Failure to Report Sexual Abuse - Who Cares?

This week, David Pittman brings to light the abhorrent laws (or lack thereof) that let mandatory reports off the hook.

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I’m grateful for my wife Linda for many things. Not the least of which, is how she gets me to look at things from another perspective.

One day in the midst of the Larry Nassar sexual abuse case, she asked me this question.

"What happens when a Mandated Reporter fails to report?"

Not having the answer, I did some research. What I found should make you sick.

I’ve heard for years about the importance of "Mandated Reporters" and how these laws did so much to protect children.

In reality, this simply is NOT true.

Larry Nassar/Michigan State University/USA Gymnastics is the latest example of the ineffectiveness of Mandatory Reporter laws.

At least 7 Mandatory Reporters in the Larry Nassar case failed to report after being told he was sexually assaulting little girls.

Michigan Youth Sports Coach, Kathie Klages – 1997

MSU Coach, Kelli Bert - 1999

MSU trainer, Lianna Hadden - 2000

MSU trainer, Destiny Teachnor-Hauk – 2000

MSU psychologist, Dr. Gary Stollak – 2004

Sports Medicine Department, Dr. Jeffrey Kovan – 2014

MSU's Office of Institutional Equity, & Current Attorney for MSU, Kristine Moore – 2014

And guess what happens to these folks for failing to report due to the law in Michigan?

Michigan Failure to Report Comp. Laws § 722.633(1), (2)

A mandatory reporter who knowingly fails to report as required is guilty of a misdemeanor punishable by one or both of the following:

• Imprisonment for not more than 93 days

• A fine of not more than $500

In other words…NOTHING!

I have researched every place I know to look and have found nothing stating that any of these people were even charged with a misdemeanor.

And even if they were, maybe 90 days in jail and maybe a $500 fine…are you kidding me?!?!

The laws for failure to report, across the country, are as pathetic as the Statue of Limitation laws.

So we can be clear about this topic:

A mandated reporter is a person who, because of his or her profession, is legally required to report any suspicion of child abuse or neglect to proper authorities.

Notice it doesn’t say; report to the school, report to the church, etc. The law says report to proper authorities – that means law enforcement, period.

The official designation of which professions are considered mandated reporters varies somewhat from state to state. In most cases, the definition concerns anyone who works with children or the elderly. This typically includes social workers, teachers, health care workers, child care providers, law enforcement, mental health professionals, and other educators and medical professionals. There are some states that consider all citizens as mandated reporters.

Approximately 48 States, the District of Columbia, American Samoa, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands, and the Virgin Islands impose penalties on mandatory reporters who knowingly or willfully fail to make a report when they suspect that a child is being abused or neglected.

In Florida, a mandatory reporter who fails to report as required by law can be charged with a felony.

Sounds encouraging right? Wrong! Because that’s not the full truth.

As a matter of fact: Maryland, Wyoming, and Puerto Rico currently do not have statutes imposing criminal penalties for failure to report. Delaware has a civil law but no criminal prosecution. Hawaii’s law calls it a "petty" misdemeanor, same as littering.

And, failure to report is classified as only a misdemeanor in 40 States, American Samoa, and the U.S. Virgin Islands.

But don’t take my word for it, read here what your state deems as worthy of punishment for those who are Mandatory Reporters, know or suspect someone is abusing a child and fails to protect that child.

https://www.childwelfare.gov/pubPDFs/report.pdf

We are failing to protect our children.

In essence, it’s a slap on the wrist if they are even charged. From what I’ve discovered, it appears that virtually none of the mandatory reporters who fail to report are EVER charged with anything.

It seems both pointless and arrogant to point out a problem without offering a solution. We have enough people doing that I think.

So, what’s the answer here? You’re not going to like it because it’s not a "interesting" answer.

We are.

We elect our Representatives and Judges.

(Wait, Wait, Wait! I can hear you yawning now and getting ready to click that mouse elsewhere – but please give me one more moment)

Our Representatives won’t do anything until they hear from you. Until they know what matters to you. Letters, emails and phone calls. Letters, emails and phone calls. Not "interesting" and no fanfare, but it works. 

Or if you have contacts with your local media, then rattle their cages until they do news reports on why your Representatives aren’t making changes to the law and why your Judges aren’t prosecuting to the fullest.

