Reporting School Abuse
Published July 24, 2009 @ 02:15PM PT
In a recent post on sexual abuse and safety, I wrote that it's highly likely that many cases of abuse against individuals with disabilities may well go unreported. 11-year-old Stefan Ferrari, who is autistic, was abused by an adult at his Atlanta area school; after noting that he came home from school with bruises, Stefan's mother sewed a microphone into his clothes and heard inappropriate comments. As reported by WXIA on July 17th:
Teacher Sherri Jones admitted on the stand to making the inappropriate comments. But she denied ever hitting Stefan -- and the judge never named the adult whom he believes caused these injuries.
Jones continued to teach for eight months after the alleged abuse, continued to teach after admitting to inappropriate behavior on the witness stand. She was not removed from the classroom until the day after the 11Alive News story aired.
The Ferraris went to DFACS, the police, the schools -- and no one helped them. It took suing the Atlanta Public Schools and telling their story to the media to get justice for their son.
In the wake of the Ferraris' experience, the governor of Georgia, Sonny Perdue, is starting a group to create a new statewide policy on reporting abuse in the school system. The group is to include "educational leaders, law enforcement and abuse experts" and every family in Georgia will receive a copy of the new policy.
Besides the policy, here's a call to Governor Perdue to think pro-actively and see that training and supervision of teachers and parapros is in place to prevent abuse and mistreatment of students with disabilities from happening in the first place. We know that such abuse happens, and, rather than letting it happen over and over, we need to address it from the start.
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Comments (2)
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Author
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Kristina is a Classics professor in Jersey City, New Jersey, a blogger (formerly at AutismVox), a translator (of Virgil), and an advocate every day for her son, Charlie.
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I really think these groups are a step in the wrong direction. It's not just that they help some but not enough, it's that those people who work for these agencies don't really have the opportunity to say how their agency is really failing. They end up protecting the agency by continuing to sacrifice the rights of the victims.
There are a lot of subtle as well as overt ways that staff members in these agencies are allowed to discourage those who have been abused from reporting it. It's important to remember that no matter what type of abuse it is, the victim first has to deal with their own shame. That's what abuse does. It makes the victim feel ashamed.
That means that the opportunity to report what has happened to them won't be enough. They need to be in an environment where they are encouraged and empowered.
One of the ways they can be encouraged is when the someone who works for these agencies they were taught to trust will take responsibility for the abuse that's happening and admit to the victims that their agency shouldn't have been trusted. Otherwise what the victim sees (and rightly so) is a repeat of the abuse by these people downplaying how severe the problem is and glossing over how much they will really need to do to change things.
People with disabilities have many sources that teach them that what they say will not be respected if it's even heard. The goal should be to have disabled people given REAL encouragement to speak up and show them a system where what they say is more important to those listening than the protection of the agencies that are commiting and/or allowing the abuse.
Posted by Ed none on 07/24/2009 @ 03:32PM PT
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school abuse is all too prevalent... i am glad u r actively pushing for change... i m 43 with asperger's - during my time, teachers ran rough shot all over any kids who were different and dared to speak up... i was one of those who did not suffer in silence, but was abused anyway... until i learnt how to excel in key areas and get myself 'protection' from other teachers who valued my talents in those areas... it was an early lesson in socialisation... but only very high functioning kids can manage this... i think abt all those others who just could not get around the terrible system...
i agree with "Ed none" that "the opportunity to report what has happened to them won't be enough. They need to be in an environment where they are encouraged and empowered"...
Posted by spunky kitty on 07/24/2009 @ 04:57PM PT
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