D., founder of the Sexual Disorders Clinic at Johns Hopkins Hospital. "They enjoy the companionship of children, and will happily spend hours with them. "Interviewers in volunteer organizations often fail to detect molesters because they're not trained in what to look for, says Gene G. Abel, M.D., director of the Behavioral Medicine Institute of Atlanta. Most child molesters are men under 35, who abuse as many as 150 children before they're ever caught, according to a study by Dr. Abel. Molesters often specify that they want to work with children in specific age groups and frequently have friends much younger than they are.

Patrick Boyle, in his 1994 book entitled Scout's Honor - Sexual Abuse in America's Most Trusted Institution, wrote that in 1988, the Boy Scouts, realizing that its insatiable hunger for volunteers made it an easy mark (at least 2071 scouts reported being abused by their leaders between 1971 and 1991), unveiled its Youth Protection Guidelines. The Boy Scouts of America has tried to stop molesters with the new application form, which seeks references and asks about prior arrests, and has instructed troop committees to call those references and any other youth groups where the applicant has worked. From 1988 through 1991, at least 14 men who'd been charged or convicted for sex offenses joined the Boy Scouts, including some who had been kicked out before. Yet national still hasn't mandated criminal checks. Dr. Fred Berlin (referenced in the previous Redbook article)says, "'There needs to be screening by organizations like the Boy Scouts to make certain that someone who has previously been arrested for sexual contact with children can't again be in a position where they have easy access to children."

On October 9, 1998, President Clinton Signed into law the Volunteers For Children Act, which I originated, as Public Law 105-251, which amends the National Child Protection Act of 1993 (42 U.S.C. Sec. 5119). For the first time, a "Qualified Entity", which is defined as any business or organization, whether public, private, for-profit, not-for-profit or voluntary, that provides care, treatment, education, training, instruction, supervision or recreation to children, the elderly or individuals with disabilities, has the lawful right to request fingerprint-based national criminal history background checks through the FBI of their volunteers and employees. Access to the FBI would generally come through each state's Criminal History Records Repository. Parents will finally be able to really know who they are willingly turning their children over to when they sign them up for activities such as scouting, Little League, etc.

In 1993, Congress passed the National Child Protection Act, also known as the Oprah Winfrey Act. This Act was hailed as a major step forward in protecting children from sexual abuse. It provided for individual states to pass legislation which would require FBI national fingerprint criminal history record checks for volunteers and employees of youth serving organizations.

However, the 1993 Act had two major flaws. Unless a state passed legislation implementing this Act, organizations were not permitted to submit fingerprints of volunteers and employees for FBI background checks. Additionally, Congress did not mandate state legislation, instead, the National Child Protection Act only stipulated that states '"may" enact fingerprint background check legislation. As a consequence, five years later only a small handful of states had passed any legislation even allowing selected organizations to have access to fingerprint-based national criminal background checks. The Volunteers For Children Act eliminated the requirement that states must pass legislation implementing the National Child Protection Act before its citizens might take advantage of this new child-protective tool.

Now, prior to October 9, 1998, these "Qualified Entities", for the most part, did not have the legal ability to request these fingerprint-based national criminal history background checks through the FBI. We now want every effected organization, particularly those who deal with children, to immediately start requesting them. If a current or potential volunteer or employee has a relevant criminal history, he must be prevented from having access to children, the elderly or the disabled through these organizations. Such a person must not be placed in a position where he may easily victimize someone again.

Courts are increasingly holding employers liable for the violent acts of an employee on grounds of negligent hiring. In making such a finding, a court must conclude that the employer violated its duty of reasonable care in the hiring of the employee or volunteer. Actions against an employer for negligent hiring will turn on the alleged breach of the duty of reasonable care owed by the employer to the injured party . There is a duty of reasonable care whenever there is a foreseeable risk of injury to others arising from the failure to take the necessary steps to prevent such injury.

Since the duty of reasonable care for children, the elderly and the disabled should be quite high because of the sensitive nature of these, the most vulnerable groups in our society, should such an organization hire someone as a volunteer or employee who has a relevant criminal record somewhere in the United States and by doing so place the mantle of trust and authority on this person's shoulders, the organization is negligent.

