Prevention and Safety Planning
While it is important to understand all of the issues surrounding abuse, neglect, and exploitation committed against persons with
developmental disabilities, the ultimate goal of the Agency's Zero Tolerance Initiative is to prevent such abuse, neglect, and
exploitation before it has the chance to even occur.
The following information will identify a number of ways in which you can assist persons with developmental disabilities decrease
the likelihood that they will ever have to experience abuse, neglect, and exploitation. The purpose of this section is to learn
how you can help prevent abuse, neglect, and exploitation, and how you can plan pro-actively to limit situations where they may occur.
Please select a topic:
Preventions Methods
Methods for preventing abuse, neglect, and exploitation can be into two separate groups: primary prevention and secondary prevention.
Primary prevention includes those activities, services and supports designed to prevent abuse, neglect, and exploitation of persons with developmental disabilities before those instances can occur.
Examples of primary prevention include:
Providing education and self-protection information directly to consumers so they can be made aware of what behaviors on the part of their caregivers constitute abuse, neglect, or exploitation, how to avoid becoming victimized, and who they can talk to if they have concerns or questions about the actions of their caregivers.
- Education of direct care staff members on the sexual misconduct law (which makes sexual activity between a consumer and their service provider a crime).
- Background screening/reference checks of prospective caregivers (before they begin working with consumers on an unsupervised basis).
- Unannounced visits at different times of day for the purposes of monitoring caregiver behaviors and activities.
- Growing of social circles so that the person with the developmental disability is not alone on a frequent and regular basis.
Secondary prevention includes those activities, services and supports for those individuals who have already been abused, neglected and exploited. These efforts are designed to identify and end ongoing abuse, neglect, and exploitation.
Examples of secondary prevention include:
- Education of direct care staff in recognizing and reporting the signs and symptoms of abuse, neglect, and exploitation.
- Full cooperation with police and DCF investigators to help ensure the arrest, prosecution and successful conviction of perpetrators.
- Modification of augmentative communication devices (used by persons with developmental disabilities who are unable to speak) so that abuse, neglect, and exploitation can be easily and quickly reported.
- Expansion of social circles so that more individuals would be involved in the person's life and would therefore be able to identify and report suspected cases of abuse, neglect, and exploitation.
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Knowing the Neighborhood
Awareness of the names, faces, and addresses of convicted felons living nearby should be a key element of every safety and abuse prevention plan.
When you visit the website http://www.familywatchdog.us/ you can enter your home address and a map will pop up with your address appearing as a small
icon of a house. There will be red, blue and green dots surrounding your entire neighborhood. When you click on any one of those dots, a picture of
a criminal will appear with his or her home address and the description of the crime he or she has committed.
This website was developed by John Walsh of the television show "America's Most Wanted" and serves as another tool we can all use to help prevent
crimes against persons with developmental disabilities.
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Prevention Efforts Agency Providers Can Implement with Their Employees
To prevent abuse of people with developmental disabilities in licensed residential facilities, adult day training programs, and other service delivery settings, administrators must strive to enhance job satisfaction and create positive work environments for staff. Good communication and teamwork are essential to cultivate employees' positive attitudes toward their jobs. Recognition that clients are consumers of their services also helps keep people with developmental disabilities safe. Employee counseling and staff support programs need to be in place when problems do occur.
Supervisory leadership
- Models and rewards good caregiving
- Models good communication and teamwork within the facility
- Models and cultivates positive attitudes about people with developmental disabilities
- Promotes a work culture of zero tolerance for abuse, neglect, and exploitation
- Encourages a team approach to dealing with behavior management
Management practices/attitudes
- Supervisors provide good role models
- Adequate and well-prepared staff
- Realistic expectations of staff responsibilities
- Recognition that clients are service consumers
- Administrative efforts to enhance job satisfaction for staff members who provide direct services, such as incentives and rewards for good caregiving
- Employee counseling and staff support programs available
Policies and procedures
- Emphasis on inclusion versus segregation and isolation of clients
- Required criminal records and background checks for all staff, as part of a thorough pre-employment screening
- Clear abuse/neglect policies and procedures, including:
- Required reporting of all incidents of suspected abuse and neglect within the facility
- Consistent enforcement of reporting policies
- Protection for staff and clients who report
- Sanctions for those who do not report observed or suspected abuse, neglect, and exploitation
- Commitment to non-aversive behavior management strategies
Ongoing staff training
- Inservice training and written information available to all staff about the particular developmental disabilities of the clients they serve and the behaviors that are typical for persons with these disabilities
- Positive Behavior Support training for dealing with challenging behaviors
- Training in non-violent strategies for managing crisis situations
- Support services for dealing with work-related stress
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Tips For Staying Safe From Sexual Abuse
Keeping doors locked is a practical way to prevent sexual abuse. Here are some more tips for staying safe from sexual abuse that may be shared with people with developmental disabilities and their caregivers.
