Dancing in Misery: A Mother’s Story about Abused Child
I am sharing this story with permission.
Shoshana Williams has been a dear friend for more than 20 years. She is a mother who discovered the unthinkable. A few years ago, her church-going husband had been raping his stepdaughter from the age of 6 to 13 years old. Traumatized by what she discovered, she called her pastor for help. This exemplary pastor nurtured and guided my friend in reporting the husband, which ultimately landed him in a long-term jail sentence.
There are many twists and turns in this horrifying story. Significantly, this story raises many questions about how the church is addressing abuse within its walls and beyond, questions about injustice in the so-called Justice System, and questions about racial discrimination.
Did you realize that millions of American children are playing, studying, dancing, and smiling but living in misery? Making matters worse, their adult perpetrators are often people they know, family members, and yes, many of them are living in their own homes!
The Child Maltreatment Report from 2015 shows an increase in reported cases of child abuse from 3.6 million to 4 million cases. The American Society for the Positive Care for Children says that subsequent findings over the past few years reveal an increase of up to. 6.6 million cases, with about 8.4% of them being sexual abuse cases. Experts say that child abuse cases are under-reported in America, so the number in the report does not include an estimate of unreported cases.
