Expert lectures on Fort Bragg child abuse

By Amber Avalona
Paraglide

June 9, 2011

	Graphic by Metro Creative Connection

It was a shadowy side of Army life rarely splashed across the news — in May, a Fort Bragg Soldier faced child abuse charges after severely beating his infant daughter. The 82nd Airborne Division Soldier, George Thomas Eyler, left his four-month old daughter with brain damage and retinal hemorrhages after inflicting critical head trauma.

When it comes to child abuse, military statistics closely follow those of our civilian counterparts except in two areas — the military handles more neglect cases and more severe cases of physical abuse.

Abusive head trauma, like that seen in the Eyler case, has a mortality rate of nearly 40 percent. Of children who survive a first trauma, the recidivism rate is 77 percent according to some experts. These facts and more were discussed during a legal symposium featuring Dr. Sharon Cooper, a forensic pediatrician and expert witness in child maltreatment cases.

Cooper retired as a colonel after serving 21 years in the armed forces and now works for the Army Medical Education Department Center and School, Fort Sam Houston, Texas. She is also the chief executive officer of Developmental and Forensic Pediatrics (Fayetteville), and consults in the areas of medical care, research and expert witness testimony in relation to child maltreatment.

Around 30 professionals attended the training, including judge advocate general corps officers and Soldiers from Fort Bragg. The event, held at the Airborne and Special Operations Museum on June 3, included many cases of child neglect and abuse documented within the Fort Bragg community — including children who were beaten by stepparents and restricted from Family activities. Throughout many cases was a thread of isolation, where adults kept children away from the community and the potential for discovery. A number of cases also saw a rise in neglect/abuse during one parent’s absence, typically related to temporary duty or deployment.

“When a child is physically abused, they become chronically stressed. Children become prey to their own antibodies,” said Cooper. As the child develops, this stress creates autoimmune disorders — essentially the longterm effects are more than just physiological, it is scientifically proven to cause physical breakdown of the body.

Cooper listed six categories of child maltreatment: neglect, emotional abuse, physical abuse, sexual abuse, medical child abuse and child sexual exploitation. A dynamic often seen in child abuse cases is the parent/child role reversal — a parent (or caregiver) mistakenly assumes the child exists to nurture the adult, as opposed to the healthy approach of a parent caring for the child. This unhealthy perspective creates unrealistic expectations, lack of empathy (for the child’s pain) and reliance on punishment, in addition to power and control cravings.

For a child, victimhood results from any number of factors — premature delivery and medical fragility, special needs, behavioral problems, a nonbiological relationship, unrealistic parental desires … even low intelligence quotient or being born the “wrong gender” lead to various forms of abuse, stated Cooper.

She added that for the parent, abusive traits relate to such issues as interpartner violence, substance abuse, poverty, inexperience in child rearing, intergenerational abuse (physical, emotional, sexual), criminal behavior and mental health concerns. Religious or cultural beliefs, when taken to an extreme, also play into certain power and control tendencies.

Jealousy over a nonbiological child led some adults to starve, beat or isolate the youth who represented a source of division in the Family. While the other kids and adults appeared well fed, a step-child sometimes went without food (considered a form of torture) or parental nurturance.
In certain cases, civilian offenders had a history of repeat assault and violent crimes.

A number of cases also exhibited an active/passive abuser dynamic. One adult directly initiated or actively sought the abuse, while another partner allowed the abuse to occur … sometimes even participating. When these cases went to court, often both parents were charged and sentenced to jail time. If a child is happy to be removed from a home and placed into some type of foster care, this is a warning sign that abuse is present in the home stated Cooper.

According to Lt. Col. Margaret Thomas, deputy staff judge advocate for 1st Theater Sustainment Command and organizer of the symposium, attendees walked away with a better understanding of the warning signs and Family dynamics that are typically present in abuse cases.

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