By Victor Vieth1 

"Children suffer not (I think) less than their elders but differently."
C.S. Lewis2

Child abuse professionals are engaged in a high stress, high burnout calling. Unless and until this fact is adequately addressed, we will continue to see high turnover rates among child abuse professionals. Several common reasons for this burnout, and some possible solutions are offered in this article.

FACTORS CONTRIBUTING TO BURNOUT 

First, child protection officials are seldom honored in their departments and communities.  Some years ago, I spoke with a police officer handling nothing but cases of child abuse. The officer told me that many of her colleagues, such as those working in the drug unit, were honored for their labor. The narcotics officers executing a search warrant returned to the police station with guns, scales, drugs, money and other "cool" stuff. Their fellow officers lavished praise on them for doing a good, even noble act. But the child abuse officer told me that when she executes a search warrant, she returns to the police station with dildos, child pornography, Vaseline and other items that cause her colleagues to wrinkle their noses and inquire "how can you deal with this sick stuff all the time?" Nobody in her department, card club, church or neighborhood wanted to listen to her lament about the children keeping her awake at night.

Second, child abuse professionals are actually dishonored.  This is true even when the child abuse official does a stellar, sometimes heroic deed. As an example of the abuse inflicted on social workers, consider the following scenario. After New York social worker Marc Parent talked a troubled youth out of killing a younger sibling, both children were taken into custody. According to Parent, the mother of the children called and "hand-delivered a first class ranting before I could even say hello. The attacks flew out of her mouth like rusty nails..."3

Hostility comes not only from the victims and their families but also from the media, judges, and fellow service providers. As one commentator notes:

Service recipients, members of the judiciary, and other co-professionals occasionally offer resistance by being verbally hostile, accusatory, and demanding. These responses can make the case load seem undesirable and can easily lead workers to feelings of inadequacy, loss of self-worth, and a question of 'Is it worth it?'4

Third, college, graduate and law schools seldom prepare students for the reality that is child protection. Reporter Anna Quindlen describes a social worker's obstacles as follows:

Their training is inadequate, and the number of workers is too small for the number of families in trouble. Some of the cases would require a battalion of cops, doctors, and social workers to handle; instead there are two kids fresh out of college with good intentions and a handful of forms.5

Commenting on his lack of training, Marc Parent said he received "two weeks of solemn discussions on child protective issues, but little on getting a drug dealer to let you into an abandoned building or talking a restless police officer into sticking around until you get through with a case and back into your car."6

Fourth, the drumbeat of beaten, burned, bound, bludgeoned, raped and murdered children will, eventually, take its toll. We may pretend not to feel the pain but, for that to really be the case, we would have to be cold blooded. The impact may come subtly. We're afraid to let our children sleep over at a friend's house. We start to inspect the bruise of every playground child and wonder whether or not it is suspicious. We talk of torn hymens while we dine and wonder why our spouses lose interest in the food. Then, all of a sudden, it hits us. We are our work.

SUGGESTIONS FOR REDUCING BURNOUT

It is not enough to recognize the reality of burnout among child abuse professionals, we must be proactive in combating it. Toward this end, consider the following suggestions.

First, be well trained. If, for example, your job involves speaking to children, make sure you have a thorough grounding in child development, memory and suggestibility research, and linguistics. 7 Adequate training will produce stronger cases and fewer opportunities for defense attorneys, the public, and others to hurl rocks in your direction. Training also allows you to take a breather, reflect, and then develop the best practices. Training energizes child abuse professionals and gives us important contacts that can assist in the handling of difficult cases.

If you are a supervisor, make sure your budget allows for adequate training opportunities not only as a means of delivering quality service to the community, but as a means of assuring the emotional well-being of the keepers of the children.

Second, support the members of your multi-disciplinary team.  Make a concerted effort to get together on regularly scheduled social outings as a means of unwinding and offering each other support. If your jurisdiction does not have a multi-disciplinary team, this is one more reason to start one.

Third, praise one another often and in public. Press releases announcing a child abuse conviction should include public praise for the investigators and prosecutors handling the case. In addition, send personal thank you notes to all the workers involved in the case. Rather than a form letter, take the time to understand why the work of the child protection professional made a difference and commend the work accordingly. It can be as simple as writing "your interrogation of the suspect was extremely helpful in convincing the jury how unbelievable the defendant's story was." In the same vein, prosecutor organizations, bar associations and other groups should give awards or other recognition to those who do the job of child protection and who excel.

