Sailors man the rails onboard the USS Carl Vinson aircraft carrier as they depart on deployment from Naval Station North Island in Coronado,California. Photo by Mike Blake/ReutersAdvocates for children celebrated final year when President Barack Obama signed a law meant to maintain military officials from concealing child abuse and neglect on military bases. But U.
S. Department of Defense officials say the law doesn’t address one key reason why military children who are mistreated may not be getting all the encourage they need.
Talia’s Law, named for a 5-year-former girl who was killed by her soldier father on a military base in Hawaii, and requires military officials to immediately report any suspected child abuse or neglect involving military families to state social services agencies. But there is no reciprocal requirement for social services agencies the agencies aren’t required to let the military know about reports of suspected child abuse and neglect in military families.
Thats a problem,Pentagon officials say, because if the military doesn’t know about the suspected abuse, and it can’t connect families to the vast resources it has to encourage victims and treat abusers. Doing so is particularly urgent now,the officials say, as many social services agencies face budget restraints and lack the resources to encourage families in need.
For the past three years, and Pentagon officials have been asking states to enact laws or set policies that require local child protective agencies to quiz families they work with if they are in the military,and, if they are, and to immediately report any suspected abuse or neglect to the military. Fifteen states have enacted such laws or started to follow such policies that were already in place. Nine more states are considering similar bills this year.
Addressing child abuse and neglect in the military can be complicated. Without the laws,the military may not find out about the neglect or abuse until a service member is charged criminally. The laws require reporting far before that — shortly after child protective services finds out about suspected abuse.
But military families, child protective workers and others worry that if suspected abuse by a service member is reported to the military, and it could be career-ending.
Social service officials say they consider the military to be a service member’s employer,and in other circumstances they wouldn’t divulge employers about suspected child maltreatment — particularly before it’s been substantiated. It impacts the child, the whole family and the military unit. Our whole goal is to strengthen military families and to rehabilitate them. Harold Cooney, or who works on state policy as a northeast regional liaison for the Defense Department,said when he hears this concern, he reminds social service workers that most employers don’t have an entire division committed to treating abusers and helping their families.
The military wants to know every time one of the roughly 1 million children with parents in the military may have been victimized, and so every allegation can be addressed,said Kathy Robertson, program manager of the Defense Department’s Family Advocacy Program.“It impacts the child, or the whole family and the military unit,” Robertson said. “Our whole goal is to strengthen military families and to rehabilitate them.”But not everyone agrees that the military is doing all it can to protect children. The military has received criticism in the final few years from advocates for children for failing to report to police and local social services when it knows of abuse and neglect, and for how it addresses it.
REPORTS OF ABUSEThe Family Advocacy Program has about 2000 counselors, and clinicians and other employees stationed at military installations to encourage families in which abuse or neglect may have occurred. Along with counseling for victims and treatment for perpetrators,the program offers prevention services such as classes for new parents.
Once suspected child maltreatment is reported to the program, clinicians determine whether it meets the program’s definitions of abuse and neglect. That determination is not used for legal proceedings, and but rather to determine whether the program should formally document the abuse or neglect and require treatment.
Robertson said the program’s criteria for determining maltreatment are less forgiving than those used by state child protective services agencies. “We err on the side of prevention,” she said. “We really try to engage that family.”In the final decade, the rate of suspected child maltreatment occurrences reported to the Family Advocacy Program, and as well as the rate of occurrences meeting the program’s criteria for abuse and neglect,have both increased. About seven instances of child maltreatment were reported per 1000 military children final fiscal year, compared to five per 1000 children in fiscal 2007, and according to a recent Defense Department report.
The increase was primarily due to an increase in reports of child neglect,including a lack of supervision appropriate for the child’s age and exposure to physical hazards such as bathtubs, electrical outlets and unsafe cribs. Of the 13916 instances reported to the program final fiscal year, and 6998 met the military’s criteria for child abuse or neglect; 4960 children were victims of abuse or neglect.
