By DENNIS B. FRADIN and JUDITH BLOOM FRADIN
HOW can it be
"CHILD ABUSE is not a new phenomenon," said Governor James R. Thompson, giving the keynote address at the first Illinois Governor's Conference on Child Abuse held this past May at the Pick-Congress Hotel in Chicago. "In a society where the least powerful are supposed to have inalienable rights, it's shocking to find every day that some of our state's children are scalded, beaten, or otherwise abused." Recent grim statistics bore out the governor's concern. In 1977, 8,788 (3,963 in Chicago) cases of child abuse were reported to the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services (DCFS). This was 2,000 more cases than were reported in 1976 and 18 times as many as were reported in 1965, when the state's first child abuse law was enacted. In the month of March 1978 the number of child abuse cases in Illinois set an all-time record: 1,300. If the current rate continues, the total for 1978 is expected to be near 12,000. And although some of that increase may result from better detection from teachers, doctors and neighbors, Thompson rightly emphasized that the quantity of abuse is apparently increasing at the same time that the quality of detection is improving. The Governor's Conference on Child Abuse was organized to define and describe the various problems of child abuse and to come up with some solutions. The conference was sponsored by the Illinois Chapter of the National Committee for Prevention of Child Abuse (NCPCA), a private organization. Cooperating agencies in the conference included DCFS and the Illinois Chapter of the Society for Hospital Social Work Directors. The conference was attended by over 1,000 social workers, psychologists, psychiatrists, physicians, nurses, police, teachers, business people, politicians and other interested persons. They came from over 150 Illinois towns and cities, as well as from the neighboring states of Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri and Wisconsin. The conference participants viewed films on child abuse and attended workshops on such topics as parenthood education, the police role in child abuse, sexual abuse, and crisis nurseries. There were "showcase" organizations which have dealt successfully on a community level with child abuse. And there were small working groups, in which the participants made a list of priorities and possible solutions to the various problems. At the end of the conference there was a "contracting" session during which the participants pledged in writing to work for improvements in the child abuse field. Muriel Smith, who is chairman of the Illinois chapter of the NCPCA, was also the conference chairman. "The NCPCA is dedicated to the organization and coordinating of statewide agencies which work together to prevent abuse in the state of Illinois," she said at the beginning of the three-day conference. "We want to broaden public awareness and education so that there can be more identification, investigation and intervention of child abuse. We want to assess and mobilize people, organizations
DENNIS B. FRADIN December 1978/Illinois Issues/15
and resources within the state. We want to work for classes in parenting in the schools on a junior and senior high level. And we want to establish a process for solutions." Prevention and therapy "Prevention" and "therapy" were key words to most of the conference participants. Few of the people at the conference wanted to discuss spectacular cases, such as Johnny Lindquist, the six-year-old boy who was beaten to death by his parents. Most wanted to discuss the thousands of disturbed parents who are on the verge of abusing their children or just beginning to abuse them. These are the people, most felt, who can be helped by counseling and parenting classes. Chicagoan Katharine Mortell, who has been a social worker, direct case worker, child guidance counselor and family service worker, was one of the most vigorous advocates of preventive measures rather than punishment. "This conference is going to generate public interest and awareness of the problem," she said. "The big problem in the area is the discrepancy between those working in the field who believe service and rehabilitation and education are the answer, as opposed to a large segment of the general public that is outraged when they hear about a two-year-old kid scalded on a radiator. These people are interested in punitive action against the parents. The parent who beats his kid in an uncontrollable rage needs intensive treatment services. Punishing the parents creates new problems for kids. Our resources should also be put into parenting education — to teach kids in Illinois what parenting involves before they become parents." But as Frances Barry, a psychiatric social worker for the DuPage County Health Department pointed out, such efforts require financial support: "The state should provide more money for crisis lines and crisis nurseries. There the child could be removed temporarily from the parents for safety. Parents should be understood and evaluated in more detail. The initial reaction of most people is to punish the parent. As professionals that's the last thing we should do." Others stressed that financial support is also needed for increasing the number of social workers specializing in child abuse, improving training of medical personnel so that they can properly respond to the problem, and increasing the number of parenting education classes at the high school level. Punishment for parents Although the thrust of the conference was towards prevention and treatment for the abusive parent — rather than prosecution — not everyone was in agreement. Dr. George Fischer of Wilmette is a 79-year-old retired opthamologist and general practitioner. He is on the Board of Trustees of the Illinois Masonic Medical Center. A physician for 51 years, he also practiced medicine for many years in downstate DuQuoin. "I've seen more cases in the Metropolitan Chicago area than in the small town," said Dr. Fischer. "Today a lot of parents are confused and unhappy, and they take it out on their children. Families are separating, and children are also the ones who suffer. I feel that the violators should be prosecuted. Children should be taken into custody and provided care by the state. The situation is just awful, and we've got to tighten up the penalties and take these children out of the situation." Most juvenile officers attending the conference also disagreed with the family therapy approach as an initial treatment method. "I've seen too many dead kids," said Cmdr. Harold Thomas, head of the youth division, Chicago Police Department. He led the workshop called "The police role in child abuse." "I don't subscribe to the concept of keeping the family together," he said. He would like to see the primary emphasis focused on the child rather than the family. Thomas's department consists of 600 officers and 200 social workers. One of Thomas' youth officers present at the workshop voiced the opinion that the social agencies are "too inbred and powerful." Agreeing with Thomas, he said that children "should not be put right back in the home." Commander Thomas compared the crime of child abuse to rape, in terms of the public's reluctance to report it. In 1976 his department handled over 2,000 severe abuse cases, and he estimated an annual 20 per cent rise in reporting. Judges also receive a lot of criticism for being too lax on child abusers. The conference luncheon speaker was William Sylvester White of the juvenile division. Cook County Circuit Court. He spoke about the limitations of the courts. First was the "after the fact" nature of court intervention. The second limitation lay with proof requirements. Judge White advocated doing away with immunity in abuse cases. "Children should be protected fully from assault," 16/December 1978/Illinois Issues he said. "If a man breaks another man's jaw, he is punished. If he breaks his child's jaw, he's reprimanded." Clearly, the disagreement at the conference was a matter of focus. The people who believed in prevention and treatment wanted to focus on those who could be helped, while recognizing the need to punish the psychotic few who might go on beating their children. Those who believed in punishment had little faith in the ability of the over-crowded courts, the law or the under-staffed social agencies to separate psychotics from those who can be helped. Many pro-punishment people pointed out that every day we read in the paper about some supposedly rehabilitated criminal who has gone out and committed a robbery, rape or murder. Likewise, they wondered if a lot of sociologists and psychologists are using big words like "rehabilitation" and "impulse control" while turning loose a lot of sick parents who are going to beat and maim their children until we see it in the headlines.
