Friday, August 14, 1987/The Battalion/Page 3
State and Local
xperts: Emotional abuse
oesn’t carry telltale signs
id everyoi
irnalismlt
By Max Statton
Reporter
^Just because a child doesn’t always
m to have bruises from “falling
Jown” doesn’t necessarily mean he
at Karl isn’t victims of child abuse. There
ets is a are forms of abuse that don’t carry a
t of Tht Rjltate sig n — like emotional abuse.
/■Fin the last 15 years, child abuse
I peglect and its often ignored sibling,
le femotional abuse, has oecome a ma-
jor social issue, says Stephen Antler,
Ktirman of the School of Social
litedStat Work in Boston, Mass.
tic svsteit ■ ' t ‘ me * s now * or us to rea li ze
i correct the problem,” Antler
ever,
lose/
who
says. "If we can make the public un
social
, howevei ijerstand about abuse and neglect,
i crossed’ our task is much easier.”
i without ^Initially, he says, people must
learn to recognize the different
types of child mistreatment.
1/ Doug Smith, a retired family psy-
Hologist from Houston, says there
are three major divisions of non-sex-
u abuse.
|“Physical abuse is defined as the
lual beating or striking of the child
eandl w ^’* e emotional abuse is verbal yel-
: Bg, teasing and belittling the child,”
• Bpith stressed. “Neglect is more
treatvisitMjj.^ a parent doesn’t do rather than
o visitor he does do.”
uately ||Smith says he fears people don’t
he useof ^realize how bad the problem is.
‘Society doesn’t realize how many
ilies actually do abuse their chil-
n,” he says.
cording to the Texas Depart-
nt of Human Resources in Bryan,
ally locale: 13,885 valid cases of child mistreat-
rrassedto l®C nt were reported in Texas last
k thevv year and more than 100 cases re-
, ,, r suited in a child’s death.
e ... WBut these figures are derived only
latlaculti fjp,,, re p 0r ted cases. The DHR esti-
triptoai mau-s 35 percent of the cases aren’t
Pported because of a lack of under-
handing or just an unwillingness to
get involved.
Hlinreported cases often occur in
higher economic classes, says Linda
Hosey, a child psychologist in Bryan.
ft “Cnild abuse goes on without re
ports because people feel it only
httoidu^ happens to poor people like on tele-
vision,” Hosey says. “It doesn’t just
uses, Ok
y. A few
iity camp,
ises have
'isitor ot i
occur in poor families; it doesn’t dis
criminate at all as far as socio-eco
nomics go.”
Under Texas law — chapter 34 of
the Texas Family Code — anyone
with knowledge about child mis
treatment is required to report it to
the proper authorities. It also says
people who report abuse or neglect
are immune from criminal liability if
the report is made in good faith and
without malice.
“Good faith” means the person
was reasonable in getting the facts
while “without malice” means the
person didn’t intend to injure or vio
late the person’s rights.
Failure to report child mistreat
ment is a class B misdemeanor, pun
ishable by fines up to $1,000 and a
180-day imprisonment.
To report a suspected case of mis
treatment, the DHR recommends
that three steps be taken.
An oral report should be made
immediately to the nearest DHR
Child Protection Services office or to
the 24-hour Child Abuse Hotline (1-
800-252-5400). A written report
should be submitted within five days
to the state chapter DHR in Austin
and an oral report should be given
to the local police.
Antler, also an associate professor
at Boston University, says even if
people realize that reporting child
abuse is the law, many don’t do it.
“Even with the law there, many
people don’t recognize abuse,” he
says. “You’ve got to know the signs
and symptoms in the child before
you can report someone.”
Hosey says physical abuse usually
is the easiest to spot.
“As far as physical abuse is con
cerned, a child who repeatedly has
bruises or broken bones without
plausible excuses is a possible case,”
she says.
Other signs of physical abuse the
DHR says to watch for include fre
quent disobedience, unusual shyness
with friends, avoidance of physical
contact and the wearing of clothes
that may hide injuries.
But Hosey emphasizes that emo
tional abuse is harder to recognize
than physical abuse.
“The signs are more verbal,” she
says. “Kids show more negative self-
worth, causing them to lie, cheat,
fight and steal. The children are
talked down to so much, they believe
themselves to be bad, so they act that
way.”
Smith adds another sign to Ho-
sey’s list.
“The children often tend to either
act much older than they really are,
or revert to their early childhood,”
he says. “The usual signs of the latter
are late thumb sucking and bedwet
ting.”
The DHR lists yelling at, teasing
and belittling children as common
forms of emotional abuse.
Antler believes this abuse is the
most difficult to indicate.
“With physical abuse, the bruises
are there,” he says. “With neglect,
the child often is dirty and unkempt.
“Verbal abuse is different. It’s easy
to confuse a shy or aggressive child
as being emotionally abused.”
Child neglect, however, is a more
common problem, he says.
“It’s happening everywhere,” he
says. “Most of the time we don’t even
realize it. Parents may travel fre-
ouently, have financial problems or
tney just plain don’t know how to
raise kids. These kids often become
the underachievers of tomorrow.”
Neglect also tops the DHR’s list as
the most frequent form of mistreat
ment.
Different types of neglect are
abandonment of the child by the
parent, inadequate medical, educa
tional or nutritional care, lack of
support and affection for the child’s
work and an attitude of over-permis
siveness toward the child.
To recognize neglect, one should
look for dirty clothing, tiredness, a
need for medical care, loneliness,
large mood swings and apathy.
As tough as recognition of emo
tional mistreatment may be, type
casting the parents is much harder.
“Abuse just doesn’t discriminate,”
Hosey says. “The parents can be
from any race, class or area.”
Did I Make It?
Tom Streety, a hopeful August graduate, reads
the lists by Heaton Hall Thursday to see if he has
Photo by Michele Sealey
been “red-dotted.” A red dot by a student’s name
must be cleared before the student can graduate.
SMU probe committee to keep
records from Attorney General
DALLAS (AP) — Records of a bishops’ committee
probe into the football scandal at Southern Methodist
University won’t be released to Attorney General Jim
Mattox, a committee spokesman says.
The Rev. Spurgeon Dunnam III said Wednesday the
panel will send Mattox a letter stating that the commit
tee is separate from the university and members will
honor their pledge to witnesses to keep testimony se
cret.
“What the bishop (committee chairman Louis Sho-
wengerdt) related to me was that everyone involved has
the same attitude, which was that we decided this before
the committee ever began its work,” Dunnam said. “We
would only release (the records) if ordered to by a
court.”
Schowengerdt, of Albuquerque, N.M., read Dunnam
a draft of the letter to Mattox during a telephone con
versation Wednesday.
Mattox is investigating whether university officials vi
olated state regulations governing charitable trusts.
SMU operates as a non-profit trust and is owned by the
United Methodist Church.
He has asked the university and the bishop’s commit
tee to turn over all records of their investigations into
the scandal. Mattox said he is entitled to the commit
tee’s records because it is an arm of the university.
Committee members claim Mattox has no right to the
records because their inquiry was conducted indepen
dently.
In February, the NCAA banned SMU’s 1987 football
program, citing booster-funded improper payments to
athletes. The school’s 1988 season, which had been lim
ited to seven road games, was voluntarily scrapped by
school officials.
The bishops’ committee conducted an extensive
probe into the matter and earlier this summer released
a 48-page report of its findings.
The report said top SMU officials participated in an
elaborate scheme to conceal the fact that Gov. Bill
Clements approved illicit payments to student athletes
while the school was under probation.
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