Paul Mason's father was a policeman. He was also a member of a sadistic paedophile ring. He would keep Paul locked up and naked in a tiny cupboard under the stairs of their home before sexually abusing him. This cycle of abuse continued for several years and also affected his brother. The cupboard became a horrific prison where fear and terror filled his every moment. The Cupboard Under the Stairs is a story of abuse at the mercy of adults whom Paul should have been able to trust. There followed a life almost destroyed by their actions. It is the harrowing story of one man's fight for justice and an end to the horrific memories that still haunt him daily.

Early prevention of child maltreatment is most commonly delivered through home visitation services, with the goal of promoting a positive start in parenting to avert potential child abuse and neglect, Stopping Child Maltreatment Before It Starts introduces best practice principles for early home visiting, examining the contexts from which these strategies arise.

Beginning with a discussion of the nature and etiology of physical child abuse and neglect, Guterman then examines the mechanisms by which child protective and early home visitation services have traditionally operated. The book explores best practice principles by providing a detailed "inside tour" of those practices that have been empirically linked with positive outcomes in serviced families. Guterman also discusses in detail ways how home visitation may more adequately address the problem of family substance abuse in reducing child maltreatment risk, and ways visitation can attend to social network and community influences and increase parent empowerment.

An essential text for child welfare courses, Stopping Child Maltreatment Before It Starts will also appeal to practitioners and policy makers in the child abuse and neglect field.

The true story of 2 year-old Anna, abandoned by her natural parents, left alone in a neglected orphanage. Elaine and Ian had travelled half way round the world to adopt little Anna. She couldn't have been more wanted, loved and cherished. So why was she now in foster care and living with me? It didn't make sense. Until I learned what had happened. ... Dressed only in nappies and ragged T-shirts the children were incarcerated in their cots. Their large eyes stared out blankly from emaciated faces. Some were obviously disabled, others not, but all were badly undernourished. Flies circled around the broken ceiling fans and buzzed against the grids covering the windows. The only toys were a few balls and a handful of building bricks, but no child played with them. The silence was deafening and unnatural. Not one of the thirty or so infants cried, let alone spoke.

Praise for the First Edition:

All readers will be drawn to the style of the book as well as its content. The structure will make sure that it is not just a "one-off," being read as part of a course of study, but a book which is used frequently as a source of reference' - "Child Abuse Review

"

The Second Edition of this best-selling textbook provides students and practitioners with a broad introduction to, and critical analysis of, the complex issues involved in child protection work. Chris Beckett's approachable style presents these issues in a clear and engaging way, all the time encouraging reflection and debate through such features as case examples and interactive exercises.

The book is fully comprehensive, considering key topics such as: the consequences for children of abuse and neglect; the reasons why some adults abuse and neglect children; the personal challenges involved in doing child protection work; and the organizational framework within which child protection work takes place. Other key features of this thoroughly revised Second Edition include:

" Fully updated content: the book has been revised to incorporate new literature, research, legal and policy developments, including the recent Working Together guidelines

" Two new chapters: these comprise a chapter on families where there is domestic violence, and a chapter on promoting strategies for bringing about change

" Interprofessional appeal: the author addresses the book to all the professionals involved in child protection work, ensuring wide interdisciplinary appeal

The new edition of this highly successful textbook will be required reading for students studying social work andallied subjects, and an essential resource for all professionals involved in child protection work.

Chris Beckett is based at the Division of Social Work and Social Policy, Anglia Ruskin University. He is the author of three best-selling Sage textbooks: Human Growth and Development; Values and Ethics in Social Work (with Andrew Maynard); Essential Theory for Social Work Practice.

Find out more about Chris Beckett at the Anglia Ruskin University website

The Sunday Times and New York Times Bestseller. Although Jodie is only eight years old, she is violent, aggressive, and has already been through numerous foster families. Her last hope is Cathy Glass

Cathy, an experienced foster carer, is pressured into taking Jodie as a new placement. Jodie's challenging behaviour has seen off five carers in four months but Cathy decides to take her on to protect her from being placed in an institution.

Jodie arrives, and her first act is to soil herself, and then wipe it on her face, grinning wickedly. Jodie meets Cathy's teenage children, and greets them with a sharp kick to the shins. That night, Cathy finds Jodie covered in blood, having cut her own wrist, and smeared the blood over her face.

As Jodie begins to trust Cathy her behaviour improves. Over time, with childish honesty, she reveals details of her abuse at the hands of her parents and others. It becomes clear that Jodie's parents were involved in a sickening paedophile ring, with neighbours and Social Services not seeing what should have been obvious signs.

