Journal: Priscilla Papers
Volume: PP 37:1 (Winter 2023)
Article: Restoration Of Adult Survivors Of Child Sexual Abuse: How Can Caregivers Contribute To The Process?
Author: Scarlet Hai Yin Fung Tsao

PP 37:1 (Winter 2023) p. 22

Restoration Of Adult Survivors Of Child Sexual Abuse: How Can Caregivers Contribute To The Process?

Scarlet Hai Yin Fung Tsao

From Priscilla Papers, 20/1 (Winter 2006) 13–22

Scarlet Hai Yin Fung Tsao received her legal education at the University of Hong Kong and Yale University Law School, and her theological education at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary near Boston, Massachusetts. She is Adjunct Professor and Director of School of Law Students’ Professional Development and Public Service Programme at City University of Hong Kong. She is dedicated to serving the poor and victims of abuse both in Hong Kong and the United States. This includes, but is not limited to, providing legal services and establishing mentoring relationships. In 2015, she founded the Children’s Welfare Law and Services Network. In addition to Priscilla Papers, Scarlet has published her writings in legal journals and books.

In the United States, it is estimated that there are between fifty thousand to more than one million instances of child sexual abuse (CSA) each year. Research shows that one out of every four girls and one out of every seven boys has been sexually abused before the age of eighteen. This means that, “in any group of adults gathered together for ministry or another purpose, 15 to 20 percent of the people present may have been sexually abused by an adult before the age of eighteen.”1 We may have relatives, friends, colleagues, and members of our church who are still haunted by the traumatic memories of CSA and tormented by its poisonous effects on their lives, but who choose to conceal their pain.2 Churches and caregivers should not ignore the needs of this silent group of sufferers. This article discusses some of the major steps in the healing process of CSA survivors and how caregivers can be equipped to facilitate the process by adopting a multidisciplinary approach.

The Healing Process

CSA survivors have to be made whole both psychologically and spiritually. It is said that the healing process is like a spiral with different stages and that the survivors have to move up and down the spiral and go through the different stages repeatedly:

You go through the same stages again and again; but traveling up the spiral, you pass through them at a different level, with a different perspective. You might spend a year or two dealing intensely with your abuse. Then you might take a break and focus more on the present. . . . With each new cycle, your capacity to feel, to remember, to make lasting changes, is strengthened.3

1. The Dec...

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