Play Therapy with Abused Children

Second Edition

Ann Cattanach

• Editorial: Jessica Kingsley Publishers
• Año: 2008
• ISBN:
  9781846427824
• Edición: 2
• Categoría: Psychology
• Categoría: Psychotherapy

Praise for the first edition:

'Ann Cattanach writes with enormous empathy and warmth, and with a refreshing lack of sentimentality... [This] is an unpretentious and optimistic book, and a very positive addition to recent publications.'

- British Association of Play Therapists

'I would recommend the book to anyone working in this field. This is a well presented, clear and easy-to-read book, providing a balanced mixture of factual information and case material.'

- British Journal of Occupational Therapy

'What impressed me so much about this work was Cattanach's knowledge of children and their inherent strengths as well as their vulnerabilities. This practical and easy to apply book is recommended for anyone who works with abused children and would like further insight as well as practical and informative advice on healing the traumatized child.'

- Trauma and Loss: Research and Interventions

'Her accounts of the way in which play is used to make sense of traumatic experiences are full of insight and often moving. All aspects of the work are covered. This is an exceptional volume - goes far beyond a mere text book.'

- Therapy Weekly

This second edition of Ann Cattanach's highly commended book explores the use of play therapy with abused children as a way of helping them heal their distress and make sense of their experiences through expanding their own creativity in play.

The book provides practical ways of starting play therapy with abused children and explains how the child can use this process for healing. Models of intervention are described with consideration given to the particular needs of the child and the work setting of the therapist. Suggestions include short and medium term interventions, individual/group and sibling work. This edition provides new case study material, up-to-date information on relevant legislation on children's rights and welfare and recent developments in research in the field.

This book is essential reading for professionals working with abused children, as well as those interested in the use of creative therapies.

CHAPTER 1

The Rights of Children and the Abused Child

The stepmother went into the garden holding the scissors which glittered in her hand in the sunlight.

Her young stepdaughter was stretched out on the lawn with her straw hat over her face, fast asleep in the warm buttery sun. Her shadow lay on the grass beside her, so cool and dark that already the daisies there had started to close.

The stepmother knelt down, silent as poison, and cut along the whole length of the girl’s shadow…

Then the stepmother stood and saw her own long shadow at her feet. She bent down and with a snap and a snip she cut it off. She lifted her heavy leathery shadow and tossed it over the sleeping girl…

The stepdaughter felt something heavy and sour-smelling upon her and opened her eyes in fright. It was dark.

(Duffy 2003, pp.59–60)

This extract from the fairy tale The Stolen Childhood vividly describes the jealousy, anger and desire some adults experience when they connect with a child. When adults abuse children they steal from them, destroy curiosity, joy in living and learning and in its place leave darkness and fear. This book is an attempt to make visible the abused child, to help throw off the ‘leathery shadow’ inflicted upon them by damaged adults and to suggest ways of helping such children feel worthwhile in a world where many children are still seen to be the possessions of their parents or other adults.

It is important for us to recognise that children are individuals, not belongings. They are not there to fulfil our needs and desires. We cannot change losses in our own childhoods by corrupting children. Children are first and foremost people, but we must also recognise children’s developmental needs and their natural dependence on caring adults. Therein lies their vulnerability. When we abuse that dependence the child’s future is damaged. Sadly, since the first edition of this book in 1992, the abuse of children has continued unabated and has spread in the United Kingdom into areas such as Internet abuse and child trafficking for purposes of sexual exploitation. However, there is also a greater awareness from the general public about abuse and this, in some circumstances, can help protect children.

For those of us who care for children in any capacity it is all too easy to assume a superiority over children, to disregard their feelings and ignore their needs in our decision-making and so reinforce their sense of hopelessness and powerlessness in the face of adult control. Sometimes our own fears for their safety mean that we overprotect children, while at the same time not giving them the information about abuse which might keep them safe and aware. When that happens we deny the possibilities that lie dormant in the child. In her poetic translation of Awakening Osiris, The Egyptian Book of the Dead, Normandi Ellis translates, or as she prefers meditates, on the text about ‘Becoming the Child’: ‘I lie between heaven and earth, between goodness and evil, patience and explosion…I know no ending for I have no beginning. I have always been here, a child in the silence of things, ready to wake at any moment. I am possibility’ (Ellis 1988).

