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Standing on left, psychotherapist, Georges Bossous.On right, Paul Kendrick tells the abuse victims they are heroes; their brave actions have saved countless other children from being sexually abused.
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June 28, 2012
Cap Haitien, Haiti - For two intense and riveting hours yesterday, twenty two Haitian child sexual abuse victims gathered in a hotel court yard to listen to Georges Bossous, a Haitian born psychotherapist from Miami, speak to the boys in a session intended to provide the victims with "education and awareness" about child sexual abuse.
Among many things, the boys became aware of the methods by which they were tricked, decieved and manipulated by their abuser. Most importantly, the boys are being told over and over again that the disgusting and terrible things that happened to them was not their fault - that child sexual abuse is never, ever the child's fault.
Time stopped for me as I was washed over by the confusion, pain and suffering of these kids. The man who abused them was the U.S. executive director of a Catholic sponsored boarding school for homeless, street kids in Cap-Haitien.
He is a graduate of my alma mater, Jesuit run Fairfield University in Connecticut.
When it was my turn to speak, I told the boys that they are supported by tens of thousands of other victims/survivors and supporters throughout the world who are so sorry and care deeply about what happened to them. These boys are heroes. They stood up to a popular, charismatic child molester and, in doing so, have saved countless other children from beiing abused. In December 2010, their abuser, Douglas Perlitz, was sentenced to almost 20 years in a U.S. prison. In addition, the boys are represented by legal counsel in 22 civil lawsuits filed in Federal court in Connecticut.
Perlitz is a monster. He threatened and intimidated these poor, homeless, street kids. He raped them and then he threatened and intimidated them again not to tell anyone about the abuse. If they did tell, he would throw them back into the streets.
The Catholic individuals and institutions that bragged for years about their kindness and caring towards these kids turned ugly and turned the victims into the enemy when the boys began to cry out for help from their abuse in late 2007. They called the boys liars. They wrote a letter to major donors which led to the closing of the school. They deserted them entirely.
The courtroom puts these poor and vulnerable kids on a level playing field with these "proud and distinguished" Catholic entities who abandoned these children when the victims most needed their love and support. Like in the Sandusky case at Penn State, those who failed to protect these children, those who knew but looked the other way, will be held responsible and accountable for their willful and purposeful negligence.
But, this week's work is about bringing professional intervention to the terribly wounded abuse victims by a psychotherapist who specializes in the treatment of Haitian child sex abuse victims.
Paul Kendrick
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| Standing: Cap Haitien psychologist, Evans Turenne, and Miami based psychotherapist, Georges Bossous, provide child sexual abuse awareness and education to 22 victims who were sexually abused at Project Pierre Toussaint in Haiti. |
CNN - Anderson Cooper ---- Orphan Predator : Haiti Street Orphans Abused.
