My Son's Former Therapist is an "Alleged" Pedophile

[CraigSca]

Though I haven't written about him for awhile, there may be a few on the boards who remember me talking about my son and our travails because of Asperger's Syndrome.

A while back, we had a therapist of his who called him an Indigo Child (basically, these children were sent from the future to fix society, blah, blah, blah). Shortly after this "expert" diagnosis, we informed the therapist we would no longer be requiring his services. All told, we probably saw him about 3-4 months, and we were always there when our son saw him.

We noticed a couple things weird about him at the time (besides the whole Indigo Child garbage) such as asking my son for a hug after every appointment and him asking us for a picture of my son for his files (no therapist had ever asked for that).

Flash forward a few years, and we have this: http://www.examiner.com/a-1220350~Caseworker_faces_child_pornography_and_unlawful_contact_charges.html

Though it's purely circumstantial, we're calling the police to let them know we'd be happy to testify if this goes to court.

[oliegirl]

Wow. That is scary. Glad to hear your son was never alone with him...it's truly frightening how many people like this (pedophiles, etc...) are functioning in society with positions like this. We really need a better tracking system for people like this, and harsher punishments for first offenses...

[Eaglesfan27]

The idea of being accused of being a pedophile is my biggest professional fear as I do see teenagers (and some older children) alone as they won't talk to me in front of their parents the way they do alone.

Anyway, that indigo stuff is WAY out there (obviously) and would have had me immediately seeking a new therapist for my kid as well.

FWIW, several places I have worked at did take a picture of kids for their files (with a signed consent of course) but it is not a standard practice by any means.

Edit: In a outpatient therapeutic practice, it can be used to show kids how much they have changed physically in a few years while discussing the metaphysical changes as well. I've also seen these pictures used in hospitals for identification purposes when distributing medications.

Anyway, good luck with this, Craig.

[molson]

The idea of being accused of being a pedophile is my biggest professional fear as I do see teenagers (and some older children) alone as they won't talk to me in front of their parents the way they do alone.



That's scary stuff - can't you record all your sessions or have a staff member observe at all times (for your protection).

[Eaglesfan27]

That's scary stuff - can't you record all your sessions or have a staff member observe at all times (for your protection).

Recording sessions brings up its own set of legal issues although I suppose I could get everyone's consent to do so. As far as staff members observing all of the time, that isn't possible logistically. However, my room is never locked and my staff are always welcome to walk in (after knocking in case the client wishes to stop speaking about something private) and I never see anyone after hours or at times when there aren't other people in the office. Those are the commonly recommended steps to protect oneself. It still doesn't mean a pissed off teen couldn't make an allegation against me one day.

[nfg22]

It is such a sick and twisted world. Honestly, when our perversion gets this deep, in that you cannot trust many people anymore. It especially sucks for you EF27 because you(I am assuming from all I have read of you) are one of the good ones.

Really there is evil on two sides. One, there is evil in the fact that people will seriously take advantage of a mentally inhibited child. Two, that some teen would ruin your career by lying.