Should that volunteer or employee, who has a relevant criminal history, commit a crime against a child, the elderly or the disabled, the organization can be held legally liable and accountable for negligent hiring.

The precipitating event is not the commission of the crime or intentional tort by the volunteer or employee with a relevant criminal record, but the original action of hiring the volunteer or employee with the relevant criminal history by the organization. The organization only becomes legally liable and accountable if and when the volunteer or employee with a relevant criminal history commits the crime.

An organization that has the responsibility for the safety, well-being of children, the elderly or individuals with disabilities has a duty of reasonable care that must preclude the hiring of volunteers or employees with relevant criminal records.

According to the US Department of Justice in Sex Offenses and Offenders, published by the Bureau of Justice Statistics in February 1997,

• 1 in 5 violent offenders serving time in state prisons had been convicted of a crime against a victim under the age of 18.
• More than half the violent crimes committed against children involved victims age 12 or younger.
• 7 in 10 offenders with child victims were imprisoned for rape or sexual assault.
• Two-thirds of all prisoners convicted of rape or sexual assault had committed their crimes against a child.
• All but 3% of offenders who committed violent crimes against children were male.
• 59% of current prisoners with a child victim had been previously convicted of a crime.
• 42% of current offenders with a child victim and a prior criminal history had a past conviction for a violent crime against either children or adults.

Child abuse research began exposing sexual abuse of children as a problem of sizable proportions in the late 1960s and early 1970s (Watson, 1984). Concern for sexually abused children grew during the 1970s as the general public became aware of the seriousness of the devastating and unspeakable crime (Johnson, 1987). Reported cases of child sexual abuse reached epidemic proportions, with a reported 322 percent increase from 1980 to 1990 (Sorensen & Snow, 1991). According to the US Department of Health and Human Services, in 1993 there were 1,057,255 cases of confirmed child abuse in the US of which 139,326 or 14% were confirmed as cases of child sexual abuse.

To make the national crisis of sexual crimes against youth even more alarming, Janssen (1984) insinuated that there may be at least 10 times as many cases that go unreported. Gilbert (1988) concurred, and exclaimed that most experts agree that many, if not most cases, go unreported. In a survey in 10 states published in The Police Chief, D'Agostino, Burgess, Belanger, Guio, and Montan (1984) concluded that although child abuse and neglect in the United States is a problem of major proportion, many crimes against children go undetected, unreported, and unattended. As exhorted by Janssen (1984), "Only the tip of the iceberg has been touched concerning the incidence of child sexual abuse" (p.46). The nature of the crime constituting child sexual abuse is intertwined with the issue of victim secrecy. In Finkelhor's and his colleagues' national survey (1990), 2,626 American men and women were questioned regarding prior sexual abuse. One of the major findings was that many of those who were victims never disclosed their experiences to anyone. The problem and extent of underreporting or non-disclosure has been a primary obstacle in determining prevalence of sexual abuse of children, Finkelhor et al. (1990) recommended more research to replicate or confirm their findings.

Investigation, intervention, and implementation of support Systems for victims have traditionally been contingent on the initial disclosure of the abuse by the victim. Sorensen and Snow (1991) wrote that a child's initial denial of sexual abuse should not be the sole basis of reassurance that abuse did not occur, and noted virtually all investigative protocols are designed to respond to only those children who have disclosed. Sorensen and Snow proclaimed that policies and procedures that are geared only to those children who have disclosed fail to recognize the needs of the majority of victims.

Sorensen and Snow (1991) retrospectively studied 630 cases of alleged sexual abuse of children from 1985 through 1989. Narrowing their research to a subset of 116 confirmed cases, findings indicated that 79 percent of the children of their study initially denied their abuse or were tentative in disclosing. Of those who did disclose, approximately three-quarters disclosed accidentally. Additionally, of those who did disclose, 22 percent recanted their statement.

