Minor Molesting Another Minor

My question involves juvenile law in the State of: Indiana

Hi I have a special needs 5 year old daughter with severe developmental delays and cannot speak adequately for herself mentally she has the capacity of about a 3 year old. I also have a 6 month old daughter with my live in boyfriend and a 4 year old son from a previous marriage that visits every summer. My boyfriends son is 11 and has been caught in the past (within the last year) trying to play sexual games with his cousins one who is his age another who is 6 and one who is 9. He also has been caught using innappropriate sexual language we have addressed these issues to the best of our ability and he is currently in therapy though he only goes once a week and his behavior has somewhat improved. My boyfriend has joint custody and mom has primary residence so we really only have him every other weekend due to my boyfriends other custody agreement regarding his other children with a different ex-spouse. His ex has confirmed that this behavior is something her kids have experienced and requires that her children do not have visitation the same weekends that his son is here as it becomes difficult to efficiently monitor 6 children at one time and he has displayed this behavior with her kids before. I do my best to monitor my children and him when he is here, I even sleep on the couch in case anyone decides to wander in the of the night, and nobody is supposed to play in rooms with the door closed. I am still very concerned that something will happen. The custody agreement stipulates that they were going to re-evaluate the situation in 6 months (which is up) and seriously consider inpatient treatment. Mom holds the insurance and has actually reduced his therapy sessions to every other week due to her inability to pay the deductible to maintain insurance until she receives her tax refund in March. She has been confronted and informed of his behavior and language and is in serious denial about her son who I consider to be a sexual predator.

My question is if I were to catch him molesting my kids (any of them) what criminal charges can be brought against him?
Will my kids be removed if I report it (which I will do if I catch it)?
Can the courts be compelled to order him to inpatient treatment?
Can he be charged as an adult?
What consequences do his parents face if this happens?

Any insight or help on this would be greatly appreciated. If he were my child and the decision were solely mine I would have him in inpatient treatment as other methods have not seemed to work. I do not see inpatient treatment as a long term thing or a way to punish the child but more as a last resort and short term option so that he gets the intensive therapy this child so desperately needs. I have been very resistant and have had conflicted feelings about him even being allowed around my children I just don't know what to do at this point.

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Quoting tprice3712

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My question is if I were to catch him molesting my kids (any of them) what criminal charges can be brought against him?

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For an 11 year old, nothing of great consequence as far as criminal charges. Prosecutors aren't generally able to establish important elements of the crime, such as intent, knowing consequences of actions, etc. - which is why behaviors of minors of this age aren't usually deemed "crimes", but behavioral issues.

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Will my kids be removed if I report it (which I will do if I catch it)?

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Only if there is some incident after which you continue to allow this child to be around your children. Then they can be removed under the theory that you've failed to protect them.

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Can the courts be compelled to order him to inpatient treatment?

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The courts can turn him over to juvenile services who can do any number of things with him.

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Can he be charged as an adult?

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He won't be. Not at 11.

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What consequences do his parents face if this happens?

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Mom doesn't face any consequences. What happens when the child is under dad's roof is DAD's problem. If some incident occurs when the child is with you and dad and your children are victimized, then both social services and the courts will get involved - the likely outcome being that either dad will be forced to visit his child somewhere else, or your children will need to be somewhere else if the son is coming to visit. Knowingly putting a predator and victim together after some actual incident has occurred is a recipe for your children to be removed from your care.

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Any insight or help on this would be greatly appreciated. If he were my child and the decision were solely mine I would have him in inpatient treatment as other methods have not seemed to work.

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The child in question is also dad's child - so what steps is DAD taking to assist the situation? If dad's argument later is that mom is at fault for lessening of therapy due to financial reasons, and dad hasn't whipped out his checkbook, put the child under his insurance, or taken some other step to attempt to provide resources for his son, he's not likely to be seen in the best light by the court.

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I do not see inpatient treatment as a long term thing or a way to punish the child but more as a last resort and short term option so that he gets the intensive therapy this child so desperately needs.

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I agree. So what is DAD doing to cause this to happen?

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I have been very resistant and have had conflicted feelings about him even being allowed around my children I just don't know what to do at this point.

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We have doubts, fears, and "funny feelings" for a reason. We ignore feelings of "something isn't right" to our own detriment and that of our children at our own risk. Should some incident of victimization occur against your children, it won't make them feel better to hear you say "well I wasn't SURE". - in fact, it can have an opposite and crushing effect, because then they'll feel like you had the opportunity to prevent/protect, and failed to do so. Honestly, you need to be erring on the side of caution here. You need to do whatever it takes to not have your BF's son around your children - and I do mean WHATEVER it takes - whether that's staying at a hotel when he visits, or having BF and his son stay elsewhere, or even more drastic measures like terminating the relationship. Should some incident occur, YOU are going to be at least partially to blame - at least in the hearts of your children who look to you to protect them from the things they can't appreciate enough to fear or defend themselves from. Please don't make the mistake that so many other parents make, and try to figure out ways to "make it work". If you want to see the lifelong effects of thousands of other people of all ages who were put in similar situations as children, and how much more the lack of protection affected them then the actual molestation, just check out the boards at www.pandys.org (Pandora's Aquarium) - the point being, you can't take the risk of it happening ONCE. Somebody needs to be making alternate plans for every other weekend.

{Applauding loudly for aardvarc}