'I was made in Coffee Bay. Right there on the beach, in the sand.'

From the opening lines, we are drawn in and engrossed by this startling memoir of a singular childhood. Suzan is adopted as a newborn in the late 1960s into a seemingly loving and welcoming family living in Pietermaritzburg. But Suzan is set on a collision course with, most particularly, her adoptive mother, and society, from her very beginning. Suzan's relationship with her mother is fraught with drama, which veers over into a level of emotional abuse and needless cruelty that is shocking.

At the age of thirteen, Suzan is sent to a place of safety as a ward of the state, effectively 'orphaning' her. From there, she spirals out of control – fighting to survive in a world of other neglected, abandoned and abused children. She becomes a 'runner', escaping at every opportunity from her various places of confinement, grabbing her schooling in snatches, living on the edges of a drug and prostitution underworld, finding love wherever she can.

Suzan’s young life was the stuff of movies, but it is her writing, in a voice that is unforgettable and true, that transforms her memories into something magical rarely matched in South African literature. A new classic.

In November 2019, Deon Wiggett’s sensational weekly podcasts held South Africa in thrall as he hunted down the paedophile who raped him as a schoolboy. Now, in My Only Story, he completes his exposé of Willem Breytenbach, the once brilliant teacher and later media luminary who led a predatory life.

Deon’s mission to expose his abuser takes him from Breytenbach’s high-school years at an agricultural school in South Africa’s hinterland to the famous Grey College in Bloemfontein and the media titan Naspers. But his quest reveals so much more. As he traces systemic failures through schools great and small, he uncovers a culture of complicity that poses a clear and present danger to the country’s children. While investigating men who prey on boys and girls, Deon devises a model that anyone can use to identify paedophiles in their midst. In his own words: ‘It’s pleasant to pretend that men don’t rape children, but once you accept that they do, it becomes surprisingly easy to recognise their trickery. Once you match a universal pattern to a specific man’s profile, you can spot the deceit before it is too late.’

My Only Story is a riveting, thoughtful and often irreverent account of one man’s determination to overcome childhood trauma; to help others face their demons; and to extract some beauty from the boyhood he lost.

The book which inspired Spotlight, 2016 winner of the Best Picture award at the Oscars!

This is the true story of how a small group of courageous journalists uncovered child abuse on a vast scale - and held the Catholic Church to account. Betrayal is the ground-breaking Pulitzer Prize-winning work of investigative journalism, now brought brilliantly to life on the screen.

On 31 January 2002, the Boston Globe published a report that sent shockwaves around the world. Their findings, based on a six-month campaign by the 'Spotlight' investigative team, showed that hundreds of children in Boston had been abused by Catholic priests, and that this horrific pattern of behaviour had been known - and ignored - by the Catholic Church. Instead of protecting the community it was meant to serve, the Church exploited its powerful influence to protect itself from scandal - and innocent children paid the price. This is the story from beginning to end: the predatory men who exploited the vulnerable, the cabal of senior Church officials who covered up their crimes, the 'hush money' used to buy the victims' silence, the survivors who found the strength to tell their story, and the Catholics across the world who were left shocked, angry, and betrayed. This is the story, too, of how they took power back, confronted their Church and called for sweeping change.

Updated for the release of the Oscar-winning film, this is a devastating and important exposure of the abuse of power at the highest levels in society.

Herman Lategan word wyd gerespekteer as joernalis, en is beide berug én beroemd vir sy uitgesprokenheid en kwinkslae oor alles onder die son. In Hoerkind vertel hy sy lewensverhaal uit die hart uit, sonder doekies omdraai. Hy is een warm Februarienag in 1964 in ’n losieshuis in Kaapstad verwek – buite die eg. Van jongs af het hy soos ’n weggooimens gevoel, want hy is deur grootmense wat die lewe op onvaste voet betree het, van die een stel hande na die ander aangegee.

Op 13 beland hy in die kloue van ’n geslepe pedofiel, ’n bekende Afrikaanse koerantman in daardie jare. Pas na sy 18de verjaarsdag, wanneer sy molesteerder met hom klaar is, word Herman sonder seremonie voor die deur van sy vervreemde alkoholis-pa afgelaai. In sy tienerjare bevriend hy Afrikaanse digters soos Sheila Cussons, Ina Rousseau, Barend J. Toerien en Casper Schmidt. Ná skool doen hy sy diensplig, maar word oneervol ontslaan en kom hy in New York aan, waar hy vir Andy Warhol op straat agtervolg en met ’n “smorgasbord van eendagsvlinders” kattemaai.

