Understanding Child Sexual Abuse: Perspectives from the Caribbean

293 Pages·2013·0.8 MB·English

by  A. Jones

Understanding Child Sexual Abuse
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Understanding Child
Sexual Abuse
Perspectives from the Caribbean
Edited by
Adele D. Jones
University of Huddersfield, UK
Selection and editorial matter © Adele D. Jones 2013
Individual chapters © their respective authors 2013
All rights reserved. No reproduction, copy or transmission of this
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in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
First published 2013 by
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Contents
List of Tables and Figures vii
Acknowledgements viii
Notes on Contributors ix
Introduction 1
Lorita Joseph
Part I Context, Theory and Caribbean Realities in Tackling
Child Sexual Abuse
1 The Nature of Paradise 9
Priya E. Maharaj
2 The Ontology and Social Construction of Childhood in
the Caribbean 26
Sheron C. Burns
3 Gendered Sexual Relations and Sexualized Gender Relations 38
Ena Trotman Jemmott and Priya E. Maharaj
4 A Legal Perspective of Child Sexual Abuse in the Caribbean,
with a focus on Trinidad and Tobago 51
Betsy Ann Lambert Peterson
5 Using Our Brain: Understanding the Effects of Child
Sexual Abuse 76
Ena Trotman Jemmott
6 Parental Abandonment of Children: Vulnerability to
Sexual Abuse 94
Hazel Da Breo
7 ‘Pimping Your Child’: Commercial Sexual Exploitation and
Transactional Child Sexual Abuse 113
Adele D. Jones
Part II Research and Knowledge Transfer
8 Research on Child Sexual Abuse: Caribbean and
International Perspectives 145
Letnie F. Rock
9 A Culturally Contexted Study of Perceptions, Attitudes
and Opinions on Child Sexual Abuse 168
Adele D. Jones and Ena Trotman Jemmott
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vi Contents
10 Deconstructing Narratives of Child Sexual Abuse 211
Adele D. Jones and Hazel Da Breo
11 IMPACT: Interventions and Mitigations to Prevent the
Abuse of Children – It’s Time – A Public Health Oriented
Systems Model for Change 239
Dominic Pasura, Adele D. Jones and Hazel Da Breo
Conclusion 263
Adele D. Jones
Index 271
List of Tables and Figures
Tables
1.1 Key indicators for six Caribbean countries 11
9.1 Methods as matched against objectives 176
9.2 CSA consequences grid 197
C1 An ecological approach to CSA prevention 268
Figures
3.1 Cross-referencing the CRC and CEDAW for sustainable policies 48
9.1 Risk factors that can increase a child’s vulnerability 195
9.2 Sustaining factors: a systems model 207
10.1 The journey 226
11.1 A systems model: factors that sustain CSA 242
11.2 A whole of society approach 245
11.3 The IMPACT model: an example of implementation 251
11.4 The Centre for Child Protection Research and Practice 259
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Acknowledgements
This book draws on the most recent and wide-ranging study of child sexual
abuse in the Caribbean – ‘Perceptions of, Attitudes to and Opinions on
Child Sexual Abuse in the Eastern Caribbean’ (Jones and Trotman Jemmott,
2009). This research was commissioned by UNICEF, partially funded by the
Department for International Development and carried out by the Centre
for Applied Childhood Studies, the University of Huddersfield, UK and
Action for Children. We are indebted to UNICEF for giving their permission
for excerpts from the research report to be reproduced and we wish to spe-
cifically acknowledge Heather Stewart, Child Protection Specialist, UNICEF
(Barbados) for her tireless work on safeguarding the rights of children in the
Eastern Caribbean and who initiated the study.
We also wish to thank Sue Hanson and Dr Berenice Golding of the University
of Huddersfield for their support in preparing the manuscript.
Finally, we dedicate this book to the survivors of child sexual abuse in the
Caribbean and to those who freely shared their stories and histories in the
hope that lessons learned might prevent the abuse of other children. We too,
share this hope.
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Notes on Contributors
Sheron C. Burns is a teacher–researcher and has taught in Montserrat’s
public schools for over two decades. Currently the country’s Education
Officer for Early Childhood, she has Bachelor’s and Master’s Degrees from the
University of the Virgin Islands, and a PhD specializing in Early Childhood
Education from the University of Alberta, Canada. Her mission is to ensure
children’s rights are enshrined in education policy and practice.
Hazel Da Breo is a psychotherapist working with adults and children in
Grenada on a wide range of issues. She also provides consultancy to several
UN agencies, including UN Women, UNICEF, UNDP and PAHO/WHO in
the areas of Child Protection and Intimate Partner Violence. Dr Da Breo
is the Clinical Supervisor for several community-based programmes at the
Legal Aid and Counselling Clinic in Grenada, and is the founder of the
Sweet Water Foundation, which provides treatments for both victims and
perpetrators of Sexual Violence.
Ena Trotman Jemmott has over a decade of research and programme devel-
opment experience in child protection services in the Caribbean. She also has
a long history of work in the UK with children and families, including health
visiting and managing paediatric and community nursing services. Her
contributions include the infrastructural strengthening for legal reform for
family law and domestic violence for the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean
States and she was also a Principal Investigator for the six island study in
the Eastern Caribbean, ‘Perceptions, Attitudes and Opinions of Child Sexual
Abuse in the Eastern Caribbean’ (Jones and Trotman Jemmott, 2009).
Adele D. Jones is Professor of Childhood Studies and Director of The
Centre for Applied Childhood Studies, at the University of Huddersfield,
UK. Professor Jones has carried out over 24 externally funded research
projects including the six-country UNICEF study of child sexual abuse in
the Eastern Caribbean (Jones and Trotman Jemmott, 2009). She is currently
the Principal Investigator of an EU FP7 Project investigating the mental
health implications for children of parental imprisonment and is develop-
ing a knowledge transfer project which aims to translate into child sexual
abuse research into models of good practice.
Lorita Joseph works as a School Guidance Counsellor in the Republic of
Trinidad and Tobago. She is currently pursuing her PhD in Social Work at
the University of the West Indies, Trinidad. Her research focus has been
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