The Worthy Adversary

Category: Child safety

  • T-minus 2 for SB 131

    As of this writing, there is no new new news on SB 131. California Governor Jerry Brown has until Sunday to sign the bill, veto it, or do nothing. If he signs the bill or does nothing, SB 131 will become law on January 1, 2014

    Let’s keep our fingers crossed for victims—all victims. Why? Because ALL victims will benefit if SB 131 becomes law.

    According to Brown’s website, here is the status of many of the bills that have crossed his desk:

    • AB 218 by Assemblymember Roger Dickinson (D-Sacramento) – Employment applications: criminal history.
    • AB 256 by Assemblymember Cristina Garcia (D-Bell Gardens) – Pupils: grounds for suspension and expulsion: bullying.
    • AB 389 by Assemblymember Das G. Williams (D-Santa Barbara) – Private schools: employees: criminal background checks.
    • AB 514 by Assemblymember Rob Bonta (D-Alameda) – The Safe Schools for Safe Learning Act of 2013.
    • AB 547 by Assemblymember Rudy Salas (D-Bakersfield) – 21st Century High School After School Safety and Enrichment for Teens program.
    • AB 595 by Assemblymember Jimmy Gomez (D-Northeast Los Angeles) – Community colleges: priority enrollment.
    • AB 610 by Assemblymember Katcho Achadjian (R-San Luis Obispo) – State hospitals: involuntary treatment.
    • AB 626 by Assemblymember Nancy Skinner (D-Berkeley) – School nutrition.
    • AB 635 by Assemblymember Tom Ammiano (D-San Francisco) – Drug overdose treatment: liability.
    • AB 647 by Assemblymember Wesley Chesbro (D-Arcata) – The Alcoholic Beverage Control Act: beer manufacturers: containers.
    • AB 753 by Assemblymember Bonnie Lowenthal (D-Long Beach) – Cognitively impaired adults: caregiver resource centers.
    • AB 899 by Assemblymember Shirley N. Weber (D-San Diego) – Academic content standards: English language development standards.
    • AB 955 by Assemblymember Das G. Williams (D-Santa Barbara) – Community colleges: intersession extension programs. A signing message can be found here.
    • AB 974 by Assemblymember Isadore Hall III (D-Compton) – Patient transfer: nonmedical reasons: notice to contact person or next of kin.
    • AB 1025 by Assemblymember Cristina Garcia (D-Bell Gardens) – Public postsecondary education: credit by examination.
    • AB 1068 by Assemblymember Richard H. Bloom (D-Santa Monica) – Pupil records.
    • AB 1358 by Assemblymember Paul Fong (D-Cupertino) – Student body association: student representation fees.
    • SB 168 by William W. Monning (D-Carmel) – Farm labor contractors: successors: wages and penalties.
    • SB 236 by Senator Fran Pavley (D-Agoura Hills) – School districts: four-day school week: Moorpark Unified School District.
    • SB 368 by Senator Fran Pavley (D-Agoura Hills) – Teachers: added authorization in special education.
    • SB 390 by Senator Roderick D. Wright (D-Los Angeles) – Employee wage withholdings: failure to remit.
    • SB 435 by Senator Alex Padilla (D-Pacoima) – Compensation: meal and rest or recovery periods.
    • SB 440 by Senator Alex Padilla (D-Pacoima) – Public postsecondary education: Student Transfer Achievement Reform Act.
    • SB 530 by Senator Roderick D. Wright (D-Los Angeles) – Criminal offenders: rehabilitation.
    • SB 534 by Senator Ed Hernandez (D-West Covina) – Health and care facilities.
    • SB 590 by Senator Kevin De León (D-Los Angeles) – School personnel: professional development for classified school employees.
    • SB 651 by Senator Fran Pavley (D-Agoura Hills) – Developmental centers and state hospitals.
    • SB 669 by Senator Bob Huff (R-Diamond Bar) – Emergency medical care: epinephrine auto-injectors.
    • SB 681 by Senator Ed Hernandez (D-West Covina) – Community college districts: personal property.

