When sixteen-year-old Jess arrives on foster carer Maggie Hartley's doorstep with her newborn son Jimmy, she has nowhere else to go. Arriving straight from the hospital having just given birth, Jess is like a rabbit caught in the headlights. Scared, alone, and practically a child herself, she is overwhelmed with the responsibility of caring for a newborn without the support of a loving family or her beloved boyfriend. With social services threatening to take baby Jimmy into care, Jess knows that Maggie is her only chance of keeping her son. Maggie can see that Jess loves her boyfriend and wants to be a good mother to her son. Can Maggie help Jess learn to become a mum? Will the family ever be allowed to live together?

Heart-rending, shocking and totally gripping, The Slave Across the Street is the incredible true story of how an ordinary girl was lured into the sinister world of human trafficking - and how she eventually escaped and rebuilt her life. 'Flores puts a different face on human trafficking'-- Guardian 'An absolute must read...written by a true warrior' -- ***** Reader review 'A gripping and shocking story' -- ***** Reader review 'A compulsive read' -- ***** Reader review 'Absolutely brilliant book - couldn't put it down. Well worth reading' -- ***** Reader review 'This story truly rocks your foundations to the core' -- ***** Reader review ******************************************************************************* IT COULD HAPPEN TO YOU. IT HAPPENED TO THE GIRL NEXT DOOR... When Theresa was 15 she moved to a new school and fell for an older pupil, Daniel. Theresa was thrilled when one afternoon he asked if he could drive her home. But this simple decision would result in her being forced to work as a sex slave for two long years. Daniel was part of a criminal ring that bribed and trafficked Theresa whilst she was still living in her own house, unknown to her parents. Theresa would go to school alongside these boys in the day and be called into service at night... This is the shocking tale of how easily these things can happen. This is the story of her journey from victim to survivor...

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.

For fourteen remarkable years, the Sophia Project in California served over one hundred mothers and children, all of whom were at risk of or had experienced homelessness and abuse. Drawing on the principles of Camphill and a Waldorf approach to child development, staff worked intensively with families, introducing them to daily rhythms and routines, assisting with job applications, shopping and tax forms, and even tutoring to pass tests and exams. Over a period of five years, the families regained confidence and independence. None returned to homelessness or abuse. Same Light, Many Candles is a definitive account of the Sophia Project: its origins, the journey, the families and its eventual end. Both moving and inspiring, it powerfully demonstrates the effect on real lives of structured, caring intervention based on Waldorf principles.

The concluding volume of Dave Pelzer's million-copy bestselling memoir. 'I don't blame others for my problems. I stand on my own. And one day, you'll see, I'm going to make something of myself.' These words were eighteen-year-old Dave Pelzer's declaration of independence to his mother - a woman who had abused him with shocking brutality. But even years after he was rescued, his life remained a continual struggle. Dave felt rootless and awkward, an outcast haunted by memories of his years as the bruised, cowering 'It' locked in his mother's basement. Dave's dramatic reunion with his dying father and the shocking confrontation with his mother led to his ultimate calling: mentor to others struggling with personal hardships. From a difficult marriage to the birth of his son, from an unfulfilling career to an enduring friendship, Dave was finally able to break the chains of his past, learning to trust, to love, and to live.

Eileen Munro, author of the seminal Munro Review, returns in this fully revised and updated third edition. With new chapters on 'Child Protection Agencies as Complex Adaptive Systems' and 'How organisations can support more effective practice', this new edition shifts its focus from individual workers to look at the critical role that organisations play in child protection, and how individuals are affected by the complex enterprise of people, processes, cultures and agencies. It remains an essential guide to strengthening analytic and intuitive skills to improve children's safety.

'No matter how bad things are, Molloy tells those afflicted by neglect, there is always hope. And with hope, there is the possibility to heal and to build a new and better kind of life' Lancashire Evening Post Following on from her previous bestselling books, Hackney Child and Tainted Love, written under the name Hope Daniels, which told the stories of kids in children's homes who fought against the odds in their struggle to survive, Jenny Molloy's book Neglected gives harrowing accounts of what happens when children fall in love with the wrong people, and how the role of social workers in their lives can bring them back to an understanding of what love really means. Readers will be introduced to several brave and inspirational children: Jemma, taken into care after her father tried to kill her; Angelika, abandoned by her mother, ending up in a criminal gang; Emma, whose life spiralled out of control after her mother's sudden death. Neglected explores these stories and more, ultimately aiming to answer the question: how can the circle of neglect be broken? Praise for Hope Daniels' other books 'Raw and absorbing' Grazia 'Refreshingly honest ... It will touch your heart' UK Fostering

