Page 10
University Daily Kansan, April 29, 1982
白
Agencies work to help local victims of incest
By BECKY ROBERTS Staff Reporter
Incest is a far more common occurrence in American society than most people would choose to believe.
Research has shown that as many as one out of every four American girls and one out of every six American boys has experienced some degree of incest.
An exact figure is difficult, if not impossible, to determine because often incest cases are not reported.
These figures are estimates from research that Parents United, Inc. has conducted. The group is a model investment program in Santa Clara County, Calif.
"It's still the most taboo subject in our culture," Richard Spano, KU associate professor of social welfare, said recently.
However, the Lawrence division of Social Rehabilitation Services worked with 18 cases of incest in Douglas County during the 1981 fiscal year. During fiscal 1982, 17 cases of incest already have been reported.
"I would not be surprised if we climb upwards of 20 to 25 cases this year," Jim Baze, director of the Lawrence division of SRS, said.
Because of the growing concern for incest victims and the number of incest cases, several Doug County agencies are developing an aggressive cooperative program for incest treatment.
For the past year, SRS, Bert Bash Mental Health Center, the KU Psychological Clinic and the Douglas County District Attorney's Office have been working to perfect an incest program before they put one in practice.
In March, they felt the program was ready for a test case. The first Douglas County incest family began incest treatment.
Although more treatment programs have developed in the last five years, social workers feel they have only seen the real extent of the problem.
"We can only speculate how many cases are out there. We've only reached the tip of the iceberg." Baze said.
"I think it's a very common problem. We'd be surprised if we knew how many instances there are."
The definition of innest in its broadest form is any type of sexual relations with an immediate family member.
"Innest ranges from exposure by an uncle, to intercourse with an immediate family member." Soano said.
Legally, incest, which is a felony charge, is defined as any lwd fondling, touching or sexual intercourse with a brother, sister, uncle, aunt, nephew or niece. The same actions by a parent or stepparent is aggravated incest.
The most common form of incest is father-daughter relationships.
However, other types of incest such as sibling, mother-son, father-son and mother-daughter relationships do happen.
"Last year, there was a mother-daughter case of incest in Douglas County. That's the first time a case like it has been reported to SR3." Baze said.
Social workers have had problems working with incest victims because of the reluctance to admit involvement in an incestuous relationship.
"It's quite shocking," Baze said, "people don't want to believe it. For years people didn't acknowledge it, and they've been through the girls that were victimized."
Another factor that keeps victims from reporting incest cases is the fear of what will happen to their fathers.
"Before kids are willing to elaborate, they want to know what will happen to their life." They report to report if they know their father won't be thrown into prison."
Spano explained that incest victims loved their fathers in spite of what they had done.
"They're afraid something will happen to their families if they report the incest and, sure enough, the girls are not so alarmed," their fathers go to jail. "Spano said."
Though the public tends to see the parents involved in incontinous relationships as monsters, social workers agree that most are not harming children. There are usually breakdowns in the family that contribute to the incest.
"These men are not dangerous men on the street. Often they are men who have had a lot of reward in their lives or many positive strokes. They need affection and when they don't get it, they look within their family.
"Often the mother is not interested in sex for one reason or another," Baze said.
Although children may be afraid of the family consequences after reporting an inescautous relationship, they are the most frequent reports. Bazae said.
"Frequently, the child will talk to a friend. The friend will talk to the teacher and the教师 will then approach the child." Baze said.
Baze talked about a Lawrence incest case in which weaknesses in the family structure contributed to the incest.
The mother reported that her 13-year-old daughter had been trying to take over her role in the home by always wanting to cook supper, do the shopping and generally take over the mother's duties.
SRS workers, helping the family, discovered that the daughter had had sexual intercourse with her father. In order to rationalize the relationship, she had assumed the mother's other roles, Baze said.
The relationship developed over about four years, Baze said. It began with inappropriate fondling when the girl was about 9 years old.
Baze said the case was unfortunate because the daughter learned a pattern of behavior which taught she could use her sexuality to manipulate men.
The father's personality also contributed to the problem.
Social workers think if there are established programs to help incest victims in a community, more people would report incest problems.
"People report incest only where
'We can only speculate how many cases are out there. We've only reached the tip of the iceberg.'
there is a program established," Chuck Juliano, administrator of Parents United, said.
Jim Baze, director of the Lawrence Social Rehabilitation Services
The numbers of references to counselors has increased in communities where a treatment program has been established, Chris Petr, director of children services at Bert Nash Mental Health Center, said.
One of the goals of the Douglas County incest program is to let people know there is help for incest victims.
