This article is another in a string of recent articles over the past 12 months that gives me hope that more people are becoming aware of and being made aware of female offenders:
Chicago - Four times recently adult women have been investigated on allegations of sexually abusing some of the state's most vulnerable teen boys— those living in child welfare facilities where they were seeking treatment for abuse, neglect or behavioral problems.
A 29-year-old teacher faces charges of having sex with a 15-year-old in Chicago. A 40-year-old instructor was convicted of having sex with a 16-year-old in a Mundelein institution. A 26-year-old Lake Villa therapist is scheduled to go on trial in April for accusations that she sexually assaulted a 14-year-old.
And now, River Forest police are investigating allegations that a woman in a care-giving role had sexual contact with a teen resident of a child welfare facility.
The string of incidents has raised concern among child welfare officials who wonder if more can be done to protect a fragile population from being preyed upon by the adults who are charged with caring for them.
"Kids in the system are abused and neglected. Their whole emotional and psychological state is often fragile or compromised. To have a therapist or someone in a position of trust like this either manipulate that fragility or take advantage of it, it's abhorrent," he said.
Experts say the public is largely unaware of the problem, in part because statistics show there are fewer female than male sex offenders and because the offenses contradict the perceptions of women as motherly and nurturing. Also, society has tended to wink at such relationships, some even considering the young men lucky to get sexual attention from a more experienced woman.
In Illinois, sexual exploitation of children by teachers and counselors is "unfortunately nothing new," said Kendall Marlowe, spokesman for the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services.
"We must treat these crimes very seriously regardless of whether the perpetrator is a man or a woman," he added. - Read the entire article here
Tuesday, March 16, 2010
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