This is the story about a young woman forced to have sex with her social worker in exchange for getting to see her mother and other privileges. She suffers this abuse for awhile until she refuses to cooperate any longer.

She tells her high school counselor who convinces her to report Mr. Jones. She tells her story to the agency and to a state investigator but 19 months after her reports she hasn't heard back from anyone about the case. Mr. Jones was right when he said no one would really believe her. In the meantime Mr. Jones was fired from the agency for an unrelated cause. Readers who expected dramatic encounters and justice for all will be disappointed.

There are several points to consider about her choices along the way. The writer's goal in sharing this experience--which was very painful for her to write about--is to help arm your students with the knowledge and self-confidence they need to avoid a similar situation. By describing choices she might have made we're not suggesting she didn't do all she could under the circumstances--but your students now have the advantage of having read her articles. Knowing what they do now, how would they act differently if caught in a similar dilemma.

Other Choices to Consider

1) Reporting Mr. Jones immediately after the first encounter. He would have denied it but any detailed information she provided about his apartment might have caused the agency to at least remove him from her case. Or perhaps she would have been transferred to another placement. Perhaps other people would have come forward with stories of sexual harassment concerning him. If nothing was done and Mr. Jones remained her worker, he could have retaliated but any severe measures on his part might have been seen as vengeful and inappropriate.

2) Refusing to cooperate after the first encounter and not telling anyone. This would probably have meant suffering restrictions and other pressures from Mr. Jones.

3) Running away from the home.

4) Threatening Mr. Jones with bodily harm, perhaps at the hands of an irate boyfriend or relative.

5) Continuing to have sex with Mr. Jones and hope he would just stop, die, win the lottery, or get transferred. (Point out that this is called "wishful thinking," and is a form of denial.)

6) Telling a friend outside the system and getting advice about how to proceed. This would have given her a shoulder to lean on without forcing her to "go public" in any official way.

A Writer's Courage

A final word on this story. It would be easy for your students to think that the main lesson of this story is that adults can't be trusted and that the system will not redress their grievances.

This is certainly one lesson from the story. But another lesson which they may need help seeing is the tremendous strength shown by the author. She did not let this experience cripple her capacity to trust people, believe in herself, or remain a loving mother. And by finding the strength to write this article she has educated her peers about a situation which they have little sense about how to handle.

One aspect of her healing process was sharing her pain with others, in this case by writing. Your students should also leave the story with a sense of how important opening up to others can be.