"We want to get people to come out of the closets to tell about it so they can be
helped," Mike Mclone, Douglas County district attorney, said.
Another reason for the incest program was to solve the problem of a lack of uniformity in reporting cases to the district attorney's office, SRS, Bert Nash or KU psychological clinical, Malone said.
"All the agencies have something to offer, we want to get together and use the strength of all our sources."
While 18 cases were reported to SRS last year, only four went through the court system. Only two or three cases referred to Bert Nash for treatment.
"There was a complete lack of uniformity. Three different cases of the same nature could be handled in three completely different ways," Malone
"There was a hesitation to involve the district attorney's office because we didn't want the father sent off to prison." Baze said.
"Then we began to see the importance of having the prosecution handle the fathers to get them to go through therapy with the daughters."
The agencies often thought their method of handling the problem was
In incest treatment programs, the threat of prosecuting the father and sending him to jail is often a good way to have him agree to counseling.
Many times the father will deny his daughter's accusations when confronted.
"The girl would tell her story and the father would deny it," Petr said.
"They'd be stuck that way and it was almost impossible to work with the case when the father wouldn't admit something was wrong."
The father must admit to the incestuous relationship before he is eligible to go through treatment and Malone's sentence deferred, Malone said.
Baze said it was important for the father to admit his responsibility in the incestuous relationship and take some of the guilt off the daughter.
"The father needs to go into therapy to help resolve the future sexual attitudes of the girl," Baze said. "She shares the guilt of what happened."
In incest cases, intercourse does not always happen. Many incest cases are avoidable because it is safer. When intercourse does happen, it frequently evolves gradually.
...results, however, are the same.
Injec victims face problems later in life defining their sexual attitudes, realizing that they belong to their own children. Petr said.
Spani cited a California study of female prostitutes which showed that about 50 percent of them had been victims of incestuous relationships.
An important part of the incest program in Douglas County is to offer the counseling to help a family stay together.
Jointly, Bert Nash and KU Psychological Clinic will counsel the families involved. They are basing
their programs on an incest program in Johnson County and on Parents United.
The counseling teams, made up of two professionals from Bert Mash and two from KU Psychological Clinic, will provide care to other family members individually, Pet said.
From there they will counsel family members in pairs and then move on to counseling the family as a group.
While the family members are undergoing individual counseling, each person also will be involved in group therapy. You will be pertened the same things, Petr said.
"The fathers will talk with other fathers and the girls will talk with other girls and so on." Petr said.
The district attorney's office will
be the sole authority to declare
family are eligible to be in the program.
If the district attorney's office finds an incest offender eligible to have his sentence deferred, the family will receive two years of treatment, Malone said.
"An individual is not eligible if there has been any physical harm or forcible action to the child, if the offender has a prior history of sexual abuse or if the individual fails to recognize there is a problem." Malone said.
If at anytime during the counseling the offender is not cooperative, the offender of incest will be brought against him and he will be tried, Malone said.
NOW LEASING FOR SUMMER AND FALL
BREAKFAST SPECIAL
Only $1.29 coupon expires May 15, 1982
Henry's Hot Ham
Egg & Cheese
Sandwich on Toast
BENEFIT
[ HEATHERWOOD VALLEY APARTMENTS ]
HEATHERWOOD VALLEY EXTRAS:
- One of the newest and most energy efficient complexes in Lawrence.
THE BETTER BREAKFAST
- Individually controlled high efficiency heating and air conditioning.
- Free covered parking with 1 & 2 BDRM units.
- Two and three bedroom units from
  $315 to $395 per month.
- Quiet southwest location off 22nd and Kasold.
2040 Heatherwood Dr. No. 203
913-843-4754
Announcing low interest money for higher education:
9% college loans.
If you're paying the way to college for yourself or someone else this fall, our Student Loan Program could be just the course for you.
The best part is the interest rate. A beautifully low 9%. And from the time you graduate, you get six months interest-free, before you start to repay. Payments can be as low as $55 a month, and you have up to 10 years to pay off your loan.
You can apply for $1500 to $2500 a year up to a total of $12,500. If you're a graduate
student, we'll lend you as much as $5000 a year up to a total of $25,000 which includes undergraduate loans. And there's no long, complicated credit investigation to contend with. One simple application form tells us all we need to know.
So if fall semester tuitions and expenses seem to be approaching a little faster these days, ask us about our Student Loan Program. No obligation.
Call Catherine Carpenter at 321-3333
Home State Bank
Minnesota Ave. at 5th St.
Kansas City, Kansas 61051
321-3333
Member FDIC