The impact of childhood sexual molestation can span months, years and even decades over the lifetime of a survivor and his or her family. Physical and sexual abuse of children can devastatingly change lives, disrupt personality development and corrupt interpersonal relationships throughout one’s entire life. The invisible psychological scars of childhood sexual abuse and physical abuse can lead to suffering in adolescence, adulthood and even after survivors become parents themselves.
Danger Lurking in Positions of Trust
Although we often talk to children about “stranger danger,” many molesters are often hiding in plain sight. They typically get into positions of authority or trust over children and exploit their power to develop sexual relationships with them. It’s not uncommon to see long-term abusive situations where molesters demand secrecy from children and engage in these corrupt and sexually, emotionally and physically abusive relationships with children for extended periods of time.
Immediate Support for Survivors
The most important thing after the discovery of child sexual abuse is to get survivors into supportive therapeutic programs as swiftly as possible. Research shows that children who receive therapy shortly after suffering from molestation have the best psychological outcomes. Sexual abuse survivors can be psychologically warped into unhealthy and shameful thought patterns, so it’s absolutely critical for them to develop an understanding that what happened to them wasn’t their fault. They were targeted by a predator.
Physical Abuse of Children
The New England Journal of Medicine recently published an article on the evaluation of infants and young children for suspected physical abuse. The article looked at evaluations based on examination of skin, brain, skull, skeleton, hepatic enzymes and other anatomical and physiological systems. It’s important to note that physical abuse doesn’t just leave permanent visible scars. The effects of physical and sexual abuse of children can last a lifetime for survivors.
Child Sexual Molestation Cases
If your child is recovering from the damaging effects of being sexually, physically or emotionally abused, it’s essential to get in touch with a Personal Injury lawyer who has proven experience with these types of cases. Confidentially needs to be a top priority. Children, and even adult survivors, should be protected from unnecessary publicity at all costs. Healing from the trauma of child abuse, in any form, can be a lifelong journey, and families need to have somebody they can count on to get them the compensation they deserve for ongoing supportive therapies and other necessities.
Alexander Law Group, LLP prosecuted the first civil lawsuit for damages to jury verdict in Northern California in 1984 and has years of experience representing scores of molested children and supporting their families. We are always ready to answer questions and share the results of our research and experience with the public. Our goal is to make a difference for our clients and our community.
