Showing titles in Child Abuse

As a young girl on the idyllic Milky Way Farm, author Karen Vanderlaan initially believes life is full of magic, wonder, and horses. All too quickly, however, her innocence is lost when her mother gets involved with an abusive, manipulative woman named Bunny. Bunny subjects Karen and her younger siblings to unspeakable cruelties - all in the name of God.

Gaia Cooper is just 14 years old when she is groomed by a criminal gang and forced to commit organised credit card fraud. Despite being placed in care – somewhere Gaia should feel safe – she is left even more vulnerable, and is horrifically abused and exploited by the men manipulating her. Will the authorities save Gaia – or will she have to save herself?

Tommy Belanger had been born into a dysfunctional family - fed by alcohol abuse, abject poverty, and the trials and tribulations associated with living in isolation. His was a life filled with child abuse, incest, bestiality, and zoophilia. Tommy hated how those things affected him and his siblings. And he detested his father.

Larry Franklin believes he should have known on that summer day in 1950 that this was not normal. But he was the youngest and smallest of the four boys in a place where the unspeakable was normal. In 1992, when Franklin turned 50, a chance conversation with his mother opened the door to repressed memories of physical and sexual abuse. The worst left him hugging the bathroom stool throughout the night. As his mind began to crumble, a piece here, a piece there, he learned that the trips to the barn were far from normal. Separating fact from fiction was like finding a gnat in the forest.

Growing up in an environment unsure of anything is stressful. Being unaware, but knowing at the same time something doesn’t feel right, is uncomfortable. You know the saying “what goes on in this house stays in this house”. But what actually goes on in this house? Who do you call? What do you say? Do I love her enough to endure this with her?Does she love me enough to let go? If love is the key that unlocks the heart, then where is the key that prevents death?

The shocking true story of a young boy hidden away from his family and the world in a Catholic home for unmarried mothers in 1950s Dublin. Born an 'unfortunate' onto the rough streets of 1950s Dublin, this is the incredible true story of a young boy, a secret child born into a home for unmarried mothers in 1950s Dublin and a mother determined to keep her child, even if it meant hiding him from her own family and the rest of the world.

This is an audiobook about two caring grandparents who find themselves in the midst of a custody battle concerning their two-year-old grandson who they believe has been neglected by the child’s mother. Throughout the audiobook, they often play the role of detectives, who are driven to chase clues and find evidence to support their hunches to prove their case to a crooked judge. This audiobook will appeal to anyone interested in a suspenseful family story with many twists and turns. It will also attract listeners who want to learn more about the pitfalls of our legal system.

Ava Thomas knew leaving was the right decision. Trapped and manipulated in her relationship, and after yet another violent beating whilst she was pregnant, Ava was helped to a women's refuge with her children. Listening to the stories of other women there, Ava began thinking back to where it all started to go wrong. Brought up by a mother who never loved her, Ava sought that missing care and warmth elsewhere. Running away to her father's home as a teenager, she thought she might finally be safe. But after being abused by her own brother, she was thrown out onto the streets.

Childhood sexual abuse leaves invisible marks that carry into adulthood and stop you from doing, dreaming, and achieving. The root of shame keeps you feeling undervalued, even in your own eyes. You lose years living in safe mediocrity instead of purposeful intention. This is not God's plan for you .Author Andrea S. Jones understands this all too well. Her authentic sharing of some hard truths will walk you through the steps a predator takes in grooming his victim. You will see how he becomes a loved member of the family while targeting his prey.

Shame stitched her mouth shut, abuse scalded her voice, and religious manipulation taught her that unconditional love must be earned through self-inflicted torture. Tessa understood her failings before she knew her favorite color. “You’re too emotional, too sensitive, you look too much like your mother, and you’re a constant disappointment.” How exacting are the demands for her freedom?

This audiobook tells the true story of a family's pain as several harrowing events unfold. A grandmother so selfish she lost everything over one man's sick pleasure. A father who will stop at nothing to keep his own dark secrets from getting out. The loving mother so broke down in life she questions her own sanity. The cries that could not be heard. The beatings that could not be stopped. The teachers who got it all wrong. The twisted friend. The beast that none stopped.

This book is a little bit of my story, and a whole lot of God’s story. I invite you into the brokenness of my life only to magnify the greatness of God’s glory as I have found him in my own story. If you dare to listen to my ugly seasons in life, you will find the beauty of a God who loves us no matter where we are at. He created you as one part of a diverse family so much more expansive than you may realize!

This book is for all of us who have suffered abuse and need to be heard, believed, and supported by others. The time is long past for us to take a stand and speak up about the abuses we've endured and the damage caused by those abuses. We have felt alone and isolated in our pain from these secrets of abuse. The perpetrators have kept us silent, living in shame and guilt, long enough. Let’s be silent no more, and let’s be there for one another, encouraging each other to heal.

Chrissie Foster is the mother who brought the rich and powerful Catholic Church to its knees over its global abuse of children, including two of her daughters, Emma and Katie. Like the Boston Globe's Spotlight team, she built an undeniable case in her first book Hell on the Way to Heaven, which helped inspire Australian governments to hold world-leading inquiries.

During the course of her neglected and abusive childhood, Wendy dreamed of a warm and bright haven of peace, far removed from her dreary, often painful surroundings. Even as she lived through the domestic violence and indifference of her parents and then fell victim to a sexual predator, she held on to her vision of happiness, love, and fulfilment. Slowly, as she grew into womanhood, she set about turning her vision into reality. This is the story of how she overcame a dysfunctional family, the nightmare of emotional and sexual abuse, loneliness and destructive relationships.

Gaze into the wounded soul of an innocent child and experience a different perspective of soul damage and the destruction left by sexual abuse. Through the eyes of author Shari Rickenbach, go on a healing journey of overcoming the shame, rage, guilt, fear, and pain of sexual abuse. Choice is the beginning to your life lived free - free from the shackles and pain of abuse - free to be who God created you to be - free to live life to your fullest potential to co-create with God. Choose your beginning to restoring your voice and value.

In 1976, Francis Beaumont spirited 11-year-old Kim Chown and her brother away from their mother to Africa, where he had taken a job as a university lecturer. There, behind a veneer of respectability, he terrorised and brutalised his own child, Kim, sexually and emotionally abusing her several times a day. Only aged 20 did Kim feel able to escape from him, descending into alcoholism, after her siblings and mother refused to help her seek justice. But after almost ending her own life, Kim fought back.

Marilyn Elaine Lundberg’s true crime memoir, Jagger’s Eyes, is a brutally honest account of how one unfortunate little girl turned to animals for love, safety, and comfort. The trauma of incest and neglect occurred behind closed doors in her Christian home and crippled her psychologically as a child. Her attacks produced PTSD, suicidal depression, chronic anxiety, panic attacks, agoraphobia, anorexia, plus more, and she was housebound for many years as an adult.

Narrated by award-winning actress, Shariba Rivers, Kari Kelley's Living Resiliently is a book that blends autobiographical information with tips for living a resilient life. As you listen to this audiobook, you will witness the many obstacles that the author overcame in her own life. You may also recognize that you are resilient as well. As you listen to this audiobook, you may discover that living a resilient life is not just possible, it is a calling.

Set against a backdrop of East End London, Georgia experienced a childhood few of us could imagine. Though brought up in a loving family, she watched her family break apart through deceit and her mother descend into heroin addiction. Escaping into what she felt was a loving sanctuary, Georgia ended up trapped in a violent relationship with a man who would beat and abuse her. After having her three children by him, she knew she had to escape to finally find safety.