Recently I wrote a post about a Georgia kindergarten teacher who has been brought up on child abuse charges. The jury is being sequestered today to come up with a verdict. But no matter what the results are who is going to win?

The Children?

It doesn’t matter whether the defendant is innocent or guilty; these kids are adversely affected. If the abuse actually occurred they have to live with what has been done to them. If they are experiencing false memories introduced by the parents or investigators they will be affected just as severely.

The trial has done them no good either. They had to testify and were questioned mercilessly. These experiences are a form of child abuse too.

It can be even worse if they care about their teacher.

A lot of times even though these kids are the victims they will blame themselves for what happened. And if their teacher is innocent how will they feel then if she goes to jail?

And what about long term? They will continue to think about and be affected by all of this for years. If the teacher is found guilty maybe it will lessen the kids’ pain a little bit but it will still be there. One woman I used to work with thinks she was molested by her uncle when she was 12. It was only one incident that she remembers. No other child has ever complained about being abused by him. But 40 years later she still hasn’t spoken to him and believes all of her problems are a result of what he may have done.

The Parents?

If the teacher is found guilty the parents will be mollified a bit. The will be glad that justice has been served…even if she is really innocent. But there will still be the problem of helping their children through the aftermath of the abuse, the trial, and the news.

They will also have to work through their anger and remorse. In a lot of cases they will blame themselves for putting their child in a harmful situation even though they didn’t know about it to begin with.

The Community?

This community has been torn apart. Some of the people side with the children. The others don’t believe that the teacher could do anything like this and have supported her all the way. Whichever way the verdict goes one side will be victorious; the other will believe that the justice system didn’t work.

Somehow these people will have to work to become a community again. It is a very small town and they won’t have a choice.

The Jurors?

Reportedly they have sat through very graphic evidence and testimony from both the children and the defendant. These people are shell shocked. They have heard both sides now and still don’t know what they believe happened.

They will be suffering from all the information they have been deluged with for some time. Did they win?

The Teacher?

Whether she is innocent or guilty she has already lost her job, her child, her family, and her friends. If guilty she will be spending a lot of her life in prison. If innocent she will probably have to move away. She may never be able to teach again. And who knows if she will get her child back. Can she win?

No matter what the verdict is in any case like this no one will come out as a winner. I am not saying that we should not protect our children from predators. We have to be careful about how we go about prosecuting these cases. We have to be really sure about the facts before going ahead with a trial. Witch hunts won’t help anyone, especially not our children.

And we have to take care of the children going through this as much as possible. We need to be sure that not only are the long term damages from the actual abuse addressed but also the effects of the trials. These cannot be taken lightly and the community has to be careful of the abuse that will be added on through investigations, adult badgering, and court appearances.

I don’t think there will be any “winners” in this case and I don’t think there are any clear winners in others like this. But I suppose we as a country have to muddle through and do our best just to get it right and protect our children.