This meditation describes the vulnerability of children, the sense of expectancy and possibility which can so easily be destroyed. It is the responsibility of adults to develop the possibilities for children and so secure a better future for us all.

The Rights of Children

In the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the United Nations has proclaimed that childhood is entitled to special care and assistance. The UN Convention on the Rights of the Child was adopted in 1989 and came into force in 1990. According to UNICEF, 193 states are party to the Convention, almost all the members of the United Nations. This includes the United Kingdom, which is bound, in international law, by the terms of the convention.

For the purpose of the present Convention on the Rights of the Child, a child means every human being below the age of 18 years unless, according to the law applicable to the child, majority is attained earlier. There are at present 54 Articles in the convention.

The UN committee on the Rights of the Child monitors the implementation by State Parties of the Convention. The Committee holds regular sessions each year to review State Parties’ reports on progress made in fulfilling their obligations under the Convention. States which are party to the convention, including the UK, are required to report to the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child. Each State Party has to submit a comprehensive report every five years. The committee assesses how well States are implementing the Convention, reports on progress and can make recommendations.

The UK government submitted its consolidated third and fourth report to the committee in July 2007. The Department for Children, Schools and Families coordinated the writing of the report. The views of children and young people in England on the implementation of the convention were gathered and incorporated into the report.

There are many articles in the Convention pertinent to the rights of children who have experienced abuse.

Article 19:

1.State Parties shall take all appropriate legislative, administrative, social and educational measures to protect the child from all forms of physical or mental violence, injury or abuse, while in the care of parent(s), legal guardian(s) or any other person who has the care of the child.

2.Such protective measures should, as appropriate, include effective procedures for the establishment of social programmes to provide necessary support for the child and for those who have the care of the child, as well as other forms of prevention and for identification, reporting, referral, investigation, treatment and follow-up of instances of child maltreatment described heretofore, and, as appropriate, for judicial involvement.

Article 20:

A child temporarily or permanently deprived of his or her family environment, or in whose own best interests cannot be allowed to remain in that environment, shall be entitled to special protection and assistance provided by their State.

Article 25:

State Parties shall recognise the right of a child who has been placed by the competent Authorities for the purpose of care, protection or treatment of his or her physical or mental health, to a periodic review of the treatment provided to the child and all other circumstances relevant to his or her placement.

Article 28:

1.State Parties shall recognise the right of the child to education, and with a view to achieving this right progressively and on the basis of equal opportunity, they shall, in particular:

(a)make primary education compulsory and available free to all

(b)encourage the development of different forms of secondary education, including general and vocational education, make them available and accessible to every child, and take appropriate measures such as the introduction of free education and offering financial assistance in the case of need

(c)make higher education accessible to all on the basis of capacity by every appropriate means

(d)make educational and vocational information and guidance available and accessible to all children

(e)take measures to encourage regular attendance at schools and the reduction of drop-out rates.

Article 31:

1.State Parties shall recognise the right of the child to rest and leisure, to engage in play and recreational activities appropriate to the age of the child and to participate freely in cultural life and the arts.

2.State Parties shall respect and promote the right of the child to participate fully in cultural and artistic life and shall encourage the provision of appropriate and equal opportunities for cultural, artistic, recreational and leisure activity.

Article 28 and 31 are important for abused children who often do not receive the support they need educationally or to pursue leisure pursuits.

Article 34:

State Parties shall undertake to protect the child from all forms of sexual exploitation and sexual abuse. For these purposes, State Parties shall in particular take all appropriate national, bilateral and multilateral measures to prevent:

(a)the inducement or coercion of a child to engage in any unlawful sexual activity

(b)the exploitative use of children in prostitution or other unlawful sexual practices

(c)the exploitative use of children in pornographic performances and materials.

Article 35:

State Parties shall take all appropriate national, bilateral and multilateral measures to prevent the abduction of, the sale of or traffic in children for any purpose or in any form.

Article 36:

State Parties shall protect the child against all other forms of exploitation prejudicial to any aspects of the child’s welfare.

Article 39:

State Parties shall take all appropriate measures to promote physical and psychological recovery and social reintegration of a child victim of: any form of neglect, exploitation or abuse; torture or any form of cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment; or armed conflicts. Such recovery and reintegration shall take place in an environment which fosters the health, self-respect and dignity of the child.

The government of the United Kingdom m...