Terug in Suid-Afrika maak Herman opgang as joernalis wat na die wydste hoeke van die wêreld reis. As volwassene voer hy ’n stryd met drank en dwelms en is ’n ruk lank haweloos. En vir menige werkgewer word hy die nagmerrie wat hulle die ergste vrees.

Hoerkind is ’n aangrypende relaas oor verlies én oorwinning wat jou sal laat lag, en jou hart ’n paar keer breek. Jy sal jou kop skud oor die wreedheid van ’n wêreld waar mense aan mekaar uitgelewer is, maar jy sal verwonderd staan oor die omvang van goedheid, juis omdat mense op mekaar aangewese is.

In November 2019 het My Only Story, Deon Wiggett se sensasionele weeklikse podsending, SuidAfrika meegevoer in sy jag op die pedofiel wat hom as skoolseun verkrag het. Nou, in ’n Enkele verhaal, vertel hy vir die eerste keer ’n Afrikaanse storie in Afrikaans – en voltooi hy sy ontmaskering van Willem Breytenbach, die eens briljante onderwyser en latere mediabaas wat ’n donker lewe gelei het.

Deon se missie om ’n monster aan die kaak te stel, neem hom van Breytenbach se hoërskooljare by die landbouskool op Kroonstad na die beroemde Grey Kollege in Bloemfontein en die globale reus Naspers. Maar sy kruistog gaan soveel verder. Namate hy sistemiese tekortkominge by beroemde sowel as obskure skole ondersoek, onthul hy ’n kultuur van aandadigheid wat ’n ernstige gevaar vir ál Suid-Afrika se kinders inhou. In die loop van sy ondersoek na mans wat op kinders jag maak, skep Deon ’n model wat enigiemand kan gebruik om pedofiele in hul midde te identifiseer. In sy eie woorde: “Dit is aangenaam om voor te gee dat mans nie kinders verkrag nie, maar as jy eers aanvaar dat dit gebeur, word dit verrassend maklik om die roofdiere uit te ken. Wanneer jy eers ’n universele patroon met ’n spesifieke man se profiel vergelyk, kan jy die bedrog raaksien voor dit te laat is.”

’n Enkele verhaal is ’n boeiende, deurdagte en verrassend ondeunde storie van een man se vasberadenheid om sy kindertrauma te verwerk, ander te help om hul eie demone in die oë te kyk, en om ’n stukkie skoonheid terug te wen uit die jeug wat hy verloor het.

Child abuse is a problem we face in all our communities. Over the last few years people have been encouraged to speak out about abuse. Many schools have had to come to grips with dealing with this painful and complicated issue. This title will not turn you into an expert counsellor, but rather provide you with some basic tools to deal with abuse in schools. Educators have a duty to protect children from danger and make sure that schools are safe places for learning. Schools need to create environments for children that are safe and caring. Children are more likely to be open about their troubles in an atmosphere of trust and respect.

"When I see light and dark, on off, on off, something weird happens inside me... Something changes, slows down. I can think again. I can find myself hidden in there somewhere..." Grace Sanderson's abusive childhood leaves her seeking a 'better brain' and wishing she could be 'reincarnated'. She is wasting away physically and mentally and living a partly hermitic existence in her room, trying to resist self-harming and avoiding her family. Her friend Jasmine dies of an overdose and the future seems dark. But Briony, a school friend in whom she trusts, introduces Grace to Nature's Way, a healing centre deep in local woodland. From that day on, Grace's life assumes a new meaning.

