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The Michigan Daily-Friday, September 8, 1978-Page 58

Hotline helps child
sexual abuse victims

By The Associated Press
"Hello. This is a recorded message.
If you think you are being sexually
abused, please stay on the line ... You
mnay feel scared now, but help is
available . .. You don't have to give
your name.
That is the beginning of the two and
one half minute message you will hear
if you call the sex-abuse hotline
operated by Child and Family Services
of Knoxville, Tenn., under a grant from
the federal government.
Nine hundred ealls a month come to
the hotline. The average age of the
callers is 15; most are girls. They seek
help with a problem that people are
reluctant to even recognize: the sexual
abuse of children within a family
situation. Incest.
ONE IN 10 OF the callers stays on the
line after the recording ends and talks
to a counselor. The others listen to the
information and hang up. Officials say
some youngsters-they do not know
how many-dial the recording several
times, trying to work up the courage to
tell their troubles.
Charles Gentry, head of Child and
Family Services, a private, non-profit,
voluntary agency, said he believes
sexual abuse of children is increasing.
"With more single-parent households
we're going through a transition in our
whole culture as far as family structure
and I think it does lend itself to sex
abuse of children ... Many people who
are feeling inadequate as adults turn to
children for affection and may even-
tually turn to the child for sexual
pleasure."
Other authorities say the increase in
divorce and remarriage, creating
parents who are not biologically related
to their children, has made the problem
worse.
DOUGLAS BESHAROV, director of
the National Center on Child Abuse and
Neglect, which provided $43,000 to
finance the Knoxville hotline in a year-
long experiement, said an estimated
60,000 to 100,000 children are sexually
abused by family members or friends
every year.
According to 1974 statistics compiled
by the National Clearinghouse on Child
Neglect and Abuse of the American
Humane Association, about 12 percent
of all validated cases of child abuse in-
volve sex.
The Knoxville program, which star-
ted in ;February, is believed to be the
only one of its kind in the country, com-
bining a taped message with follow-up
counseling for the youngsters and their
families.
KEE McFARLANE, a program
director with the National Center on

Child Abuse, said the impersonality of
the initial recorded message en-
courages children to call about sexual
abuse. "There is a fear of reporting, a
fear of asking questions," McFarlane
said. "Knowing for sure that they can
get a tape recording that they can hang
up on" makes it easier for the
youngsters, she said.
"The anonymous call permits the
person to relax a bit," said Gentry. The
hotline is aimed primarily at children,
rather than at social workers, coun-
selors or other adults. It is designed to
help them with a problem which they
often are too scared to admit.
Youngsters who stay on the line after
the recorded message talk to one of two
professional counselors. They may give
their names if they wish but do not have
to. Information on callers who identify
themselves is relayed to the protective
services divison of the Tennessee
Department of Human Services for in-
vestigation.
"ORDINARILY, ABOUT 10 percent
of the people who call stay on the line,"
Gentry said. "On the average we report
eight to 10 cases a month that we feel
are fairly certain, valid, sex-abuse
cases."
The others who stay on the line want
information or reassurance.
The taped message also is designed to
reassure and inform: "Sex abuse may
be any kind of physical contact that
makes you uncomfortable and uneasy.
In other words, if you have a feeling
something is wrong you may be right.
"SEX ABUSE IS any kind of fondling
or sexual play between an adult and a
child or between an adult and a teen-
ager or between a child and someone
slightly older . . . It can include ex-
posing private parts of the body.
Sometimes it means taking pictures of
nude or partly nude children or teen-
agers..."
Most of the callers to the Knoxville
hotline are children, but some are
adults. "Occasionally, we get a call
from an abuser," Gentry said. "I
remember one of the situations was a
fellow who had attempted sex with a 5-
year-old . . . He started feeling very
guilty about it and then he called us and
did report himself."
One caller, a girl, was only 7 years
old. 'It was an attempted intercourse
situation by the father," Gentry said.
FEDERAL OFFICIALS hope to use
the experience gained in Knoxville, a
city of 180,000, to -help other com-
munities set up similar programs.
Authorities also are trying to -train
school counselors and other
professionals to recognize the problem.

Daily Photo by ANDY FREEBERGI

Puzzled
Freshman Rupert DeCloe studies up for his first test at the University-finding his way around.


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