Running head: SOLUTIONS FOR CHILD SEXUAL

ABUSE 1

Solutions for Child Sexual Abuse

Jocelyn Lopez

Arizona State University

SOLUTIONS FOR CHILD SEXUAL ABUSE 2

Abstract

This essay will focus on the evaluation and success of the necessary solutions that specialize in

preventing child sexual abuse from happening in the Catholic church. With the various solutions,

each will be determined to be successful based on certain criteria developed using different

measures.

Keywords: prevention, strategies, methods, child sexual abuse

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Child sexual abuse is an issue that filled society to come up with strategies for a solution,

specifically those under the roof of the Catholic Church. Child sexual abuse within the Catholic

Church is very real, and there are various solutions that expertise in preventing these incidents

from occurring. Preventative measures of child sexual abuse are difficult to quantify which is

why there are many strategies. There isn’t a single perfect solution because of the different

environments, circumstances and situations child sexual abuse is done with different victims. In

other words, prevention strategies are independent of specific risk factors, such as psychological,

social and developmental factors. Common solutions to help prevent child sexual abuse are

implementation of Child Protection Policy, which is a guideline for how the Church will protect

the children and how adults in the Church will successfully report abuse. Another solution is the

psychological screening on the candidates in seminaries who are to become ordained as priests or

clergy. The last solution is the psychological treatment of Catholic clerical sex offenders,

although those who are convicted are removed from their position, it guarantees children being

safe. To craft a successful prevention structure of child sexual abuse, in the end it should give

children a safer environment in the Catholic Church. All solutions should undertake the safety of

children.

Certain criteria need to be met in order for possible solutions to be considered successful.

A successful solution to child-sexual abuse in the church should:

 Increase the effort to report any abuse.

 Reduce the chance of opportunity for abuse.

 Ensure that there are qualified members in the clergy.

Increasing the effort on reporting abuse will help close the gap between what is and what could

be done. This will help start dealing with this problem by minimizing cases of abuse that go
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unnoticed. Reducing the opportunity for abuse will help eliminate any influence to act thus

overall avoiding cases of abuse all together. By ensuring that the members of the clergy are

qualified is one aspect that will help resolve tension in abuse within the church by factoring out

possible threats or under qualified individuals ahead of time.

Solution 1: Child Protection Policy

The Child Protection Policy is a standard policy that became mandatory for all Catholic

dioceses to implement. It states that a diocese must establish a safe environment and program

that prevents child sexual abuse from happening while under their care. A specific program that

follows the Child Protection Policy, is the Protecting God’s Children program. It is a program

that trains adults who will work with children in the Church setting. The adults range from

clergy, teachers and volunteers. In the end of training, adults are expected to know how to

protect children by carrying out strategies in reporting suspected abuse and increase knowledge

of child sexual abuse, in terms of warning signs and how to respond to children. Based on my

criteria, it falls short on ensuring there are qualified members in the clergy and reduce the chance

opportunity for abuse. Even though it provides an extra supervision for the children, it does not

reduce the chance of opportunity for abuse because it does not restrict possible offenders from

advancing on children. It does meet the criteria on increasing the effort to report abuse. This

program is meant to educate the leaders, the workers, the volunteers on “the warning signs of

child abuse, access to children, and how a third party can report those they suspect of abuse”

(Feuerherd, J., 2003, p.11). The adults who are trained form the program are necessary tools for

preventing the abuse happening. A few benefits from this solution is that it has the potential to

change the behavior of adults, by giving them more accurate knowledge of this issue, an increase

of protective behaviors and reporting CSA suspicions, it’ll be able to reduce rates of child sexual
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abuse. Another benefit found it that “training increased the number of parents who talked to their

own children about CSA” and that the Protecting God’s Children participants are found to have

an “increase monitoring of their own and other’s children, potentially reducing opportunities for

abuse” (Anne M. Nurse, 2017, p. 619). A drawback from this solution is money. The expenses

associated with these types of child protection programs are expensive. It is nearly a $32,700

purchase to receive the needed training, such as training tapes, model policies, consulting

services and other essentials. This solution will be considered as not successful since it meet one

criteria out of the three.

Solution 2: Treatment

Another solution is the psychological treatment of offenders. The goal of this solution is

centered on preventing recidivism. There are various treatments that are based on the offenders

character, yet the different treatments “treat cognitive distortions, empathy deficits, and general

self-regulation to prevent recidivism” (Anderson, J., 2015, p. 782). This solution deals with the

aftermath of a child sexual abuse case. In turn , this solution only meets one criteria which is

reducing the chance of opportunity to abuse. The treatments work toward to prevent recidivism

for the offender, when successful it means there is a lower chance that offender will commit the

crime again, especially since he is removed from his position in the Church. A benefit this

solution provides is being able to get the offender to understand guilt and consequence, it was

found that “on average, only 10–15% of sex offenders are detected committing a new sexual

offence after 4–5 years.” (R. Karl Hanson, Arthur Gordon, Andrew J. R. Harris, Janice K.

Marques, William Murphy, Vernon L. Quinsey, Michael C. Seto, 2002, p. 172). A drawback this

solution has its complexity to diagnose the offender. Since there are different factors within an

offenders’ influence to prey, the treatment method may become difficult to assess. This can make
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it unsuccessful to treat the offender because he will still hold the same influences to commit the

abuse again. This puts the children at risk. This solution can be ruled as not successful because it

partially is a preventative measure for children being sexually abused.

Solution 3: Screening

The screening of candidates for seminary is the final possible solution to be evaluated.

