You might not know the full extent of what’s happening in a child’s home. But if you see a child with poorly explained bruises or a broken arm, or if a child talks about an inappropriate relationship with an adult, say something. Do not remain silent.
It doesn’t make sense that certain people are required by law to report potential child abuse to the Department of Health and Human Services but are not legally required to undergo training about how to report abuse and are unlikely to be penalized if they don’t report it.
But the issue is larger than how to get mandated reporters — such as police, teachers and medical personnel — to follow the law. It’s about making a cultural change. When Mainers, whether they are mandated reporters or not, do nothing as a reverend sexually abuses multiple children over 40 years, as a Maine State Police report suggests, the problem is a large one.
The report contains accounts of counselors, law enforcement officers and a school official who may have known that Bob Carlson was sexually abusing boys. But much of the report is redacted, and it’s not clear how many victims there were, what happened to them or how many people had some evidence and did not tell a district attorney’s office or the state.
State police are part of the solution of helping the Bangor area learn from what happened and should provide as much information as possible.
Police, in addition to sexual assault advocates and all types of mandated reporters, also need to be part of recommending changes to ensure that more people who are obligated to report potential abuse actually do. It’s unclear whether or what type of legal changes would get to the root of the issue to encourage more reporting. That’s because even people who are well trained in protocol often don’t report suspected abuse.
Researchers from Boston University School of Medicine and Boston Medical Center studied the issue and found that primary care providers fail to report a substantial number of child maltreatment cases. Though the physicians agreed about the suspicion of abuse in 81 percent of the cases, they did not report 21 percent of them.
Do people fail to report because they have not received proper training? Would people be more likely to report if the law were changed to require a minimum amount of training? Or should it be up to individual agencies to decide whether and how often to train their employees? Would an increased penalty be effective? Answering these questions could help set the direction for effective changes.
Any change should also address people’s fears. Mandated reporters, whether they are pediatricians, teachers or therapists, find themselves in difficult situations when they suspect abuse — because by telling the state they can risk their relationship with a child’s family and, sometimes, a community. It’s not unusual for affected parents and family members to threaten the safety of mandated reporters, and rarely is a situation clear-cut. Reporters might doubt their instincts and wonder what will happen if they’re wrong.
That’s why it’s essential for all mandated reporters to be educated about their role, know how to meet the obligations of the law and be upfront with parents. They must keep in mind that it’s only their responsibility to report; it’s the state’s job to assess whether the abuse happened. And they should not be fooled. All types of people, including those in positions of power and who are widely respected, are capable of committing a crime.
Parents, friends, babysitters and relatives can do their part by developing positive relationships with the children in their lives, so they have someone to trust. If a child shares details of abuse, it’s important that he or she is met with understanding, not incredulity.
Child abuse is a dark subject that can be difficult to discuss, but it’s a pervasive problem in Maine. In 2011, nearly half of assaults reported to Maine’s sexual violence service providers related to child sexual abuse, according to the Maine Coalition Against Sexual Assault. Everyone’s eyes and ears are needed in order to hold perpetrators accountable, whether they are mandated reporters or not.
I remember an incident when I was a child. My dad and I were in a car just outside the supermarket and the woman in the station next to us was yelling at her son and smacking him in the head. My dad told her to stop, that there was no reason to do that. She told him to him to mind his business and I will never forget his response. He said “Children are everyone’s business, lady.”
How nice of your father to speak up for the child. If only more people would do so to protect children.
If the guy standing at the pulpit is robed in black Goth attire with a silver necklace .. that should be your first clue. If he wears a funny hat .. even more suspect.. in fact the taller and more amusing the hat .. the more indication of his degree of corruptness. If he chants in tongues about your duty of submissiveness, fires candles, or waves a smoking lantern .. take your children and run. The volcano doesn’t need another virgin.
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Child abusers are in all walks of life: doctors, lawyers, police, EMT’s, teachers, social workers, priests, nuns, ministers, youth leaders, day care providers, posters on the BDN… Just because you have an issue with religion you don’t need to degrade it. Have you sought help for your irrational feelings towards the Catholic Church?
How did you know he was talking about the Catholic Church? Got Stigma!, or does the shoe fit?
Wasn’t Mr. Carlson a Congregationalist?
No I haven’t. Have you demanded a financial audit of your church or looked up the definition of the word “irrational”?
Thousands of teachers are convicted of child molestation as well. You should point the finger at them real quick too.
Yes, The key word is “convicted”. As teachers are discovered.. they are arrested, indicted, and prosecuted. The catholic church just transfers the perverts and embezzlers to 3rd world countries where laws are less enforced.. and transfer the vile leaders to the vatican’s villa’s on the italian seacoast. And the mindless that kneel in the pews keep on covering up and funding the evil. Go Figure.