Remember, YOU elect both Judges and Representatives. They have the power you give them.

So, I’ll ask the same questions I’ve been asking all month.

Does this matter to you?

If so, what are you prepared to do?

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David is the Executive Director of Together We Heal. Its purpose is to provide guidance for those who suffer from the trauma of childhood sexual abuse. It works to educate through public speaking, collaborates with other groups to raise awareness and expose sexual predators and their methods.

In 2015, David was asked by Boz Tchividjian, founder of GRACE (Godly Response to Abuse in the Christian Environment) to become part of their Child Safeguarding Certification team. The mission of GRACE is to empower the Christian community through education and training to recognize, prevent, and respond to child abuse.

David represents TWH & GRACE all across the country as a public speaker and instructor, teaching churches, schools and families how to talk with their kids about sexual abuse, how to better identify predatory behavior and sexual predators grooming methods.

For more information on GRACE Child Safeguarding Certification please email certification@netgrace.org

Or you may email me at dpittman@together-we-heal.org if you’d feel more comfortable.

Hope Is a 4-Letter Word

This week, David Pittman continues his series in exploring the impact that ongoing abuse within the church has on one's capacity to remain hopeful.

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Paige Patterson, president of the Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Dallas, was fired. I’ll explain why this matters shortly.

When this story first broke a few weeks ago, a childhood friend of mine sent me a link with one question, "Did you hear about this?" Since then, several others have as well. And I know their reasons for asking me.

Having been sexually abused and raped by a Southern Baptist minister, they wanted to know my thoughts on this most recent occurrence within the Southern Baptist Church (SBC).

It’s taken me a while to respond to their question of the Paige Patterson matter because once again, the SBC is proving tone deaf to the children who’ve been harmed, to the adult survivors, and to the very call of Christ that the SBC supposedly adheres.

It’s taken me a while to speak about it because every time ANOTHER Baptist minister defiles a child, acts in predatory ways or aides and abets a sexual predator, I have to relive my own abuse. That and the Southern Baptist Church’s dismissal of me and my story when I came forward to tell of a minister utilizing their Church as a haven for sexually abusing little boys.

Every time I begin to gain a little confidence that the Church is beginning to turn a corner when it comes to sexual abuse, ANOTHER predator is protected by, covered for, or harbored by the SBC. The very people who are supposedly called to protect the children within their fold seem to act instinctively to deny, lie, cover-up and victim-blame.

So, what does this have to do with Paige Patterson?

Without giving you a dissertation of events, I’ll simply give you the timeline of events.

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April/May: a video resurfaced from a 2014 speech in which Patterson talks about a 16-year-old girl as being "fine" and quotes a teenager as saying the girl was "built." The letter also mentions Patterson’s refusal to repudiate comments from a recording made 18 years ago in which he said he would counsel most women in abusive marriages to stay in the marriages and to pray for their husbands.

May 6th, 2018: Nearly 2000 Southern Baptist women signed a letter posted online asking the Board of Southwestern Baptist theological Seminary to take action against Patterson.

May 23rd, 2018: The board said it voted to allow Patterson to resign, appoint Patterson as "President Emeritus" with compensation, the invitation to reside at the Baptist Heritage Center as theologian-in-residence and ongoing compensation.

The seminary's board of trustees said it also affirmed a motion stating 1) evidence exists that Dr. Patterson has complied with reporting laws regarding assault and abuse.

Even though - The Washington Post published a story detailing a new allegation against Patterson.

The newspaper says that in 2003, while Patterson was president of the Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary in Wake Forest, N.C., he allegedly advised a woman studying there who said she had been raped by a fellow student not to report it to police.

(Yes, that’s right, they gave him a highly decorated title, house and salary till he dies as "punishment".)

May 30th, 2018: ONLY after MUCH outrage and demonstrations by victims of abuse, it was "discovered" that Paige Patterson lied to the board of Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary (SWBTS) about a rape allegation that came before him at another seminary, withheld documents from his previous presidency, and referenced attempting to 'break down" the victim of a more recent rape incident.

