The Vulnerabilities of Children whose Parents have been Sexually Abused in Childhood: Towards a New Framework

Correspondence to Carol-Ann Hooper, Department of Social Policy and Social Work, University of York, Heslington, York YO10 5DD, UK. E-mail: cah13{at}york.ac.uk Summary Concerns about the parenting capacity of adults with a historyof childhood sexual abuse have often been framed in individualizingand pathologizing ways. This paper draws on qualitative researchwith twenty-four women survivors of childhood sexual abuse todevelop a new framework for understanding the possible vulnerabilitiesof their children that may help inform anti-oppressive practice.The framework places the mother-child relationship in its broadercontext, taking account of the role of the immediate family,the extended family, the community and the state. Within eachlevel of context we identify the range of issues that couldcontribute to children’s vulnerability, elaborating theprocesses involved. Some issues recur within different contexts,for example the impacts of survivors’ issues around attachment,and others connect across contexts, such as the impact on childrenof deterioration in their mothers' mental health when appropriateservices are not available. All of these issues may affect survivors’well-being and access to social support and hence their abilityto care effectively for their children. Ways of supporting bothsurvivors and their children involving greater collective responsibilityfor children, effective collaboration between mental healthservices and child-care services, and professional responseswhich take account of contextual issues are identified.