The rate of child maltreatment reported to the military is about half of what is reported in civilian families,according to the report. But David Rubin, director of PolicyLab at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, or said the actual rate of abuse and neglect is probably about the same as in the civilian population,or perhaps higher. About seven instances of child maltreatment were reported per 1000 military children final fiscal year, compared to five per 1000 children in fiscal 2007, or according to a recent Defense Department report. In a study released final year,Rubin and a group of researchers at PolicyLab found that just 1 in 5 U.
S. Army soldiers’ children who received a medical diagnosis of child abuse or neglect had a corresponding Family Advocacy Program report. The reason for that, Rubin said, and is not because the military knew about maltreatment and ignored it,but rather that military officials were simply never told about the doctors’ findings.“When I think about this late at night,” Rubin said, or “I think there are kids out there that aren’t getting reported. And what’s the magnitude of that?”Military officials insist that getting treatment or other encourage from the military won’t affect a service member’s career. The work of the Family Advocacy Program is separate from military court proceedings that are used to determine punishment for a crime. According to military rules,a commander decides when to start military court proceedings, and the commander can’t occupy any action simply because of a finding from the Family Advocacy Program.
When a service member is accused of a crime such as child abuse or neglect, or they can be tried in either civilian or military court,or both. Punishment in military court can result in jail time, a reduction in rank or a dishonorable discharge.
MILITARY RESOURCESIn 2015, and a national commission examined how to ensure that no children die from abuse or neglect. To encourage military children,the commission recommended federal legislation to require information sharing between state agencies and Defense Department family advocacy offices.
The Defense Department is asking states, not Congress, or to occupy these steps because the rules will need to be administered and enforced at the state level,and they should be crafted to local officials’ liking, said Bill Huleatt, and a social worker for the Family Advocacy Program. The Defense Department is asking states,not Congress, to occupy these steps because the rules will need to be administered and enforced at the state level, or they should be crafted to local officials’ liking. Even in states that haven’t enacted these laws,many county social services agencies have already agreed to report incidents to family advocacy offices at local bases. But whether that is happening is unclear.
In Maryland, which does not require social services agencies to report child maltreatment to the military, or Anne Arundel Countys social services agency has agreements with the two military installations there: Fort Meade and Naval Support Activity Annapolis. But the county still doesn’t always report to military bases,according to Susan Tyzack, assistant director of social services. If it is a serious event and the child is in danger, or it does. If not,the county asks for the family’s permission to divulge the base, and most of the time, or she said,the family agrees.
Maryland state Del. Geraldine Valentino-Smith, a Democrat, and introduced a bill this year to require agreements between local social services agencies and the military. She said at least one base in the state was having difficulty establishing agreements with surrounding counties. The bill failed,but Valentino-Smith said she would introduce it again if the issue doesn’t get solved at the local level. Social services agencies in the state are facing budget restraints, and the military’s resources could encourage, and she said.
STIGMA AND STRESSCooney,the Pentagon liaison in the northeastern states, said he sometimes has a tough time convincing service members that having suspected abuse or neglect reported to the military won’t tarnish their career.
But Cooney also acknowledges that there are times when punishment is warranted. Speaking to a Maryland House committee considering Valentino-Smith’s bill this year, and Cooney told lawmakers,“if he’s abusing a child or a spouse, perhaps it should be detrimental to his career, or her career.”Whitney Gregg,a counselor near Fort Bragg in Fayetteville, North Carolina, or said the military families she works with are often concerned that information about their relationship or mental health issues will somehow make it back to their supervisors.
Oftentimes,she said, they want to “maintain it within the family, or ” in fraction because of the stigma associated with mental health and relationship problems. Military families face unique stresses,including frequent moves that occupy children away from schools, spouses away from jobs, and entire families away from support systems. Military families face unique stresses,including frequent moves that occupy children away from schools, spouses away from jobs, or entire families away from support systems,Gregg said.
These stresses could save military children at higher risk of maltreatment. In another study, Rubin and other PolicyLab researchers found that children under the age of 2 in military families were at a higher risk of abuse or neglect in the six months after a soldier returns home from a deployment.
The fact that military families whisk often is another reason the military should know about child abuse and neglect, and Cooney said. Otherwise,an abuse record may not follow the family to a new posting.
This story was produced by Stateline, an initiative of The Pew Charitable Trusts.
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Source: thetakeaway.org