Transcript SIBLING SEXUAL ABUSE - Greg DeClue Home Page

SIBLING SEXUAL ABUSE
Why Might This Type of Abuse
Be Unique
Interacts with family dynamics
Victim and perpetrator will have
ongoing relationship
There will be issues around family
separation and family reunification
How Much Do we Really Know
There is little research on sibling
sexual abuse
Research limited, often not specific to
sibling sexual abuse, and often quite
old
Much of the information from studies
of:
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Incest
Juvenile Sexual Offenders
Sibling abuse (physical and sexual)
Definitions
Includes stepsiblings, half siblings, and
cousins
Nonconsensual
Severe
Nonconsensual
Age Differences
3 - 5 years
Florida law
Power Difference
Favored Child
Caretaker Child
Differences in strength, size, gender,
intelligence, or developmental
sophistication
Nonconsensual
Coercion
Threats
Force
Injury
Manipulation
Bribes
Severity
Type of Activity
Frequency
Severity
Type of Activity
Intercourse
Oral Sex
Other Penetration
Can include “hands-off abuse” (ex.
indecent exposure, forcing the sibling
to watch pornography, taking
pornographic pictures of sibling)
Severity
Frequency
Repeated instances
Compulsive and interferes with normal
activities
Models
Nurturant or Psuedoconsentual Abuse
Repeated consensual contact over time
Sexual activity provides affection, contact
and support (i.e. critical emotional needs)
missing in children’s relations with parents
The behavior often begins with elements of
loyalty, mutual satisfaction, and support
Power-Oriented
May be to experience power in its own sake
May be to compensate for the abuser’s own
sense of powerlessness or past abuse
Prevalence
Little information is known about the
specific prevalence of sibling sexual abuse
It is more likely to go underreported and
ignored
Older brother, younger sister most
common, although all possible dyads
occur
Anecdotally, it appears to occur at all
levels of income and education, and
across all ethnicities
Court Sample – 2/3 Sex Batt
1/2 L&L’s
What Do We Know About
Sibling Offenders
No single “type” of abusive sibling
Sibling offenders have been found to
have a diverse variety of personality
characteristics
Sibling offenders
often have experienced past trauma or
maltreatment
have not always been sexually abused
themselves
are very likely to have been physically abused
may have experienced neglect and isolation
may have access to pornography
may be isolated and not relate well with peers
average age of 15 ?! (Caffaro & Conn-Caffaro,
1998)
Favoritism
They may be favored and feel immune
from detection or consequences if they
target a scapegoated sibling
They may feel rejected and retaliate
against a weaker sibling
Research Comparing Sibling
with Extra-familial Offenders
The literature that does exist typically
summarizes case studies
O’Brien (1991) compared:
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sibling offenders
youth who abused peers and adult
Behavior of Sibling offenders
O’Brien found:
Committed more acts of abuse over a
longer period of time
More likely to have penetrated their victims
More likely to have 2 or more victims
Less likely to have had court-ordered
treatment
O’Brien speculated that opportunity and the
nature of sibling and family dynamics may
have contributed to these findings
Characteristics of Sibling
Offenders
O’Brien found:
More likely to have been physically
abused
Only a small percentage of O’Brien’s
sample reported that they had been
sexually abused by a family member
Characteristics of Sibling
Offenders’ families
O’Brien found:
Parents, especially mother’s, were much
more likely to have been physically
abused
36% of mother’s of sibling offenders
versus 9% of extra-familial offenders
10% versus 5.5% of fathers
Rate of family dysfunction higher in
sibling sexual abuse families
What Do We Know About
Sibling Victims
Average age of victim is 7 - 9 (De Jong,
1988; Caffaro &Conn-Caffaro, 1998)
Sexual abuse is likely to have been more
severe and/or frequent (O’Brien, 1991)
Consequences especially severe and
traumatizing if force or aggression
involved
Sibling Victims
Laviola (1989) in a study of brother sister incest
found:
Force and aggression more likely to be
associated with intercourse
With force - victim likely to feel very
negatively toward sibling and the behavior
But less severe abuse problematic as well
Less severe sexual behavior was likely to be
associated with more subtle forms of
coercion; Victim likely to feel ambivalent
about the offender, and blame themselves for
the incest
Consequences to the Sibling
More likely to become precociously
sexualized, and act out sexually - including
sexually abuse others*
More likely to exhibit disturbances of
conduct*
May be come confused about their sexuality
More problems in family and romantic
relationships
