Considering Family Reconnection and Reunification after Child Sexual Abuse

Introduction
“Why should I care?”
When one in four girls and one in six boys have been sexually abused before the
age of 18, (Dube et al., 2005) it’s clear that child sexual abuse is a reality that
many families across the country have had to face.
As recently as the 1970s, sexual abuse of children was widely believed to be a rare
occurrence. Over the last 35 years, society’s awareness and understanding about the
impacts of sexual abuse and the potential for healing has grown enormously. When families
acknowledge the sexual abuse of a child, they usually deal with a combination of emotions
from anger, loss, and fear to the confusion resulting from the disruption of some of the
closest relationships surrounding that child. Families are most likely also facing increasingly
Considering Family Reconnection and Reunification after Child Sexual Abuse 5