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	Eastern Iowa Pastors Consider Sex Abuse Reporting in Light of Penn State Scandal Eastern Iowa Life November 10, 2011 http://easterniowalife.com/2011/11/10/eastern-iowa-pastors-consider-sex-abuse-reporting-in-light-of-penn-state-scandal/ While the fallout continues over the firing of legendary football coach Joe Paterno, some are asking questions about how other groups handle reports of sexual abuse. Specifically, what would local church leaders do if a member of a parish or congregation approached with just such a story? The answer is clear for some groups like teachers, health care workers or daycare providers. Those people are legally considered “mandatory reporters”—which means if they see any evidence of abuse involving a child they must call authorities. But while it’s different in some states, in Iowa pastors, ministers or some lay leaders at churches don’t fall under that mandatory rule. In light of the Penn State mess, a meeting involving about two dozen Lutheran ministers from Linn and surround counties on Thursday morning at St. Andrew Lutheran Church in Cedar Rapids appeared very timely. Ministers meet every Thursday for study, but this session to learn more about internet crimes and child sex abuse was originally scheduled to take place last spring. A conflict postponed the event until Thursday which was right in the middle of the Penn State scandal aftermath. Charity Hansel, a Cedar Rapids Police officer who’s also a member of the Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force, offered statistics about abuse crimes involving children. When one pastor asked for advice, Hansen responded with a question of her own. “Well, let me ask you, what do you do when someone comes to you to report my husband’s sexually abusing children at my daycare?” Hansel asked. Some pastors attending the information session about sexual abuse shared that they have confronted the issue in their own churches. Others said there might be a temptation to offer pastoral care and counseling to a victim along with reporting the allegations to police. But Hansel said if a church steps in first, it can hurt a criminal case. “I can tell you when we get a case that gets reported to the church first and it comes to us, it’s more difficult for us to do the investigation at that point.” Hansel said. The internet crimes officer said most pastors, and even police, are not trained to interview children properly for criminal sex abuse investigations. And children interviewed repeatedly about abuse claims begin to wonder if anybody believes them. That can taint an investigation and make prosecution impossible. Daniel Stone, a youth leader at Faith Lutheran Church in Marion, said while counseling is important, it’s more important at the moment of discovery to get the information to police. “When somebody has reported abuse, we can listen. But we’re not trained investigators. The police need the freshest information out there,” Stone said. The Rev. T. Edwards Breed, pastor at St. Andrew Lutheran Church, said “if someone came to me and reported this, my first inclination would be, I think, you need to go to the police.” Hansel said well meaning church people who hear of abuse want to investigate themselves first because they don’t want to perpetuate a false report—especially if it involves church members. But the officer said it’s always better to go to police immediately and let trained legal professionals sort the fact from fiction.
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