In the past 20 years, the progressive uncovering of child sexual abuse in institutional settings has reverberated across the globe with simultaneous investigations across Europe and the English-speaking world. However, most books on child sexual abuse are narrowly focused and do not situate this most distressing of human behaviours within a social or historical context. Children, Sexuality, and Child Sexual Abuse examines child sexual abuse from a broader perspective in order to understand how and why child sexual abuse is perpetrated, by whom, under what circumstances, and with what societal consequences for victims and perpetrators. This book will be an essential reference for all those working in the field of child sexual abuse. Beginning with histories of childhood and sex, and their intersections, the book goes on to analyze sexual development, sexuality, and sexualized behaviour in children and adolescents. This is followed by an examination of the extent of child sexual abuse in the English-speaking world, including its prevalence in the Indigenous communities of Australia, New Zealand and Canada, and in once-trusted societal institutions including the Church, orphanages, and schools. The book focuses on issues of concern to all those who encounter the problem of child sexual abuse and addresses questions such as: How and when do children disclose child sexual abuse? What are the characteristics of memory that affect reporting? How are disclosure claims assessed? What are the effects of having experienced child sexual abuse? Finally, there is an examination of young people who offend sexually.

Fourteen-year-old Hannah comes to live with foster carer Maggie Hartley after her mum pleads with Social Services to take her into care, unable to cope with her daughter anymore. Previously a good student, a loving daughter and sister, Hannah is now playing truant, drinking, and taking drugs. Angry and mistrustful, it seems that nobody can reach this troubled teenager. Maggie is used to difficult teenagers, but Hannah's behaviour brings into question everything Maggie has ever learnt in all her years as a foster carer. Determined to push away everyone around her away, Hannah's life seems to be spiralling out of control. But when Hannah finally breaks down and confides a shocking secret to Maggie, the truth behind her chaotic behaviour is finally revealed. Can Maggie help this vulnerable young girl overcome the trauma of what's happened to her and set her free from the demons that haunt her?

The Blackstone's Guide Series delivers concise and accessible books covering the latest legislative changes and amendments. Published within weeks of the Act, they offer expert commentary by leading names on the effects, extent and scope of the legislation, plus a full copy of the Act itself. They offer a cost-effective solution to key information needs and are the perfect companion for any practitioner needing to get up to speed with the latest changes. domestic legislation in thirty years, introducing new powers for the police and courts to tackle offenders whilst ensuring that victims get the support and protection they need. The Act comes into force at the end of 2004 and will have a very significant impact on existing legislation and practice - notably the Family Law Act 1996 and the Criminal Justice Act 2003. a new offence of causing or allowing the death of a child or vulnerable adult; ensuring cohabiting same-sex couples have the same access to non-molestation and occupation orders as opposite sex couples; breach of a non-molestation order will become an arrestable criminal offence, punishable by up to five years in prison; stronger legal protection for victims by enabling court to impose restraining orders when sentencing for any offence; putting in place a system to review domestic homicide incidents; providing a Code of Practice so that all victims receive support and protection; setting up an independent Commissioner for Victims; giving the Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority the right to recover from offenders the compensation it has paid to their victims. its many provisions - Explains how the Act interrelates with, and amends, related legislation - notably the Family Law Act 1996 and Criminal Justice Act 2003 - Gives practical pointers on changes to practice and procedure - Contains the full text of the Act, plus the text of key related legislation as amended by the Act, allowing practitioners to access the relevant legislation quickly and easily - Has a clear and easy to use layout, aiding quick reference

The shocking first true account from one of the young girls who lived through and survived the Rotherham sex abuse scandal. In the summer of 2014, the Rotherham sex abuse scandal sent shockwaves through the nation. A report revealed that, since the 1990s, up to 1,400 young girls in the town had been regularly abused by sex gangs, predominantly comprised of Pakistani men. As the media descended on the small Yorkshire town, Sarah Wilson watched with horror and relief as her voice was finally heard after years of abuse. Sarah was just eleven years old when she was befriended by a group of older men. Bullied at school, naive and vulnerable, the gifts and attention they lavished on her were what she craved, she just wanted to belong. But soon she was hooked on alcohol and drugs, and then they owned her. She was just twelve years old when she was bundled into a car by a man in his thirties and forced to have sex with him. Soon, the gang were driving her to places where she was raped by scores of men. Falling through the system, from social services to school, no-one was able to help her. She 'escaped' when she became too old for the men at nearly sixteen. Finally a victim of the Rotherham scandal tells her story in the hope that other young girls will not fall prey to the same evil that she endured.

