Identifying Child Molesters: Preventing Child Sexual Abuse by Recognizing the Patterns of the Offenders

by Van Dam; Carla

• ISBN13: 9780789007421
• ISBN10: 0789007428
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2001-02-14
• Publisher: Routledge

Summary

Stop abuse before it starts! Identifying Child Molesters: Preventing Child Sexual Abuse by Recognizing the Patterns of the Offenders will teach you to better protect children from potential child sexual molesters long before any abuse can actually occur. Here you'll learn to recognize and understand the seemingly invisible steps that typically precede child sexual abuse. These stories of molesters, their families, and their victims, will enable you to more accurately see through a potential molester's charming demeanor and better protect the children in your life. Understanding the behavior that molesters often exhibit when trying to obtain access to children is essential to protecting children from their advances. By becoming familiar with this terrain you will find the courage and strength to decide what must be done, and the skills to follow through with the necessary actions. Such responses will appropriately curtail an offender's access to children and subsequent opportunities to molest. Identifying Child Molesters will teach you: how to recognize those who might molest how molesters typically 'charm'adults how societal attitudes help to foster child sexual abuse what to do when encountering a potential molester what physical and emotional damage molestation can cause to victims how to graciously avoid potentially dangerous situations Identifying Child Molesters: Preventing Child Sexual Abuse by Recognizing the Patterns of the Offenders clearly spells out the techniques that child sexual molesters so successfully use to charm adults into giving them access to children. When these strategies are seen and understood, adults can take much more direct responsibility for preventing child sexual abuse than was previously possible. Anyone who lives or works with children needs to own this book. The information you'll encounter in Identifying Child Molesters might startle you, but it might also help you save the life of a child!

Author Biography

Dr. Carla van Dam is a clinical and forensic psychologist working in the state of Washington

Table of Contents

Foreword	vii
Gavin de Becker
Acknowledgments	xi
Introduction	1	(10)
The Problem	11	(30)
Case Studies	12	(29)
Knowing It Is a Problem: The Need for Clarity	41	(16)
Clear Definitions	41	(2)
Guiding Treatment	43	(1)
Guiding Research	44	(1)
Guiding Relationships	45	(1)
Guiding Interventions	46	(11)
Why It Is a Problem: What Is the Harm?	57	(18)
Psychological Issues	60	(9)
Moral Issues	69	(2)
Cultural Issues	71	(4)
Prevalence: How Often Does It Happen?	75	(6)
Characteristics of the Child Molester: Who Does It?	81	(8)
Demographics	81	(8)
The Grooming Process: How Do They Do It?	89	(26)
Sexual Attraction to Children	90	(2)
Justifying the Interest	92	(4)
Grooming the Adult Community	96	(7)
Grooming the Child	103	(12)
The Social Climate That Helps Foster It: Turning a Blind Eye	115	(22)
Attitudes Toward Children	115	(2)
Attitudes Toward Women	117	(5)
Societal Denial	122	(5)
Molester Denial	127	(10)
Visible Grooming	137	(24)
Current Prevention Strategies	138	(4)
Visible Grooming of Adults	142	(19)
Setting Boundaries to Help Prevent Child Sexual Abuse	161	(34)
Intervening with a Potential Child Molester	161	(34)
Summary	195	(6)
Appendix: Legal Definitions	201	(4)
References	205	(14)
Additional Resources	219	(2)
Index	221