One of the most famous writers of all time, George Orwell's life played a huge part in his understanding of the world. A constant critic of power and authority, the roots of Animal Farm and Nineteen Eighty-Four began to grow in his formative years as a pupil at a strict private school in Eastbourne. His essay Such, Such Were The Joys recounts the ugly realities of the regime to which pupils were subjected in the name of class prejudice, hierarchy and imperial destiny. This graphic novel vividly brings his experiences at school to life. As Orwell earned his place through scholarship rather than wealth, he was picked on by both staff and richer students. The violence of his teachers and the shame he experienced on a daily basis leap from the pages, conjuring up how this harsh world looked through a child's innocent eyes while juxtaposing the mature Orwell's ruminations on what such schooling says about society. Today, as the private school and class system endure, this is a vivid reminder that the world Orwell sought to change is still with us.

A tale of survival and freedom, Stolen Innocence is the story of one heroic woman who stood up for what was right and reclaimed her life. In September 2007, a packed courtroom in St. George, Utah, sat hushed as Elissa Wall, the star witness against polygamous sect leader Warren Jeffs, gave captivating testimony of how Jeffs forced her to marry her first cousin at the age of fourteen. This harrowing and vivid account proved to be the most compelling evidence against Jeffs, showing the harsh realities of the lengths to which Jeffs went in order to control the sect's women. Now, in this courageous memoir, Elissa Wall tells the incredible and inspirational story of how she emerged from the confines of the Fundamentalist Church of Latter Day Saints (FLDS) and helped bring one of America's most notorious criminals to justice. Offering a child's perspective on life in the FLDS, Wall discusses her tumultuous youth, and explains how Warren Jeffs's influence over the church twisted its already rigid beliefs in dangerous new directions. Once she was married, Wall's childhood shattered as she was obligated to follow Jeffs's directives and submit to her husband in "mind, body, and soul." With little money and no knowledge of the outside world, she was trapped and forced to endure the pain and abuse of her loveless relationship, which eventually pushed her to spend nights sleeping in her truck rather than face the tormentor in her bed.

Charlie's earliest memory at two and a half was listening to his dad batter his latest girlfriend in their Scottish tenement flat. Beaten and tortured by a violent alcoholic father in 70s' poverty-stricken Dundee, Charlie's early life was one of poverty and misery, but at least he had his best friend Bonnie a German shepherd puppy to turn to. Charlie lives with Jock, his violent, disturbed, alcoholic father in a Dundee tenement. Money is scarce, and Jock's love of vodka means that Charlie bears the brunt of his abuse. Often too bruised to go to school, Charlie lives in constant fear of Jock's next outburst. Subjected to hours of physical and mental torture, Charlie can only think of killing his dad. The only thing Charlie can rely on is Bonnie, a German Shepherd puppy, brought home to keep Charlie company while Jock goes out on his drinking sessions. But even Bonnie doesn't escape Jock's brutality. Please Don't Hurt Me, Dad is an evocative portrait of seventies and eighties working-class Dundee, where everyone is on the dole, alcoholism is rife and most people have illegal jobs on the side. Somehow Charlie escaped from the everyday struggle for survival. Bonnie wasn't so lucky. Charlie's way out came in the form of a beautiful young woman who became the love of his life and his saviour.

A dramatic and remarkable narrative of an extraordinary teacher's determination, from the author of the Sunday Times bestsellers 'The Tiger's Child' and 'One Child'. Torey Hayden faced six emotionally troubled kids no other teacher could handle - three recent arrivals from battle-torn Northern Ireland, badly traumatised by the horrors of war; an eleven-year-old boy, who only knew life inside an institution; an excitable girl, aggressive and sexually precocious at the age of eight; and seven-year-old Leslie, perhaps the most hopeless of all, unresponsive and unable to speak. But Torey's most daunting challenge turns out to be Leslie's mother, a stunning young doctor who soon discovers that she needs Torey's love and help just as much as the children. 'Just Another Kid' is a beautiful illustration of nurturing concern, not only for a few emotionally disturbed children, but for one woman facing a personal battle.

This beautiful and deeply moving tale recounts educational psychologist Torey Hayden's battle to unlock the emotions of a troubled and sexually abused child who, with the help of Hayden, was finally able to overcome her dark past and realise her full potential. Six-year-old Sheila was abandoned by her mother on a highway when she was four. A survivor of horrific abuse, she never spoke, never cried, and was placed in a class for severely retarded children after committing an atrocious act of violence against another child. Everyone thought Sheila was beyond salvation - except her teacher, Torey Hayden. With patience, skill, and abiding love, she fought long and hard to release a haunted little girl from her secret nightmare - and nurture the spark of genius she recognised trapped within Sheila's silence. This is the remarkable story of their journey together - an odyssey of hope, courage, and inspiring devotion that opened the heart and mind of one lost child to a new world of discovery and joy.