What is memory, and where is it stored in the body? Can a room be symbolic of a lifetime?

Memories are like layers of your skin or layers of paint on a canvas. In "The Queen of Peace Room," Magie Dominic peels away these layers as she explores her life, that of a Newfoundlander turned New Yorker, an artist and a writer -- and frees herself from the memories of her violent past.

On an eight-day retreat with Catholic nuns in a remote location safe from the outside world, she exposes, and captures, fifty years of violent memories and weaves them into a tapestry of unforgettable images. The room she inhabits while there is called The Queen of Peace Room; it becomes, for her, a room of sanctuary. She examines Newfoundland in the 1940s and 1950s and New York in the 1960s; her confrontations with violence, incest, and rape; the devastating loss of friends to AIDS; and the relationship between life and art. These memories she finds stored alongside memories of nature's images of trees pulling themselves up from their roots and fleeing the forest; storms and ley lines, and skies bursting with star-like eyes.

In "The Queen of Peace Room," from a very personal perspective, Magie Dominic explores violence against women in the second half of the twentieth century, and in doing so unearths the memory of a generation. In eight days, she captures half a century.

The black heart of human exploitation and the brave few seeking change

A child is sold for sex every ten miles on Brazil's BR-116 motorway. This 2,700-mile road is "The Highway to Hell" for the thousands of children, some as young as nine, who are trapped in sophisticated child prostitution rackets organized by businessmen and politicians.

An experienced journalist, Matt Roper has witnessed the extent of the trafficking firsthand. Highway to Hell documents his journey on this road. He meets the girls and hears their stories; he interviews truck drivers, pimps, brothel owners, and traffickers; and talks to the brave souls who are trying to make a difference.

Part documentary, part personal memoir, Matt honestly shares his struggles to understand what his Christian faith has to say about the things he encounters and how God wants him to respond.

The first new book from beloved therapist and writer Torey Hayden in almost fifteen years--an inspiring, uplifting tale of a troubled child and the remarkable woman who made a difference. In a forgotten corner of Wales, a young girl languishes in a home for troubled children. Abandoned by her parents because of her violent streak, Jessie--at the age of ten--is at risk of becoming just another lost soul in the foster system. Precocious and bold, Jessie is convinced she is possessed by the devil and utterly unprepared for the arrival of therapist Torey Hayden. Armed with patience, compassion, and unconditional love, Hayden begins working with Jessie once a week. But when Jessie makes a stunning accusation against one of Hayden's colleagues - a man Hayden implicitly trusts - Hayden's work doubles: now she must not only get to the root of Jessie's troubles, but also find out if what the girl alleges is true. A moving, compelling, and inspiring account, Lost Child is a powerful testament once again of Torey Hayden's extraordinary ability to reach children who many have given up on--and a reminder of how patience and love can ultimately prevail.

Despite the enormous literature on child abuse, there is little information on situations in which children are killed. Unlike other studies, which may be based on large statistical compilations but do not emphasize the murder of children, or detailed accounts of just a few cases, The Loss of Innocents is the first book to employ an extensive database of materials, allowing a large number of cases to be studied. The Loss of Innocents is a detailed analysis drawn from data in child abuse articles in The New York Times, The Chicago Tribune, The Omaha World Herald, The Louisville Courier-Journal, and The Lexington Herald Leader during the period 1971-1993. From her exhaustive research, Cara Richards gathered details from over 700 cases involving more than 1,000 victims and 990 perpetrators. These cases offered Richards a wealth of information about the circumstances of the crimes, facts about the perpetrators, socioeconomic background of victims' families, and much more. From this large sample, patterns of dangerous circumstances, and specific types of killers were identified. The thorough analysis presented in The Loss of Innocents goes beyond the facts and suggests new directions for research, intervention, and-most important-prevention. A major goal of this book is to help prevent the killing of children by suggesting ways in which social case workers, judges, police, and others can recognize a situation that is imminently dangerous. The Loss of Innocents looks at clues that can help officials decide when parental rights should be terminated immediately, when a brief separation is enough to remedy an abusive situation, and when a child will be safe despite problems. It is designed to help decision-makers reach judgments about child placement that are more accurate. It may also provide data to evaluate the limitations and utility of confidentiality laws. Further, Richards presents in the final chapter of this book a 16-point list of ways to reduce violence again