It s clear that Josie needs psychiatric therapy, but instead Social Services take Jodie away from her, and place her in a residential unit. Although the paedophile ring is investigated and brought to justice, Jodie s future is still up in the air. Cathy promises that she will stand by her no matter what her love for the abandoned Jodie is unbreakable."

During the 1980s discourse concerning child sexual abuse became central to the US/UK media, and in the 1990,s popular culture frequently took child sexual abuse as a subject for representation. Numerous claims of child sexual abuse were made between 1984 and 1994, not all of which were real. Everyday news throughout the 1990s highlighted concerns concerning abduction by paedophiles and children being at risk from predatory paedophiles using the Internet. While the media continually made child sexual abuse a central concern of public debate, popular culture, particularly films, explored this issue in fiction and docudrama. Many of these films reproduced some of the central myths concerning child sexual abuse and paedophilia. Men abusing children, women abusing children, children abusing other children, became staple fodder in mainstream feature films. In 2005 'the most famous person in the world' was again on trial for what is popularly considered to be the most heinous of crimes. Pervasive Perversions analyses a range of media and popular culture texts concerned with child sexual abuse. With sections on new media, fiction film, and celebrity culture, key questions are examined. Why did mass hysteria break out in the 1980s over sexual abuse and continue throughout the final decades of the twentieth century? What was the significance of this phenomenon? How have the constructions and representation of child sexual abuse in the media and popular culture altered? What do these images and narratives convey concerning the understanding of child sexual abuse in the public consciousness? How does this relate to the reality? What is the relationship between celebrity culture and child sexual abuse? The author examines these questions through an extensive evaluation of all forms of media and popular culture and comprehensively unearths and demystifies the key myths of child sexual abuse in contemporary media and popular culture.

A harrowing, yet inspiring true story of a young boy's abusive childhood, from internationally bestselling author Dave Pelzer. Brutally beaten and starved by his emotionally unstable, alcoholic mother - Dave became a slave; he was no longer a boy, but an 'it'. His bed was an old army cot in the basement, his clothes were torn and unwashed, and when he was allowed the luxury of food it was scraps from the dog's bowl. The outside world knew nothing of the nightmare played out behind closed doors. But throughout Dave kept alive dreams of finding a family to love him. This book covers the early years of his life and is an affecting and inspirational book of the horrors of child abuse and the steadfast determination of one child to survive. It is the first book in the My Story trilogy. 'His child's voice is immensely powerful and is an extraordinary testament to the human desire for survival.' Daily Mail 'This heartfelt true story of one child's courage to survive cannot fail to move you.' Heat 'It takes a personal testimony like Dave Pelzer's to bring home the horrors of child abuse - the secrecy, the shame, the struggle to survive.' Bel Mooney, Mail on Sunday 'Pelzer is able to continue his dreadful story in an admirably dispassionate style ... It is this cool tone that makes what he has to say even more compelling.' The Times

The eleventh memoir and latest title from the internationally bestselling author and foster carer Cathy Glass. This book tells the true story of Cathy's adopted daughter Lucy. Lucy was born to a single mother who had been abused and neglected for most of her own childhood. Right from the beginning Lucy's mother couldn't cope, but it wasn't until Lucy reached eight years old that she was finally taken into permanent foster care. By the time Lucy is brought to live with Cathy she is eleven years old and severely distressed after being moved from one foster home to another. Withdrawn, refusing to eat and three years behind in her schooling, it is thought that the damage Lucy has suffered is irreversible. But Cathy and her two children bond with Lucy quickly, and break through to Lucy in a way no-one else has been able to, finally showing her the loving home she never believed existed. Cathy and Lucy believe they were always destined to be mother and daughter - it just took them a little while to find each other.

Why are some children abused or neglected? What can be done to protect and help them? A key element of informed decision making is knowing what sort of problems are amenable to what sort of intervention, in what circumstances, and with what degree of certainty. Effective Interventions for Child Abuse and Neglect provides a thorough and detailed review of the available research, and makes suggestions as to how this evidence can be incorporated into professional child protection work.
Geraldine Macdonald first considers the range of evaluative tools available, with illustrations from existing research studies and reviews, and appraises their respective merits and limitations. She then describes the interplay of a range of causal factors in abuse and neglect, and considers different types of maltreatment and their potential consequences. Evidence for effective preventative and therapeutic measures are considered next, followed by a final section on accurate assessment and the use of formal tools in risk management.

