The relationship between child maltreatment and lighting fire
For more than a quarter of a century there has been evidence of a relationship between child maltreatment and arson. Despite the fact that bushfires are a serious concern for all Australians, costing insurers from $80-$100 million dollars a year (and $1 billion for the 2009 Victorian bush-fires alone), little research has been conducted into this problem. American research suggests that up to three-quarters of fire-lighters are juveniles, males outnumbering females by 9:18. An Australian study of 134 young arsonists showed that the average age of starting fires was 5.3 years. Those studied admitted lighting an average of 7.1 fires in the year prior to the study9.
Young arsonists have been found to have a range of problems including sexual abuse, mental illness, suicide ideation, Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, a history of crime, sexual disturbance and family problems. Some also engage in cruelty to animals. All of these are associated with child sex abuse. They often feel the need to express intense anger and hatred, distress, a sense of isolation, a need for power, a cry for help and/or a need to be seen as important or even heroic by reporting their own fires and assisting to extinguish them. The act of arson is also associated with developmental delay, low self-esteem, learning problems, behavioural and psychiatric problems, dysfunctional family backgrounds and a history of all forms of childhood abuse. The connection between fire-lighting and child sexual abuse was made in Dr Hank (Henry) Giarretto’s (1989) clinical writing10. Giarretto was noted for his innovative community-based child sex offender treatment programmes in California. Sebold (1987)11 found that arson was one of nine indicators of child sexual abuse in boys. A study of female arsonists found that 44% had a history of sexual abuse12.
A major fire leads to knee-jerk responses demanding severe punishment. Fire services visit schools to deter juvenile arsonists through fear but more than a quarter of a century after the relationship to child abuse was publicised, few seem to recognise this. A decade ago it was suggested that there was a need for government-funded research and, in addition, there should be bridging conversations between child protection and fire services. It was recognised that a consequence of the failure to provide services to prevent child maltreatment was the highest cost to the community – that caused by bushfires. The cost to governments of a pre-emptive response would be significantly less than the cost of putting out bushfires.
Very young children light fires in and around their homes and rarely intend to cause damage. By comparison, adolescents are more likely to experiment with explosives and light fires away from home. If you have discovered burnt matches or papers and suspect that a child is involved in fire setting, seek advice from your fire service13.
The media can galvanise governments into action
Goddard and Saunders (2001)14 noted the vital role that media plays in reforming child protection policies and practices. Media are essential to the growth of society’s awareness of child maltreatment through ongoing news, coverage of research reports, keynote addresses at conferences, government reports and intervention initiatives. Never a day goes by without child sex abuse court cases being reported in the press. Journalists from all sectors bring the failure and negligence of state child protection agencies to public attention, causing embarrassment to relevant departmental heads and government ministers. When another child dies under the watch of state services, journalists re-visit past cases using emotive headlines. Embarrassed governments then order inquiries that make recommendations for change.
In North America, the UK and Australia, investigative journalists were responsible for exposing massive scandals involving the abuse of children in state care and church communities. As Goddard et al. (2001) confirm, abuse victims often depend on whistleblowers for their future safety.
Although there have been many horrendous child deaths in Australia, the most publicised and influential case was probably that of Daniel Valerio (1990), who, at the age of twenty-eight months, was battered to death by his stepfather15. Media exposed deep flaws in Victoria’s child protection system. This resulted in the state government adopting previously-resisted mandatory reporting laws in 1993. More than 104 bruises were found on Daniel’s body and both his collarbones were fractured. A post-mortem found he died from internal injuries to the abdomen, similar to those suffered in a road traffic accident.
Daniel’s stepfather, Paul Aiton, admitted hitting Daniel “to stop him crying”. What shocked policy makers and the community was that just before his murder, Daniel saw 21 professionals – including GPs and doctors at the children’s hospital and, but only briefly, a teacher. When Daniel was taken to a doctor, with bruising around the eye, forehead and scalp, the doctor “ignored the obvious” and ordered blood tests to check if he had some rare blood disorder.
When Daniel and his mother visited the primary school attended by his sister, a teacher noticed his blank expression, unresponsiveness and listlessness. She asked: “What’s the matter with you, mate?” When describing his response, she said, “He just stared into space … didn’t say a word. He didn’t even acknowledge I was there or that I had touched him. He didn’t close his eyes, he didn’t move his face. He didn’t do anything …” Five days later, Daniel was dead. Apart from one anonymous call to the after-hours Child Protection Service, no one acted to protect the toddler. Shocked policy-makers concluded that the voluntary system of reporting child abuse didn’t work and mandatory reporting laws were introduced.
There is powerful evidence that media can influence change by publicising disturbing details of serious cases of child abuse, igniting public anger and apportioning blame to those responsible. However, unless authorities provide funding to employ a sufficient number of workers and unless those workers have been well prepared for communicating with children and have a sound knowledge of child abuse and child development, deaths will continue to occur. Nowhere has this been more evident than in England.
The influence of media on government policy became most apparent following the death of 7 year old, Maria Colwell. Maria was fostered at an early age and her carers described her as a happy, normal little girl. Her case-workers insisted on family reunification however and, against the child’s wishes, she was returned to her mother and partner, William Kepple16. He had children of his own and blatantly discriminated against Maria17. Many abuse reports were made by neighbours and teachers but, although she appeared to be “a walking skeleton”, social services forced her to remain with Kepple18. On January 6th 1973 she was wheeled in a pram to a hospital suffering from brain damage and severe internal injuries. She died that day19. Aggressive media coverage led to a government inquiry20. It was learned that numerous professionals were aware of the child’s plight but did nothing. Years later, her name remains etched in public consciousness and it is invariably invoked when similar deaths are exposed.
An inquiry resulted in the introduction of a different system of child abuse management21. It aimed to put mechanisms in place for information to be shared by key professionals and ensure that they had the knowledge to recognise child abuse. Coordination between services was the key issue, social service departments were the “lead agencies” and social workers were the statutory professionals responsible for coordinating and operating the system. Area committees would coordinate the work and create policies and procedures for handling cases where children were at risk of abuse. Case conferences would enable professionals to share information, decide what actions to take and monitor progress. When a child protection plan was required the child would be placed on a register which could be consulted by other professionals.
Subsequent inquiries showed that the recommendations were ignored. Within a decade there were 29 additional inquiries into horrendous deaths at the hands of mothers and/or their male partners22. These received considerable media attention focussing on the continued failure of the child protection system and inadequately trained case workers23. Furthermore, it was noted that workers responded to the wishes of parents instead of focussing on the needs and safety of children. Parents are more articulate and more demanding than children and in some cases, workers had neither seen nor communicated with child victims.
The intensity of political and media concern