Irresponsible exposure of child victims

April is Child Abuse and Neglect Awareness Month. This fact just makes it more upsetting to once again see the Marianas Variety heaping additional harm on a victim of child abuse by its insensitive and unethical reporting. On Monday, April 19, the Variety carried a story about a man arrested on charges of abusing a minor. The
Variety named the man and then gave his relationship to and the age of the victim, thus making her identity known to the community.

This child is now known at school, in her family and elsewhere as a child who may have been molested. Although she is a completely innocent victim, she now has to cope with the publicity of the harm allegedly done toher, as well as the harm itself.

The Variety reporters have been cautioned in the past by various concerned members of the Bar Association that reporting identifying information about child victims is both unethical and illegal. In the Commonwealth, we have a law that states that all reports of alleged instances of child abuse or neglect shall be confidential and made available only to DYS, a treating doctor, the child’s court appointed guardian at litem, the court, and authorized federal officials.

It concerns us greatly that Ferdie de la Torre and other Varierty reporters gain access to confidential information from government reports. There is an obvious leak in the system that needs to be plugged immediately. What is even worse is that the Variety continues to publish information obviously identifying innocent victims despite their knowledge that information is supposed to be confidential.

The campaign to make the public aware of child abuse concerns has been supported by the activities of many governmental agencies and community leaders. Blue ribbons have been distributed and are being seen everywhere. The basic idea is to get people to be aware that child abuse and neglect are problems for the whole community and that we can help.

We hope that the Attorney General’s Office will investigate to find out how and from whom Variety reporters are getting confidential information. We hope that the AG’s Office will also start enforcing the criminal provisions of the law that prohibits release of any data or information contained in any records concerning the victimization of our minor children. The CNMI statutes make it a crime to release confidential information about child victimizations; violators can be fined or jailed up to one year. It’s time to protect our children from abusers and from those who profit from telling confidential information that harms our already abused children.

During Child Abuse and Neglect Awareness Month, we should all be concerned. Maybe it’s time to protest the policy of the Variety and the unethical reporting of its staff–refuse to buy their paper on the last day of this important month.

Sincerely,

Maggie Cabrera

Leonina Castro

Jane Mack

Maria Muna

Douglas Rhodes

Francisco Rogopes

Thomas Schweiger

Peter Togawa