Former clients of the state's
five treatment centers say the services
are too valuable to cut

By Helen Altonn
Star-Bulletin

THE boy was 9 when he was fondled by the man who taught his dance class.

The girl was 6 when she was sexually assaulted by her stepfather while her mother was on a trip.

The parents, who asked not to be identified to protect the children, say they don't know what they would have done without the Sex Abuse Treatment Center.

They are dismayed about a proposed 40 percent cut in the center's annual $900,688 funding from the state Health Department.

"I just can't understand something so obvious," said the girl's mother.

"Why would you want to close down a center that is so valuable and so needed?"

Center helped pair adjust

The girl, now 15, is athletic and well-adjusted, her mother said.

The mother of the boy, now 12, said he suffered a big personality change and is paranoid. "He thinks people are out to get him."

However, he's "more at ease" since going to the treatment center at Kapiolani Medical Center for Women and Children the past year, she said.

Adriana Ramelli, center director, says she doesn't know if the five centers -- two on Oahu and one each on Maui, Kauai and the Big Island -- can be maintained with state funding chopped.

"There will be major changes in delivery of services."

The state mandates services for abused and neglected children, Ramelli pointed out. "But the state is saying we don't have to take care of this (sexually assaulted) population."

Funds aid quick response

She said the state money is crucial for 24-hour response, counseling and case management services for victims and families.

The total annual budget for statewide services is $1.6 million. The City Council and Victims of Crime Act contribute some funds, but they're restricted for medical and legal services, Ramelli said.

When someone calls the hot line to report a sexual assault, Ramelli said, the center immediately meets the person's emotional needs, gets them to a medical exam, collects evidence and helps with a police report.

Parents in both cases cited here took legal action against the offenders, although they didn't learn of the molestation until long after it occurred.

"He held it in for over a year before he finally blurted it out to me," the boy's mother said.

He had been in a dance class for about two years, then suddenly rebelled against going, she said.

Parents need help too

As she drove him to get a haircut one day, he told her the dance teacher had done things to boys they didn't like, she said. "He had touched them in private places."

A single parent, the boy's mother said the program at the treatment center has helped her as well as her son, oldest of two children. "It's such a hard thing. You feel really alone going through it. There are so many questions and fears."

She said she's a little more optimistic about her son. But, without the center's services, "I don't know if he would ever get over all of this."

The girl's mother said her husband had molested her daughter over three days while she was away. The day after she returned, he said he wanted a divorce and left the house.

Her daughter didn't say anything for two years about what her stepfather had done, the mother said.

"She just blurted it out as if it was yesterday, what he did. I was in total shock."

She said the girl had behavioral problems during the two years but "never in my wildest nightmares would I have thought that (she had been sexually assaulted).

Center barely gets by now

"It wasn't until after her disclosure that all the pieces started to fit together. That's when I got in touch with the Sex Abuse Treatment Center.

"If it wasn't for them, I really don't think my daughter's outcome would have been so good," the mother said.

"That's why I was so outraged when I heard the treatment center's budget was going to be cut, because they barely have their heads above water now, with cuts experienced already.

"God forbid, if the center should have to close down. The state is thinking they're going to save money, but they're just opening a can of worms because down the road, the effects of assault on people are long-term if they don't get treatment."

Center helps all ages

The Sex Abuse Treatment Center:

Treats clients ranging from babies to age 98. Most are under age 18.

Assisted 6,400 people at Kapiolani Medical Center for Women and Children in 1996-97.

Reached 30,000 people in 1996-97 through counseling, crisis or prevention education services at Kapiolani and four other Hawaii treatment centers.

Has a 24-hour hot line -- 524-7273 -- and crisis intervention services provided free to victims. A crisis worker trained in sexual assault trauma accompanies a victim to an emergency room for a medical exam, consultation and referral for services within 72 hours of an assault.

Found in a 1991-1995 study of clients that 68 percent reported their assault to police; 79 percent knew the person who assaulted them; 95 percent under age 10 knew the offender; fathers comprised 18 percent (the largest group) of offenders for children 5 years and younger and 12 percent for children 6 to 11 years old.

Source: Sex Abuse Treatment Center