Children often fail to report because of the fear that disclosure will bring consequences even worse than being victimized again. The victim may fear consequences from the family, feel guilty for consequences to the perpetrator, and may fear subsequent retaliatory actions from the perpetrator (Berlinger & Barbieri, 1984; Groth, 1979; Swanson & Biaggio, 1985). Victims may also have a feeling that "something is wrong with me," and that the abuse is their fault (Johnson, 1937; Tsai & Wagner; 1978), or they may be embarrassed or reluctant to answer questions about the sexual activity (Berlinger & Barbieri, 1984)

Courtois (1980), in her study of sexually abused children, reported that an inability to trust others is common to any type of abuse when victims are viewed and studied as a group. Among victims of sexual abuse, the inability to trust is pronounced, which also contributes to secrecy and non-disclosure (Courtois & Warts, 1982). Tsai and Wagner (1978) concurred that clinical findings of adult victims of sexual abuse include problems in interpersonal relationships associated with an underlying mistrust.

Victims of sexual abuse frequently experience feelings of shame, guilt, embarrassment, and inadequacy (Bagley, 1992; Courtois & Watts, 1982; Herman & Hirschman, 1977; Swanson & Biaggio, 1985). According to Tsai and Wagner (1978), guilt is universally experienced by almost all victims. Courtois and Wafts described the "sexual guilt" as "guilt derived from sexual pleasure" (p.276). In their group therapy with women who had been sexually molested as children, Tsai and Wagner (1978) listed one of their two primary therapeutic goals as "the alleviation of sexual guilt and shame"

In addition to "sexual guilt," there are seven' other types of guilt associated with the abuse, which include feeling different from peers, harboring vengeful and angry feelings toward both parents, feeling responsible for the abuse, feeling guilty about reporting the abuse, and bringing disloyalty and disruption to the family (Courtois & Watts, 1982; Tsai & Wagner, 1978). Any of these feelings of guilt could outweigh the decision of the victim to report, the result of which is the secret: may remain intact and undisclosed.

There has been considerable clinical and public interest in the sexual abuse of children, with many new programs for treating victims, prevention programs in schools, and media attention (Johnson & Johnson, 1984).

In another study, Bagley (1990a) reported that 32 percent of the sampled females in his community study responded that they had experienced child sexual abuse, the incidence of which was greater for women born after 1960 than before. In his most recent research with adolescents (Bagley, 1992), Bagley's results revealed that at least 20 percent of those surveyed reported having been affected by sexual abuse, with 32 percent of the adolescent females reporting a history of sexual abuse. Regardless of the admitted lack of consistent and accurate statistics of this crime, Bagley (1990c) affirmed that based on his extensive research on sexual abuse, child sexual abuse is much more frequent than had been previously assumed.

A theme consistent in the research is that sexual abuse is extensively undisclosed and underreported (Bagley, 1992; Courtois & Watts, 1982; Finkelhor & Browne, 1986; Slager-Jorne, 1978; Swanson & Biaggio, 1985; Tsai & Wagner, 1978). Based on the research, it could be expected that victims' perceived feelings of guilt and self-blame would interfere with their decision regarding identifying themselves through disclosure. As Bagley (1991) succinctly stated in his study on sexual abuse, "It is assumed that measurement errors will err in the direction of understatement and concealment" (p.15).

Although public awareness has been raised, research conducted, and progress made in increasing the number of annual disclosures, it has been proposed that the pervasive secrecy of child sexual victimization continues at an alarming rate. After more than two decades of research and education on child sexual abuse, questions remain unanswered regarding the current extent of non-disclosure and the effectiveness of preventive programs in reducing sexual victimization.

Investigation and research on non-disclosure of sexual abuse has important clinical implications Research on sexual abuse.; suggests at least an associative relationship between sexual abuse and other disorders, if not a causal relationship based on the sexual trauma (Bagley, 1992,; Courtois & Watts, 1984; Farrell, 1988; Finkelhor & Browne, 1986; Herman & Hirschman, 1977; Whitlock & Gillman, 1989) A victim subjected to a lengthy sexually abusive relationship could develop serious psychological problems as a result of the victimization (Farrell, 1988).

Sexuality is regarded not simply as a part of the self limited to genitals, discrete behaviors, or biological aspects of reproduction, but is more properly understood as one component of the total personality that affects one's concept of personal identity and self-esteem. (Whitlock & Gillman, 1989, p. 319)

Finkelhor and Browne (1986) acknowledged that some effects of the molestation may be delayed into adulthood. According to Whitlock and Gillman (1989), the issues of blurring of boundaries between trust and coercion, and love and sex, have the potential for influencing future relationships. Sexual victimization may profoundly interfere with and alter the development of attitudes toward self; sexuality, and trusting relationships during the critical early years of development (Tsai & Wagner, 1984).