The Catholic seminaries have reevaluated their admissions screening and now bring “more

emphasis on attracting healthy candidates and keeping problematic ones out of priesthood”

(Lemmons, Emilie., 2007, p. 1). The professionals who handle this are considered to offer tools

for assistance in understanding the candidates’ true psychological self in order to perform

appropriately. It is protocol for these professionals to seek positive standards of the candidate for

preparation in the seminary and then see if they should be allowed to continue priesthood life.

The screening is a way to view the candidates’ psychosexual maturity, which incorporates with

the man’s will to control celibacy. Identifying their maturity helps the seminary identify who is

healthy, this means those who are not psychologically healthy are not permitted in the seminary,

thus prevents child sexual abuse occurring by the unhealthy candidates. This solution meets the

criteria on ensuring there are prominent qualified members in the clergy, in this case being

qualified means having a developed psychosexual formation and capacity to retain celibacy. It

also meets the criteria in reducing the chance of opportunity for abuse in the future. Individuals,

who are categorized as unhealthy by a psychologist during their findings in screening, who want

to enter priesthood can be stopped before assaulting a child. The solution however does not meet

the criteria of increasing the effort of abuse. It isn’t an awareness measure; this solution stands

more on the preventative measure of allowing only appropriate men into the seminary. A benefit

this solution provides is that the Church has become more open on psychosexual maturity which
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means they’re conducting better psychological screenings, as well as “also providing an

integrated program of formation in the area of human sexuality” (Van Biema, D., & Scully, S.,

2005, p.2). A drawback this solution has is that there is no formal protocol that candidates should

be required to meet in order to pass entrance for the seminary. Dioceses can select however their

evaluations will go in the screening and some of them “the standards of evaluation may be

compromised due to financial costs required to evaluate a candidate” (Gould, James, 2007, p.

237). Unfortunately, this could negatively impact the safety of the children because they will

have to pay for the Church’s lack of affording psychological screening. Nevertheless, this

solution strike two out of the three criteria, this makes it successful.

When considering all three solutions, it is evident that psychological screening is the

most promising because it best meets the criteria. It is a very preventative measure because it

stops the possible offenders from committing any abuse way before they’re even allowed into a

seminary or a Church. With the psychological screening, the psychologist is able to find what

exactly the candidate is underdeveloped and whether this can affect the risk of a child’s safety.

This solution exceeds on ensuring there are qualified members in clergy and Church setting as

well as reducing the chance of opportunity for abuse. Treatment falls short of criteria, it is a

solution that works on the result of sexual abuse. It does however works effectively on being

able to reduce the chance of opportunity for child sexual abuse because the offender will be

handed treatment and possibly will change their sexual tendencies towards children. For the

Child Protection Policy, it falls short on ensuring there are qualified members in the clergy. Even

though the prevention programs trains clergy, volunteers and others on child sexual abuse, it

does not help eliminate under-qualified members in the clergy, such as priests. It also falls short
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on reducing the chance of opportunity for abuse. The trained adults are able to report abuse or

suspected inappropriate behavior, but this could mean the abuse already happened. The most

promising solution is the psychological screening. It checks off two out of the three criteria, it is

capable to identify threatening factors a candidate has which can indicate for future abuse, this

relates to ensuring there are qualified members in the clergy. It is also capable to kick out or

remove candidates from the seminary, or Church, who are evaluated as dangerous to children.

The evaluation of these three solutions will help determine the flaws and how to move

forward on improving them. My evaluation focuses on effectiveness it has on reducing child

sexual abuse overall. Analyzing the solutions to measure its success is important because the

safety of children is the number one responsibility in this issue. The Catholic Church has

progressed dramatically in implementing new methods necessary for reducing opportunities for

child sexual abuse, but it needs to understand the various motivations and environments that

influence abuse. With this, they’ll be able to create and improve solutions.
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References

Anderson, J. (2015). Comprehending and Rehabilitating Roman Catholic Clergy Offenders of

Child Sexual Abuse. Journal of Child Sexual Abuse. Retrieved from

http://search.ebscohost.com.ezproxy1.lib.asu.edu

Anne M. Nurse (2017) Knowledge and Behavioral Impact of Adult Participation in Child Sexual

Abuse Prevention: Evaluation of the Protecting God’s Children Program. Journal of

Child Sexual Abuse. Retrieved from

http://search.ebscohost.com.ezproxy1.lib.asu.edu

Feuerherd, J. (2003). Catholic Church Takes Lead in Child Protection Industry. National

Catholic Reporter. Retrieved from

http://search.ebscohost.com.ezproxy1.lib.asu.edu

Gould, James (2007). Psychological Screening for Seminary Candidates - Consideration and

Review of the Recent Vatican Statement on Homosexuals in the Seminary. The Linacre

Quarterly.

Lemmons, Emilie. (2007). Seminary Screening Early Step for Healthy Priesthood. United States

Conference of Catholic Bishops. Retrieved from

http://www.usccb.org

R. Karl Hanson, Arthur Gordon, Andrew J. R. Harris, Janice K. Marques, William Murphy,
SOLUTIONS FOR CHILD SEXUAL ABUSE 10

Vernon L. Quinsey, Michael C. Seto. (April 1, 2002). First Report of the Collaborative

Outcome Data Project on the Effectiveness of Psychological Treatment for Sex

Offenders. Sexual Abuse: A Journal of Research and Treatment. Retrieved from

http://search.ebscohost.com.ezproxy1.lib.asu.edu

Van Biema, D., & Scully, S. (2005). Screening the Priests. Time. Retrieved from

http://search.ebscohost.com.ezproxy1.lib.asu.edu