Additionally, while president of SWBTS, "Patterson sent an email (the contents of which were shared with the Board on May 22) to the Chief of Campus Security in which Dr. Patterson discussed meeting with the student alone so that he could 'break her down' and that he preferred no officials be present."

Based on the details presented, the Executive Committee unanimously resolved to terminate Dr. Paige Patterson, removing all the benefits, rights and privileges provided by the May 22-23 board meeting, including the title of President Emeritus, the invitation to reside at the Baptist Heritage Center as theologian-in-residence and ongoing compensation.

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What breaks my heart is this is another in what is a seemingly endless line of predators and their enablers/protectors. It hurts my heart because it gives me pause to the possibility of hope.

Hope?

That seems to be a 4-letter word for survivors of sexual abuse within the SBC.

As I recently told a colleague, it’s not that I have given up total hope. Just hope in institutional change. Working with GRACE and TWH, I am thankful to and DO see hope within individual churches and individual lives. But I have no "faith" in the SBC or its leaders until they prove otherwise. The Church as a whole had lied for too long to give them any benefit of the doubt.

To reference the words of Jesus, it would appear there will be a lot of Southern Baptist leaders and church members cast to the bottom of the sea with millstones around their necks. And that breaks my heart...and I’m guessing the heart of God too.

Whose child is important enough to matter?

What pastor, big money donor, or influential leaders’ child has to raped before the Southern Baptist Convention cares?

And even then, will that child matter enough? Or will once again saving face be the modus operandi to cover up another instance of sexual abuse?

At this moment in time, it seems the only doctrine embraced by the SBC is CYA (cover your ass).

Let’s "hope" we can make them change!

Read Part 4: Failure to Report Sexual Abuse - Who Cares?



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David is the Executive Director of Together We Heal. Its purpose is to provide guidance for those who suffer from the trauma of childhood sexual abuse. It works to educate through public speaking, collaborates with other groups to raise awareness and expose sexual predators and their methods.

In 2015, David was asked by Boz Tchividjian, founder of GRACE (Godly Response to Abuse in the Christian Environment) to become part of their Child Safeguarding Certification team. The mission of GRACE is to empower the Christian community through education and training to recognize, prevent, and respond to child abuse.

David represents TWH & GRACE all across the country as a public speaker and instructor, teaching churches, schools and families how to talk with their kids about sexual abuse, how to better identify predatory behavior and sexual predators grooming methods.

For more information on GRACE Child Safeguarding Certification please email certification@netgrace.org

Or you may email me at dpittman@together-we-heal.org if you’d feel more comfortable.

Can You Recognize Predatory Behavior?

This week, David Pittman returns and shares how GRACE (Godly Response to Abuse in the Christian Environment) is training members and leaders of faith communities to identify predators and protect children.

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Last week, I asked if we are people of Faith or Fraud.

I asked the question and gave only a brief response as to what I was doing about it personally. Today, I want to give more detail how we, those who call ourselves people of faith, can do something in our own faith communities to keep our children safer and better recognize predatory behavior.

Anyone who follows the news or hasn’t been living under a rock, knows the names of infamous child sexual abusers Larry Nassar at Michigan State and Jerry Sandusky at Penn State. What many don’t know is they were both heavily involved in their church. Child sexual abusers are common in all institutions with children, and churches are no exception. We want to believe churches are different yet sadly this is not the case.

All these predators sexually abused children. All did so under the seemingly safe environments of a church or school. All were reported to people within their respective church or schools. And all of the organizations who are responsible for the protection of these children failed them. We must learn from these failures and bring substantive reform to these institutions of faith.

As I mentioned last week, in addition to my duties for Together We Heal, I started working with GRACE (Godly Response to Abuse in the Christian Environment). GRACE does independent investigations of sexual abuse within faith-based organizations. In the last few years they developed a Child Safeguarding Certification for churches.

As a survivor of sexual abuse by a member of the clergy, this is especially important to me. I have been grateful and honored to be a part of this program with GRACE since its inception, roll out of the pilot program, and implementation in churches across the USA.

While there are a few "child safe/ministry safe" online programs offered by several companies, usually at the behest of each church’s insurance company, they are most often done, not with child safety in mind, but to "cover their asses" if a lawsuit were brought against them. It allows a church to say in court, "See, we were doing all that was required to keep children safe."

