Post by lace on Sept 24, 2006 21:50:08 GMT -5
[glow=red,2,300]shattered bond [/glow] 
Sunday, September 24, 2006
By Scott Hagen
shagen@citpat.com -- 768-4929
A mother accused of spanking the skin off her son and tying him up in the basement. Another accused of helping her boyfriend rape her disabled daughter. A third guilty of letting a convicted sex offender roam free with her 5-year-old girl.
Three recent Jackson County cases illuminate an apparent broken bond between mother and child.
It has left a community asking why some mothers betray their young.
"It horrifies us, especially if it is done by someone the child trusts," said Kelly Schweda, who works with child victims of sexual abuse at the AWARE shelter in Jackson. "It's a whole new category of trauma."
Overall cases of child abuse in Jackson County have remained relatively steady over the last five years at 50 to 60 a year. But, there has been an increase in the more serious crimes against children in 2006, according to statistics from the county prosecutor's office.
Charges of first- and second-degree child abuse have already hit a five-year high, with 19 cases recorded this year through the end of August.
In 2005, there were 17 cases for the entire year; the 2004 total was seven.
"Traditionally, the literature seems to suggest economic stressors do lead to a rise in household violence," said Assistant Prosecutor Allison Bates, who frequently works with victims of physical and sexual abuse.
Sexual assaults against children in 2006 are comparable with past years, with 17 cases of first- and second-degree CSC reported this year. That's middle of the pack for five years of data reviewed.
Experts in child abuse and sexual assault say there is no simple explanation for such abuse, but several factors can contribute to a mother's betrayal of her child. It could be past abuse. It could be abandonment. It could be an overriding fear of being alone.
"From the mother's point of view, the children may be irrelevant," said James Pedigo, director of the Joseph Peters Institute in Philadelphia, that works with sexual offenders and the victims of sexual offenses.
"She may have some feelings of wanting to protect them and take care of them," Pedigo said. "But those feelings may be submerged by her desperate need to protect and defend the relationship with the man who is with her."
Recent cases
No one can know for sure what prompted Margaret Anderson to allow a convicted sex offender to move into her home on Lansing Avenue. The offender, Timothy Watson, was accused of sexually assaulting Anderson's 5-year-old daughter in February.
Watson pleaded guilty to assault with intent to commit sexual penetration in May. This past week, Anderson was sent to jail for 42 days and sentenced to five years of probation for attempted second-degree child abuse.
"A parent has certain obligations to their children," said Circuit Judge Edward Grant in sentencing Anderson. "They're helpless."
One Jackson mother and her boyfriend -- Jeannine Nyies and
Ian Anderson -- are winding through court charged with skinning the buttocks off her son, 6, with a plastic spatula and forcing him to sit alone for hours, tied up, in a dank basement in August.
Another Jackson mother, April Kurtz, and her boyfriend, Justin Howard, were charged in August in the rape of the woman's 11-year-old daughter, who is in a wheelchair and has cerebral palsy.
Accusations, and arrests, of parental rape are extremely rare in Michigan. In 2002, only five parents were accused of raping their children. In 2003, the number goes up to six, with only three parental rape claims in 2004, the most recent year data are available.
Lingering effects
It's rare, which makes it more appalling. Sexual assault cases, in particular, suck children into a world of sexuality they are not ready for.
"With the really little kids, they don't understand it, they only have a framework for understanding that it's wrong," said Bates. "As they get older, they start to understand the sexual implications."
These situations can begin a terrible cycle, experts say.
Those raped and assaulted at a young age typically act out in inappropriate ways, have a difficult time trusting, and sometimes slip into deep levels of depression.
"It's all trauma," said AWARE's Schweda. "It's when a parent violates that trust ... that child has to learn the parent can't meet their needs for security, and that's all the child wants."
The grandmother of the 11-year-old whose mother is accused of helping her boyfriend rape her said her granddaughter has gone into a shell.
The grandmother, whose name is not being used to protect the victim's identity, said she will catch her granddaughter looking out the window or drifting off in thought and ask if she misses her mom.
"She always says no," the grandmother said. "If you mention her mom's name, she doesn't want to talk about her. She pushes it away."
No simple answers
But while the affects of abuse are well-documented, the psychological forces that push a parent, particularly a mother, to betray or abuse a child are not so simple.
"The women involved often will do things for boyfriends they wouldn't ordinarily do because they feel desperate to preserve the relationship," said Pedigo.
Psychological problems also may play a part. For example, Kurtz and Howard have been sent from jail for mental evaluations.
Answers as to why these Jackson-area mothers may have betrayed their children may still be answered, at least in part, as these cases work through the court system. Nyies and Ian Anderson will stand trial sometime this fall. Kurtz and Howard are scheduled for a preliminary examination in December.
