Mothers Surviving Child Sexual Abuse

Despite increased recognition of the high incidence of child sexual abuse, little attention has so far been paid to the women on whom children primarily depend for care adn protection - their mothers. Informed by theory and research on other situations involving loss, secrecy and moral dilemmas, as well as the rapidly accumulating knowledge of child sexual abuse, Mothers Surviving Child Sexual Abuse offers a new analysis of mother's reactions and resposes, presenting a fresh perspective on a shocking porblem for practitioners and policy-makers involved in child protection, as well as students and lecturers of social work and social studies and women's studies.

"A resource for women and their care providers".

"I'd kill them" is often a common reaction of people thinking themselves into the shoes of a woman whose child has been sexually abused by her partner or anyone else. It signifies both an attempt to deflect the pain with a simple remedy and the instinctive response of most mothers to their child's need for protection. Faced with the reality, women's reactions are considerably more complex. The central aim of "Mothers Surviving Child Sexual Abuse" is to demonstrate this complexity, and the way it is embedded in the social relations within which child sexual abuse occurs.

In the United States we are reluctant to acknowledge that females ever molest children; maternal incest frequently occurs undetected. Mother-daughter sexual abuse, especially, is under-recognized, under-researched and under-reported. A Mother's Touch is a powerful combination of personal memoir and professional narrative. Focusing on child sexual abuse research and drawing on her own childhood experiences, the author describes the complex mother-daughter incestuous relationship, which includes extreme maternal narcissism and manipulations, coercion and control. Physical and psychological boundaries are violated daily; abusive acts are repeatedly framed as normal and loving. With A Mother's Touch: Surviving Mother-Daughter Sexual Abuse, mental health and child welfare professionals can learn more about covert and exploitative mother-child behavior, various overt sexual behaviors initiated by mothers, and the psychological manipulations used to control and to silence child victims. Six key issues for therapy and victim recovery are described at length. The transition from victim to survivor is seen as essential-not just for the individual's recovery-but also to prevent child sexual abuse in successive generations. The author's descriptions of her unusual childhood experiences with her college-educated, normal-looking mother and traditional, military father are augmented with professional insights. The portrayal of her bizarre mother-daughter relationship fashions a powerful human-interest story and increases both professionals' and the general readers' awareness of mother-daughter incest. The author's blend of humor, sass and concrete examples adds to the book's fast-paced readability. Highly recommended also for survivors of abuse and for their significant others who seek to understand.

Stories of mothers who survived sexual abuse as children reveal the struggles, challenges, and triumphs of this special group of women. Unraveling the veil of silence and capturing the experiences of mothers who were sexually abused as children, this book offers a first step in both supporting mothers and disrupting the cycle of intergenerational abuse that keeps these mothers isolated and alone in their mothering challenges and successes. Each story reveals the concerns, the needs, the difficulties, and the fears these mothers confront as they parent their children while struggling with their own past experiences. By examining the therapeutic needs and concerns of mothers who have survived child sexual abuse, Teresa Gil offers special insight into understanding and supporting these remarkable women. At issue is understanding what helps women who were sexually abused as children to survive and to parent effectively. Written for adult mothers who were victims of childhood sexual abuse, as well as for helping professionals, this book reveals the touching details of the pain and triumphs of mothering as a survivor and examines the protective factors that support resiliency and assist survivor/mothers to overcome challenges and to provide safe environments for the next generation.

No One's Heart Bleeds More than a Mom's Over a Child's Pain We've all heard stories of molested children, but how many of us have given thought to the pain experienced by mothers who know their children have been molested, or the guilt they endure in feeling they have failed to pray mothers often fail to cope effectively with their children's sexual abuse by being: The Protective Mother The Un-Protective Mother The Over-Protective Mother The Co-Perpetrator Mother And how instead to model yourself after: The Educated Mother The Resourceful Mother The Spiritual Mother You will also learn about the (false) beliefs surrounding sexual child abuse, including that a mother should have known about the abuse, and how, instead of pointing fingers or feeling blame over the situation, you can take action as a mother to protect your child, or to support a mother of a molestation survivor, to bring healing for the child and mother both.

Surviving Child Sexual Abuse" is a handbook for survivors and their helpers. It examines what sexual abuse entails for a child and why it happens. Personal and professional issues for helpers are addressed and the long term effects of sexual abuse are examined. The strengths of survivors are acknowledged together with the supportive alliances they have formed with partners, helpers and friends. The theme of disclosure is examined in depth and the main themes in therapeutic work with survivors are discussed and methods are described which can be used in such therapeutic work. This highly successful book ends with an evaluation of the issues involved in training helpers for working with survivors.; The book is aimed at therapists including social workers, counsellros in public organizations and private practice, clinical psychologists, psychiatrists, nurses, health visitors, general practitioners, police and psychotherapists.

In searching for support for her children and herself, the author talked to child sexual abuse professionals and many "other mothers" whose children had been abused. She found that her family's experiences were shared by many other families and that they all felt isolated and alone. They shared many dilemmas and questions. They shared the feelings of shock, horror, fear, guilt, grief and panic. They shared the difficulties of how to tell friends and family and often the trauma of going to court. They shared the frustration at other perception of sexual abuse and the ways that offenders often "excuse" their behavior. These poems were therapeutic for the author and written to explain her own feelings and dilemmas but also to support other mothers and their children. They hope to raise public and professional awareness of the scale of child sexual abuse, to show how difficult it may be for children to disclose and the damage that is caused to the children, adult survivors and the people who care for them.