Private School Abuse presents a series of illegal and lurid actions frequently committed on students by school faculty members, administrators or employees involving sexual assault of varying degrees. The assault can be a one-time, non-consensual encounter or it might include numerous assaults within an continuing interaction. For example, an ongoing intimate encounter with a student, spawned by the predatory actions of a faculty member, school administrator or employee and whether leading to physical consensual sex acts or not, is a form of abuse.
Student-on-student sexual assault is an additional form of abuse, which can be made worse by the school’s negligence to provide a safe environment that allowed the assault to occur. Within the school community are students of different ages, maturity and experiences. Immature students might be exposed to the predatory behavior of older, more experienced students. Their intent, along with peer-pressure applied to both the attacker and the targeted victim, could lead to different forms of abuse that includes sexual assault of varying degrees.
In all alleged Boarding School Assault situations, a school administration’s failure to entirely, adequately report the assault to law enforcement and other authorities, or its further negligence to investigate, address and deal completely with the situation increases the effects on the victim, the school community and potentially others. Recent Boarding School Abuse issues reported in the media highlight these failures, including matters where the attacker quietly leaves the school only to assume employment elsewhere in a school environment.
Predatory Behavior Most boarding schools pride themselves on their small, personal communities inside a well-defined and secure campus. In that environment, faculty, administrators and staff are often much nearer and familiar with students than might be expected in a non-boarding school setting. This can provide both opportunity and cover for the possible abuser and for the predatory behavior.
In some situations, the abuser may be a likeable and popular person, generally considered to be a positive addition to the school community. A targeted victim could feel flattered that a popular superior in the school community is expressing special attention in him or her. Because of this popularity and involvement into the school community, attack accusations against these predators are frequently met with doubt, non-belief, and resistance from the community. Frequesntly, abusers have boundary and morality problems which turn into unusually friendly relationships with students that are past what are commonly expected. This creates a predatory pathway and opportunity for the attack.
All abusers, to varying degrees, employ predatory methods that are generally referred to as “grooming,” or targeting a potential abuse victim. Following is a compilation of grooming behaviors used by predators who are in a position of authority in relation to the student.
Grooming Grooming is a major part of a predator’s ploy. In a boarding school setting, a predator often works closely with small numbers of students, realizing each student’s needs and vulnerabilities. Once a victim is identified and selected, these vulnerabilities – like loneliness, low self-esteem, emotional neediness, or attention seeking behavior, might be systematically leveraged in the following ways:
Trust
A predator will first work to get the student’s trust. This step is most difficult to see as private school communities are usually tight-knit and personal engagement is commonplace. Here, the attacker is likely part of a group of staff who are genuinely interested in the student’s wellness and achievement at the school. Reliance As a predator creates a trusting relationship with the potential student-victim, the student will begin to count on more and more on the predator for whatever need it is that the predator is exploiting and fulfilling. private school abuse will spend more time with the predator, feeling more and more comfortable with the relationship. Additionally to attention and affection, the possible victim may receive gifts from the predator, including valuable, gifts such as the promise of higher grades, or a college recommendation letter. The reliance step is usually where the predatory behavior is noticeable from well-meaning collegial behavior.
Isolation
As the grooming continues, the predator may work to isolate the student. At school, this may mean after-hour get togethers, tutoring sessions, meetings in the dormitory , one-on-one sports training sessions, or various other such circumstances. Sexualization The predator will begin to desensitize the student from reacting negatively to contact, caressing and other behaviors that lead to sexual interaction. This could begin with breaching the physical-touch barrier, or speaking, with suggestive messages to gauge the victim’s reaction to the progression. This might escalate until the relationship advances to one of a physical, sexual nature. Maintenance As the sexual relationship is established, the predator may try to keep control over the victim and the continuing interaction. The predator will probably try to manipulate the student by inducing emotions of shame, or possibly threats, or use the opposite tactic of continuing to make the victim feel special and desired. In any event, the predator might keep trying to exploit the victim by whatever means available to maintain the inappropriate physical relationship.
Legacy on Abuse Victims
When the grooming escalates as intended by the predator, the targeted student, being made to feel special, will probably respond positively to the behaviors. The predator, through these well-thought-out and performed grooming behaviors and activities, seeks to re-calibrate and remove the moral boundaries of the targeted student. Because the abuse survivor participated in the re-calibration, she often experiences deep feelings of guilt, initially blaming herself for the incident and hesitant to report it.
Additionally, after the abuse has been revealed, survivors of boarding school abuse are often subjected to discreet social pressure and intimidation, like being bullied, alienation from their peers, or revenge from administrators. Especially at private schools, where education is rigorous, competition can be fierce and social circles small, survivors of abuse could be readily isolated and socially abused. Exposed to those reactions, many boarding school abuse survivors that have revealed the abuse leave school. Others, fighting with the prospect of the isolation and social abuse, report the abuse years later. In either situation, the impact can be significant and lasting.
Some abuse survivors deal with from long-term effects of the abuse including depression, anxiety, ptsd, low self-esteem, suicidal thoughts, substance abuse, disturbed sleeping and eating patterns, and difficulty establishing and keeping healthy relationships. Individual therapy and support groups might assist victims get past these effects.
Legally, a victim of boarding school abuse could recover financial compensation from the abuser and more commonly, from the school for its negligence to protect the student from the abuse, as well as failures or negligence in its process of reviewing and replying to the survivor’s report of the abuse. If you are a survivor of boarding school abuse and would like to confidentially review your story and learn of your legal options at no cost or obligation, we are prepared to talk with you. It is important for a survivor to remember that being a victim is not your fault. The attorneys at Meneo Law Group are committed to bringing those who committed the the assault to justice.
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