A Friend of mine works on the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (H.E.L.P.) sub-committee, responsible for today's Hearing - Breaking the Silence on Child Abuse: Protection, Prevention, Intervention and Deterrence. She was telling me about her efforts to secure a panel and asked if I'd be interested in joining. Living in Washington and never being privy to such proceedings that weren't passing by in split second on C-SPAN, I took up her offer. The hearing is a pretty direct result of the Jerry Sandusky/Penn State spectacle. Penn State must cringe every time media replays him walking around in his full-length PSU warm-ups; they should quietly drop off some new warm-ups for him just to cut the cord from the university. Maybe a blaze orange to get him used to the prison onesies.
The whole thing was pretty interesting. Although only about six Senators were present, it was a bipartisan group whom all seemed to be genuine advocates for protecting children and willing to get the facts instead of simply acting upon emotions. They asked each witness for their take and their recommendations. Sheldon Kennedy, a former NHL player who was abused by a junior league coach (whom Mikulski incorrectly stated a couple times played for the United States when she may have meant played in the United States - he's a Canader); Michelle Collins, from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children; and Frank Cervone, from the Support Center for Child Advocates comprised the first panel. Frank Cervone was most adamant about making data-based decisions due to his figure that reported sexual abuse has decreased. Sheldon did a great job as well and discussed things that have been successful in Canada and seemed to be easily translatable to the US.
Although Sheldon said that he never spoke up because of the reputation his coach had, it would have been nice to hear testimony from others as to why they never spoke up or results from when they did. The big takeaway from the hearing is the need for training and education. It will take at least a two-pronged approach: letting children know they can speak up and educating adults on identification of abuse and their irresponsibility to report it (should that become a law). I believe the best way to achieve a quick win without marketing to the entire population is to target groups that work with children and educate them on warning signs and responsibilities. A mandated requirement and sign-off for those applicable entities would eliminate some plausible deniability on responsibilities and hopefully reduce non-reporting of incidents. Also, advising the children that they should trust their coaches but if anything ever makes them uncomfortable, they need to speak up. A simple 5-minute talk at the beginning of a recreation season or yearly at a den meeting (boy scouts, I'm looking at you) should at least let kids know they can speak up and people will listen. Whether a Federal mandate is the best way to do this, I'm not sure. Not every company conducts sexual harassment training and those that do are still guilty of the practice so who knows?
Aside from that, here are some other observations:
Cameras were all over the place; I had to make sure I didn't adjust or do anything stupid for concern it would end up on my permanent record. Mikulski might be half Umpa-Loompa. Babs Boxer is hot for an older, shorter lady. Al Franken might have ADHD/a traumatic brain injury. Rep. Bass' assistant, Jennifer W. is a HOTTIE!
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