Military Child Advocacy Programs: Confronting Child Maltreatment in the Military Community

• Author: by Captain Thomas J. Hasty, III
• Pages: 04

1. INTRODUCTION

   Each year in this country, thousands of innocent children are beaten, burned. poisoned, or otherwise abused by adults.' The Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act of 1978 (CAPTAP defined child abuse and neglect as "the physical or mental injury, sexual abuse or exploitation, negligent treatment, or maltreatment of a child under the age of eighteen. . .by a person.. .who is responsible for the child's welfare under circumstances which indicate that a child's health or welfare is harmed or threatened."s Child abuse and neglect can take many forms.' In this article, child abuse and neglect will be referred to as "child maltreat. ment."

   The magnitude of the child maltreatment problem is difficult to measure because many incidents go unreported: hawever, there is little doubt that the problem is significant.6 The National Center on Child Abuse and Neglect INCCAN) estimates that over one million incidents of child maltreatment occur in the United States each year.6 About two thousand deaths are reported from such incidents annually, and child maltreatment has been reportsd as the fifth leading cause of death for children of all ages.' Maltreatment occurs in families of all social and economic levels, educational backgrounds. races, religions, and nationalities.8

   WS. Air Force Captain Hasty i(/ a third ye81 iaw student ac the Uoivsrslty aiV r w a School 01 Law, CharlottesviUe, Yuginia

   'H.R Rep No 686, 93d Cang , 2d Seia 2. iqmnted an 1974 US. Code Cang. & '42 U.SC. 55 5101.5107 '19821.'Id. 5 6102.'See Bregsr, P ~ l t p m ~ of Abuse and Their Psychulugical Cmsquences for the 'GAO.

   Mihtary Cud Advocacy Programs-Vicms of Neglect, Rep to Cang 1 'Id'Id.'Sea Breger. Child Ahuse and Strategies far Nary Hodth Cam Pmfersionds

   Ad Sews 2163. 2764.

   Child. 13 U.S. Navy Med 1 [Jan. 19821(May 19791 lhereinafter cited 8s OAO Report!.

   Working With Abusive Parents. 72 US Navy Med 6. 6 (Ds.

   1981)

   The various military communities. located in the United States and abroad, are not immune from this problem.0 It makes little difference to the victim of child abuse or neglect whether the parent is a civilian or a member of the armed services. Only recently, however, has child maltreatment been recognized 8s a serious problem within the military eammunity.lo In fact, onecivilian study aimed at assessing the potential for child maltreat. ment among parents awarded ten points for "high risk" merely for being in the armed services 11 Research on the problem of abuse in military families has attempted unsuccessfully to compare incidence in military populations with that ai civilian communities." Nonetheless. it is generally believed that child maltreatment OCCUIS as frequentiy in the military as it does in the civilian community.'s In addition, studies have identified characteristics that appear to be specific to abuse in military families."

   The military's response to the problem of child maltreatment within its ranks has lagged behind the civilian sector's response;" but, at present, each of the military services (the Army, Air Force, and Navy) has established a child protective program to meet the needs of military children and families.16 In spite of nearly identical program goals. the three military programs are organized. managed. and administered somewhat differently.17 These fundamental differences affect the scope of coverage and potential effectiveness of these child advocacy programs.1e

   This article will address the problem of child maltreatment in the military community. Characteristics specific to abusive mi& tary families will be discussed, including the reasons for the differences between incidents in military versus civilian commum-ties. The child advocacv ~rornams of each of the three services

   'ALn. Chdd Malfrralmml an Milimrv Communirrar. Jur Just 11 IMav 19751

   'Hunter, supm note 10'Id. As late as 1970. no i a d y welfare programs or luvenlle family Caurts were made availsble y1 the fitary to promore famll) sdiustment or to handle f d y maitex mquvmg legal mrervention. Id.

   'Id.'Myers, Innovative an peer^ ai Chdd Advocacy m the M i r w Research and Admiatrairon pnnld in 2 C u d Abuse and Uagieet lasues On Innovation and Impl~mentation 120, 121 1M. Lauderdale R Anderson & S Cramer sds 19781 (hereinafter cited rn Myersi

   IbGAO Report, supra note C. at 4

   19861 CHILD ADVOCACY

   will be addresser, including the problems confronted in adminis. tering the programs. Finally, jurisdictional issues that affect interaction with state child advocacy programs will be explored.