Long-term effects frequently reported and associated with sexual abuse include depression, self-destructive behavior, anxiety, feelings of isolation and stigma, poor self- esteem, difficulty in trusting others, tendency toward revictimization, substance abuse, and sexual maladjustment (Courtois & Watts,1982; Finkelhor & Browne. 1986; Herman & Hirschman, 1977; Tsai & Wagner, 1978). Conflicted relationships often exist with family members, marked by feelings of mistrust, fear, ambivalence, hatred, betrayal, and an inability to relate in a positive way (Courtois & Watts, 1982).

According to Whitlock and Gillman (1989), the nature of sexual abuse in childhood has the potential to interfere with and destructively alter a child's psychosexual development. Groth (1979) stated that there is very real concern about whether such a distorted exposure and introduction to human sexuality as sexual assault will alter development in sexuality in some irreversible way. Groth and other researchers insisted that if the child does not resolve the trauma, sexuality may become an area of adult conflict (Courtois & Watts, 1982; Tsai & Wagner, 1984).

Although a causal effect has not been established, there is the clinical assumption that children who feel compelled to keep sexual abuse a secret suffer greater psychic distress than victims who disclose the secret and receive assistance and support (Finkelhor & Browne, 1986). Early identification of sexual abuse victims appears to be crucial to the reduction of suffering of abused youth and to the establishment of support Systems for assistance in pursuing appropriate psychological development and healthier adult functioning (Bagley, 1992; Bagley, 1991; Finkelhor et al. 1990; Whitlock & Gillman, 1989). As long as disclosure continues to be a problem for young victims, then fear, suffering, and psychological distress will, like the secret, remain with the victim.

Sorensen and Snow (1991) have emphasized that understanding the process of disclosure is an "important element in assessment of the problem" of sexual abuse (p. 4). In addition, identification of victims is essential to providing appropriate targeted treatment; however, bruises, burns, and broken bones are more easily identified as child abuse than is sexual assault (Farrell, 1988). This crime must usually be proven without corroboration or physical evidence (Janssen, 1984).

Most of the research focus on child sexual abuse has centered on female victims of incest by father figures in the home, Male victims were generally considered to be a small minority of all cases of adult-child sexual contact. However, retrospective studies consistently show that one out of every three victims of child sexual abuse is a boy. The under-reporting of male children in the statistics has been attributed to a number of causes. Boys grow up under a male ethic of self-reliance that does not allow them to view themselves as harmed, nor to talk about possibly painful experiences. Boys have to grapple with the stigma of homosexuality, usually at the same time as their peer group holds homosexuality as a very strong and fearsome taboo. Boys also have more to lose from reporting abuse in terms of loss of independence and unsupervised activities. In addition, child protective services tend to be geared towards those cases where a parent is abusive or negligent. As a consequence, boys, who are more likely than girls to be abused outside the home as opposed to a family incest situation, do not receive the attention they might otherwise get from the child protective agencies. Mic Hunter, in his 1990 book entitled Abused Boys - The Neglected Victims of Sexual Abuse explained that since there is a stereotype that all males who were sexually abused as children become child molesters themselves, many non-offending victims will not disclose that they were sexually abused. Boys are truly the neglected victims of child sexual abuse.

Again, early research on sexual victimization in the 1970's primarily focused retrospectively on the victimization of females, with little attention to sexual assaults on males, or to victimization currently taking place (Courtois & Watts, 1982; Tasi & Wagner 1978). As research statistics increased, so did enlightenment regarding the prevalence of assault on males (Bagley, Wood, & Genui, 1991). Groth (1979), reported that in the age bracket of 10-13 the actual at-risk potential is equal for children of both sexes.

Whitlock and Gillman (1988). reported that although the incidence of sexual abuse of young males appears to be considerably lower than that of females, there has been increased reporting by male victims, They emphasized that the sexual abuse of boys may be more widespread than had been previously believed. Laurance, in Statistics of Taboo (1988), stated that male victims may be more common than had been believed and that "boys and girls may be abused by the same person" (p.33).