    Governor Brown also announced that he has vetoed the following bills.

    • AB 300 by Assemblymember Henry T. Perea (D-Fresno) – Telecommunications: prepaid mobile telephony services: state surcharge and fees: local charges collection. A veto message can be foundhere.
    • AB 375 by Assemblymember Joan Buchanan (D-Alamo) – School employees: dismissal or suspension: hearing. A veto message can be found here.
    • AB 622 by Assemblymember Nora Campos (D-San Jose) – School districts: charter school petitions: Internet posting. A veto message can be found here.
    • AB 704 by Assemblymember Robert Blumenfield (D-Woodland Hills) – Emergency medical services: military experience. A veto message can be found here.
    • AB 1287 by Assemblymember Sharon Quirk-Silva (D-Fullerton) – Student financial aid: Cal Grant Program eligibility. A veto message can be found here.
    • AB 1409 by Assemblymember Steven Bradford (D-Gardena) – Public utilities: voice communications: Moore Universal Telephone Service Act. A veto message can be found here.
    • SB 284 by Senator Kevin De León (D-Los Angeles) – Income taxes: credits: contributions to education funds. A veto message can be found here.
    • SB 285 by Senator Kevin De León (D-Los Angeles) – Student financial aid: Cal Grant Program. A veto message can be found here.
    • SB 398 by Senator Cathleen Galgiani (D-Stockton) – Horse racing: distribution of proceeds. A veto message can be found here.
    • SB 655 by Senator Roderick D. Wright (D-Los Angeles) – Fair Employment and Housing Act: unlawful practices. A veto message can be found here.
    • SB 723 by Senator Lou Correa (D-Santa Ana) – Veterans. A veto message can be found here.

  • So … what’s going on with SB 131?

    Here is the latest on SB 131:

    • Governor Brown has until October 13 (a previous blog post said October 10) to sign the bill, veto the bill, or do nothing.
    • If he signs the bill or does nothing, SB 131 becomes law. As written, the law would go into effect on January 1, 2014.
    • If Brown vetoes the bill, SB 131 is dead.

    What is the difference between signing the bill and doing nothing? Think of the bill like it’s your 40th birthday. Signing the bill is throwing yourself a 40th birthday party. You invite all of your friends, laugh, take photos and have a great time. If you do nothing, you turn 40 anyway. Quietly. Hoping that no one notices.

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    A veto is another story. In that case, the bill is dead and victims lose the right to use the civil court system for justice.

    There is still time to write Brown and tell him to support SB 131. Click here to write him right now, and tell all of your friends.

    I know that there are survivors across California carefully watching this bill and wondering what their next steps are. If you have questions, leave them in the comments or email me directly. A good therapist is a great start. So is talking to other survivors who have been through the process.

     

  • QUIZ: How safe is your child’s school?

    My inbox fills up this time every year with emails from panicked parents who write and ask me if their school is a safe place for their kids. Sometimes, I can give parents a history of accused or arrested predators who have worked or volunteered at a particular campus, but that usually doesn’t tell the whole story.

    Abuse and cover-up thrive because of an administrative and organizational attitude. “Safe environment” programs and background checks are useless unless this attitude is changed from the top down AND the bottom up.

    But how do you know the attitude of your school?

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    I do not provide answers to the questions I give below. You will see that many of the positive and negative scenarios I pose apply equally to public and private education. My goal here is to create a discussion and and a starting point for parents who—for way too long—have simply not known the right questions to ask. While there are no right or wrong responses, your answers will clue you in to your school’s “attitude” and whether or not it is a place where transparency, accountability and child safety can thrive.

    Questions to ask yourself about the safety of your child’s school

    1) Are pastors, teachers and/or administrators hired without input from parents?

    2) Does campus leadership have to answer to an off-site administrator? If so, are problems dealt with swiftly, openly and according to the law and common sense … or behind closed doors? Are wrongdoers held accountable?