The VAST MAJORITY of these online program have NO TEETH.

They are simple, multiple-choice tests that any primate with a keyboard could pass. As can any sexual predator within your church. And since it’s done online, there’s no way to actually prove who really took the test. Is that truly the "best" your church can do?

The difference in what we do at GRACE is this:

We have a ½-day leadership session in-person/on-site and a ½-day session open to the entire membership, also in-person/on-site. Before either of these we help the church develop its own child safeguarding policy that’s tailored specifically to the needs of each church. Many hours of reading materials and videos to watch take place even before that.

It's detailed, faith-based, and comprehensive. And as a survivor, I can say with complete confidence, that it actually gives a church the material needed to TRULY keep children safer. (Don’t let anyone fool you into believing there’s such a thing as a totally safe place). It’s what I wished my family and church had known 40 years ago. It arms parents and leaders with REAL, ACTIONABLE material to proactively, better protect children.

During these sessions, we give parents and leaders the opportunity to ask ANY question they want. They can ask the tough questions and we give honest, frank answers. There’s no candy-coating or white-washing.

We teach about sexual abuse, the impact of abuse, offenders within the church, and how to minimize opportunities for abuse. We instruct the proper way for a church to respond to abuse, both legally and morally. We give churches the materials to teach safety awareness for children and youth. We do a property walk-through to explain the places a predator can use. We help them establish community resources.

My colleague and friend, Boz Tchividjian, gave me this incredibly insightful example that I now use every time I speak:

Since approximately 1 in 4 women and 1 in 6 men have been sexually abused as children, this means that our churches are filled with abuse survivors. For example, a church of 200 members (100 women and 100 men) will have at least 41 child sexual abuse survivors...20.5%! 

Yet, sexual abuse is still too seldom talked about inside our churches.

How would your church respond if?

20.5% of the congregation had cancer; or

20.5% of the congregation had lost a child; or

20.5% of the congregation lost their homes in a natural disaster?

Is it safe to predict that addressing this issue would become a primary focus of the church ministry? Is it safe to predict that pastors would preach sermons addressing the spiritual issues associated with trauma? Is it safe to predict that church members would expend themselves in love and service to those experiencing such deep hurt? Is it safe to predict that the church would not respond to this criminal offense in silence?

As a faith community, we must learn to approach the horror of child sexual abuse no differently. Perhaps these statistics can help drive our faith communities to become places of refuge and healing for abuse survivors who are silently suffering all around us.

When it’s all said and done, it’s up to you. You can choose to use the resources of GRACE or an organization like them, or you can choose to keep things the same believing that this doesn’t happen where you live. As someone once said, "If you choose not to decide you still have made a choice."

Your children, grandchildren, those you know and anyone within your social circle will either reap the benefit of knowledge or suffer the consequences.

So, I’ll ask the question again…

Are you a person of faith or fraud?

What are you prepared to do?

Read Part 3: Hope Is a 4-Letter Word


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David is the Executive Director of Together We Heal. Its purpose is to provide guidance for those who suffer from the trauma of childhood sexual abuse. It works to educate through public speaking, collaborates with other groups to raise awareness and expose sexual predators and their methods.

In 2015, David was asked by Boz Tchividjian, founder of GRACE (Godly Response to Abuse in the Christian Environment) to become part of their Child Safeguarding Certification team. The mission of GRACE is to empower the Christian community through education and training to recognize, prevent, and respond to child abuse.

David represents TWH & GRACE all across the country as a public speaker and instructor, teaching churches, schools and families how to talk with their kids about sexual abuse, how to better identify predatory behavior and sexual predators grooming methods.

For more information on GRACE Child Safeguarding Certification please email certification@netgrace.org

Or you may email me at dpittman@together-we-heal.org if you’d feel more comfortable.

Is Your Faith Community Safe from Predators?

I am so excited to have David Pittman, CEO and Founder of Together We Heal, on this month as a guest blogger. David and I are long time friends and colleagues, and I love how he is always willing to ask some of the tough questions. I know you will gain so much from this series!

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From the time I was 12 until I was 15, the youth minister of the church I grew up in sexually molested and raped me. And I wasn’t the only one.

