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Combating Abuse: A Model That Works
Abuse, especially of children, continues to be the elephant in the Orthodox room. The news stories won’t go away. The cynicism won’t go away. The problem won’t go away.
While victims cry out for recognition, many average citizens agonize over the glacial speed at which the problem is addressed, the secretiveness of some major players, and the continued besmirching of the Torah community.
All of this goes on while one city has put together a program that not only works, but has become a model of what could be in other communities.
Aleinu is the Orthodox unit of Jewish Family Service of Los Angeles. It provides a gamut of intervention and counseling services to the frum community. Its hottest asset, however, is a multi-tiered program that addresses abuse. Through Aleinu, the LA Orthodox community shed its previous reputation with some governmental agencies for being secretive, reclusive and uncooperative, and replaced it with one of successful partnership.
A huge amount of credit goes to Debbie Fox, a licensed clinical social worker who just happens to be married to one of my closest friends, Rabbi Dr. David Fox. Debbie has nurtured the project since its infancy, presides over it, administers it, does the detail work, raises the funds, and answers the cell phone at midnight when a call comes in from the LAPD sex crimes unit.
I tried to get Mrs. Fox to talk about the activities of Aleinu’s Halachic Advisory Board (HAB), which is the panel of eight rabbinic volunteers that swings into action when abuse is reported. (When I received a call from a woman complaining of inappropriate behavior by a member of the community, I called Aleinu, and was amazed at how quickly the HAB moved on the report.) Mrs. Fox had other ideas. She would not talk about how the HAB deals with perpetrators before giving me a long description of Aleinu’s educational activities. While dealing with the perpetrator is the more high-profile item today, Aleinu’s goal is to prevent the abuse in the first place.
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