Perhaps they will provide some explanation, and answer the question many in the community have been asking: Why?
www.mlive.com/news/jacitpat/index.ssf?/base/news-18/115909230359800.xml&coll=3&thispage=3
Sunday, September 24, 2006
By Scott Hagen
shagen@citpat.com -- 768-4929
A mother accused of spanking the skin off her son and tying him up in the basement. Another accused of helping her boyfriend rape her disabled daughter. A third guilty of letting a convicted sex offender roam free with her 5-year-old girl.
Three recent Jackson County cases illuminate an apparent broken bond between mother and child.
It has left a community asking why some mothers betray their young.
"It horrifies us, especially if it is done by someone the child trusts," said Kelly Schweda, who works with child victims of sexual abuse at the AWARE shelter in Jackson. "It's a whole new category of trauma."
Overall cases of child abuse in Jackson County have remained relatively steady over the last five years at 50 to 60 a year. But, there has been an increase in the more serious crimes against children in 2006, according to statistics from the county prosecutor's office.
Charges of first- and second-degree child abuse have already hit a five-year high, with 19 cases recorded this year through the end of August.
In 2005, there were 17 cases for the entire year; the 2004 total was seven.
"Traditionally, the literature seems to suggest economic stressors do lead to a rise in household violence," said Assistant Prosecutor Allison Bates, who frequently works with victims of physical and sexual abuse.
Sexual assaults against children in 2006 are comparable with past years, with 17 cases of first- and second-degree CSC reported this year. That's middle of the pack for five years of data reviewed.
Experts in child abuse and sexual assault say there is no simple explanation for such abuse, but several factors can contribute to a mother's betrayal of her child. It could be past abuse. It could be abandonment. It could be an overriding fear of being alone.
"From the mother's point of view, the children may be irrelevant," said James Pedigo, director of the Joseph Peters Institute in Philadelphia, that works with sexual offenders and the victims of sexual offenses.
"She may have some feelings of wanting to protect them and take care of them," Pedigo said. "But those feelings may be submerged by her desperate need to protect and defend the relationship with the man who is with her."
Recent cases
No one can know for sure what prompted Margaret Anderson to allow a convicted sex offender to move into her home on Lansing Avenue. The offender, Timothy Watson, was accused of sexually assaulting Anderson's 5-year-old daughter in February.
Watson pleaded guilty to assault with intent to commit sexual penetration in May. This past week, Anderson was sent to jail for 42 days and sentenced to five years of probation for attempted second-degree child abuse.
"A parent has certain obligations to their children," said Circuit Judge Edward Grant in sentencing Anderson. "They're helpless."
One Jackson mother and her boyfriend -- Jeannine Nyies and
Ian Anderson -- are winding through court charged with skinning the buttocks off her son, 6, with a plastic spatula and forcing him to sit alone for hours, tied up, in a dank basement in August.
Another Jackson mother, April Kurtz, and her boyfriend, Justin Howard, were charged in August in the rape of the woman's 11-year-old daughter, who is in a wheelchair and has cerebral palsy.
Accusations, and arrests, of parental rape are extremely rare in Michigan. In 2002, only five parents were accused of raping their children. In 2003, the number goes up to six, with only three parental rape claims in 2004, the most recent year data are available.
Lingering effects
It's rare, which makes it more appalling. Sexual assault cases, in particular, suck children into a world of sexuality they are not ready for.
"With the really little kids, they don't understand it, they only have a framework for understanding that it's wrong," said Bates. "As they get older, they start to understand the sexual implications."
These situations can begin a terrible cycle, experts say.
Those raped and assaulted at a young age typically act out in inappropriate ways, have a difficult time trusting, and sometimes slip into deep levels of depression.
"It's all trauma," said AWARE's Schweda. "It's when a parent violates that trust ... that child has to learn the parent can't meet their needs for security, and that's all the child wants."
The grandmother of the 11-year-old whose mother is accused of helping her boyfriend rape her said her granddaughter has gone into a shell.
The grandmother, whose name is not being used to protect the victim's identity, said she will catch her granddaughter looking out the window or drifting off in thought and ask if she misses her mom.
"She always says no," the grandmother said. "If you mention her mom's name, she doesn't want to talk about her. She pushes it away."
No simple answers
But while the affects of abuse are well-documented, the psychological forces that push a parent, particularly a mother, to betray or abuse a child are not so simple.
"The women involved often will do things for boyfriends they wouldn't ordinarily do because they feel desperate to preserve the relationship," said Pedigo.
Psychological problems also may play a part. For example, Kurtz and Howard have been sent from jail for mental evaluations.
Answers as to why these Jackson-area mothers may have betrayed their children may still be answered, at least in part, as these cases work through the court system. Nyies and Ian Anderson will stand trial sometime this fall. Kurtz and Howard are scheduled for a preliminary examination in December.
Perhaps they will provide some explanation, and answer the question many in the community have been asking: Why?
www.mlive.com/news/jacitpat/index.ssf?/base/news-18/115909230359800.xml&coll=3&thispage=3