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My Digital Journey (MDJ) © is a non-judgmental and developmentally appropriate reflective tool to help understand and chronicle a youth’s digital experience. It is intended to be used as an adjunct to supplement a comprehensive assessment for youth who have committed sexual offences. Our goal is to understand the youth’s digital footprint including the needs, thoughts and functions of their digital activity within the context of their developmental milestones. Likewise, we believe it is important to highlight the strengths and resiliency of each youth within their digital world as these protective factors will be fundamental to their on-line decision making. MDJ© explores their social media savvy, on-line literacy and communication style. Moreover, MDJ© is intended to provide an opportunity to support the client’s strengths, safe choices and skills. It also serves to identify potential educational and corrective opportunities that could be incorporated into a comprehensive treatment plan, based on the global understanding of the youth. In addition to the client workbook, the authors have also developed a caregiver/parent questionnaire to assist in exploring additional areas of both strengths and concerns from the perspective of the caregiver. Clinicians who choose to use this tool are called upon to consider how they might approach the material from a non-judgemental position in an effort to support the development of the critical thinking skills necessary for youth to become more thoughtful digital citizens. Karen Holladay, Consulting Clinical Therapist Nancy Rumble, Consulting Clinical Therapist Heather Barbour, Consulting Clinical Therapist Franca Iannotta, Consulting Psychologist

The purpose of this booklet is to assist young people in systematically considering the multiple factors that make up the complex background of their sexual decisions. Although this booklet was originally designed for this clinical population, it is easily transferable to youth in a general population. It is our hope that you will find these exercises useful with the youth with whom you are engaged.

The idea for writing this booklet originated out of a discussion of how to help new clinicians in the field feel comfortable using their own creativity when working with children with concerning sexualized behaviour. We have organized this booklet into a number of sections. Each section builds on information from the previous section, and culminates in the creation of an unique treatment intervention specific to the needs of the child you are working with.

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In Canada, only the provinces of British Columbia and Nova Scotia have mandated, coordinated protocols for various systems’ responses when adolescent sexual offending has occurred. This document was created out of recognition of the need for a coordinated, systemic response to adolescent sexual offending in Ontario. It is our position that effective management of adolescents who commit sexual harm is greatly enhanced by working collaboratively with the various systems within the adolescent’s circle of care. As such, we have aimed to prepare a document that provides recommendations for a responding protocol by police, child protection services, and judicial services, from the point of allegations to referral for assessment and treatment. Although we are aware that the recommendations expressed in this document represent the ideal continuum of care, and that a number of communities may not have the necessary resources available to provide this scope of care or response, we believe it is vital to provide communities with information regarding best-practice of care for adolescents who have sexually offended and their families. It is our belief that implementation of a regional protocol, along the lines of that recommended in this document, will have a direct impact on the protection of our community through responsible and ethical treatment of adolescents who have engaged in sexual offences, victimized individuals, and their families. Dana Costin Tracey Curwen Siegi Schuler