More sexual problems
Possible problems with emotional regulation
Consequences to the Sibling
More likely to runaway
More likely to experience teen pregnancy
More likely to make suicide attempts, especially
between ages 14 and 16
Frequently re-victimized throughout life, including
physical abuse, rape, and domestic violence
Lower self-esteem
(Most of this from general incest research)
What Do We Know About The
Families
Provide poor supervision and little
structure
Tend to have had a history of domestic
violence and physical abuse
Secrets - Discourage open communication
Sibling Abuse Families
May fail to provide appropriate boundaries:
 Extramarital affairs (76% of the sibling
cases of Smith & Israel, 1987)
 Parent-child hierarchies
 Sleeping arrangements
 Privacy for family members
 Family member sexual behavior (ex. allow
children to observe adult sexual behavior)
 Choice of surrogate caretakers (ex. allow
children to remain unsupervised with/in
the care of known sibling offenders)
Sibling Abuse Families
Parental absence - physical or emotional
 Divorce
 Work
 Parent dealing with own trauma
 Substance abuse
 Psychiatric illness
 Dependent personality orders
Some researchers argue that this is the most
important dynamic in sibling incest families
Problematic Families
Deny the allegations of abuse
Ignore or minimize the abuse
Acknowledge the abuse, but blame and/or punish the
victim
Acknowledge the abuse, but fail to protect the victim
and stop the abuse
When abuse is disclosed, divide into teams, (victim
versus offender) which compete for power resources,
and support
In the end, problematic families can leave the victim
feeling unprotected, helpless, rejected, and further
blamed as the victim begins to act out
Safety Planning
Assess victim’s comfort with the offender
in the home
Assess parent’s ability to supervise
appropriately
Identify internal and external risk factors
Common Safety Plan Elements
Offender not to supervise other children
Offender not to be left alone with younger or
vulnerable children or share a bedroom with
them
Vulnerable children bedroom’s will be closer to
parents
Alarms may be placed on offender’s door
Family members will not shower or bathe
together
Family members will dress appropriately at all
times
Common Safety Plan Elements
Family members will knock if doors are
closed
No babysitting
No changing diapers
No dressing, bathing or helping younger or
disadvantaged children get ready in the
morning
No sleepovers
No pornographic materials
Treatment
Important to distinguish between
mutually consenting among similar age
siblings or even age-appropriate sex
play before starting
NCSBY Handout on Sexual Behavior
Problems from 2 – 12
Cloé Madanes’ (1990) Model for
Sibling Sexual Abuse Treatment
General Principals
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Create a positive framework by emphasizing
compassion, higher emotion, and spirituality
No secrets – Secrets allow abuse to continue
Emphasize blamelessness of the victim
Find outside protectors (for each child)
Emphasize offender responsibility and reparation
Steps can be modified depending on the situation
Madanes’ 16 Steps:
1. Obtain an account of the sexual
offense(s) moving from parents, to
siblings, to offender, to victim
2. Ask each family member why it was
wrong beginning with the offender
3. Therapist - it was also wrong because
it caused the victim spiritual pain or
“pain in the heart”
4. Therapist - it also causes a spiritual
pain in the victimizer
5. Discuss other sexual victimization
that has gone on the family
6. Therapist – these behaviors also
causes a spiritual pain in the family
7. The Apology – offender gets on knees
in from of the victim and repents
8. The Apology II – other family
members get down on their knees and
repent for not having protected the
victim
9. Discussing the consequences of any
future abuse
10. Find a protector for the victim (e.g.
responsible uncle, 2 grandmothers,
etc)
11. Individually with victim – work to place
the abuse in context and orient victim
to positive things in her life
12. Reparation – an act of long-term
sacrifice for the offender that is
beneficial to the victim
13. Reconnecting the offender to peers
and appropriate social and sexual
activities
14. Restoration of the parent’s love for
the offender
15. Restoration of the offender’s role as
protective of younger sibling
16. Help offender to forgive him/herself
Wes Crenshaw, PhD (Family
Therapy Institute Midwest)
Has taken the apology step and broadly
applied it to a broad variety of dependency
cases
Appears to have worked more frequently
with cases where victim, offender, and/or
have been removed from the home
Madanes had the apology take place toward
the beginning of treatment - Crenshaw’s
model seems to build to the apology which is
seen as the heart of the intervention