Shattered Lives : Children Who Live with Courage and Dignity

•Shortlisted for the Young Minds Book Prize 2006•Shattered Lives bears witness to the lives of children who have experienced abuse and neglect, and highlights the effects of early traumatic episodes. Chapters take the form of letters to a child capturing their life experiences, hugely impacted by sexual abuse, parental substance misuse and loss, leading to feelings of shame, rejection and worthlessness. Batmanghelidjh offers understanding for those baffled by these hard-to-reach children and warns against stigmatizing them for their problem behaviour. In her critique of existing structures, she exposes the plight of children who are overlooked by the authorities and denounces those who value bureaucracy over the welfare of the individual child. Society's failure to acknowledge the truth of their experiences and act to change the environment in which such mistreatment can flourish is, she strongly argues, leading to the death of childhood. The book is a clarion call for change. The witnessing Introduction to therapeutic thinking Exploring the impact of sexual abuse : letter to Chardonnay Shame: letter to Daisy Adaptive violence : letter to Mr. Mason Psychosocial vulnerabilities leading to violence : letter to Rocky Cradled in terror : children's capacity to be violent Legitimizing neglect : letter to Flower Parental addictions : letter to Julie Letter to Deny, cry and try Conclusion. Offering an insight into the troubled lives of children who have experienced abuse and neglect, each chapter in this text tells the story of a child's particular trauma - whether sexual abuse, parental drug abuse, or loss - and illustrates the feelings of shame, rejection, and worthlessness I HAVE A clear memory of being a child, what it felt like, what my thoughts were.