Fourth, keep a file of thank you letters you receive from victims and colleagues over the years. When days are gray and defeatism starts to set in, take a look at the file and remind yourself that sometimes you do make a difference. I know a prosecutor who keeps a collage in his office of the artwork child abuse victims sent to him over the years as a means of expressing their gratitude.8

Fifth, consider the option of periodically leaving the work of child abuse.  Choosing to handle drug or other cases for a time may allow you to get rejuvenated and come back to the child abuse unit with renewed energy. In some cases, it may not be necessary to leave the work of child abuse altogether but simply to handle a different aspect of it. For example, handling civil as opposed to criminal child protection cases may be sufficient.

If you take a respite from your traditional duties, do not come back until you are ready. Well-meaning colleagues who miss you may encourage you to come back or may repeatedly contact you for advice on difficult cases. Make it clear that you are making a temporary, but clear break from child protection work and that you will return when you are emotionally able to do so.

Sixth, find a unique approach to motivation.  Recognize that the nature of our work puts us in the middle of broken homes overflowing with emotion and that we will inevitably be verbally abused, even by the victims we are trying to protect. To put this in perspective, remember you are not alone. Remember the words of Earl Warren, "everything I did in my life that was worthwhile, I caught hell for."9 Better yet, have these words matted, framed and hung in your office.  

Some child abuse professionals may rely on their faith to sustain them. Prosecutors such as Robert Kennedy and Christopher Darden have found religion helpful in coping with the injustices of our justice system and of life itself.10 Creighton University Law Professor Joseph G. Allegretti suggests the high burnout rate in the legal profession is in part attributable to the fact that lawyers do not rely on their faith to sustain them in their work."11

Seventh, never lose heart. As child abuse professionals, we know our lot in life is different from the lot of others. Other people may read, see, and hear the ugliness of the world but, by and large, they do so from behind the security of their newspapers, radios and television sets. We, on the other hand, experience the ugliness of the world up close and personal. We actually hear the quivering voice of a child who speaks to us about abuse. We actually see the disfigured face of a woman beaten solely because doing so made somebody feel strong.  

We learn of a man in Waco, Texas who sexually abuses children in the name of God. We learn of another man in Oklahoma who bombs children in the name of patriotism and, at some point, we begin to wonder if the whole world is insane, or is it us? If you have ever had a thought like this, perhaps you will find comfort in the words of Cesar Chavez who, in a speech in 1967, said:

When we are really honest with ourselves, we must admit our lives are all that really belong to us. So it is how we use our lives that determines what kind of men we are. It is my deepest belief that only by giving our lives do we find life. I am convinced that the truest act of courage, the strongest act of manliness, is to sacrifice ourselves for others in a totally no-violent struggle for justice. To be a man is to suffer for others. God help us be men.12

If you are not sure you have ever been near a hero or heroine, take a look at your colleagues. If you are not sure you have ever looked into the eyes of someone you knew to have courage, don't let the sun set tonight without looking in a mirror.

The weakest, the most precarious of vessels floating on the stream of life are those rafts occupied by abused children. For your willingness, even eagerness to commandeer one of these little boats, may God richly bless you.

1 Director, APRI's National Center for Prosecution of Child Abuse.
2 C.S. LEWIS, SURPRISED BY JOY 18 (1955).
3 MARC PARENT; TURNING STONES: MY DAYS AND NIGHTS WITH CHILDREN AT RISK 29 (1996).
4 LORI HOMES & INTA SELLARS, A GUIDE FOR CHILD PROTECTION SERVICES, LAW ENFORCEMENT, AND COUNTY ATTORNEYS IN MINNESOTA, SECOND EDITION AT 8-9 (1997) (citations omitted) .
5 Anna Quindlen, Foreword to MARC PARENT, TURNING STONES: MY DAYS AND NIGHTS WITH CHILDREN AT RISK (1996).
6 Id. At 42.
7 This training is available at Finding Words, a course offered by APRI's National Center for Prosecution of Child Abuse.
8 The prosecutor is Brian Holmgren in the office of the District Attorney, Nashville, Tennessee.
9 This quotation appears in a postcard advertising the PBS broadcast of Super Chief: The Life and Legacy of Earl Warren.
10 See Victor I. Vieth, Do Lawyers Need Religion?  80 BENCH & BAR 30 (September 1996).
11 See generally, JOSEPH G. ALLEGRETTI, THE LAWYER'S CALLING (1996)
12 ARTHUR M. SCHLESINGER, JR., ROBERT KENNEDY AND HIS TIMES 910 (1978).