In This Issue - THE NEW SOCIAL WORKER Online
In This Issue - THE NEW SOCIAL WORKER Online
In This Issue - THE NEW SOCIAL WORKER Online
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The <strong>In</strong>tervention<br />
Multidisciplinary teams, such as<br />
used in Jennifer’s case, offer opportunities<br />
to incorporate other team members<br />
and the court system into treatment. The<br />
multidisciplinary team in the present<br />
scenario includes a group of law enforcement<br />
officers, medical personnel, assistant<br />
district attorneys, child protective<br />
investigators, and victim advocacy staff<br />
who serve on the majority of cases. As a<br />
member of this team, Jennifer’s therapist<br />
approached the law enforcement officer<br />
who had interviewed Jennifer, explained<br />
the situation, and noted her concerns.<br />
Even though it was beyond his normal<br />
job duties, the law enforcement officer<br />
agreed to write Jennifer a letter. His letter<br />
to Jennifer explained that he did believe<br />
her and was impressed at how brave and<br />
strong she was. The officer asked the<br />
worker to keep this letter confidential,<br />
so as to prevent colleagues from labeling<br />
him as a “softie.” <strong>This</strong> is often a perception<br />
law enforcement officers, even those<br />
who work primarily with children, work<br />
hard to avoid.<br />
Validation from the officer may<br />
not seem like an important thing to an<br />
adult, or even another kid, but Jennifer<br />
was very concerned about her safety.<br />
For her, people believing that she was<br />
telling the truth indicated their willingness<br />
to protect her. While in the process<br />
of improving her coping skills, Jennifer<br />
frequently reminded herself that people<br />
had believed and protected her as a way<br />
to help her address fears of unfamiliar or<br />
future situations. One of the situations<br />
that Jennifer was most concerned about<br />
was testifying in person against her father<br />
in open court. When Jennifer was creating<br />
her trauma narrative, she included<br />
the letter that she had received from the<br />
officer and discussed her feelings of relief<br />
in knowing that she had been believed.<br />
She also talked about her fear of testifying<br />
and how she was reassured by the<br />
fact that others were confident she could<br />
do it. <strong>In</strong> this scenario, feeling believed<br />
served as a tremendous source of empowerment,<br />
giving Jennifer the courage<br />
to face her fear of testifying.<br />
Moving Beyond Belief<br />
The New York State criminal court<br />
system is not conducive to meeting the<br />
therapeutic needs of abused children.<br />
No treatment model can fully incorporate<br />
the criminal court process, in part<br />
because the process is so unpredictable<br />
and varies so greatly from case to case.<br />
The good news, however, is that the multidisciplinary<br />
team in this scenario has<br />
recently changed the way that the initial<br />
criminal court process is conducted to<br />
allow children to develop more effective<br />
coping skills (and in turn be better<br />
witnesses). <strong>In</strong> the past, one of two things<br />
would happen: either an alleged perpetrator<br />
would be arrested and Grand Jury<br />
testimony would occur within three days,<br />
or there would be a preliminary hearing<br />
at which the child would have to testify<br />
in open court with the alleged perpetrator<br />
present. The process has now been<br />
modified, so that in cases in which the<br />
child can be kept safe with the perpetrator<br />
remaining in the community, the<br />
Grand Jury testimony, and indictment,<br />
is obtained before the arrest. <strong>This</strong> allows<br />
for a more flexible timeline around when<br />
the children can testify. If they are not<br />
ready, able, or willing to testify immediately,<br />
they can receive some treatment,<br />
begin building additional coping skills,<br />
and make incremental disclosures, if<br />
need be, before they are asked to give<br />
Grand Jury testimony. Previously, if<br />
a child was not able to give adequate<br />
Grand Jury testimony, the case would<br />
be “no billed” when it came before the<br />
Grand Jury, which meant the case could<br />
not be brought back in for charges at a<br />
later date. Since the testimony is such<br />
an important aspect, it is necessary to<br />
examine our approaches to working with<br />
children who have experienced trauma<br />
and strive to facilitate a smoother process<br />
for the victim.<br />
Adults involved with disclosures of<br />
sexual abuse often react to children as<br />
if the abuse is news to the child, as well.<br />
However, the child has inevitably had<br />
knowledge of the sexual abuse before<br />
the involved non-offending adults. <strong>This</strong><br />
is often not taken into consideration by<br />
adults who are involved. The child has<br />
had time to develop and implement<br />
coping skills in order to manage emotions<br />
regarding the sexual abuse. Often,<br />
these coping skills include working very<br />
hard to avoid any and all stimuli relating<br />
to the sexual abuse. It is not realistic to<br />
expect that all children will be able to<br />
provide a complete disclosure and only a<br />
few days later provide testimony regarding<br />
an incident or incidents that they<br />
have worked very hard to avoid thinking<br />
or talking about.<br />
It is worth noting that the majority<br />
of disclosures come after some delay<br />
(Feiring & Cleland, 2007; Staller &<br />
Nelson-Gardell, 2005), and that it is very<br />
common for children to make incremental,<br />
or partial disclosures (Ungar, Barter,<br />
McConnell, Tutty, & Fairholm, 2009).<br />
The gradual exposure process is not<br />
intended to make the child a better witness,<br />
or to “sure up” their statements of<br />
sexual abuse. The gradual exposure process<br />
is led by the child. The therapist’s<br />
role in this process is to provide skill<br />
building, psychoeducation and support<br />
throughout the process, not to make the<br />
child a better witness or obtain evidence.<br />
While Trauma Focused Cognitive<br />
Behavioral Treatment (TF-CBT) is not a<br />
forensic tool and should not be utilized<br />
as a forensic tool, TF-CBT can assist a<br />
child in being prepared for testimony.<br />
If a child has utilized avoidant behavior<br />
as a coping skill and does not want to<br />
discuss the sexual abuse, the gradual exposure<br />
and trauma narrative elements of<br />
TF-CBT will assist the child in developing<br />
new and more effective coping skills.<br />
It is also helpful to frame testimony as an<br />
opportunity for the child.<br />
Jennifer’s experience was successful<br />
in many ways. The combined support<br />
of law enforcement, mental health, child<br />
protective, and victim advocacy professionals<br />
provided her with the strength to<br />
testify in front of her father and a room<br />
full of strangers. As social workers, we<br />
are often avoidant of anything court-related.<br />
There is an inherent fear that our<br />
involvement will somehow disrupt or<br />
interfere with the criminal court process.<br />
What Jennifer’s experience highlights is<br />
that social work and the judicial process<br />
can actually complement each other.<br />
Many children walk into the court experience<br />
with only what they have seen<br />
on television as a framework. Utilizing<br />
gradual exposure allows children to<br />
experience court as the culmination of<br />
their treatment and adds another aspect<br />
to the trauma narrative. If the court<br />
system cannot be restructured to better<br />
meet the needs of victimized children,<br />
then the treatment process needs to be<br />
restructured to utilize the court process<br />
in meeting the children’s needs.<br />
References<br />
Deblinger, E., & Heflin, A. H. (1996). Treating<br />
sexually abused children and their non-offending<br />
parents: A cognitive behavioral approach.<br />
Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.<br />
Belief—continued on page 31<br />
The New Social Worker Fall 010