Victims

[John Peters]

At 06:38 AM 5/2/97 -0400, you wrote:
>Greetings,
>
>Jim posts, in reponse to the thread on going to homes where there is a young
>girl or boy alone;
>
>> Conduct your business ethically and yourself
>>professionally and morally.  With these attributes, along with common sense,
>>you will be able to conduct your business and life with little fear of being
>>falsely accused.  And you will be able to go into any surroundings with
>>confidence that your record and reputation will provide all the references
>>you would ever need.
>
>   To some degree, I have to disagree.  Eve in  the Boy Scouts, we leaders
>now must always have two adults present. The legal ramifications of young
>boys accusing a solitary adult leader of abuse were too great to allow.
>    The same holds true of the adults going into homes.  If there is a 13
>year old, having a bad day, and they accuse you of raping them while you were
>in the home with them,  you have just spent a fortune, (perhaps your life
>savings!) to pay for the legal defense that you will need, regardless of your
>innocence.  This is a tremendous liability.
>    I will never put myself in a position of risk.  If there is an under 18
>child in the house alone,  I will not schedule a first time tuning at the
>same time.  It hasn't cost me any work, and I am never in jeopardy of a real
>mess that can arise.  ( My father is a judge, and has seen the ruination
>caused by poor foresight in a case like this.)
>    I hate it, but I am also determined not to be placed in an indefensible
>position.
>
>Regards,
>Ed Foote

If you're not paying undo attention to the child (i.e., hugging, putting the
child on your lap while you tune the piano, etc....), it's unlikely that you
will be falsely accused of raping a child.  At least in California, Child
Protective Services routinely throws out most reported cases of child abuse,
unless they feel that they have enough evidence for it to hold up in court.
Much of the problem in the past resulted from misinformed therapists, who
illicited "false memories." At present, such practices by therapists usually
result in the therapist being held liable.  I would probably agree with you,
though, about turning down parents who would allow a stranger to come to
their home and spend time with their children when they weren't around (or
at least I'd want additional fees for babysitting :)
----------------
John Peters, RPT
Berkeley, CA