350, Mostly Social Workers, Gather to Discuss Child Abuse

"I decided that I needed help after I put my youngest son in a plastic bag and tied him up," said one speaker yesterday near the end of a two-day Symposium on Child Abuse in the Science Center.

Over 350 doctors, lawyers, social workers and laymen attended the symposium, organized by Boston's Children's Advocates Inc., to discuss such topics as Legal Issues in Child Abuse and Violence in Society.

President Horner took a personal interest in the symposium. Radcliffe was one of its co-sponsors, and Harvard provided the Science Center free. Susan S. Lyman, acting dean of the Radcliffe Institute, was an introductory speaker.

"Child abuse has been neglected in this country," Nancy Poor, a member of the Symposium Committee, said yesterday. "It is closeted like homosexuality."

No Right

"Parents can beat their children in the United States because they own them," Poor said. "We feel that the birth of a child gives the parents no right over them, they must earn that. But a parent who beats his child should not be imprisoned, he should be understood and helped."

Over 70 per cent of the people at the symposium were women. Many child abusers are working mothers, and a majority of the social workers in the United States are women.

The primary purpose of the symposium, its organizers said, was to educate people to the problem of child abuse. "Child abuse is the symptom of a much larger problem in American society," Michael Turner, a social worker, said. "The child himself is not the problem; children are helpless."

Speakers criticized government agencies for their lack of response to the problem of child abuse. Several said that the agencies fail to offer enough legal protection to social workers, who are vulnerable to civil suits by angry parents.

One social worker based in Dorchester spoke of repeated instances where he felt forced to feed and clothe abused children that he came in contact with. "How can you help a hurt kid and not be touched by it?" he asked. "When you see a beat up, hungry child you don't just send him back home."

Children's Advocates Inc., is an organization of 24 Boston hospitals and social agencies. It was formed in 1971 to deal with the problem of child abuse. It is the first group of its kind in the U.S.

Besides its symposium activities, Children's Advocates sponsors a group called "Parents Anonymous" to aid child abusers. It has also made recommendations for improved legislation and government support for child abuse programs.