When Natascha Kampusch made her bid for freedom on 23 August 2006 after eight years held captive in a seemingly ordinary Austrian suburban house, her story horrified and astonished the entire world. How did she survive a childhood locked in a cellar? What sort of young woman had emerged? What kind of man was Wolfgang Priklopil, her abductor - and what demands had he made of her? As the days and weeks passed and Natascha's TV interview failed to quell the curiosity, so the questions began to change. What exactly was the relationship between abductor and hostage? Why had Natascha waited so long to escape when it seemed there had been other, earlier opportunities? Did Natascha's parents know Priklopil before he kidnapped their daughter? Allan Hall and Michael Leidig have tracked the story from the days of the 10-year-old's disappearance. They have spoken to police investigators, lawyers, psychiatrists, and to the family members closest to Natascha. They have come as close as possible to uncovering the full, shocking story. It is a story that tests the limits of our understanding of how human beings behave - and makes our hearts bleed for the plight of an innocent child caught up in a horror story almost beyond our imagining.

Developmental Trauma offers a comprehensive introduction to the research findings that help us understand the effects on human development of early childhood trauma and adaptation to stress. It explains how DTD differs from PTSD and emerges from a toxic seed planted at the beginning of an individual's lifespan development. This important volume examines relational traumas and adverse childhood experiences, such as exposure to family and community violence, polyvictimization (multiple repeated childhood traumas), and disruptions to parent-child bonds, which lay the foundation for future relationships. The volume considers how DTD affects self-regulation capacities, identity development, self-esteem, and faith in oneself and others andincreases the likelihood of comorbidities including ADHD and autism spectrum disorders. Individuals with indications of developmental trauma face lifelong challenges in their ability to develop and maintain trusting relationships, to build and utilize healthy coping strategies, and to adjust to school and, eventually, the workplaceUniquely, Daniel Cruz goes beyond individual levels of analysis that focus almost exclusively on patients and explores toxic stress embedded in social systems and institutional policies and procedures that cause individuals to suffer, experience psychiatric and medical problems, and that lead to social and economic adversities such as poverty, homelessness, and involvement in criminal activity. Key topics explored include institutional betrayal, such as sexual assaults and workplace bullying, and judicial betrayal when failures from the legal system do not adequately protect victims of trauma, for example in cases of domestic violence. Developmental Trauma is for students of child and adolescent psychology, developmental psychology, clinical psychology, primary care and health psychology, education, social work, and urban studies. It is relevant for graduate students in applied fields such as clinical and counseling psychology, and those working with diverse children, and public health and policy.

Little Jamey, 21/2 years old, is placed with experienced foster carer, Cathy Glass, as an emergency. The police and social services have no choice but to remove two-year-old Jamey from home after his mother leaves him alone all night to go out partying. When he first arrives with foster carer Cathy Glass, he is scared, hungry and withdrawn, craving the affection he has been denied for so long. He is small for his age and unsteady on his feet - a result of being left for long periods in his cot. Cathy and her family find Jamey very easy to love, but as he settles in and makes progress, a new threat emerges. Coronavirus and lockdown change everything.

In this revised and updated 20th anniversary edition of his groundbreaking book, Dr. Kenneth Adams, a leading expert on covert incest, sex addiction, and childhood trauma, offers tools for identifying and healing from covert incestuous relationships that affect adult relationships and lives. He explains how 'feeling close' with a parent is not always the source of comfort the phrase suggests, especially when that child is cheated out of a childhood by being a parent's surrogate partner. Dr. Adams includes a new Q&A section that directly addresses issues including:
How can this be incestuous when there is no physical sexual contact?
Why is sexual addiction so common with covert incest survivors?
Why is it so hard for covert incest survivors to commit to romantic relationships?
If my partner is a covert incest survivor, how can I help?
Can I pass covert incest on to my children?

Through new findings and expanded discussions on 'engulfment, ' 'excessive guilt, ' 'loyalty, ' and 'narcissism, ' and others, Silently Seduced offers a framework to understand covert incest and its effect on sexuality, intimacy, and relationships to facilitate the process of recovery."

