I spent 16 years as a volunteer advocate for abused children. I was a trained guardian ad litem and as such I interviewed adults and children about sexual, physical and emotional abuse as well as neglect. When children are taken away from their parents for any or all of the above, the case is taken up by the Department of Social Services and a volunteer guardian ad litem is appointed by the court to represent the minor child or children in the family.

During my years as a GAL, I read thick case files for hours on end at DSS, I accompanied the DSS caseworkers on home visits, I observed, I agonized, I wrote up a report, I appeared in Family Court and the cases kept piling up without pause. I’ve seen close up the damage inflicted by child abuse and I can testify that it is devastating, long lasting and extremely difficult to treat. That’s why reading about the sexual abuse charges leveled against former Penn State assistant coach Jerry Sandusky is so disturbing to me. I am haunted by the images described by prosecutors in their 40 count indictment of Sandusky. All of the abuse recounted by prosecutors took place over a 15 year period including his time as an active coach at Penn State. All of the victims were young boys Sandusky came into contact with through his charity, the Second Mile, for disadvantaged kids from troubled families. There are at least two eye witness accounts of Sandusky having oral and anal intercourse with male minors in Penn State’s football facility’s showers. On one occasion Sandusky was observed by a graduate student, who told head football coach Joe Paterno directly about the sexual assault on campus the day after it happened in the spring of 2002. Paterno did not notify the police but did inform the athletic director of the report. Paterno and the staff of Penn State quickly rose to defend Sandusky and refute any reports that they knew any details of the incidents in question. Prosecutors haven’t charged Paterno because it appears that by informing his superiors, he met the minimum legal requirement. Tim Curley, Penn State’s athletic director has been charged with lying to the grand jury about his knowledge of the allegations along with another senior administration official. It seems pretty clear that while Paterno may skate on criminal charges in this case, his actions fail the minimum moral requirement of protecting children over institutions or even your own ass.

A janitor at Penn State was the other alleged eye-witness to Sandusky’s sexual abuse of children, The NY Times reports that in the fall of 2000, a janitor found Sandusky in the showers of the football building performing oral sex on a young boy, pinned against the wall. The janitor distraught, told a fellow employee that he had seen people killed in the Korean War, but that he had just seen something he would never forget. But still, neither man reported the incident, fearful for their jobs. I shudder to think that these men worked in an environment where an employee of the university is considered to be untouchable by the law. Set aside calling the police, did anyone think to just yell out and make him stop?

Sandusky seems to fit the classic profile of a serial child molester. He sought out impoverished children from broken families, in need of male guidance and attention. He groomed his victims with gifts, trips and his undivided attention until he won the boy’s trust, then moved in for the kill. Perhaps the most troubling part of this story is how the victims and their right to be safe got lost in the rush to defend Penn State and save face. So similar to child abuse committed by Catholic priests, boy scout leaders and other authority figures.

The desire for self preservation, for the preservation of a religion or a football team wins out over the interests of a child. These children must have prayed for someone to see their pain or witness the abuse and save them. Two of these children had that chance and were denied salvation by men who simply turned away, allowing the predator access to more innocent prey.