Phone App Wakes Parents Up to Teen Dating Abuse via WeNews…

Phone App Wakes Parents Up to Teen Dating Abuse via WeNews…

September 13, 2011Leave a commentGo to comments

Parental involvement is key to combating teen dating abuse, says Jane Randel. The Liz Claiborne Inc.’s Love Is Not Abuse campaign has created an iPhone application to educate parents on what their teens may be going through.

For the past seven years, the Liz Claiborne Inc.’s Love Is Not Abuse initiative has worked to combat and prevent teen dating abuse. One of the key insights gleaned during that time is that parental involvement and guidance are essential to preventing teen dating abuse.

We’ve also learned that there are inherent challenges to parental intervention. Although parents recognize dating abuse as a problem, many believe the issue simply does not affect their child. Many also don’t realize that technology has become a platform for abuse.

Teen dating abuse is much more prevalent than many parents think; 10 percent of U.S. high school students reported experiencing assault by a boyfriend or girlfriend in the past year, according to Adolescent Health study authors Emily Rothman, an associate professor of community health sciences at the Boston University School of Public Health, and Dr. Elizabeth Miller, division of adolescent medicine chief at Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh.

And dating abuse is not only physical. Other, very common, forms of abuse include emotional and digital abuse. A recent study commissioned by Liz Claiborne Inc. found that 1-in-4 teens report being abused by a boyfriend or girlfriend through technology.

The need to engage parents is why we have created the Love Is Not Abuse iPhone application (app), an exciting new resource designed to educate parents and get them talking to their teens. The app informs parents about the warning signs of dating violence and emotional and digital dating abuse. Included are tips on how to talk to your teen about dating abuse and national resources to get help.

Various Developers

The app was developed with leading experts, researchers,

parents affected by dating abuse and partner organizations, including LoveIsRepect.org, the New York-based Joyful Heart Foundation and Break the Cycle and the National Network to End Domestic Violence, both based in Washington, D.C., among others.

When we recently launched the app, Denise DeZao, a mother of a teen dating abuse survivor, shared her experiences with teen dating abuse and explained why she believes the app is critical to educating parents about abuse.

“At the time, I did not recognize that my daughter was involved in an abusive relationship,” she said. “I now realize that the red flags were rapidly waving in front of me. When I experienced the app for the first time, I had the oddest sensation. I felt as if I could totally and completely experience how my daughter must have felt in her relationship. If resources like this app had been available to us then, I am confident that I would have acted upon the signs and intervened in the early stages of the relationship.”

Education is key to prevention. Parents must take a proactive approach and educate themselves on teen dating abuse before their teens enter relationships.

Resources are readily available in the app, and while some parents may find initial conversations uncomfortable, it is our hope that the Love Is Not Abuse app will be utilized to help prevent dating violence and wake parents up to the reality of teen dating abuse.

Jane Randel is senior vice president of corporate communications and brand services at Liz Claiborne Inc. Randel spearheads the company’s award-winning, cause marketing program, Love Is Not Abuse, to generate awareness, educate the public and ultimately prevent violence against women. She is on the National Advisory Board of the National Domestic Violence Hotline and is a member of the Pennsylvania Coalition Against Rape/National Sexual Violence Resource Center’s Honorary Board.

By Jane Randel, WeNews commentator.]

Teen Dating Abuse Facts:

*60% parents cannot sufficiently identify the warning signs of abuse

*1 in 4 teens report verbal, physical, emotional or sexual abuse

*1 in 5 high school girls have been physically or sexually abused by a dating partner

*Dating violence among peers is reported by 54% of high school students.

*1 in 3 teens report knowing a friend or peer who has been physically hurt by his or her partner through violent actions which included hitting, punching, kicking, slapping and/or choking

*80% of teens believe verbal abuse is a serious issue for their age group

*Nearly 80% of girls who have been victims of physical abuse in their dating relationships continue to date the abuser.

*Nearly 20% of teen girls who have been in a relationship said their boyfriend had threatened violence or self-harm in the event of a break-up.

*The majority of teen dating abuse occurs in the home of one of the partners.

Teen Dating Abuse Warning Signs:

• Isolation: Does your daughter have fewer friends than she did before meeting her boyfriend? This speaks to the isolation that an abusive boy imposes on a girlfriend. He might isolate her first from her friends, then from her outside activities and then her family. She can then become emotionally dependent on him, and find it difficult to leave.
• Emotional Changes: In the early infatuation stage of any relationship girls are often happy. Once the boy becomes abusive, she begins feeling sad and desperate. She may cry more or want to be alone.
• Constant Communication: Does your daughter’s boyfriend constantly call or text her, and she must call him back immediately? He might ask her where she is, what she’s doing, who she’s with, what time she’ll be back and how many other boys she has spoken to.
• Jealousy Issues: You might notice the boyfriend’s jealousy. If your daughter looks at or speaks casually with another boy, does he get upset? Did he tell her that he loved her early in the relationship? This is his “hook.” Your daughter might find this romantic, but it could be another red flag for jealousy and issues with control.
• The Boyfriend’s Background: If your daughter’s boyfriend comes from a tragic home life, it could mean trouble. He might not be far behind in his parent’s footsteps if they use drugs or are abusive to him or each other.
• The Need to Impress: When he gives her “advice” about her choice in friends, hairstyle, clothes or makeup, notice if she’s following his every word. Your daughter is likely in complete denial and may be in fear of what he will do to her if she doesn’t change.
• Making Excuses for Him: Your daughter might stick-up for her boyfriend, defending his words and actions. Don’t let her denial force you to ignore your gut! He may have convinced her that she’s too sensitive when he calls her names or told her he’s “only kidding.”