That may have stopped the woman at that particular time but you have to wonder what it was like for the child when it was just the child and mom in their house. There are many cruel ignorant people around, Carlson was one of them and apparently the woman you speak of is also one of them.
It is all well and good for this hyprocritical paper to preach to the masses about morality and their responsibility. Preachers have been doing this since the begining of time. Sometimes you find those “preachers” in church on Sunday, and patronizing a house of ill repute on Monday.
In 1976 Kenny Walker (a part time Sheriff) was convicted of sexually abusing many boys at his Boy’s Village Ranch in Ellsworth falls. Later one of the boys abused there became my foster child. He told me that he reported this abuse (by phone and anonymously) to The Hancock County Sheriff’s department, The State police, AND the Bangor Daily News. He said nothing happened, and the abuse continued until Kenny was finally caught in the act of sodomizing a boy off campus.
Later there was more institutional sexual abuse reported at Homestead (on the site of Boy’s Village) Bancroft North in Owl’s Head, Coventry Gables The Baxter State School, Pineland, and both State mental hospitals. That is only the tip of the iceberg, and during all that time the BDN made no appeal for a healthier environment for the State to raise unattached children.
Now attached family children have been abused, apparently enmasse by the State sponsored pervert Bob Carlson. Now the BDN wants action.
There was no drug problem recognized by authorities in New York City as long as those drugs stayed in Harlem. The “Drug Problem” occurred when those drugs went North to Scarsdale, or east to Long Island, or south to the posh suburbs of New Jersey.
Funny how that works.
That there was no protection for children in the not so distant past is all the more reason to see that there is a better system in place now.
What better system is that? Do you read English, or do you just throw punches?
What are you talking about? I was just saying that all the negative things that happened because of systemic failures need to be improved. How is that “throwing punches”?How do you get that out of what I said? Do you want to stay focused on the problem, or do you want to help make things better? Or maybe I did not make clear that I thought we need to improve the system as a whole, rather than stating that the system is better now? Because we all know there is room for improvement.
Mark was criticizing the Bangor Daily News for their hipocracy and discrimination. They have FINALLY called for the change of which you write, but NOT because of the abuse of poor disenfranchised children. The “change” must be universal (include all children even those that society has “marked”) or it is worthless.
That is what I read in Mark’s post, I have no idea what you read.
That is not the intepretation I came away with. He was responding to my post rather than posting this statement individually. Maybe that is what he meant to do.
Report… report… report, the neighborhoods are still full of them. The problem is they won’t do anything. Carlson knew the penalty for his crimes– get with it. Nothings is going to change. Yak… yak… yak. Everybody knows who they are!
Sad but true!
Of course you should speak up, but be prepared to be on the losing end.
No one will thank you for it. They will jump to the defense of the perp and dismiss your complaint without another thought. After all, how else can you possibly explain how this man continued his abusive ways for as long as he did.
The “ol boy” network is alive and well.
Too sad, too true.
Who knew?
Who knew about the Reverend?
Why an’ what’s the reason for? “Not I,” says the deputy sheriff,
“Don’t point your finger at me.
I saw him fondling little kids in the jail
At two o’clock in the morning.
It’s too bad he had to jump,
But I have a job to do, you know.
It wasn’t me that made him fall.
No, you can’t blame me at all.” Who enabled the child abuse?,Why an’ what’s the reason for?
“Not us,” says the cops.”We saw him parked down on the Valley Road.Thought maybe we would put up camerasBut it’s dark there.Don’t say ‘abuse,’ say ‘what’s the use?’
Who ignored stories of abuse?Why an’ what’s the reason for?”Not me,” says the college president,
Smiling at the reporter on Channel Six,
Sayin’, “I wasn’t to blame
I had a college to run.”
It wasn’t me that made him fall.
No, you can’t blame me at all.”
Who knew about the priest from Weston and Jamaica Plain?
Why an’ what’s the reason for?”Not us,” says the angry monsignors and bishops,
Whose screams filled the sacristy loud.
“It’s too bad he was killed in jail that night
It wasn’t us that made him fall.
No, you can’t blame us at all.” Who let the little children suffer?,
Why an’ what’s the reason for?”Not me,” says Bernard Cardinal Law,
Puffing on a big cigar.
“It’s hard to say, it’s hard to tell,
I always thought everything was ok..
It’s too bad he’s brought this on the Church
But if he was sick, he should’ve said. And I’ve got a plane to catch to Rome.
It wasn’t me that made him fall.
No, you can’t blame me at all.” Who drove the teen-ager to suicide?
Why an’ what’s the reason for?
