Rachel Thielmann – C-VILLE Weekly

Awareness campaign: Child sexual abuse happens more often than you think

April is one of the first warm and welcoming months of the new year, but it’s also given two not-so-ideal titles: National Child Abuse Prevention month and Sexual Assault Awareness month.

“Child sexual abuse is much more prevalent than people think,” says Rachel Thielmann, a prevention education specialist at Foothills Child Advocacy Center. Though her group served 326 local children last year—with 65 percent of them reportedly victims of sexual abuse—she says the number of abused kids is likely much higher because a lot of children never disclose it.

Many signs forewarn of child sexual abuse, but the specialist says it can be difficult to pinpoint them. She offers a few things to look for.

“For all kids, curiosity about sex and their bodies is really natural, but when you see a child who knows really specific things or specific language about sex that’s outside of what you would expect for their age, that could be a sign,” she says.

Adults should also notice when children are averse to being with a grown-up they used to spend a lot of time with, or any kind of unexplained physical mark or rash, or discomfort when using the bathroom.

When abuse is suspected, she says adults should immediately report it to Child Protective Services.

One in four children will be sexually abused in their lifetime, and more than 90 percent of them are abused by someone they know well, according to Thielmann, who adds that dodging perpetrators isn’t as simple as refusing candy from strangers, or staying away from the bad guy.

“They’re in your community,” she says, nodding to the case of a former teacher who pleaded guilty in 2014 to online coercion and enticement with a minor, and who is now serving 10 years in federal prison.

“He was that person that everybody loved,” she says. “Kids loved him. Other teachers loved him.”

She also mentions a more recent case that went through her office, in which a 14-year-old girl was being sexually abused by her father.

“She felt really, really terrible because she felt like she had gone along with it,” says Thielmann. “Kids are typically groomed in that process.”

While adults may think young children should be able to recognize a “bad touch,” she says, “when someone they love says, ‘I love you,’ and ‘you’re really special to me, so we’re going to have a secret,’ kids don’t really understand that’s not okay.”

The employees at Foothills administer a free national training called Stewards of Children. Olympic gold medalist Aly Raisman—who recently made headlines for being a victim of former national gymnastics team doctor and convicted child molester Larry Nassar—has advocated for every adult involved in youth sports to undergo this training.

The next Stewards of Children sessions are on Saturday, April 21, at the Foothills office on East High Street. It’ll be offered in English at 10am and in Spanish at 2pm. Visit Foothillscac.org to register.

Local statistics

Rachel Thielmann, a prevention education specialist at the Foothills Child Advocacy Center, says a large majority of child abuse goes unreported. Many victims don’t speak out until they’re older, so the numbers are likely much higher. In fiscal year 2017, Foothills representatives served 236 new cases in Charlottesville and Albemarle, and 90 in surrounding counties.

The 326 children were:

62% female
38% male
28% disabled
32% 0-6 years old
37% 7-12 years old
31% 13-18 years old

All kids were alleged victims of at least one type of abuse, but some of them reported more than one type.

65% sexual abuse
20% child pornography/internet crimes/trafficking
26% physical abuse
17% neglect
17% witness to violence
28% other types of abuse

State statistics

In fiscal year 2017, 55,258 children in Virginia were reported as possible victims of abuse or neglect, according to Child Protective Services.

6,947 kids participated in founded investigations, which means a review of the facts gathered during the investigation met the state’s preponderance of evidence standard
9,796 children were involved in unfounded investigations
38,515 children were involved in reports that yielded family assessments
120 investigations of child deaths due to suspected abuse or neglect
38 children died as a result of abuse or neglect

Updated: April 19 at 4:30pm.

Let it ride: Majority of meeting goers want bikes at Ragged Mountain

The city of Charlottesville has so far held nine public meetings on the long-discussed topic of whether Ragged Mountain should remain a natural area or be opened for other uses, such as mountain biking or dog walking. Though a final decision looms, some say public opinion is cut and dried.

A year-old poll taken by Charlottesville Tomorrow showed that 83 percent of voters would prefer to see some shared-use trails on the property. Updated tallies, presented by the Charlottesville Area Mountain Bike Club and Rivanna Trails Foundation member Jon Ciambotti, show that while 84 people at public meetings since November 2014 have spoken out against bicycle usage at Ragged Mountain, 220 have asked the city to let the people ride.

