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   Brothers And Sisters Of Abuse Victims Often Help Cover Up Or Even   
   Commit Abuse, Study Suggests   
      
      
   ScienceDaily (Mar. 6, 2008) -- In many cases, when abusive parents with   
   multiple children target just one child for emotional or physical   
   cruelty, authorities often remove the abused child from the home and   
   return the non-abused siblings.   
      
   But brothers and sisters of abused children can suffer lifelong   
   emotional scars from helping parents conceal the abuse or, in extreme   
   cases, from being forced to participate in torturing their siblings,   
   according to a study published in the current issue of the Journal of   
   Emotional Abuse.   
      
   While psychologists have repeatedly studied the lifelong emotional   
   carnage of untreated abuse victims, scant attention has been paid to   
   their siblings, according to author Jane Hollingsworth, a licensed   
   clinical psychologist and executive director of the Child Abuse   
   Program at Children's Hospital of The King's Daughters.   
      
   "Many children survive by becoming callous to the suffering or even   
   torture of their brothers and sisters," Hollingsworth. "Those children   
   require therapy, but don't get it."   
      
   The article, co-authored by Hollingsworth and Joanne Glass, a child   
   abuse social worker, distills what these clinicians have learned   
   handling hundreds of cases at the hospital's Child Abuse Program.   
      
   The King's Daughters program gathers forensic evidence for police and   
   prosecutors in jurisdictions throughout Virginia and also provides   
   counseling to victims. in dozens of cases throughout their careers,   
   Hollingsworth and Glass have seen parents who focused all their   
   abusive rage on one child, a "scapegoat," as they term it.   
      
   In chilling anecdotes extrapolated from cases, the study chronicles   
   how parents can force siblings to become either emotionally numb or   
   hostile toward the abuse victim. "The coldness of the calculated   
   torment of children detailed in these case histories is so disturbing   
   that it is easy to overlook the effects on siblings," the study   
   observes.   
      
   In one case, Francine (not her real name), a first-grader, was locked   
   in a nine-square-foot closet for eight weeks. She was fed only dry   
   cereal, water and bread.   
      
   "She could not lie down except in a very cramped position," the study   
   relates. The abuse of Francine "escalated into beatings with a wire   
   antenna... The children were encouraged to harm their sister."   
      
   When the therapist spoke to members of the family "all the children   
   agreed that John, the brother who had once taken pity on Francine and   
   released her briefly, was the mother's chief assistant in tormenting   
   his sister."   
      
   In the vast majority of cases, brothers and sisters of the abused   
   child are returned to the home without treatment. In cases such as   
   this, Francine would be treated, and John would be ignored.   
      
   Children such as John "have been taught to be callous, even cruel, to   
   their sibling," said Glass. "Deliberately depriving children of the   
   chance to love a brother or a sister is emotionally abusive. The   
   message to these siblings is that it isn't safe to identify with their   
   brother or sister."   
      
   Untreated, John may suffer an "empathy deficit," the inability to feel   
   empathy for the targeted child and possibly others, a hallmark   
   characteristic of both abuse victims and perpetrators.   
      
   While researchers have documented the chaotic lives of untreated abuse   
   victims, the authors could find little research documenting how child   
   abuse affected the lives of brothers and sisters of scapegoated   
   children.   
      
   The study offers a guide to identifying cases in which siblings of   
   scapegoated children are at risk and urges therapists to identify and   
   treat these collateral victims.   
      
   They also urge researchers to investigate whether the psychic damage   
   to siblings plays out in the dysfunctional lives common to untreated   
   abuse victims.   
      
      
   Story Source:   
      
   The above story is reprinted (with editorial adaptations by   
   ScienceDaily staff) from materials provided by Children's Hospital of   
   The King's Daughters, via EurekAlert!, a service of AAAS.   
      
      
   http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/03/080305163224.htm   
      
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