Casey's Unit is, as ever, full of troubled, disaffected pupils, and new arrival Leo is something of a conundrum. Thirteen year old Leo isn't a bad lad - in fact, he's generally polite and helpful, but he's in danger of permanent exclusion for repeatedly absconding and unauthorised absences. Despite letters being sent home regularly, his mother never turns up for any appointments, and when the school calls home she always seems to have an excuse. Though Casey has her hands full, she offers to intervene for a while, to try get Leo engaged in learning again and remaining in school. The head's sceptical though and warns her that this is Leo's very last chance. But Casey's determined, because there's something about Leo that makes her want to fight his corner, and get to the bottom of whatever it is that compels this enigmatic boy to keep running away. With Leo so resolutely tight-lipped and secretive, Casey knows that if she's going to keep this child in education, she's going to have to get to the bottom of it herself...

From No.1 bestselling author Toni Maguire comes a new true story of abuse and survival. 'Whatever you do, don't go back to him, not this time. If not for your sake, then for your children's.' Ava Thomas knew leaving was the right decision. Trapped and manipulated in her relationship, and after yet another violent beating whilst she was pregnant, Ava was helped to a women's refuge with her children. Listening to the stories of other women there, Ava began thinking back to where it all started to go wrong. Brought up by a mother who never loved her, Ava sought that missing care and warmth elsewhere. Running away to her father's home as a teenager, she thought she might finally be safe. But after being abused by her own brother, she was thrown out onto the streets. Ava searched for the love she had been desperately missing her whole life, and ended up in a relationship controlled by domestic violence. Lifted by the strength of the other women around her, Ava found a new home, a fresh start and never looked back - with her loving children by her side. *In aid of the NSPCC: for each paperback book sold, Bonnier Books UK shall donate 2.5% of its net receipts to the NSPCC (registered charity numbers 216401 and SC037717).*

Although most families do not repeat the patterns of abuse of their childhood, there is evidence that, for whatever reason, substantial numbers do. This book explores continuing intergenerational cycles of child maltreatment and the controversies that surround the theories, focusing mainly on physical abuse, neglect, and emotional abuse, rather than sexual abuse. Examining the facts and the fallacies permeating the international literature, the author suggests that in intergenerational child maltreatment, there may not be just one cycle, but four separate cycles: sociopolitical factors; recurring cultural patterns; psychological factors; and biological factors. Interventions need to be focused on each cycle independently to attempt to break the cycle of child maltreatment. Ann Buchanan draws on her wide range of both academic and research experience in this field, as well as on her clinical experience, to bring together both the theories and research in the mechanisms of transmission, and the practical aspects of interventions. The book is easily accessible with clear summaries and will prove an excellent introduction to all those working with children and families.

Athlete welfare should be of central importance in all sport. This comprehensive volume features cutting-edge research from around the world on issues that can compromise the welfare of athletes at all levels of sport and on the approaches taken by sports organisations to prevent and manage these. In recent years, sports organisations have increased their efforts to ensure athlete health, safety, and well-being, often prompted by high-profile disclosures of sexual, physical, and emotional abuse; bullying; discrimination; disordered eating; addiction; and mental health issues. In this book, contributors lift the lid on these and other issues that jeopardise the physical, emotional, psychological, social, and spiritual welfare of athletes of all ages to raise awareness of the broad range of challenges athletes face. Chapters also highlight approaches to athlete welfare and initiatives taken by national and international sport organisations to provide a safer, more ethical sports environment. As the first book to focus exclusively on athlete welfare, this is an essential read for students and researchers in sports studies, coaching, psychology, performance, development and management, and physical education. It is also a useful reference point for anyone working in welfare, safeguarding, child protection, and equity and inclusion in and beyond sport.

Child abuse cases are unique in that they involve seldomly witnessed acts. A nonverbal victim and a silent perpetrator will often lead to a stalling of the investigation and the judicial process. Effective Child Abuse Investigation for the Multi-Disciplinary Team is a practical guide for law enforcement officers and child protection workers in abuse investigations. It demonstrates how all members of the team can best work together to consolidate the medical, social, and legal facts in each case, increasing the chances for successful prosecution and enhancing child safety. Presenting the insight of an investigator with more than two decades of experience, this book guides investigators in the best practices of abuse investigations through a better understanding of the dynamics of abuse, the mechanisms of injury, and the efficient use of professional expertise. Topics include: Forming an investigative plan Differentiating between accidental and abusive injury Triggers for abuse most often cited by perpetrators Common defenses, including religious or constitutional justification for punishment Legal and social factors associated with taking a child into protective custody Preparing for civil and criminal trial Additional topics include the danger of investigative bias, female sex offenders, child development, and basic medical terminology associated with abusive head trauma. Appendices include questions to be asked in all cases, a pediatric investigation checklist for first responders, and an investigative timeline checklist. Suitable for any law enforcement training environment, the book demonstrates how working together with the collective knowledge of all members of the team can ensure maltreated children are protected and abusers held accountable for their actions.