As research broadened to include males, studies continued to rely on retrospective studies of adult populations. According to Whitlock and Gillman (1989, p 319), 'Studies to date concerning possible short- and long-term effects of child sexual abuse have focused primarily on the experiences of women abused as children." Finkelhor, Hotaling, Lewis and Smith (1990) emphasized the restrictions of retrospective studies by stating that "much of the important scientific knowledge about the nature, prevalence, and impact of child sexual abuse has come from community surveys of adults, reporting on their histories of abuse" (p.19).

Although Finkelhor et al. (1990) expanded their research for the first national telephone survey of men and women, they continued the tradition of the retrospective study of adults. The sample, unidentifiable to the researchers by either name or address, consisting of 1,431 women and 1,145 men over 18 years of age, were randomly generated by computer to include both listed and unlisted households and reportedly conformed to United States census demographics. The refusal rate for responding was reported at 24 percent.

Finkelhor and his colleagues employed screening questions that were more comprehensive than those used in earlier surveys. They reported their questions to be an improvement over previous studies in which only a single question about abuse history was posed. As indicated by the results, victimization was reported by 27 percent of the women and 16 percent of the men. The median age for the occurrence of reported abuse was 9.9 for boys and 9.6 for girls. Victimization occurred before age eight for 22 percent of boys and for 23 percent of girls. Most of the abuse of both boys and girls was by offenders 10 or more years older than their victims. Girls were more likely than boys to disclose the abuse. Forty-two percent of the. women and thirty-three percent of the men reported never having disclosed the experience to anyone.

Bagley, in his research in 1992, employed the Stress Scale and reported that sexual abuse had affected at least 20 percent of the young people in the school population studied. Results of his study also indicated that more females than males are victimized, with 32 percent of the young females participating in his study reporting a history of sexual abuse. The issue of disclosed versus undisclosed sexual abuse was not addressed.

Prior to the development of Bagley's 1992 Stress Scale, studies on sexual abuse were retrospective and neither reached nor addressed the immediate needs of children being victimized today Finkelhor & Browne, 1986). "Much of the important scientific knowledge about the nature, prevalence, and impact of child sexual abuse has come from community surveys of adults, reporting on their histories of abuse" Finkelhor, Hotaling, Lewis, & Smith, 1990, p.19). Whitlock and Gillman (1989) concurred that studies to date concerning possible short- and long-term effects of child sexual abuse have focused primarily on experiences of women who were abused as children.

Research on the prevalence of child sexual abuse and timely interventions for victims have been difficult to execute because of the pervasive tendency of nondisclosure by victims (Bagley, 1992; Finkelhor & Browne, 1990: Sorensen & Snow, 1991). There are many factors relating to the dynamics of the crime that may have impacted failure to disclose. Janssen (1984) proposed that offenders play on the victim's sense of guilt and insecurity by making statements to the victim such as "No one will believe you," "I'll tell them you asked for it," "I'll go to jail and our family will starve," or "Your mother will go crazy" (p. 47). Other factors preventing disclosure have been reported by victims as feelings of guilt, isolation, and powerlessness. Victims may even accept the responsibility for the abuse by blaming themselves (Johnson, 1987). Groth (1979) charged that familial abuse contributes to reluctance of prosecution by family members, underreporting, and conservative estimates of the prevalence of the crime. In Groth's research of 148 offenders convicted of sexually assaulting underage persons, the majority of offenders and victims knew each other at least casually, and in most cases, the offender was a member of the child's immediate family. Laurance (1988) agreed with Groth when he wrote:

The abuser is most often a parent, close relative or friend and the abuse takes place within the context of a trusting relationship. The rape of a child by a stranger is the rarest form of this offense (p. 33).

According to Wurtele & Miller-Perrin, (1991), using figures derived from large-scale community surveys reporting childhood histories of sexual abuse (i.e. Finkelhor et al., 1990; D.E.H Russell, 1983; Siegel et al., 1987; Wyatt, 1985), approximately 25% of victimized female respondents report being abused by strangers. Close to half (46%) report being sexually abused outside the home by acquaintances such as authority figures, baby-sitters, neighbors, and friends of the family. About 8% report sexual abuse by a father or father substitute while 18% report being sexually abused by other relatives such as uncles, grandfathers, cousins, and siblings.