    3) Is there someone on campus (a priest, rabbi, etc) who has an implied, religious or real power over students and staff? If this person is disobeyed, is it considered a sin or an affront to God?

    4) Are parents discouraged from being on campus?

    5) Has there been a recent large turnover of teachers and administrators beyond normal attrition, pregnancy and retirement?

    6) Have other issues been handled “in secret” because of a fear of scandal or the concern that people “just won’t understand”?

    7) Have there been incidents of embezzlement at the school? How long did it go on? (Embezzlers often feel that they are ‘owed’ money for work they do above and beyond the call of duty. In many cases, it’s because they have covered for the crimes of others. Also, in numerous cases in the Catholic Church, predators have embezzled money to pay for gifts for victims, trips and to cover their tracks.)

    8) Does “zero tolerance” only apply to students? Or only to SOME students?

    9) Have there been rumors of the harassment of parents who complain or of teachers who raise red flags? Have you been able to substantiate these rumors?

    10) Have you done a google news search of the school, including the search terms “lawsuit” and “arrest”?

    11) Do you just have a gut feeling?

    12) Have long-time families left the school and enrolled their children elsewhere?

    14) Is the school open to new ideas and input?

    15) Are administrators dogmatic when they should be flexible?

    16) Are teachers easily transferred or removed with little to no explanation to parents.

    17) Is your school considered a “dumping ground” for bad teachers and administrators?

    18) Are teachers retained solely to to tenure or union affiliation? 

    I could provide explanations for these questions, but that would make this blog post a book-length manuscript. If you have specific questions, please leave them in the comments.

    I realize that many parents to not have educational options for their children. But the more we address the issues, the more we can empower parents to demand safe and transparent schools.

     

  • John Urell and the ol’ “Forgiveness vs. Accountability” argument

    Msgr. John Urell is back in the headlines again, this time featured in the latest document dump by religious orders in the Los Angeles Archdiocese.

    From Gustavo Arellano at the OC Weekly:

    At the end of the 121-page report is the memo, detailing a conversation that a Vicentian Fathers and Brothers investigator had with Urell after a former prospective seminarian had come forward to claim that Ruhl had made him kneel down, naked, then shoved his face into Ruhl’s crotch “for his penance.”

    Urell reassured the Vicentian investigator that Ruhl “was on ‘inactive leave’ and that there were no expectations that he would ever return to active ministry.” Reason? Ruhl “had been confronted with another case of similar inappropriate behaviour and that a lie-detector test had indicated that there was reason to suspect that there had possibly been other inappropriate behaviours.”

    Did Urell and the Orange diocese ever report Ruhl to the police? Nope. Did Urell ever tell parents at St. Joseph that they lied to them when announcing Ruhl had gone on leave to care for a mythical sick relative? Nope.

    And Urell still has a job as the pastor at St. Timothy’s parish. There is even a nifty photo of him on the website.

    John Urell: a pathetic excuse for a holy man
    John Urell: a pathetic excuse for a holy man

    Which leads me to my point: It’s way past time for John Urell to go. How many more crimes—facilitating child sex abuse and covering up for offenders—does he need to commit?

    But I can hear the Urell defenders now … It’s back to the ol’ “Forgiveness vs. Accountability” argument.

    “Oh, Joelle,” they say. “Quit being so angry and forgive him. He is such a nice guy and has done so much good for so many people. He was so kind when my mother died/we got married/my child was ill/I needed someone to listen to me.”

    Here’s the deal – I HAVE forgiven him. Forgiveness is the gift I give myself. I don’t lay awake at night, harboring anger and resentment towards John Urell. In fact, I am emotionally neutral towards him. I don’t have the time to be angry—I have a child and a family and a life to lead. But I always have time to seek justice. Forgiveness does not mean that Urell is no longer accountable.