This important and wide-ranging book explores the world of a child or young person who has been abused or neglected. It seeks to understand their world, to ease the pain from which they suffer, and to heal the wounds that the abuse has left. Examining how abuse always takes place in the context of relationships, and involves a misuse of power that causes a traumatic overwhelming of the child or adolescent, abuse also evokes strong countertransference. This affects interventions, particularly when clinicians struggle with feelings of which they may feel ashamed. A difficulty in coming to terms with and addressing child abuse relates to unconscious factors which, by freezing the emotional area surrounding the abuse (or by blinding the area of personality), makes some thoughts unthinkable. Considering traditional and novel ways of helping children who feel they have been maltreated, the book offers suggestions for individual treatment as well as describing the successful work carried out with child refugees. It also offers a glimpse into what child psychoanalysts interpret and do with children who feel a parent hates them.

The problem of child abuse has become increasingly evident in North America and Western Europe. Many countries are now struggling with issues involving the definition of child maltreatment, reporting requirements, processes for responding to reports, substantiation rates, and services to abused children and their families. This book illustrates alternative approaches to dealing with these problems by examining and comparing the designs of child abuse systems in nine countries: the USA, England, Canada, Netherlands, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Belgium, and Sweden.

Child Sexual Abuse: Forensic Issues in Evidence, Impact, and Management covers the issue of child sexual abuse from several viewpoints. The book approaches child abuse from both victimization and offender perspectives, offering applied perspectives from experts and practitioners in the field, including discussions on policing, child safety and intelligence. This is a significant divergence from the literature most commonly provided in the market. Other sections cover psychological, physical abuse, and neglect, protective factors (at individual and community levels), recognition, responses, biopsychosocial outcomes (dealt with in discrete chapters), public policy, prevention, institutional abuse, children and corrections, treatment, management, and much more.

How common is child sexual abuse? How can victims and abusers best be treated? In Innocence Destroyed, originally published in 1993, Jean Renvoize uses interviews with victims and with experienced professionals, as well as new data from Britain, North America and Australia, to give a clear picture of the problem of child sexual abuse - its extent, its effects, and the most up-to-date recommendations for treating its victims and preventing its recurrence at the time. For those new to the subject, her book provides a readable account of a complex area, and for the more experienced worker it gives as invaluable overview of the findings of other professionals in the field.

This deeply moving memoir tells the story of Hannah: a child who has been beaten and abused; a girl full of loneliness and rage; a student no one but learning disabilities teacher Mary MacCracken could reach. Mary had reservations about eight-year-old Hannah joining her class. The three emotionally disturbed boys she was currently looking after had been making steady progress, and Hannah, who had a reputation for being a withdrawn and incredibly troubled child, would only be a disruptive influence. For the first fortnight Hannah retired to a cupboard and refused to come out. Howling almost non-stop she was displaying the worst symptoms that Mary had ever seen. How could Mary help a child who had been shut up in closets and treated like an animal? What could she say to a child who had been locked out of her own home, and beaten by both her brother and her father? How could she reach this lost girl? This is the remarkable story of Hannah and Mary's journey together. Deep within Hannah, Mary recognises an amazing strength. And with love, skill and patience, she gradually starts to make a difference. It's a long road to recovery, but Mary never gives up. As this moving true story unfolds, we feel Mary's joy, we share her hope and, in time, her faith that Hannah will be okay.

Shattered but Unbroken is an edited volume focusing on Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID), which combines the narratives of survivors of ritual abuse with academic contributions on the causes, correlates and interventions applicable to DID. The book is divided into two distinct parts. Part 1 begins with the missing memoir of Anna, a survivor of ritual abuse. Anna chose not to publish her memoir for fear of retribution from her perpetrators. The plight of Anna is interwoven between all the contributions in the book, be they life writing or academic contributions. So too are the life writings of Annalise, writing under pseudonym. Instead of using Anna's memoir, the politics of anonymity is addressed by a range of survivors of ritual abuse, who write about their decision to use their real name in their narratives, or to use pseudonyms. Part 2 of the book contains academic contributions, which deal with the causes, correlates and interventions applicable to the most common response to ritual abuse, DID.