Janet Hartley, executive coordinator of the Day Care Crisis Council of Illinois, attempted to close the gap between the prevention-and-treatment point of view and the punishment point of view. She stressed that — for prevention and treatment to work — the psychotic parents must be distinguished from those who can be helped. "There is a small percentage of parents and other adults for whom no amount of support service will change their behavior or totally prevent an attack on the child. In fact, a study in North Carolina identified a number of parents as high-risk abusers immediately upon birth of their children. A majority of these poeple — even with all types of social support services — did end up abusing their children anyway. So there is a small percentage of cases in which the child should be separated from the family. "But let me stress that this is a minority. I think it is atrocious that the only time the general adult population gets concerned with basic needs of children and families is when there's a headline about a child getting thrown down an elevator shaft. Support systems can help the vast majority. We have to think about those who can be helped." Programs that work An important part of the conference was a "Showcase" of 20 successful programs for combating child abuse throughout Illinois. These programs are mainly community-sponsored, community-funded and community-staffed, although some have grants from the DCFS and other state agencies. Showcase projects included: the Children, Family and Youth Advocacy Council, Belleville; the Family Advocate Project, Winnebago County; Family Focus, Evanston; the Family Stress Consultation Team, Springfield; the Family Support Center, Aurora; and the Juvenile Protective Association Program, Chicago. Many of the programs provide "crisis counseling" — 24-hour a day assistance to parents who feel that they are about to beat their kids. Besides this short-term intervention, most of the 20 programs provide long-term counseling. The Family Support Center in Aurora is a good example of a successful community-based organization. Executive Director Nancy Mickelson said the center was created because Aurora parents wanted to be able to get help within the community before having to report a problem to the state. Funded by six sources, the three-year-old Aurora facility has both paid and volunteer workers. "Twenty-four hours a day people can call us for counseling. They can come in to us for help, or, if requested, we'll go out to their homes. We help a couple-hundred families a year through parenting training, individual counseling, support groups and even job counseling," Mickelson said. The many success stories in the showcase programs reinforced Hartley's contention: although there are a number of parents so psychotic that they should be locked up, most are within the realm of being helped. It's a matter of making sure that the ones who should be locked up are locked up and getting help to those who can use it before their patterns of abusiveness and other problems get too far out of control. Proposals and resolutions A number of proposals and resolutions grew out of the conference: • In March Gov. Thompson had announced a proposed 1979 increase from $13.4 million to $14.1 million in funds for the DCFS. At the conference he announced that he would support an increase of $400,000 over and above this amount to provide between 30-40 more case workers to deal specifically with child abuse (for an update on DCFS funding, see box). • Evette Zeils, the governor's assistant on children's affairs, proposed to set up eight regional conferences around the state in order to coordinate services of various state and private agencies. This proposal was submitted in July to the U.S. Department of Health, Education and Welfare for funding. • The conference passed a resolution urging Gov. Thompson to "introduce into the current session of the State Legislature, a bill to amend article 21 of the School Code of Illinois to include a requirement of an academic course on Child Abuse and Neglect for certification for all teachers in the State of Illinois beginning in 1980." • A number of conference participants — including individuals and private agencies — made "contracts" with the Illinois Chapter of the NCPCA to make improvements in existing programs, to establish new community-based programs and to work for legislation in the field of child abuse. Ann Rohlen, a member of the Junior League of Chicago who served on the conference steering committee, summarized the hopes of the conference organizers: "Look at the 1,000 people who came to this conference. They're all terribly enthusiastic. If each one of these people does one small part, it will make people in their communities just as enthusiastic. There will be a snowballing effect. They'll really move their bodies and minds to coordinate solutions. "It's certainly time to stop talking about problems and solutions and start doing something. It's time for action, and that's what we're starting to have on the problem of child abuse in Illinois." December 1978/Illinois Issues/17
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