The Perspective of the Abused Child

Abstract

Some children who are abused are only too happy to be rescued from their homes. Some may continually complain about their mistreatent and eventually settle happily with substitute carers. Many other youngsters, even those who have been seriously abused, defend their parents, hide their injuries, guard the family secret and try to avoid removal from home. This chapter attempts to look at the abuse from the child’s perspective and in doing so to throw some light on the apparent paradox of the victim who resists ‘rescue’.