As the everyday family lives of children and young people come to be increasingly defined as matters of public policy and concern, it is important to raise the question of how we can understand the contested terrain between "normal" family troubles and troubled and troubling families. In this important, timely and thought-provoking publication, a wide range of contributors explore how "troubles" feature in "normal" families, and how the "normal" features in "troubled" families. Drawing on research on a wide range of substantive topics - including infant care, sibling conflict, divorce, disability, illness, migration and asylum-seeking, substance misuse, violence, kinship care, and forced marriage - the contributors aim to promote dialogue between researchers addressing mainstream family change and diversity in everyday lives, and those specialising in specific problems which prompt professional interventions. In tackling these contentious and difficult issues across a variety of topics, the book addresses a wide audience, including policy makers, service users and practitioners, as well as family studies scholars more generally who are interested in issues of family change.

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.

"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. Using in-depth interviews with 15 women whose children have been sexually abused, Carol-Ann Hooper explores how they experience and cope with the situation. How do they find out that sexual abuse, nearly always surrounded in secrecy, has occurred? How do they decide what action to take? How do they experience the responses of others - friends, kin, and professionals - and how do they cope with their own feelings? The answers to such difficult questions are crucial both to the children's safety and well-being and to successful professional intervention.

As the everyday family lives of children and young people come to be increasingly defined as matters of public policy and concern, it is important to raise the question of how we can understand the contested terrain between "normal" family troubles and troubled and troubling families. In this important, timely and thought-provoking publication, a wide range of contributors explore how "troubles" feature in "normal" families, and how the "normal" features in "troubled" families. Drawing on research on a wide range of substantive topics - including infant care, sibling conflict, divorce, disability, illness, migration and asylum-seeking, substance misuse, violence, kinship care, and forced marriage - the contributors aim to promote dialogue between researchers addressing mainstream family change and diversity in everyday lives, and those specialising in specific problems which prompt professional interventions. In tackling these contentious and difficult issues across a variety of topics, the book addresses a wide audience, including policy makers, service users and practitioners, as well as family studies scholars more generally who are interested in issues of family change.

Bringing together contributions on abuse from writers working in social policy, social work and psychotherapy, Psychodynamic Perspectives on Abuse explores the nature and ramifications of abuse in a new light.

Abuse is defined broadly and considered as a widespread phenomenon with a variety of manifestations and contexts. Its consequences, and the responses it may provoke, are discussed in detail with reference to three areas. In the personal context, the impact of abuse on an individual's development, emotional life and ability to participate in society is addressed. In the workplace, where the focus is upon working relationships and organizational goals, abuse may cause stress, undermine effectiveness and lead to legal redress: thus it involves a different set of problems and requires different treatment. In relation to society as a whole, the threat which abuse poses and the factors which determine policy are evaluated. Psychodynamic Perspectives on Abuse is unique in its range and focus, providing the cross-disciplinary approach to this problem which is essential for developing strategies to deal with it at all levels.