Every Parent’s Nightmare

Bruna Dessena is a paramedic who has seen child abuse. She has served as a Childline Counsellor and is an activist on the subject.

I trained as a Salvation Army officer and then went to my first appointment in Sidwell in Port Elizabeth, a very socially depressed area which had been working class before Ford closed their factory but which teemed with unemployment, poverty and social evils when I was there in the late 80s and early 90s. In my first year one of the little boys in the Sunday school told me about his ‘bad dreams’ where a bogeyman stood at his bed every night and hurt his bum. His mother had recently remarried. I wish I had had this book back then, for my feeble attempts to report the matter to Child Welfare brought about only the report that “The child has clean clothes and enough to eat. There is no problem.” I failed that child. This book will help others not to fail the children who turn to them for help.

Written sensitively for parents of children who have been abused, as well as other adults such as medical people, ministers of religion and teachers, all of whom sometimes come across the problem, it outlines clearly the steps needed in order to properly remedy the situation as best one can.

It is a highly readable volume, written matter of factly without any form of sensationalism. It takes only an hour or so to go through the text which covers the signs of abuse, the grooming process used by abusers, how to deal with the problem, how to support the child, and what the legal process involves, although the emotional stuff will linger for a lot longer. This book should be owned and read by every teacher, medical person, and worker with people’s social, physical and spiritual needs as well as every parent.

Title: Every Parent’s Nightmare

Sub-Title: The essential guide for adults dealing with child abuse

Author: Bruna Dessena

Publishers: Quickfox Publishing

Year: 2010

ISBN: 978-1920-39705-0

Recommended selling price: R115.00