Alicia and her Sexual Abuse Red Flags

Children at Valley of the Moon Children’s Home have expressed warning signs of sexual abuse for years; warning signs which went unrecognized by Valley of the Moon Children’s Home and Community Care Licensing staff.

Children from abusive homes are targeted for abuse because it is easy to dismiss warning signs of sexual abuse as signs of previous abuse. Children who have been abused are often seen as less credible if they report abuse because of their previous abuse history. Predators exploit this masking and marginalization of victims to victimize them more.

Valley of the Moon Children’s Home’s history of explicit sexual abuse and undetected sexual abuse make it negligent to dismiss the sexual abuse red flags of children in the home.

Common signs of sexual abuse include inappropriate sexualized dress, inappropriate sexual behavior, incontinence, bed wetting, extreme reactions to being alone in a sexually compromising position, and running away.

Three-hundred-seventy-five sexual abuse warning signs were identified in the physical restraint reports. Warning signs included refusing to take a shower, extreme behavior when alone with staff, attempts to escape being alone with staff, running away, and children expressing that they are afraid of staff as warning signs of sexual abuse.[1]

Alicia: Alicia, a small child, wet her bed.[2] She moved furniture in front of the hallway door to prevent staff from entering her room. She was naked from the waist down and was being supervised by a male supervisor. When female staff member arrived, Alicia was rubbing the genital area on a doll and dancing naked on a counter. The female staff member instructed Alicia to take a bath and she complied, but during the bath Alicia continued to show signs of distress, using self-soothing techniques like talking to herself.

After the bath, the female staff member told Alicia to go get dressed. She refused to leave the great room and go to her bedroom alone with staff. She ran about the facility, talking to herself, and laughing indiscriminately. When she ran into another child's bedroom the female staff member followed.

Alicia became extremely agitated and used protective aggression to escape being alone. She kicked and hit at staff to get her to back out of the doorway. Another female staff member arrived to assist. Instead of leaving Alicia alone, she was put in a team restraint for 10 minutes. When she was released, she lashed out at the staff who restrained her by throwing books. The male supervisor authorized locking Alicia in the Separation Room. Alicia was restrained again, this time an escort restraint, and put in the Separation Room. The lock was engaged. She remained there for an extended period of time.

Alicia exhibited at least seven warning signs of ongoing sexual abuse. Her story not unique and it is irresponsible to ignore the warning signs. 

---

[1] At the time of this report, the restraint incident reports from August 27, 2011 – December 2011 are missing. Foster Change Coalition spent over a year attempting to gather all the reports but Community Care Licensing has yet to provide them. 376 does not include estimates from the missing 2011 documents. With the August 27 – December 31, 2011 the total sexual abuse red flags is estimated at 410.

[2] Alicia is the name we gave this child. Incident Report number 5837-6984