Its pathetic that we need the CARE Act of 1999. But we do. This is pretty simple. Right now in most states, if you seduce or rape your neighbor's little girl you go to jail but if you seduce and rape your own little girl, you won't. For some twisted reason, the "child as property" beliefs that permeate our child and family code also corrupt this component of the criminal code. Children are not property. And the seduction, rape and sexual assault of a minor should be a crime independent of the offender. In fact, if the law were to impose severity to reflect the actual harm inflicted by sexual abuse, the law would make it a greater offense to violate your own child. Unfortunately, the current laws reflect an indifferent and ill-informed understanding of children and the impact of incestuous abuse.
This is, of course, outrageous. It is outrageous because we know being abused by a parent is more destructive than being abused by a stranger. We know that children violated by parents have the core elements of their capacity to form and maintain all relationships eroded. Traumatic incest can lead to lifelong damage - to persisting and chronic emotional, behavioral, cognitive and physical problems.
We have invented ourselves. We invented democracy; we invented all of our current laws. A remarkable property of our American invention is that we have been able to "self-correct." We can change. Over the last 200 years we have been able to overthrow destructive social views (e.g., slavery) that corrupted the heart of our society. We have done this in so many arenas – universal public education, immunization, suffrage, and civil rights. We have become a more humane, educated and creative people. But that process is not over. We must turn our focus to children and the persisting destructive policies, practices and laws that impede our progress as an enlightened society.
The CARE Act of 1999 is where the focus should be now. It is a simple and just proposal. It is correcting a long-standing destructive set of practices. It will make the lives of many children better. And it will make us a better people. A healthier, more enlightened society.
Support this Act. Visit the CareAct Website and learn more about this Act, its sponsors and the reasons that you should work to help make this Act new law. (http://www.careact.org). Act and bring this issue to the attention of your friends, colleagues and legislators. It is simply wrong to allow the abusers of children to hide behind the veil of parenthood – a veil they have shred by depraved betrayal of their own children.
Bruce D. Perry, M.D., Ph.D.
March 14, 2000
* The opinions expressed above are those of Dr. Bruce Perry -- and in no way represent the opinions of Baylor College of Medicine, Texas Children's Hospital or The ChildTrauma Academy.
Bruce D. Perry, M.D., Ph.D.
Dr. Perry is the Medical Director, Provincial Programs in Children's Mental Health for the Alberta Mental Health Board. In addition he continues to lead the ChildTrauma Academy, a training and research institute founded in 1990. From 1992 to 2001, Dr. Perry served as the Thomas S. Trammell Research Professor of Child Psychiatry at Baylor College of Medicine and Chief of Psychiatry at Texas Children's Hospital in Houston, Texas.
Dr. Perry's neuroscience research has examined the effects of prenatal drug exposure on brain development, the neurobiology of human neuropsychiatric disorders, the neurophysiology of traumatic life events and basic mechanisms related to the development of neurotransmitters in the brain. His clinical research and practice has focused on traumatized children -- examining long-term cognitive, behavioral, emotional, social, and physiological effects of neglect and trauma in children, adolescents and adults. This work has been instrumental in describing how childhood experiences, including neglect and traumatic stress, change the biology of the brain.
Dr. Perry, one of the world's leading experts in traumatology, is the author of over 150 journal articles, book chapters and scientific proceedings and is the recipient of a variety of professional awards and honors.
Learn more about Dr. Perry's work and the ChildTrauma Academy.
