As a therapist, I have worked in the field of sex
abuse, with families, offenders, and parents of sexually abused children, for
24 years. Both my Master's thesis and PhD dissertation focused on research
conducted with mothers of sexually abused children. I completed my thesis
research in a Sex Abuse Intervention program, studying treatment effects
for mothers of sexually abused children. The research for my
dissertation looked for correlations between the disclosure of a child's
sex abuse, symptoms of initial acute trauma, development
of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms, and health
issues. Results were significant, showing that mothers experience
acute trauma, that the majority of mothers studied met criteria for PTSD,
and that most mothers had a higher than normal number of significant
health issues that persisted for years after the disclosure.
As an independent project during my doctoral education, I created
a website for mothers of sexually abused children: MOSAC, found at www.mosac.net. The MOSAC site is designed specifically for mothers who have experienced
the sexual abuse of one of their children. Although fathers also suffer when a
child is the victim of sexual abuse, women and mothers have specific issues
related to their role and relationship to the victim. Most mothers say that
they need and want help following the disclosure of a child's abuse. This site
is designed to be a comprehensive source of information about sexual abuse and
to offer support and resources to mothers.
Mothers often have no one around them that understands what they are going
through, and they may have very little support. Sometimes mothers are blamed by
others and told that the abuse is their fault. They are often given harmful
advice and told not to believe the child or not to report. If the perpetrator
is the mother's partner or one of her other children, feelings of pain, anger,
and confusion increase. Difficult decisions are required in order to protect
children. If the perpetrator is a husband, partner, other family member, or
friend, mothers experience feelings of betrayal. It may be far easier to accept
that a stranger has abused your child, even though a devastating discovery,
than to find out that someone you loved and trusted harmed your child.
The goal of the MOSAC site is to be comprehensive, providing as much
information and as many resources to mothers as possible. My goal in creating
this site in 2010 was to offer mothers the information, support, and resources
that would provide them the best opportunity to support and protect their
child.