When I finally had the courage to speak up and told the church there was a man using this place as a hunting ground for children, this was their response:

"We’re sorry, there’s nothing we can do. But we’d like to pray for you."

Needless to say, this didn’t go over well with me.

Tragically my story is not unique. It’s much too common. The most recent research tells us that 1 in 4 girls and 1 in 6 boys will be sexually abused by the time they are 18. And far too many of those occur within the confines of what is supposed to be one of the safest places on earth.

It’s not just a Catholic problem. It’s not just a Baptist problem. It’s a pervasive, human problem that disgustingly finds protection within the walls of churches, mosques and synagogues everywhere.

Our faith communities draw sexual predators to them because people of faith want to believe in the good in others and because faith typically has to do with redemption, no matter what the sin.

Sexual predators use this as a weakness they exploit for their own evil desires. And instead of protecting the children under their care, faith communities find themselves most often hindering prosecution, victim blaming and doing more harm than good.

Which leads me to ask you this question:

Are you a person of faith or fraud?

Are you really doing all you can to protect the children within your faith community?

Many who are victimized by a member of the clergy or someone associated to it, have a hard time reconciling their faith with what has happened to them. I was one of those people.

I struggled for years with the questions: Did God mean for this to happen? Did God cause this to happen? Does God even love me?

Is there a God?

It wasn’t until many years later did my childlike mind still stuck in that time, realize that my God had nothing to do with it. It was 1 person and a multitude of enablers who have allowed this man to continue to harm countless little boys at numerous churches. And as far as we know, still does to this very day.

The biggest enabler is the church itself.

Thankfully, I have had the good fortune to establish relationships with some amazing coaches, counselors and therapists. People like Rachel Grant, who have helped me piece my life back together.

And as I did, I began to wonder how, when or IF things would ever change in "The Church". It was around this time in my healing journey that I was approached by a man who would help restore my faith.

They were already involved in investigating sexual abuse within faith-based organizations like Bob Jones University and they wanted to do more. They wanted to start at the heart of the issue.

He spoke of wanting to teach and train churches how to better protect children, how to better identify predatory behavior and how to properly respond to those who have been sexually abused. To instruct them how to establish of Child Safeguarding Policy and ACTUALLY live by it.

One that did not have any other concern, except to help those in need. One that did not care about institutions, appearances or clergy reputations. One that valued the life and soul of the child FIRST, not the perpetrator or those that protect them.

This was EXACTLY what I had been running over in my mind! This was the very thing that I had wanted to see created and implemented in each and every church. To give every victim a voice and each child the true understanding that if something happened to them, they would be believed, not silenced.

It turns out there IS such an organization and for the last 3 years I have had the privilege of working with them to help create this Child Safeguarding Policy Certification, and to begin implementing it in churches of all denominations across the country.

GRACE – Godly Response to Abuse in the Christian Environment. www.netgrace.org

Let me ask you some more questions.

Does your church/synagogue/mosque have a child safeguarding policy?

If so, do you know what your policy says?

If not, why?

Don’t try to put it on the leadership. We are the adults in the room. We are the parents and grandparents in the pews. We must be the ones to initiate such a policy and not wait for "someone else" to handle it. If your clergy won’t lead in this way, then why would you want to stay there or keep them as your leader? 

Aren’t your children worth it?

Are you a person of faith or fraud?

It’s a question only you can answer. And it will only be answered with your actions. On paper its easy to say you’d do anything to protect a child. I sure wish an adult would’ve done something to protect us. 

What are you prepared to do?



Read Part 2: Can You Recognize Predatory Behavior?



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David is the Executive Director of Together We Heal. Its purpose is to provide guidance for those who suffer from the trauma of childhood sexual abuse. It works to educate through public speaking, collaborates with other groups to raise awareness and expose sexual predators and their methods.

In 2015, David was asked by Boz Tchividjian, founder of GRACE (Godly Response to Abuse in the Christian Environment) to become part of their Child Safeguarding Certification team. The mission of GRACE is to empower the Christian community through education and training to recognize, prevent, and respond to child abuse.

David represents TWH & GRACE all across the country as a public speaker and instructor, teaching churches, schools and families how to talk with their kids about sexual abuse, how to better identify predatory behavior and sexual predators grooming methods.

http://together-we-heal.org