Written by and for abuse survivors

Edited by Pauline Kirk.

Yorkshire Art Circus

£4.99

ISBN 1 898311 02 1

This is a collection of 11 stories and poems written by
survivors who experienced emotional, sexual and physical abuse as
children. You would expect this to be a harrowing book, and it
is.

But at the same time it is a positive book, showing that with
courage and considerable determination some survivors can find good
things in their lives despite their destructive childhoods.

Actually writing it down for the first time, some of the authors
found to be a therapeutic experience: ‘You feel released… like
the chains have gone.’

This book could be given to adolescents who have been abused, to
help them confront the awful feelings of isolation and anger.

As one writer put it: ‘My childhood was stolen from me.’

Above all this book proved to me that it is not enough for
departments to focus on investigation and disclosure. To do so is a
second rape.

What is required is sensitive, knowledgeable and continued
face-to-face work straight after the disclosure. The legal problems
somehow must be overcome.

Unless this happens victims are sucked into new and continuing
abusive relationships and situations, making a positive survival
more and more difficult.

Jean Moore is author of The ABC of Child Abuse Work and
The ABC of Child Protection. She is a freelance trainer and child
protection specialist.