    Remember: No matter how nice Urell is or how awesome his homilies are, he owes a HUGE debt to victims, their families and Catholics for his crimes of cover-up. Also, since we have never seen any “acts of contrition and reparation” on Urell’s part—or any punishment meted by his supervisors—we cannot be assured that he knows what he did was wrong. We also cannot be assured that he would not do it again. Remember, Msgr. William Lynn went to jail for doing the same things that Urell got away with for years.

    “But the people in the parish love him,” they say. “Just let him do his job.”

    There are a number of problems with that. First, he is a priest. For those of you who took Catechism (and those of you who didn’t), a priest is the representation of Christ on earth. He has a huge amount of authority over his parish and the people who attend Mass there. He is the moral leader who tells people how to live their lives, holds the exclusive power to forgive their sins, administers sacraments, and does other things that only the truly virtuous and/or the truly contrite can do. He is neither moral nor contrite.

    “But he said he was sorry, Joelle.”

    Well, that’s great. But apologizing in front of the congregation is a whole lot different than looking the actual victims in the eye, face to face, and saying, “I am sorry.” And even Jesus said that the sinner must atone. Show me the atonement. Show me the accountability.

    “He says he didn’t understand at the time how bad abuse was, Joelle.”

    You have got to be joking. If someone duct taped your child’s penis to his body, I think you would see the tremendous flaw in that argument. And that’s just one example. Urell has dozens. He knew it was bad and it was wrong and it was criminal.

    “Can’t we let bygones be bygones, Joelle?”

    No. And here is why: Let’s say that tomorrow, Father X is faced with credible allegations against Fr. Grabby Pants #475. What will he do? He can look at the example of John Urell and say, “Well, he didn’t get in trouble for it, so I’m not going to report to the cops or tell parishioners.” Then, if Father X gets in trouble, Bishop Kevin Vann will have to say, “Since Urell still has a cushy gig, I can’t really punish Father X.”

    Again, we are back to accountability. Forgive Urell all you want, but if you don’t hold him accountable, other people are going to commit the same crimes … and get away with them. Accountability is wrong-doing’s greatest deterrent.

    “So what is Urell supposed to do, Joelle?”

    Remember, child sex abuse happens everywhere—the scandal in the Catholic church is the decades-long concerted cover-up. If you don’t punish the wrong-doers for allowing child predators to frolic in fields of children, how can we believe bishops (*ahem* Bishop Kevin Vann) when they say that things have changed? There are lots of crappy church jobs with no power and no authority. Urell can do any of them. He can work in prisons; be a janitor at all of the facilities; move to a humble home; be forced to use the bus system. Or he can be sent to a monastery; he can be an orderly at a hospital; he can work in a mission in Mexico. He can be de-frocked. The list goes on and on.

    But there is one punishment he will never have, and that is walking in the shoes of the victims of men like Eleutario Ramos, Michael Harris, John Ruhl, John Lenihan, Denis Lyons and a dozen other priests. So no matter his punishment, he’s getting off easy.

    Bishop Vann: It’s time to get rid of John Urell. Can you be man enough and bishop enough to do it?

     

  • California Child Victims’ Act Passes Assembly Floor Vote

    Senate Bill 131 – The California Child Victims’ Act – just passed an Assembly floor vote, 42-14.

    The bill give victims of child sexual abuse a one-year window to come forward and use the civil court system to get justice and accountability. It is also a huge step forward for ALL victims of abuse—the more we expose abuse in private institutions, the easier it will be to pass legislation that eliminates sovereign immunity (the legal barrier to suing public institutions for crimes like child sexual abuse).

    The bill now goes back to the Senate for a final floor vote.

    Remember – we would know little to nothing about the criminal activity of men like Cardinal Roger Mahony were it not for the 2003 window. Statewide, more than 250 predators—dozens in Orange County—were exposed (with supporting documents and evidence to go with it!). Men like Denis Lyons and Michael Baker would never have seen a day behind bars, and and the crimes at places like Mater Dei High School would never have been exposed.

    You can contact your state senator here.

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