Research on gender, sex, and crime today remains focused on topics that have been a mainstay of the field for several decades, but it has also recently expanded to include studies from a variety of disciplines, a growing number of countries, and on a wider range of crimes. The Oxford Handbook of Gender, Sex, and Crime reflects this growing diversity and provides authoritative overviews of current research and theory on how gender and sex shape crime and criminal justice responses to it. The editors, Rosemary Gartner and Bill McCarthy, have assembled a diverse cast of criminologists, historians, legal scholars, psychologists, and sociologists from a number of countries to discuss key concepts and debates central to the field. The Handbook includes examinations of the historical and contemporary patterns of women's and men's involvement in crime; as well as biological, psychological, and social science perspectives on gender, sex, and criminal activity. Several essays discuss the ways in which sex and gender influence legal and popular reactions to crime. An important theme throughout The Handbook is the intersection of sex and gender with ethnicity, class, age, peer groups, and community as influences on crime and justice. Individual chapters investigate both conventional topics - such as domestic abuse and sexual violence - and topics that have only recently drawn the attention of scholars - such as human trafficking, honor killing, gender violence during war, state rape, and genocide. The Oxford Handbook of Gender, Sex, and Crime offers an unparalleled and comprehensive view of the connections among gender, sex, and crime in the United States and in many other countries. Its insights illuminate both traditional areas of study in the field and pathways for developing cutting-edge research questions.

Captain Snow, a veteran police officer and acclaimed author of Protecting Your Life, Home, and Property, gives us a startling look, as only a police officer can, at the violence, tears, and terror that shatter homes and lives across America, and tells us what we can do about it. Walking us through the course of a regular night shift, we witness, first-hand, tragic and vividly real scenes of abuse that are becoming all too commonplace. We learn the heart-wrenching story of a woman who has suffered burns, broken limbs, and even a fractured skull at the hands of her brutal husband, but is too terrified to report his crimes. We see the chilling evidence of neglect in a bare, airless, padlocked room where a son has imprisoned his elderly mother without sufficient food, medicine, or human contact, awaiting her death. And we hear the stuttered excuses of a father lying about the scald marks on his baby's legs as the child screams in agony. Abusers, we discover, come from every walk of life, and no one is untouched by the powerful consequences of violence, neglect, and emotional and sexual abuse in this country. Snow goes on to reveal the tactics of violence and terror these abusers all wield - whether against a parent, wife, or child. More importantly, he shows that this hateful legacy of abuse need not continue. At the heart of this book is an urgent, persistent question: How can we stop these horrible crimes? With an insider's knowledge forged from years of experience on the police force, combined with in-depth research, Snow provides a refreshingly practical perspective: tough solutions to conquer this growing crime. Taking on the ranks of the police, the courts, and public education, he sounds a clarion call for reform and reeducation. Captain Snow also gives invaluable advice - in this less-than-perfect world - to victims and their loved ones on how they can now use the police and legal system to their best advantage in fighting against abuse.

The recent surge in reports of child abuse has led Costin, Karger, and Stoesz to examine whether our current responses to the problem are adequate. In this book they trace the cultural, social, and legal factors that have shaped the history of child abuse and responses to it since the 1870s. The public response to child abuse is detailed, from the creation of the first Societies for Prevention of Cruelty to Children in the late 19th century, to the relative consignment of child abuse cases to the courts in the early to mid 20th century, and finally to the clinical, individual-level approaches introduced in the 1960s and still practised today.

Sexual harassment in the workplace, date rape, and domestic violence dominate the headlines and have recently sparked scholarly debates about the nature of the sexes. Concurrently, the scientific community is conducting research in topics of sex and gender issues. Indeed, more research is being done on the topics of sexual conflict and coercion than at any other time in the history of the social sciences. Despite this attention, it is clear that these issues are being addressed from two essentially different perspectives: one is labeled "feminist," while the other, viewed as antithetical to the feminist movement, is called "evolutionary psychology," which emphasizes the history of reproductive strategies in understanding conflict between the sexes. This book brings together leading experts from both sides of the debate in order to discover how each could offer insights lacking in the other. The editors' overall goal is to show how the feminist and evolutionary approaches are complementary despite their evident differences, then provide an integration and synthesis. In fact, several of the contributors to this unique volume consider themselves advocates of both approaches. As a stimulating presentation of the dynamics of sex, power, and conflict--and a pioneering rapprochement of the diverse tendencies within the scientific community-- this book will attract a wide audience in both psychology and women's studies fields.