   11. CHILD MALTREATMENT IN THE MILITARY COMMUNITY A. Profile of the Abusive Military Family

   Little research has been done on child maltreatment in the armed services, but that which has been conducted indicates that there is probably not much difference between military and civilian maltreatment in terms of either the underlying causative factors or clinical manifestations.'$ It is possible, however, to distinguish the nature of child maltreatment in the military horn that in the general population. One such study was conducted at Madigan Army Medical Center in Tacoma, Washingan.zo The study was undertaken to better understand what influence, if any, the "military life style" of service families has on the reported incidence of child maltreatment.21

   The Madigan study involved 225 families who were identified by an Army child advocacy program as having abusive and/or grossly neglectW9 parents during the four-year period from

   January 1912 through December 1975.23 Referrals came from twelve different sources: the Madigan Army Medical Center Emergency Roam-28%: the Madigan Department of Pediatrics-23%: neighbors-11%; schools, the county children's protective services agency, parents Iseif.referrals1, relatives. military police, civilian police, community health nurse, the community mental health activity, and babysitters--lO%; and miscellaneous sourCes-8%.~4

   The Madigan study found similarities and differences between civilian and military abusive families. Military child abusers and their victims tended to be younger; military victims were more likely to suffer from abuse rather than neglect; the sex of the abused child was not substantially different with the military victim; and mobility per se did not seem to make a difference in incidence of abuse with the military abusive family.26 Where other studies have usually discussed lack of income as B major factor in child abuse, the lack of income did not appear to be a major factor with the military child abuser.28 A factor more significant than income was the position of rhe abusing parent within the military rank structure, the type of military unit to which he or she was assigned, and the feelings of self esteem which he or she received from the job he or she performed.2' The types of child abusers, i.e., acute.x8 episodic,z8 and chr0nic.~0 did not differ from the military to the civilian sector.31 Both military and civilian parents tended to abuse their children for the same general reasons, 0.g.. immaturity, unrealistic expectations, unmet emo. tional needs. frequent crises, lack of parenting knowledge, social isolation, poor childhood experiences, and problems with drug and

   "Id. ac 109.

   "Id. at 105 The large number af referring agencies lends some credence to this bang B d t a r y eommumg-based program rather than merely a med~ealhorp~td program Id.

   'nld. at 119"Id

   m Id

   "Acute abws 18 Uely to occur as the result of stress with" cha i d ) and 13 @el? Lo oeevr in tamrlies who are socially iroiarad Such parenrs experience frequent C ~ S B Q and 'fahe it out" on then child due to the lack of other readrly mallable altomalwei Id. at 115

   -Episodic abuse is mely to DCCYT when p ~ e n l s perceive that they have no

   viable dwernafwes m dealing wich their children. The parenca usuail,. lack knowledm of parsntms skrlli and have DOL hsd models of succesifd f a d e s from

   '°Cchromc eNd ahusing parenti usually ware abvsid andror maltreated them-selvei LO ehrldren. have pmr self-msge. or ~IB Ueiy to be so involved ullh alcohol and drum that it sftecia their mid and lob funetiorune The rafetv and weltare of

   19861 CHILD ADVOCACY alcohol abuss.s2 In addition to the pressures that lead to child maltreatment in civilian life, military families face the added pressures of long absences by one parent isspecially in the Navy), frequent changes of residence which preclude development of permanent community ties that can aid in preventing or stopping acts of maltreatment. and periods of residence in relatively isolated area8 within both the United States and foreign coun. tries.33 Thus. military life can add stress to military family life that is not present in civilian family life. There is a great deal of evidence suggesting that the likelihood of child maltreatment increases with the mount of stress with which a family must cope.34

   In considering the results of the Madigan study, we must keep in mind that measuring the incidence of child maltreatment at the national level and within the military is problematic due to several faetors.35 Definitional distinctions, variance in reporting facilities and criteria, and the fact that many cam never come to public attention all contribute to the measurement problem.se Most authorities agree that just the "tip of the iceberg" of child maltreatment has been sighted.3' What must be realized, however, is that in terms of the need for discovery and treatment, the incidence and nature of child maltreatment in the military community are at least as significant as they are in soeiety as a whale.

   2. The Incidence of Child Maltreatment in the Military Community

      As stated above, measuring child maltreatment is problematic due to several factors; nonetheless, data concerning the incidence of child maltreatment in the armed forces is currently being compiled for statistical purposes.88 The tables in the Appendix following the article contain current statistical data concerning...