It is astonishing that for 40+ years it has been known that sibling sexual abuse occurs up to 5 times more frequently than (step) father-daughter abuse (Finkelhor, 1979; Finkelhor, 1980) but there still exists little knowledge about how to address, treat and reunify siblings. The sibling relationship can provide life’s longest intimate relationship and can also be the most damaging. Whether or not intervention is provided, we know that many families/siblings reunify as adults. Unfortunately, there is minimal evidence upon which to base removal and contact decisions and no evidence to indicate whether each sibling’s treatment and well-being outcomes are related to contact decisions. How do we individualise and structure a reunification process with ethical decision-making while balancing the unique developmental needs of each child involved? It is well established that there is no single factor that can explain the aetiology of sexual offending behaviour and there is also no single aetiological risk factor that explains sibling sexual abuse. We also know that sibling sexual abuse is unique in its dynamics and impact because: Siblings share more of their lives genetically and contextually than with other family members (Haskins, 2003); Siblings share knowledge, perceptions, attitudes, feelings and beliefs beginning when one sibling first becomes psychologically aware of the other (Briere, 1984; Trepper & Barrett, 1986 in Haskins, 2003); • Sibling sexual abuse is unrecognized, underreported, difficult to identify, often avoided, (Ascherman & Safier 1990; Carlson et al. 2006; Finkelhor, 1980), and there is cultural blindness to its frequency and impact (Crowder, 2002; Peterson, 1992; Rowntree, 2007); Sibling sexual abuse can involve greater use of violence, intrusiveness, frequency and duration (Adler & Schutz, 1995; Ascherman & Safier, 1990; Caffaro & Conn-Caffaro, 2005; Carlson, et al., 2006 Cyr, et al., 2002; Finkelhor, 1980; Gioro, 1991; Hardy, 2001; O’Brien, 1991; Peterson, 1992; Rudd & Herzberger, 1999; Russell, 1986); There are heightened “Bad Parent Syndrome” and divided loyalty issues e.g. parents/carers(Barbour, et al., 1999); And, often the sexual abuse is uncovered when victims, as adults, seek treatment for issues they may not even associate with the sibling abuse (Caffaro and Conn-Caffaro 1998; Canavan et al. 1992; Carlson et al. 2006; Laviola 1992; Weihe 1997). hese factors provide a rationale for a more flexible and individualized set of principles to address sibling sexual abuse and reunification. As such, we propose the use of the VORS Principle (Voice, Openness, Responsibility and Safety) to assist in ethical decision-making, guiding professionals and family members to assess their readiness for reunification at Disclosure, Investigation, Assessment and Treatment stages. Applying the VORS Principle removes the rigidity of universal models, allows consideration for the uniqueness of each family and views the adolescent through a developmental lens. The VORS Principle is victim driven and considers the safety of all children as paramount when families want to reunify. The VORS Principle emphasises that contact allows for hope and hope is a predictor of successful reunification (Skau et al, 2008). We ask ourselves at the Disclosure, Investigation, Assessment and Treatment phases: • Does the child who was sexually abused (the child), the adolescent who sexually harmed (the youth), and members of the family (the family) have a ‘Voice’? These questions would refer to their ability to feel empowered, express their needs and seem unafraid of the consequences of speaking up. • Does the child, the youth, and the family have ‘Openness’? This refers to the family’s communication patterns, such as their ability to demonstrate empathetic listening and responding, to use self-expression, to confront secrets and to engage in conflict resolution and clarification. • Does the child, the youth, and the family have ‘Responsibility’? This refers to the ability to invite the youth to take responsibility; for families to take a ‘Both And Position’ where they can support and hold accountable as a way to locate responsibility appropriately (McNevin, 2010). Can they shift away from the Accountability Axiom? Meaning, if you cannot feel the anguish of the behaviours you engaged in, you shift it to others (Jory and Anderson, 2000) • Does the child, the youth, and the family have ‘Safety’? This refers to the family system’s ability to provide consistent, predictable and non-shaming roles, rules and responsibilities for all family members, and establish a “new normal”. Inspired by the work of those who have created previous protocols and models to guide family reunification, we are proposing a more flexible and customisable framework to assist professionals and families to make decisions about readiness to reunify following sibling sexual abuse. Reunification must be recognized as an adjustment period for families and a potentially fragile time for the family system (Terling,1999). Our framework proposes the application of the VORS Principle throughout the healing process. Temporary separation of the child who was victimised and the adolescent who engaged in the sexually abusive behaviour