It is very clear that children in every country experience abuse and neglect. The descriptions of the child welfare systems in different countries in this book illustrate several common themes: the lack of clear definitions, ambiguous policies, laws not being implemented, limited data on the extent and nature of the problem, and inadequate resources for addressing child maltreatment. Challenges facing Argentina are remarkably familiar to someone in the United States. At the same time, there are also striking differences in approaches and resources. The field of child protection is relatively young; in many areas optimal policies and practice remain uncertain. The goal of this book is to promote dialogue across borders to learn from each other and advance this multifaceted field, and to better serve children and families. This book highlights some of the main themes evident in the descriptions of the different child welfare systems.

'Molly II' is the sequel to 'Little Molly' the true story of a little girl who suffered so many beatings and experienced so much sexual abuse that she suffered from an enormous fear of human contact. In Molly II; I have tried to give some insight into the aftermath that occurs in a victim's life following child abuse. It is a true account of broken marriages, failed relationships, abduction and attempted murder. It depicts the true story of a young mother and her children's struggle to survive after being destroyed by the effects and aftermath of child abuse.

Since the landmark publication of The Drama of the Gifted Child, no one has been more influential than Alice Miller in empowering adults whose lives were maimed emotionally and physically as children. Now Dr. Miller goes even further, presenting groundbreaking theories that enhance communication between therapist and patient and enable the adult to express powerful emotions that have been trapped for years. Practical and perceptive, Miller s work explains what we can expect from therapy, how we can identify the causes of our own pain, and why subconscious pain, unaddressed for decades, manifests itself later as depression, self-mutilation, primal inadequacy, and chronic loneliness. With its responses to readers letters and powerful stories, Free from Lies is the culmination of a life devoted to healing others."

Philosophical Reflections on Mothering in Trauma examines the lived experience of mothering children who have been seriously harmed by others. Using an interdisciplinary approach, that employs a feminist phenomenology and an emphasis on narrative theory, this ground-breaking work gives voice to experiences of trauma, and of mothering, not ordinarily heard in philosophical discourses. With a philosophical lens, Melissa Burchard examines the challenges faced by families during the adoption and parenting of abused children. In doing so, Burchard argues that the investigation of traumatic experience poses questions that philosophers must address if we are to improve collective understanding of the human condition. These questions centre around the epistemological implications of traumatic experience, the role of power and privilege in abusive relationships, and the interconnected issues of morality and moral agency in trauma, problematic desires engendered in traumatic circumstances, and therapeutic responses to trauma. The book expresses ways in which mothering wounded children can, if we are deeply engaged and reflective, shift our understandings of what it means to be parents, to be children, to love, to know, to construct a self, to feel desire, to nurture, to coerce, and to live in the ambiguity of not knowing which decisions are right and which are wrong.

Child Victims explores the range and extent of crimes committed against children and assesses their impact. The testimony of over two hundred children gives voice, for the first time, to their experiences, their views, and their needs. It examines how children attain the status of `victims' in the criminal justice system. Drawing on recent research findings, the authors examine each stage of the legal process that a child encounters, from the initial reporting of the offence, through police investigation, to the trial itself. They contrast the specialist response to victims of child sexual abuse with the experience of children who are victims of other crimes, thrust into an adult system which takes little account of their needs. Child Victims concludes by examining the role of support services and agencies dealing with child victims, and makes a number of key recommendations for future policy.

A synthesis of literary critical and historical methods, Porterfield's book combines insightful analysis of Puritan theological writings with detailed examinations of historical records showing the changing patterns of church membership and domestic life. She finds that by conflating marriage as a trope of grace with marriage as a social construct, Puritan ministers invested relationships between husbands and wives with religious meaning. Images of female piety represented the humility that Puritans believed led all Christians to self-control and, ultimately, to love. But while images of female piety were important for men primarily as aids to controlling aggression and ambition, they were primarily attractive to women as aids to exercising indirect influence over men and obtaining public recognition and status.