How do you forgive a sexual abuser? 

It’s been forty-one years since those bully boys stole my body, mind, and bits and pieces of my shattered soul. They posed as interested neighbors, ready to help my ancient babysitter. They’d take me off her hands, lessen her load. Which is strange if you knew me back then. I wasn’t a handful. I’d already learned the art of being invisible. And if I wasn’t occupying myself alone, I found ways to please people. I was a good little girl. Innocent, even.

Those friendly boys (brothers, boy scouts) took me into the woods. They invited friends to take turns. They violated me under too-tall evergreen trees. They took me home with them, stealing more of me in their bunk beds, a sheet draped over the bottom bunk so they could do it “privately,” all while their June Cleaver mom hummed pop tunes and made cookies just two rooms away. I wonder if she knew.  READ MORE HERE

Six Things to Know About Sexual Abuse and Forgiveness

Forgiving the parents after childhood sexual abuse

On Forgiving Your Sexual Abuser, and Yourself

Forgiving Your Abuser – About Holistic Healing

My journey of Healing and Forgiveness after Surviving Childhood

How Acknowledging Your Anger Can Help You Forgive 

Do I Need to Forgive to Heal from Abuse?

Clare’s story of childhood abuse – Forgiveness Project

Craig Lewis, 32, inflicted a broken back and catastrophic brain injuries on baby Kieron Barley

A man has been jailed for just eight years after shaking and killing his partner’s son in a fit of rage. Craig Lewis broke Kieron Barley’s back and the toddler spent the last weeks of his life in agony after medical staff failed to diagnose the fracture. Kieron was in and out of hospital for four days after Lewis smashed him into the ground in a fit of anger.  READ MORE HERE

Mother told detectives she had left him home alone on a regular basis and had done it about 20 times before

A young mom has been charged with child abuse after she left her young son home alone while she went to work and then didn’t return until the next day. When Megan McKeon returned to her home in Steamboat Springs, Colorado, 20 hours later she found her young son, Austin Davis, lying face up with his eyes open. He was immobile and showed no signs of life. Investigators say McKeon’s home, described as a cabin at a local campground, was in chaos, with human waste and partially eaten food tossed around. READ MORE HERE

Man sentenced to death for beating, raping and fatally strangling girlfriend’s 4-yo daughter while she was out of town

A jury in North Carolina handed down the death penalty Thursday to Jonathan Douglas Richardson, 25, who they convicted of murdering his girlfriend’s 4-year-old daughter.  During the trial, it was revealed that Richardson tortured little Teghan Skiba for 10 days while his girlfriend of six months was on a trip – physically and sexually abusing the girl as well as strangling her with a power chord.  Richardson brought the girl to Johnston Medical Center in July 2010, telling doctors she fell off her bed. But medics found signs of much more serious trauma, as her body was covered in bruises and bite marks. READ MORE HERE

Simon Brooks, 15, collapsed after suspected overdose and died in hospital

A bullied schoolboy left a heartbreaking goodbye letter to his mother telling her: ‘I can’t cope any more’ just before he died of a suspected overdose. Simon Brooks, 15, died in hospital four days after writing the note, which also blamed bullies for making his life a misery. His bereft mother Julie Brooks, 48, today said Simon had been picked on for 18 months and dreaded going to school in Pontyclun, South Wales. READ MORE HERE

Mother sentenced to 20-years

A South Carolina mother has been sentenced to 20 years in prison for killing her six-week-old daughter with an overdose of morphine delivered through her breast milk. Prosecutors said Stephanie Greene, 39, was a nurse and knew the dangers of taking painkillers while pregnant and breast feeding, but chose to conceal her pregnancy from doctors to keep getting her prescriptions.  She lost her nursing license in 2004 for trying to get drugs illegally. READ MORE HERE

Meredith Powell, 24, charged with two counts of 3rd child rape and one count of communication with a minor for immoral purposes

A fourth high school student has come forward claiming 24-year-old former math teacher Meredith Powell sexually abused him during her time at Washington’s Lincoln High School. Powell was arrested in February and then confessed to performing sex acts with multiple students, one as young as 15 years old, inside her locked classroom, as well as sending them sexualized pictures of herself. She previously faced two counts of child rape and one count of communication with a minor for immoral purposes. READ MORE HERE

FBI Needs Public’s Assistance in Identifying Child Sexual Predator

The FBI has released enhanced photos of a suspected child predator and is seeking the public’s help in identifying the man. He is an unknown male, known only as John Doe 28. Images and video of John Doe 28 were obtained that show sexual exploitation of a child. The images and video were recorded by the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children in 2012. READ MORE HERE

Have you seen ‘John Doe 28’?

FBI seeks public’s help in identifying suspected child predator

Child predator captured on video: FBI wants your help 

In a book by the female Robertsons, the reality show’s stars don’t shy away from serious topics

LEXINGTON, Nebraska — A 20-year-old Nebraska mom faces a felony child abuse charge after she kept allowing her boyfriend to babysit despite her son’s injuries. KRVN reports that the woman was arrested last week — about a month after her boyfriend. Investigators began looking into case after the woman took her then 17-month-old son to the hospital on Feb. 18 with severe injuries. READ MORE HERE

A suspended Connecticut priest charged in a federal firearms and explosives case involving a teenage accomplice has been arrested on allegations he sexually assaulted a child. The Rev. Paul Gotta was arrested Monday by East Windsor police on seven sexual assault charges stemming from encounters with a minor that took place over the span of a year beginning in January 2012. Gotta was administrator of St. Philip and St. Catherine churches in East Windsor when the Archdiocese of Hartford suspended him last July when the sexual assault allegations surfaced. READ MORE HERE

A former nanny for three adopted children Las Vegas police say were subjected to years of abuse and neglect can’t understand what took so long for authorities to intervene, saying: ‘The system is a disgrace.’ Jan Finnegan has slammed the Clark County Department of Family Services following the 23-count indictment of child abuse and neglect charges laid against Dwight Solander, 50, and Janet Solander, 53, the adoptive parents of the three victims involved. Danielle Hinton, 21, the daughter of Janet Solander, has also been indicted, with all three adults arrested on March 20 after the children told authorities they were beaten with paint sticks, forced to take cold showers and dry themselves in front of a large fan and regularly prevented from using the bathroom. READ MORE HERE

Public Awareness & Creating Supportive Communities

Public awareness can be part of an overall approach to preventing child abuse and neglect. Find resources and information on sharing a message and educating the public, making an economic case for prevention, and creating community support and partnerships to prevent child abuse and neglect.

• Developing an effective message
• Tools for sharing your message
• Making an economic case
• Public awareness activities and programs
• Building community support
• Preventing community violence
• Social media

Child Welfare Information Gateway

• Child Abuse and Neglect
• Preventing Child Abuse and Neglect
• Responding to Child Abuse and Neglect
• Promoting Child & Family Well-Being
• Public Awareness & Creating Supportive Communities
• Prevention Programs
• Developing & Sustaining Prevention Programs
• Evidence-Based Practice
• Evaluating Prevention Programs

READ MORE HERE

ROGERS COUNTY, Oklahoma – Rogers County Deputies arrested a Chelsea man accused of abusing his stepchildren. The Department of Human Services said it found Johnathon Lee’s four-year-old stepson locked in a wire dog cage. DHS removed three kids from the home, and now both the stepfather and the mother are in jail. An affidavit said Johnathon Lee, 31, admitted putting the boy in the cage to sleep overnight, during nap time and for discipline, for at least three weeks. READ MORE HERE