Incest survivors seek legal protection

[UPI]

(NOTE: fixing 4thgraf quote - abuser sted accuser)
Incest survivors seek legal protection

SACRAMENTO, April 3 (UPI) - Incest survivors have urged California
legislators to pass legal protections for children who are placed in
their abusers' custody.

The Incest Survivors Speakers Bureau of Yolo County held a statehouse
news conference on the problem today and promoted legislation addressing
it.

Shari Karney, a victim's rights attorney whose own incest story was
portrayed in an NBC TV movie, ``Shattered Trust,'' said she's been
unable to save a single child from sexual abuse - despite hundreds of
calls from distraught mothers.

Says Karney: ``The judge in case after case has sent the child back
into the hands of the abuser.''

Mothers told of courts awarding children to abusive fathers and other
relatives despite evidence that they had sexually assaulted them.

Shira Dee of Los Banos told UPI that authorities confirmed abuse
against her 4- and 3-year-old daughters in 1993, but she lost them to
her ex-husband a few years later after she refused to allow unsupervised
visits - despite a hospital's finding that they'd been raped.

A bill introduced by Assemblyman Tom Torlakson, D-Antioch, would
require perpetrators in court cases to prove a youngster would be safe
in his care - if there's evidence of child sexual abuse against him.

Child advocates also are backing a proposal to have judges undergo
training on the incest issue.
--

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