Cinsel İstismarın Yasal Sürecinin, Maruz Kalanlar, Ebeveynler Ve Profesyoneller Açısından Ekolojik Sistem Yaklaşımına Göre İncelenmesi

Abstract

ABSTRACT PASLI, Figen. “Analysis of the Legal Process of Sexual Abuse from the Perspectives of the Victims, the Parents, and Professionals Using the Ecological System Approach", PhD Thesis, Ankara, 2017. This study has been planned to understand the legal process of sexual abuse from the viewpoint of the children subjected to it, parents, and professionals and to do a multifaceted analysis of the phenomenon of sexual abuse. This analysis has used a holistic approach which entails the developmental, personality, and behavioral characteristics of the children, characteristics of the family, characteristics of the abusers, and the explanation process of abuse. In order for children to healthily overcome the legal process of sexual abuse; parents, siblings, the school system, and relationships with the teachers are important in the micro system, and their interaction with these surroundings is important in the mezzo system whereas in the exosystem; their interactions with healthcare, social, and judiciary systems are important; and attitudes, values, laws, and interaction with the culture are important in the macro system. It is therefore that the multifaceted analysis of the phenomenon of sexual abuse of children has been conducted by taking as basis the ecological system approach. Qualitative methods and techniques have been utilized for the study. The subjects of the study are 10 children without mental disabilities aged 13-18 at the time of assessment who have applied or been referred to Child Protection Centers because they have been the subject of sexual abuse and whose legal notifications have been made and whose legal process and psychiatric treatment have been concluded, 11 mothers, and 12 professionals serving in child protective, and juvenile justice systems. In line with the phenomenological approach, the research data has been collected through observations and in-depth interviews with the children, their mothers, and the professionals. MAXQDA 11 software has been used for the thematic analysis of the data. According to the results of the study, it has been discovered that; mental deficiency in children, and issues related to puberty can constitute a risk factor in being the subject of sexual abuse; suicide, and regression in certain skills can be observed in the aftermath of sexual abuse and that all of these can in fact correspond to developmental stages; the most important person in the discovery of sexual abuse in the micro system is the mother, and the second most important is the teacher; there is no distinct or defining characteristic to those who sexually abuse children. It has also been identified that in the exosystem; the police have a rather negative attitude and behavior; along with good qualities such as an environment of healthy expression, trained staff, and seeking the highest benefit to the child at the Child Monitoring Centers (CMC), the holistic protection system is not implemented; some negative experiences such as lack of monitoring, infrastructural issues, constraints, and a risk of bias in the statements occur; there are some negativities in the medical process such as forensic experts and psychiatrists have a rather negative attitude and behavior, the treatment has shortcomings, group examinations, the unsuitability of the wait area for examination, and the outlook of the professionals; there are some negativities more frequently encountered in the prosecution process such as negative attitude and behavior of professionals, their outlook, incompetence, violation of rights; institutional abuse is present at the MFSP, the professionals have a negative attitude and behavior, and an inability to institutionalize, lack of coordination, lack of monitoring, and lack of oversight are more frequently experienced; and certain negativities such as the insufficiency of a child centered policy and a holistic child protection law, and the social perception of the child have been identified in the macro system. According to the results of the study; the negative qualities of the exo and macro systems in the legal process instill in the sexually abused child a sense of worry, fear, insecurity, frustration, and guilt; the reflection of social values and norms in the attitude and behavior of the professionals in the exosystem causes secondary trauma in children. Social work intervention recommendations within the frame of an ecological system approach to the phenomenon of sexual abuse of children and a case management model for the implementation of the legal process have been recommended in light of the findings of the study. The contribution of the study’s findings and the recommendations to the theory and practice, and methodology of social work, and to policies and services pertaining to the sexual abuse of children have been debated.