“Not me,” says the Pope,
With his golden shepherd’s staff in his hand.
I’ve got sheep to fleece
“I knew nothing of this,
My hands never touched him none.
I didn’t commit an ugly sin,
So long as the money’s coming in.
The moral issue of our time is abortion.
It wasn’t me that made him fall.
No, you can’t blame me at all.” Don’t say ‘rape,’ don’t say ‘evil.’
It was destiny, it was God’s will.”
It is a true reflection of the sad state of our society when the police, education and political leaders are identified as those needing a ‘wake-up call’
This is really getting old. I’m tired of seeing this perverts face in the paper!
Yes, I think it has to be like rubbing salt in the wounds for the victims to see his face in the paper again and again. And the rest of us are getting sick of seeing his face too.
November is a chance to get rid of Almy if someone will run against him and the same goes for Ross (who in my opinion should be arrested for interfering with an investigation). This would be a start.
What about Dr. Beardsley?
I wonder if the problem with the devil carlson’s case was that some of those mandated to report did report and the corruption lies with the people to whom the reports were made. That could explain why witnesses such as counselors were not charged and why devil carlson wasn’t stopped. And it could explain the coverup.
I would say so. The “coverup” mindset may be used as justifaction to protect the victims. A painful trial for them, only resulting in a slap on the wrist for the perp. Stronger sentencing is needed.
That is for dam sure! Too many times I have seen sexual abusers plead their case down to “child endangerment” and don’t even have to be on the registry. There are twisted psychiatrists and lawyers in Bangor that will do and say ANYTHING for a price – witnessed first hand. Any child sexual abuse charges should not be allowed to be pleaded down to something so little! There needs to be mandatory minimum sentences for these sickos of society, especially incestuous charges and abuses of power positions like this one……. but at the same time, there needs to be a system of checks and balances to protect people from slanderous lies, I know of a few cases of made-up charges of sexual abuse claims just because someone doesn’t like the other person. People that make-up false charges should also be more harshly punished than they are (frequently not even prosecuted!), and made public to act as a determent.
Good point. Unfortunately just because something is reported, it doesn’t mean a change will occur.
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The other perspective is that the therapist is often seeking to rehabilitate the client into more socially acceptable behaviors; and ‘blowing the whistle’ on one who confesses a crime isn’t exactly therapy in their minds.
This really needs a public forum because most behavioral therapists are liberal/progressive and facilitate many forms of homosexuality including those involving teens who are gay. What we consider a criminal offense, some consider mentoring; what they consider seduction, we consider coercion…..
And then we have all kinds of behavioral and cultural changes….some races have very early puberty, so you find elementary schools where the kids are having sexual relations; and this lowered age of puberty also creates a subtle demand to lower the age of consent, making legal what was once illegal.
Perhaps the BDN will sponsor a public forum where the issues surrounding when and why a therapist must/should inform legal authorities on confessions by a client can be thoroughly discussed.
Citizen intervention is yet another outgrowth… Is putting children on leashes in public responsible parenting or child abuse (Disneyworld)? Or spanking? or should violent nagging also be a crime?
We have become a perplexed and uncivil society.
Kudos to the Bangor Daily News for the continued coverage of the Bob Carlson scourge on our community and for the contined editorials. I do not feel sorry for any of the enablers who looked the other way. I have always informed my clients of my mandated reporter status and worked through the trust issues if it was necessary to make a report to DHS. It is true that DHS has discouraged reports concerning adults, even if they were abused as children, unless the adult was incapacitated in some way. According to DHS, the adult victim needed to make the report. However, if I had known of several victims, or any child suffering abuse, I would have insisted that DHS take the report or sent a written report and informed DHS that I was puttting a copy in the individual’s record. There were no “gray areas” in reports from several individuals of abuse. I do not understand why the therapist(s), police officers, Husson president, jail staff, or any others who knew of this problem made no report. But we do now have an opportunity to raise the bar, to educate, and yes, to shame the organizations that failed to protect little boys.
tinyurl.com/cyk9xz2
WAKE UP CALL? Why? After all, they all got away with turning a blind eye, deaf ear and mute tongue. They sure set a good example in terms of protecting their own at the expense of children. What a tough lesson even their names are protected first by perverts and now by so called mandated reporters and police from local, county and state. Where is the wake up in this? Unless you are saying it is safe to belong to a cohesive group of child molesters i do not see it! MANDATED REPORTER good luck with that. Who do they report to the DA? Priest? Police?
Just learn to ask “why” when something doesn’t look right.
This article is the perfect troll food. The comments here should be colorful. Now to watch as the lemmings follow each other off the cliff.
Where does it hurt? Should we call an ambulance for ya?