The Truth is Longer Than a Lie: Children's Experiences of Abuse and Professional Interventions

All too often child victims of abuse either remain silent or are not listened to when they do decide to speak of their experiences, but The Truth is Longer Than a Lie gives abused children and young people a voice. This groundbreaking book reveals what young victims have to say about abuse and its effects on their lives; their views on the reasons for abuse; their opinions of abusers and non-offending parents; and how they felt about disclosing their experiences. Significantly, this book provides important insights into children's perceptions of the professionals who intervened - to protect them, to prosecute the abuser or to provide therapeutic counselling. The authors examine societal factors that increase children's vulnerability, and propose measures for preventing abuse. They outline the requirements of ethically sound research, including appropriate interviewing techniques, and conclude with recommendations for future research. The Truth is Longer Than a Lie is invaluable reading for social workers, child protection workers, counsellors, legal professionals and anyone working with abused children.

Table of Contents:
1. The power of children's voices. 2. The silencing of children. 3.Child-centred practice: the foundation to effective research with children who have been abused. 4. The ethics of listening to children in research. 5. A chance to be heard: involving children who have been abused in research. 6. Children's voices: their views on abuse and the impact of abuse. 7. Children's voices: their views about making disclosures, about abusers and about non-offending parents. 8. Children's voices: Their experiences of professional intervention. 9. Children as hostages to abuse. 10. Children's vulnerability to abuse: a double-edged issue. 11. The complexity of listening professionally to children. 12. The way forward. References. Index.

About the Author :
Neerosh Mudaly has a doctorate in social work and 28 years' clinical practice experience, including 12 years in child protection and 16 as a child and family therapist. She is an expert in the field of child abuse, with experience spanning clinical supervision, training and consultancy and legal advocacy as an expert court witness. She has a strong child-centred approach to practice and training and has previously authored several journal articles on child abuse. Chris Goddard is a professor of child care social work who has previously published in the field of child protection. Together with Dr. Janet Stanley he authored In the Firing Line, and he contributed a chapter to Children Taken Seriously, eds. Jan Mason and Toby Fattore, also published by Jessica Kingsley Publishers. He is Director of the National Research Centre for the Prevention of Child Abuse at Monash University, Melbourne, Australia.

Review :
This excellent book places the voices of child victims of abuse at the centre of an exploration of their experiences. That this should be seen to be a unique approach to the subject is bot sobering and exciting... The book will be of interest to social workers, child protection workers, academics, students and anyone working with abused children. From my perspective as a Lecturer in Social Work, I found the approach and subject matter resonated with the wider movement towards including and responding to the views of service users in both education and practice.