If you keep the line of communication open with her, you’ll be able to notice more signs. For more information, call the National Teen Dating Abuse Helpline at 866-331-9474, LoveIsNotAbuse at  866.331.9474 or the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 800-799-SAFE.

Take care and STAY SAFE!

Father found guilty of all 83 sex crimes against daughter Hard-hitting testimony of courageous young woman (Part 2 of 2)

The DNA evidence was damning, but there is little doubt that his daughter's compelling testimony made the biggest impact on the jury in the six-day trial.

The 30-year-old woman, who had endured a 14-year nightmare at his hands, had only managed to fashion her escape when she summoned up the courage to walk into a garda station in 2000.

Her resolve was tested on several occasions since then and her final test came just over a week ago, when she had to face him down in the forbidding confines of courtroom No 3 in Castlebar courthouse.

As she was called to give evidence -- and nobody doubted that her testimony alone would either make or break the case -- she had to walk past him as he stared her down from his seat not far from the witness box.

She walked slowly past him, looking straight ahead and took the Bible in her hand to be sworn in. It was only when asked to give her name that the handful of people present in the court got an idea of how badly she wanted to distance herself from the man who called himself her father.

As he looked up at her and moved to touch the blue rosary beads around his neck, she declined to use his family name and chose instead her mother's maiden name.

For the most part, she was unemotional and gave simple, concise, but utterly compelling answers as she was guided through her evidence by prosecution counsel Paul Burns. At each break in proceedings, she left the witness box and the female garda was quickly by her side, once again forming a barrier between her and her father.

But she had yet to endure cross-examination. Martin Giblin is one of the country's foremost criminal defence barristers and he tested her answers on each and every issue of substance. She was not found wanting.

As her ordeal finally ended and she left the witness box for the last time, her shoulders began to shake. Just a little at first. But as she was met in front of her father by her ever-present garda escort, a sob escaped her lips.

It was gut-wrenching stuff and the jury members were clearly battling with their own emotions.

Only those intimately involved in the case know the young woman's name. And that's as the law decrees it should be in order to protect her as a victim and her family. As such, few will ever get to tell her how courageous she was; what a fine thing she did.

http://exposereport.com/enews/component/content/article/38-sex-offender-news/145-father-found-guilty-of-all-83-sex-crimes-against-daughter

Father found guilty of all 83 sex crimes against daughter (Part 1 of 2

A father in the Republic has been convicted of 83 charges of raping and indecently assaulting his daughter.

The 49-year-old man, who cannot be named for legal reasons, had been convicted on Wednesday of a total of 21 charges of rape, buggery and indecent assault.

Yesterday, the jury of seven men and five women at the Central Criminal Court, sitting in Castlebar, Co Mayo, found him guilty on all 62 remaining counts of rape.

He had denied all charges, which dated from 1986 to 2000.

In shocking evidence to the court, the victim, who is now aged 30, said that her father had first raped her when she was just five or six years of age.

He had put her over an object in a press and raped her from behind.

She said in her evidence: "He told me, 'It's only going to hurt for a while. It's a game we're playing -- we can't tell your mother about it.'

"He kept raping me after I had my (first) daughter. He'd perform sex on you every way, you know."

When she was queried about how often her father would have sex with her, she replied: "Every chance he got."

Forensic scientist Michael Burrington gave evidence that, from studying DNA profiles, he concluded that there was an almost 100pc probability of her father being the father of her two daughters, rather than any other man.

The accused man chose not to give any evidence during the seven-day trial, but the jury heard that he denied all of his daughter's allegations when questioned by gardai.

In memos of garda interviews read to the court, it was put to him that his daughter had described him as a violent man.

He insisted that his daughter was free to come and go as she wished. "I have no violent voice. I love my children. She will come to her senses," he told gardai.

On Wednesday the jury found him guilty of five charges of rape, eight of buggery and eight of indecent assault.

When they returned to court yesterday morning to resume their deliberations, Mr Justice Barry White told them that he would accept a majority verdict in respect of any of the remaining counts on the indictment.

After deliberating for almost three-and-a-half hours, the jury returned with guilty verdicts on all counts.

The judge told them that it was not an easy task to sit in judgment of one's fellow man. In a case such as this, it was perhaps even more difficult.

Prosecution said it would require some time to prepare a victim impact statement.

Sentencing was adjourned to the Central Criminal Court in Dublin on December 13.

The judge remanded the convicted man in custody to that date and ordered that his name be entered on the Sex Offenders Register.