"Poor Joshua " lamented Justice Harry Blackmun in his famous dissent. "Victim of repeated attacks by an irresponsible, bullying, obviously cowardly, and intemperate father, and abandoned by respondents who placed him in a dangerous predicament and who knew or learned what was going on, and yet did essentially nothing. . . ." Even so, the Supreme Court, by a 6-to-3 margin, absolved Wisconsin officials of any negligence in a case that had left a young child profoundly damaged for the rest of his life.

Does the Constitution protect children from violent parents? As Lynne Curry shows, that was the central question at issue when Melody DeShaney initially sued Wisconsin for failing to protect her battered son Joshua from her estranged husband, thus violating her son's constitutional right to due process. The resulting case, DeShaney v. Winnebago County (1989), was a highly emotional one pitting the family against the state and challenging our views on domestic relations, child abuse, and the responsibilities-and limits-of state action regarding the private lives of citizens.

The Supreme Court's controversial decision ruled that the Constitution was intended to limit state action rather than oblige the state to interfere in private affairs. In other words, it viewed the Due Process Clause as a limitation on the state's power to act, not a guarantee of safety and security, not even for children who depend on the state for their very survival. In this first book-length analysis of the case, Curry helps readers understand how considerations of "what should be" in an undeniably tragic case are not always reflected in legal reasoning.

Curry brings to light details that have been ignored or neglected and covers both the criminal and civil proceedings to retell a story that still shocks. Drawing on legal briefs and social work case files, she reviews the legal machinations of the state and includes personal stories of key actors: family members, social workers, police officers, child advocates, and opposing attorneys. She then clearly analyzes the majority and dissenting opinions from the Court, as well as reactions from the court of public opinion.

Joshua DeShaney depended on the state for protection but found no satisfaction in the courts when the state failed him. "The DeShaney Case" offers a much-needed perspective on the dilemmas his predicament posed for our legal system and fresh insight into our ambivalent views of the role that the state should play in our daily lives.

In Running from the Shadows Stephanie Hickey tells, in her own words, how she survived abuse at the hands of a trusted family member and of how running, a simple physical activity helped her achieve mindfulness, but also to rediscover love and faith in her body - to reclaim it. Charting her life growing up in the rolling countryside of Waterford in the safety of her beloved family to the moment her childhood was shattered, to the court case where she waived her anonymity, to how she was able to reclaim a sense of herself through the sport which became like a therapy, Running from the Shadows is told with humour, strength and incredible courage -- a book that reveals how, even when things seem at their bleakest, a run through the Irish countryside, can bring you back into the light.

Based on a true story, The Forgotten Child is a heart-breaking memoir of an abandoned newborn baby left to die, his tempestuous upbringing, and how he came through the other side. It's a freezing winter's night in 1954. A baby boy, a few hours old, is left by his mother, wrapped in nothing but two sheets of newspaper and hidden amongst the undergrowth by a canal bank. An hour later, a late-shift postman is walking wearily home when he hears a faint cry. He finds the newspaper parcel and discovers the newborn, white-cold and whimpering, inside. After being rushed to hospital and against all odds, the baby survives. He's baptised by the hospital chaplain as Richard. Everything feels as though it's looking up; Richard is put into local authority care and regains his health. However, after nearly five blissful years in a rural care home filled with loving friends, it soon unfolds that his turbulent start in life is only the beginning... Based on a devastating true story, this inspirational memoir follows Richard's traumatic birth, abusive childhood, and search for the truth.

Never before has world-renowned psychoanalyst Alice Miller examined so persuasively the long-range consequences of childhood abuse on the body. Using the experiences of her patients along with the biographical stories of literary giants such as Virginia Woolf, Franz Kafka, and Marcel Proust, Miller shows how a child's humiliation, impotence, and bottled rage will manifest itself as adult illness--be it cancer, stroke, or other debilitating diseases. Never one to shy away from controversy, Miller urges society as a whole to jettison its belief in the Fourth Commandment and not to extend forgiveness to parents whose tyrannical childrearing methods have resulted in unhappy, and often ruined, adult lives. In this empowering work, writes Rutgers professor Philip Greven, "readers will learn how to confront the overt and covert traumas of their own childhoods with the enlightened guidance of Alice Miller."