For males, with victim-perpetrator relationship percentages calculated from the same studies as were the females, approximately 34% were strangers, 46% were acquaintances, 0% were fathers and 12% were other relatives Thus, in the majority of cases, male and female children are sexually victimized by people they know and trust. And 46% are sexually victimized by someone they know and trust outside their family in the general community.

According to Gilbert (1988) & (1991), although educational and preventive programs have been implemented in the schools, they have not been very successful. Gilbert identified some of the reasons for disappointing results of preventive programs: (a) elusive subject matter: (b) difficulty in transference of learning to real life events; (c) a very subtle approach by the offender; (d) erosion of learning over time; and (e) many programs are not geared to the cognitive level of the audience. Gilbert noted that young children have a brief attention span and a limited ability to grasp complex ideas.

Gilbert also believes that these prevention programs have not taken into consideration how sexual offenders and victims interact in the process of child molestation. On the process of child sexual abuse, Finkelhor suggests that there are four preconditions that must exist for the act to take place. First, an individual must be psychologically motivated to abuse a child. Next, the individual must surpress any fear or internal inhibition (his conscience) prohibiting the act. Then he must overcome any external obstacles so he can get close to the child. Finally, the offender must overcome the child's resistance to the. offense. The YELL & TELL/GOOD TOUCH-BAD TOUCH prevention programs only focus on the fourth precondition of sexual abuse. By shoring up the child's resistance, it is believed that an offender will be deterred from completing the act, This approach does not take into account the tremendous psychological (and sometimes physical) effort the perpetrator has made to overcome the first three preconditions. If he has managed to do that, the final stage may be the least difficult. The more that is known about offenders, the better we understand the real challenge of prevention. Child molesters go where the children are and often present themselves as very caring individuals who want to help coach and guide children.

Simply exposing children to a long list of prevention strategies does little to reduce the superior knowledge, strength and skill of the adult offenders, some of whom admit they have had a great deal of practice sexually abusing literally hundreds of children in their career. Offenders will not be put off by a program that directs children to say no and stomp on their foot. We must focus on Finkelhor's third precondition of sexual abuse because in reality, it is the only one of the four that we might have any real control over. We must increase the external obstacles that help prevent the offender from getting close to the child. We must do what ever is in our power, no matter how small a dent it might make in the problem, to screen out those individuals who have a sexual motive in wanting to get close to children.

As if the situation were not bad enough, child molesters have established at least two national organizations that actually promote the legalization of sex with minor children. One group, the Rene Guyon Society boasts as its credo, "Sex before eight or else it's too late". Members advocate child-child and child-adult sexual activity. They claim that western civilization has inculcated children with a sense of bodily shame and guilt that needs to be overcome.

NAMBLA, the North American Man/Boy Love Association argues that adult society has neither a moral nor legal right to limit a child's selection of sexual partners. They claim that sex with children leads to a healthy orientation towards mature genital satisfaction later in life. The American Psychiatric association describes the pedophile or child lover as one who will develop complicated techniques for obtaining children. Pedophiles who molest boys are not expressing a homosexual orientation any more than pedophiles who molest girls are practicing heterosexual behaviors. While many pedophiles do have gender and/or age preferences, of those who seek out boys or girls, the vast majority are heterosexual and simply pedophiles.

Parents need to be aware of the way abusers operate, particularly the grooming process through which they select and gain control over their young victims. Berliner & Conte's exploratory study with 23 sexually abused children reveals the prominence of the relationship in the process of victimization. About three-fourths of the children had known the offender for at least one year before the abuse began. In the course of enticing the child into sexual contact, the offender used various measures such as bribery and games as well as threats of abandonment, rejection and physical harm. Berliner & Conte indicated that one of the best-accepted preventive strategies, saying no, would not have been particularly effective. Conte explains that it is clear that the struggle between sexual offender and potential victim is one in which most factors are weighted heavily on the side of the adult. Superior knowledge, strength, and skill will not be easily overcome by children. This fact should revitalize prevention efforts. Why do adults put the responsibility for protection solely on the child? Aren't we expecting too much from children? Isn't it the real responsibility of adults to help protect children from child sexual abuse, especially when a tool such as a fingerprint-based, national criminal history background check is currently available?

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