With increased media attention, issues of family violence have been steadily moving out of the shadows and into the arenas of research, prevention, intervention, and public awareness. However, sibling abuseùlargely unrecognized and unaddressedùremains behind the closed doors of "family privacy." Often excused by parents as "kids will be kids" behavior, the symptoms of this form of abuse go undetected and its devastating effects on the victim are ignored. Sibling Abuse, Second Edition provides insight into this form of abuse and carefully describes the range of abusive behaviors perpetrated among siblings. Along with personal accounts by adult survivors, this completely updated book describes appropriate steps for parents to take in order to evaluate and respond to their childrenÆs abusive interactions. A new chapter on current techniques of assessment and treatment also helps therapists or counselors work to end this problem. Lively yet reinforced by the latest research, Sibling Abuse, Second Edition offers comprehensive coverage of a subject not reflected much in the literatureùyet. Written for human services professionals, WieheÆs book will also make an excellent supplement for advanced students in social work, sociology, psychology, nursing, education, and family studies. Parents may also want to inform themselves by reading this book.

When Zoe was taken into care at the age of 13, she thought she was finally going to escape from the cruel abuse she had suffered throughout her childhood. Then social services placed her in a residential unit known to be 'a target for prostitution', and suddenly Zoe's life was worse than it had ever been before. Abused and ostracized by her mother, humiliated by her father's sexual innuendos, physically assaulted and bullied by her eldest brother, even as a young child Zoe thought she deserved the desperately unhappy life she was living. 'I've sharpened a knife for you,' her mother told her the first time she noticed angry red wounds on her daughter's arms. And when Zoe didn't kill herself, her mother gave her whisky, which she drank in the hope that it would dull the miserable, aching loneliness of her life. One day at school Zoe showed her teacher the livid bruises that were the result of her mother's latest physical assault and within days she was taken into care. Zoe had been at Denver House for just three weeks when an older girl asked if she'd like to go to a party, then took her to a house where there were just three men. Zoe was a virgin until that night, when two of the men raped her. Having returned to the residential unit in the early hours of the morning, when she told a member of staff what had happened to her, her social worker made a joke about it, then took her to get the morning-after pill. For Zoe, the indifference of the staff at the residential unit seemed like further confirmation of what her mother had always told her - she was worthless. Before long, she realised that the only way to survive in the unit was to go to the 'parties' the older girls were paid to take her to, drink the drinks, smoke the cannabis and try to blank out what was done to her when she was abused, controlled and trafficked around the country. No action was taken by the unit's staff or social workers when Zoe asked for their help, and without anyone to support or protect her, the horrific abuse continued for the next few years, even after she left the unit. But in her heart Zoe was always a fighter. This is the harrowing, yet uplifting story, of how she finally broke free of the abuse and neglect that destroyed her childhood and obtained justice for her years of suffering.

There may be no other social problem so common, yet so little understood by the general public, as child abuse and neglect. This book is intended to help remedy that situation. After the Cradle Falls integrates examples from folklore, songs, and news articles with the latest summary of empirical research to create an accessible and engaging work intended to provoke the reader to think about how to address the issue of child abuse and neglect in America. Written in a conversational style, the book engages the reader in thinking through why maltreatment occurs, what it looks like, and what we do and do not know. Most importantly, it asks the reader to become involved in the solution based on their own conclusions and values. The contingent in the US that believes that child maltreatment is not "real" but rather a socially constructed attempt to punish parents is categorically false and easily refuted by data. Given the prevailing state of widespread public misunderstanding about child abuse, its causes and effects, and the involved systems, After the Cradle Falls is particularly current, relevant, and useful. It is a must-read for students, professionals in child advocacy or family services agencies, and policymakers.

He was my religious teacher. I should have been able to trust him. But he made me do unspeakable things... At seven years old, Nabila Sharma began her lessons at the mosque as every good Muslim girl does. But from the minute she looked up at her Imam, the man who held her spiritual future in his hands, she knew something was wrong. Over the next five years Nabila's life became unbearable. While she was behind the doors of the mosque, the most sacred of places, the Imam brutally molested her on the slightest whim. Each day he would make her perform unspeakable acts, physically and mentally torturing her into compliance, to fulfil his perverse desires. Nothing would stop him; no plea would make him relent. But he was a respected member of the community, trusted by everyone; if Nabila cried for help she would risk the honour of her family, an unthinkable act. There was nowhere she could turn, no one she could talk to. As a young Muslim girl, Nabila was powerless. Brutal is the shocking, revelatory and heart-rending account of one girl's plight in a society where honour and shame are a matter of life and death. It is a tale of innocence lost and a life shattered, but above all it is a tale of survival, of a young girl who found love and hope in the darkest of places.