“This is not a work of fiction. This is the raw reality of life, and a larger part of society. Nothing more, nothing less. Some statistics reveal that approximately 8000 children are abused in some way everyday, of which 5 will die globally. This equates to almost 3 million abuse cases a year and almost 2000 deaths a year. Whether or not the figures are lower or higher I’m obviously not sure but apparently child abuse has increased 134% since 1980 and is now classed as a worldwide epidemic. Having said that, I honestly believe that my testimony can be of some help to someone out there. This book is based on the foundation of how being sexually, mentally and physically abused has affected my life and how the desire for escaping the anguish and the reality of the situation, through drinking alcohol, has nearly killed me...numerous times to say the least. This will take you on a journey through my childhood years, my teenage nightmare, to the beginning of my adult life.” This is not just the unburdening of Nicky’s story. It is the start of something new; a sign of hope; a show of strength. Nicky refuses to take the hand that she has been dealt and become another statistic. She has hope for herself and her future and a strong focus on the new organisation she is developing.

Literature in the child abuse and child protection arena has tended to adopt either a practice or legal perspective. Drawing on their expertise as researchers and leaders in their field, Julia Davison and Antonia Bifulco offer a comprehensive and cohesive book on child abuse and child protection, drawing on both criminological and psychological perspectives on all forms of child maltreatment and child protection practice together with impacts on the victims. This book considers a range of areas, from definitions of child abuse and discussions of its prevalence, to an examination of the experiences of children in care, to international perspectives on children within the criminal justice system, to the emergence of online child abuse and the increasing awareness of historical abuse. Each chapter draws together key elements in the field, including prevalence and definition, different disciplinary approaches; different practice challenges; international impacts; and technological issues. Brief case studies throughout the book reflect the voice or experience of the child, ensuring that the focus remains on the child at the centre of the abuse. Balancing coverage of theory and research and considering implications for practice and policy, this book will appeal to a range of disciplines, including criminology, psychology, psychiatry, social work and law.

Myths and Lies About Dads: How They Hurt Us All is a groundbreaking book that destroys more than 100 of the most damaging beliefs about fathers. Using the most recent research, this pioneering work exposes these baseless beliefs and the toll they take on children's relationships with their fathers, parents' relationships with one another, and the physical and mental health of fathers and mothers. Tackling a wide range of topics from custody laws, to children's toys, to the sexist behavior of counselors, pediatricians, and lawyers, Dr Linda Nielsen describes in vivid detail how these myths are linked to many of our most pressing issues: Creating more gender equity in childcare and housework Reducing child abuse, post-partum depression, and fathers' suicide rates Expanding mothers' and fathers' options at home and at work Reducing children's academic, behavioral, and emotional problems Lessening the pressures of parenting for both parents Changing sexist policies and practices that hurt parents and children Improving the economic situations for parents and their children The book is not only a wake-up call for parents but also for students and professionals in medicine and family law, social work, child development, education, and in the publishing, advertising, media, and entertainment industries. Above all, the book empowers parents to free themselves from the myths and lies about fathers that bind them.

Childhood, Identity and Masculinity: The Boarding School Boys examines the lives of ten Iranian men who were sent to boarding schools in England during the 1960s and 1970s. Their stories, situated at the intersection of Eastern and Western cultural values, signify their passage to manhood, and highlight the meaning of masculinity then and now. The reflective narratives explore issues of physical and emotional abuse received from administrators and peers, as well as the "man up" motto that pressured them to persevere in the spirit of meeting expectations and becoming a man. Narrated within the context of the traditional role of men in both Iranian and British societies, the book highlights key themes of trauma, survival and resistance, power and privilege, and their impact on the men over their lifespan. The volume offers rich insight into understanding the developmental challenges that adolescent boys face as they attempt to deal with the trauma of separation from their parents, while conforming to strict rules and regulations of boarding school education, and societal expectations of them. The volume will be of interest to scholars of developmental psychology, childhood trauma, education, cultural psychology, men’s studies, and gender. Individuals and parents interested in, and considering boarding school education will also find the narratives informative and educational.