Mental health articles

Sexual Abuse in Day Care Centers and Homes A small number of studies have analyzed reported abuse occurring in day care centers. The largest is by Finkelhor, Williams, and Burns (1988), who attempted to identify all cases of sexual abuse reported nationwide for a three-year period. In 270 different facilities nationwide, sexual abuse was substantiated for a total of 1,639 victims. They estimated that, over a three-year period, approximately 2,500 children were abused in daycare centers. Cases were classified into four major types according to the number and identity of perpetrators (Finkelhor et al., 1988), including abuse by child-care workers alone (35%), abuse by peripheral staff or outsiders (13%), abuse by families of staff alone (25%), and multiple perpetrators (17%). The remainder were unclassifiable. In 38% of these facilities, the perpetrators were not child-care workers. As with most abuse, males were the primary offenders, and females were the primary victims. Female offenders abused primarily when accompanied by a male. The most serious cases were those that involved multiple perpetrators and multiple children (Finkelhor el al., 1988). These cases also had the youngest children, the most serious sexual activities, and the highest likelihood of pornographic production, drug use, or ritual abuse. Abuse was quite severe with at least one child being raped in 93% of the facilities. Interestingly, two-thirds of the abuse occurred around toileting. The overall impression of the authors was that victims of abuse in day care centers were more threatened, coerced, and terrorized than victims of other types of sexual abuse. Most abuse had been going on for six months before the child told, with immediate disclosure occurring in only 20% of cases (Finkelhor et al., 1988). Instead, parents’ questions about suspicious behavior most often led to disclosure. As is typical of other populations, few characteristics of the child, excluding gender, appeared to be related to risk of abuse other than possibly how attractive the child was. Certain factors were associated, however, with less severity of abuse, including being in a high-crime, inner-city neighborhood and having a large staff. Facilities in which parents had more ready access to their child also had less risk of severe abuse. Another study of 48 children abused in day care settings divided the sites into day care centers (which accounted for 75% of the abuse) and day care homes (Faller, 1988). Day care centers were further divided into multi-perpetrator centers (61% of all centers) and single-perpetrator centers. Boys and girls in day care centers with multiple offenders had approximately an equal chance of being victimized, almost always by more than one offender (often male and female). In these centers, numerous serious threats were made to the children. Boys and girls in centers with only one perpetrator were equally likely to be victims, but they were always abused by only one man who usually provided a peripheral service to the center. There were seldom threats. Children abused in day care homes were almost always female and experienced the least number of forms of sexual abuse. In comparing these studies, males accounted for 60% of the offenders in Finkelhor et al.’s study (1988), whereas males were involved in 98% of all abuse in Faller’s study (1988) (although females were listed as co-offenders in approximately half of the abuse).6 Considering that male caretakers comprised only about 5% of the staff in one study (Finkelhor et al., 1988), it is remarkable that males are responsible for so much of the abuse. Conversely, most victims were female (Faller, 1988; Finkelhor et al., 1988), with girls being at greatest risk in day care homes (Faller, 1988). Most victims experienced multiple types of abuse (e.g., fondling, intercourse, etc.), more than half were involved in group sex, and just less than half were involved in exploitation (usually photography for pornographic purposes) (Faller, 1988). Threats were common and were used most frequently at the sites with multiple offenders (Faller, 1988; Finkelhor et al., 1988). In summary, while reported cases of abuse in day care situations are rarely reported, this abuse is often more severe than in other types of sexual abuse, with a small portion of these victims being subjected to heinous abuse. As these children are so young, this is a particularly difficult type of abuse to comprehend.

Tags: sexual abuse