Recognize that you have rights
One of the most important things you can do to protect yourself is to know that you have rights.
- You have the right to decide who will touch your body, and how and when you will be touched.
- You have the right to sex education and information that will help you to understand healthy sexual activities and relationships.
- You have a right to be respected and to make decisions about your own sexual activities.
- You have a right to have safe relationships and to not be abused.
Discriminate between good touch, bad touch, and uncomfortable touch
Know the difference between good touch (hugs, comfortable pats), and bad touch (hitting, slapping, hurting), and uncomfortable touch (touch in private parts that make you feel uncomfortable).
Know the difference between good secrets and bad secrets
There is a difference between good secrets (memories of fund times between friends), and bad secrets (when someone doesn't want you to tell anyone what he or she did to you).
Trust your instincts
If something feels dangerous or intrusive to you, you have a right to say "No," and to protect yourself from harm.
Just say "No!"
Even someone you know can try to sexually abuse you. Remember that you have the right to say "no" to any unwanted touch, even from a boyfriend or girlfriend, caregiver, attendant, family member, healthcare professional or other trusted person in your life.
Tell Them to Stop, and Tell Someone
If someone touches you in a sexual way, and you do not want them to, tell that person to stop. Then be sure that you tell someone what happened. You can tell a counselor, staff person, your parents, your doctor, or someone else you trust.
Talk to Someone You Trust
If you think someone has sexually abused you, talk to someone you trust. It can help to get a second opinion of the situation and how to handle it. There may be a local sexual assault hotline in your community that you can call for support, counseling, or other referral.
Call 911
Remember to call the police (911) if you think that someone is trying to get into your home. Even if you are not sure what is happening, it is best to call the police. Also, notify police immediately if you have been physically harmed or sexually abused.
Source: Disability Services ASAP, 2002; Graham, 2000.
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Additional Tips for Caregivers in Preventing Sexual Abuse
Research indicates that the single most important way to prevent sexual abuse is through education and self-protection training for consumers.
Unfortunately, society has traditionally viewed individuals with developmental disabilities as asexual, "eternal children" and there has not been a great effort to provide any type of sexuality information to these individuals.
By not acknowledging or understanding these individuals' need for knowledge and appropriate sexual expression, society is responsible for creating a culture of ideal victims. By ignoring this issue, we may also be contributing to creating even more perpetrators of these crimes as many people with developmental disabilities (who have not been taught otherwise) may seek to express themselves sexually in inappropriate and, sometimes, illegal ways.
Some caregivers feel uncomfortable talking to persons with developmental disabilities about sexual activities. Keep in mind that many people may feel uncomfortable talking about this subject. This is understandable and expected. You most likely will feel more comfortable once you get started. Use of printed materials appropriate to the person's cognitive level will help.
Here are some tips to make the discussion easier.
- Recognize the person's need to know
Don't assume that the person does not need to know about sexuality just because of her or his disability. We all need accurate information about our bodies to feel good about ourselves, to protect ourselves, and to take care of our bodies appropriately.
- Set boundaries
Don't permit a child with a developmental disability to engage in inappropriate sexual behavior. This kind of behavior won't be tolerated by others as the child grows up, and it is easiest to discourage it while the child is still young. The same rules should apply to a child with a disability as to other children. For example, a child should not get away with inappropriately touching your body just because he has mental retardation. It is appropriate to set boundaries for a child's sexual behavior, as long as you do so in a way that is clear, open, and does not make her or him feel guilty for being sexual.
- Identify appropriate behavior in public and private
Be very clear about what can be done in private (such as masturbation), and what can be done in public (such as hugging). This concept often presents problems for people with cognitive disabilities, and can put them at risk for socially unacceptable behavior.
- Teach children protective behaviors
For example, teach men to use a urinal properly. Do not teach men to drop their pants at the urinal. While this may be easier to teach and more convenient for them and their caregivers to manage when they are small, this behavior marks these men as easy targets for sexual predators. (O'Neill, 2003)
- Use appropriate names for genitals
Use appropriate names for genitalia to "demystify" these body parts. (Graham, 2000) This helps to clarify perceptions of the body and its functions, and thereby opens the lines of communication. Let persons with developmental disabilities talk about their "private areas" and tell them about the issues and boundaries of privacy.
- Seek help when you need it
There are a number of books, videos, and other sources of information which can help in the development of a safety plan against abuse, neglect, and exploitation. If you feel you need assistance or information, contact your local APD office for additional resources or ideas.
Source: Abuse and Neglect of Children and Adults with Developmental Disabilities: A Web Course for Health and Other Professionals, Virginia Commonwealth University, 2005.
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