FACTSHEET FOR FAMILIES April 2008 Parenting a Child Who Has Been Sexually Abused: A Guide for Foster and Adoptive Parents You may be a foster or adoptive parent of a child who was sexually abused before coming to your home. In some cases, you will not be certain What’s Inside: that abuse has occurred, but you may suspect it. • Educating yourself You may even be exploring becoming a foster or • Establishing family guidelines adoptive parent to a child in the foster care system; for safety and privacy many of these children have been abused or • Seeking help neglected—physically, emotionally, or sexually— before coming into care. Child Welfare Information Gateway Children’s Bureau/ACYF U.S. Department of Health and Human Services 1250 Maryland Avenue, SW Administration for Children and Families Eighth Floor Washington, DC 20024 Administration on Children, Youth and Families 703.385.7565 or 800.394.3366 Children’s Bureau Email:
[email protected] www.childwelfare.gov Parenting a Child Who Has Been Sexually Abused: A Guide for Foster and Adoptive Parents www.childwelfare.gov You may feel confused, frightened, and “… the employment, use, persuasion, unsure of the impact the sexual abuse of a inducement, enticement, or coercion of child may have on your child and family. It any child to engage in, or assist any other is important for you to understand that the person to engage in, any sexually explicit term “sexual abuse” describes a wide range conduct or simulation of such conduct for of experiences. Many factors—including the the purpose of producing a visual depiction severity of abuse as well as others discussed of such conduct; or the rape, and in cases later in this factsheet—affect how children of caretaker or inter-familial relationships, react to sexual abuse and how they recover.