may be most necessary during the Disclosure, Investigation and Assessment periods. However, removal is not necessary in all sibling sexual abuse cases. Decisions can be made on a case-by-case basis using the VORS Principle. In treatment, ‘Ccommunication’ between the siblings can begin immediately in the form of letters vetted by the therapist. Clarification occurs when the adolescent can empathically acknowledge the harm caused. Contact is a gradual process, beginning in a therapeutic context. Reunification is the repair of the sibling relationship. These are distinct achievements in the family therapy work. Each family is unique with diverse strengths and challenges. We need to work collaboratively, applying the VORS principle with the information that is known at the time. The purpose of the VORS Principle and the proposed framework is to: assist in ethical decision making; to create better road maps for families; to present a more holistic way to address sibling sexual abuse; to support parents; to engage collateral partners; and, to create a “new normal” in the family system. Reunification is framed as the repair of the relationships and allows for the application of hope. Where there is hope, there are possibilities. References Adler, N., & Schutz, J. (1995). Sibling incest offenders. Child Abuse and Neglect, 19(7), 811-819. Ascherman, L. I., & Safier, E. J. (1990). Sibling incest: a consequence of individual and family dysfunction. Bulletin of the Menninger Clinic, 54(3), 311. Briere, J. (1984, April). The effects of childhood sexual abuse on later psychological functioning: Defining a post-sexual abuse syndrome. In Third National Conference on Sexual Victimization of Children, Washington, DC. Barbour, H., Berry, D., & Crisci, G. (1999). Association for Treatment of Sexual Abusers Annual Conference Presentation Canavan, M. M., Meyer III, W. J., & Higgs, D. C. (1992). The female experience of sibling incest. Journal of Marital and Family Therapy, 18(2), 129-142. Carlson, et al. (2006). Sibling incest: Reports from forty-one survivors. Journal of Child Sexual Abuse, 15(4), 19-34. Caffaro, J. V., & Conn-Caffaro, A. (2005). Treating sibling abuse families. Aggression and Violence, 10(5), 604–623. Crowder, R. (2002). Sibling sexual abuse: a descriptive study of sibling sexual abuse data from Canadian incidence studies and selected sibling incest research in the literature, 1980-2001 (Doctoral dissertation, Carleton University). Gioro, S., I. (1991). Brother-sister incest: Characteristics, risk factors, trauma, and long-term effects among adult female survivors. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, University of Maine, Maine. Haskins, C. (2003) Treating Sibling Incest Using a Family Systems Approach. Journal of Mental Health Counseling: October 2003, Vol. 25, No. 4, pp. 337-350. Hardy, M. S. (2001). Physical aggression and sexual behavior among siblings: A retrospective study. Journal of Family Violence, 16(3), 255-268. Finkelhor, D. (1979). Sexually victimized children, Free Press, New York. Finkelhor, D. (1980). Sex among siblings: A survey on prevalence, variety, and effects. Archives of Sexual Behavior, 9(3), 171-194. Jory, B., & Anderson, D. (2000). Intimate justice III: Healing the anguish of abuse and embracing the anguish of accountability. Journal of Marital and Family Therapy, 26(3), 329-340. Laviola, M. (1992). Effects of older brother-younger sister incest: A study of the dynamics of 17 cases. Child Abuse and Neglect, 16(3), 409-421. McNevin, E. (2010). Applied restorative justice as a complement to systemic family therapy: Theory and practice implications for families experiencing intra-familial adolescent sibling incest. Australian and New Zealand Journal of Family Therapy, 31(1), 60-72. O’Brien, M. J. (1991). Taking sibling incest seriously. In M. Q. Patton (Ed.), Family sexual abuse: Frontline research and evaluation. Newbury Park: Sage. Peterson, A. L. T. (1992). Sibling Sexual Abuse: The Emerging Awareness of an Ignored Childhood Trauma. Moving Forward, 1(4). Retrieved from the World Wide Web, May 21, 2014, https://www.havoca.org/sibling-sexual-abuse-emerging-awareness-ignored-childhood-trauma/ Rowntree, M. (2007). Responses to sibling sexual abuse: Are they as harmful as the abuse? Australian Social Work, 60(3), 347-361. Rudd, J., M., & Herzberger, S., D. (1999). Brother-sister incest – father – daughter incest: A comparison of characteristics and consequences. Child Abuse and Neglect, 23(9), 915 – 928. Russell, D. E. H. (1986). Brother-sister incest: Breaking the myth of mutuality. In D. E. H. Russell (Ed.), The secret trauma: Incest in the lives of girls and women (pp. 270-295). New York: Basic Books. Skau, B., Barbour, H. & Falls, N. (2008). Sibling Reunification Presentation: Continuum Conference, Toronto, Canada. Terling, T. (1999). The efficacy of family reunification practices: Reentry rates and correlates of reentry for abused and neglected children reunited with their families. Child Abuse & Neglect, 23(12), 1359–1370. Trepper, T., & Barrett, M. (1986) Vulnerability to Incest, Journal of Psychotherapy & The Family, 2:2, 13-25 Nancy Falls, Ed.D., RP Melissa Maltar, MSW, RSW

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