Merced County Superior Court Judge David Moranda sentenced Gary Bettencourt, former Pacheco High School drama and English teacher, to eight years and four months in prison on Friday, September 23, 2016 (Merced County criminal case number: 16CR-00639A). Bettencourt last month pleaded no contest to sexually abusing two former students more than 10 years ago and,…
Continue reading ›An Orange County, California jury awarded former Olympic swimming hopeful and USA Swimming National Team member Dagny Knutson $617,810 for the financial and emotional harm caused by her former attorney, Richard Foster. Knutson trusted Foster with her swimming career when she retained him in late 2010, but the aquatics insider instead defrauded Knutson. The Knutson…
Continue reading ›The success of famous athletes such as Michael Phelps and Missy Franklin inspires children across the nation to start swim lessons. Learn how to protect your kids from coaches who abuse their relationships.
Continue reading ›Incomplete memories of sexual assault, including those with huge gaps, are understandable—if we learn the basics of how memory works.
Continue reading ›How childhood sex abuse leads to PTSD Post-traumatic stress disorder, commonly known as PTSD, is a grave psychological condition triggered by a traumatic or horrifying event in a person’s life, such as childhood sexual abuse. The person’s life may have been placed in mortal danger, or they may have sustained grievous injury-or there may have…
Continue reading ›Administrative negligence harms innocent O.B. Whaley molestation victims This case started with a single victim. In January 2012, authorities arrested Craig Chandler on suspicion of molesting a young child at O.B. Whaley Elementary School, where he had worked as a teacher for nine years. As the investigation proceeded, it became clear that he had molested…
Continue reading ›A look at how child sex abuse effects brain structure and function It’s an established fact in psychology and neuroscience that the earliest years of a child’s life are the most formative. The experiences a child has in the first years of life impacts the kind of adult you become. Optimally, an abundance of learning…
Continue reading ›Sexual misconduct risk also includes social media “friending” Concerns about teacher-student texting are under debate in Clark County, Nevada. This after a recent spate of sexual misconduct and molestation cases. The Las Vegas Sun examined ten years of sexual misconduct cases by county educators (2005 to 2015). They discovered that half the cases involved private…
Continue reading ›How it Helps Sexually Abused Kids A Children’s Advocacy Center, or CAC, is an organization that focuses on helping victimized children sensitively yet efficiently. They do so without forcing children to relive their horrible experience by repeating their stories numerous times. CACs bring together specialists from many different disciplines: law enforcement officials, child protective services,…
Continue reading ›A new approach to helping sexually abused children The National Center for Trauma-Informed Care and Alternatives to Seclusion and Restraint, or NCTIC defines trauma-informed healthcare as “an approach to engaging people with histories of trauma (such as childhood sexual abuse) that recognizes the presence of trauma symptoms and acknowledges the role that trauma has played…
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