Those numbers, according to the city, include some of the same people who are counted multiple times.

Rachel Thielmann, a mother of three girls on a local mountain biking team, is one of those advocates for shared usage.

“It would be awesome if my kids and I had the opportunity to get over to Ragged Mountain for a quick ride and be home in time to get dinner ready,” she says. “The reality is that nothing exists that fills that need.”

Opponents of shared trails at Ragged Mountain often cite Preddy Creek as a better place to ride, she says, but its Albemarle County location up Route 29 is nearly in Greene County and a 40-minute drive.

“Charlottesville is our community,” she says. “We live and work here, send our kids to school here, pay taxes, shop here and eat here. We are constantly encouraged to think local in our choices and this is an awesome mentality that we support. So why not be able to ride local, too?”

City spokesperson Miriam Dickler says biking is currently allowed in all city parks except for Ragged Mountain and the Ivy Creek Natural Area. But on a map of city parks, Ciambotti points to the three largest green areas: Pen, Darden Towe and McIntire parks, which are dedicated to other uses. At the first, he says a golf course spans across a large chunk of what would be a riding area, sports courts cover the second, and the third will soon be a botanical garden designated as a natural area. So shared-use trails at Ragged Mountain, he and Thielmann agree, are the perfect fix.

Thielmann calls shared-use opponents a “relatively small, but extremely vocal group” who often cite the ecological benefit of only allowing walkers and hikers on the trails. That’s a claim that has “absolutely no scientific support,” she says, because multiple studies have shown that bike tires on trail systems are no more impactful than hiking shoes or boots.

Though former city councilor Dede Smith, who has long advocated for keeping the area around the reservoir natural, did not respond directly to those studies, she says protecting Ragged Mountain is a matter of public health.

“To deliberately remove those protections at a time in our history when this original water supply has again become our only clean water reserve for the future, and when contaminated drinking water is in the news on a daily basis, is simply absurd,” she says. “To do that is comparable to denying climate change.”

As for the public opinion polls, she says the biking community brought large families of bikers to the first few public hearings, while those advocating for maintaining one of only two natural areas in the community “dominated” most of them.

“We’ve been amazed at how this process has not been based on facts,” Ciambotti says. “And how it’s mostly been based on hyperbole, fear and emotions.”

Mountain bikers often get a bad rap, he continues—they’re not all ripping Red Bulls in between backflips on their bicycles. In fact, many have the same overall goal as those who hope to keep the ban on bikes: preservation.

Members of CAMBC—the mountain biking club—are stewards dedicated to building sustainable trails in the city and county, he says. In fact, he estimates that they have already built about three miles of trail at Ragged Mountain in conjunction with the city.

Most of the mileage mountain bikers are proposing to make shared use is on the backside of Ragged Mountain—about an hour-and-a-half hike from the parking lot—leaving a good deal of the most convenient trails to be designated for hikers only. Some trails would remain for walkers only, his group proposes.

And when detailing damage to the environment, Ciambotti says the real factor of human impact is the level of use.

To be considered a natural area, Virginia state parks guidelines require 5 percent or less of the acreage be used for trails. Ragged Mountain, which has 980 acres and about eight miles of trail, is at 1.9 percent, according to Brian Daly, the director of the city’s parks and recreation department.

CAMBC has also offered to enter a memorandum of understanding with the city that would make the group liable for any accidents and require it to maintain the trails—to keep them clean and alert staff of any fallen trees across the path.

At the end of the day, Ciambotti says the argument is about exclusivity and who should be able to enjoy the great outdoors.

“I don’t want to bike on the road next to a garbage truck,” he says. “I want to bike in nature.”

Parks and Recreation Advisory Board members have indicated that they would like to make a recommendation to the Planning Commission and City Council, which will ultimately vote on the matter, at their October 19 meeting.

Updated October 7 at 9:25am with a more accurate headline and to reflect that nine public meetings, instead of nine public hearings, have been held on the potential shared use of Ragged Mountain.

Updated October 11 to note that the numbers of those for and against biking include some of the same people who commented multiple times.