Children Who See Too Much: Lessons from the Child Witness to Violence Project - Softcover

Groves, Betsy Mcalister

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0807031399 ISBN 13: 9780807031391

Publisher: Beacon Press, 2003

Synopsis

For the last ten years Betsy Groves has been working with children traumatized by witnessing violence. In this book she shows how children understand, respond to, and are affected by violence, especially domestic violence. Groves makes the powerful case that traumatic events carried out by family members carry the most severe psychological risks for very young children. She uses clinical case studies to show that being young does not protect against the lasting effects of witnessing violence, and she offers ways adults can help.

About this title

About the Author:

Betsy McAlister Groves is founder of the nationally recognized Child Witness to Violence Project at Boston Medical Center.

From Publishers Weekly:

The need for a book to help parents and caregivers whose children have seen violence has never been more apparent than in the days following the September 11 terrorist attacks on the U.S. While Boston Medical Center's 10-year-old Child Witness to Violence Project is specifically designed to do just that, this book by the project's founder, a licensed social worker, disappoints. The project, which works with young children who have witnessed evil firsthand (e.g., a parent's murder) or who are traumatized by news stories (such as the kidnapping of Polly Klass from her home), clearly has done much good in helping children cope. When Groves focuses on specific stories, like four-year-old Daquan, who was at home when his mother was murdered, or Jenna and Ben, who were present when their father attacked their mother, the book comes alive. But too often Groves strays from her subject and offers mini-primers on child development theories or television violence that are not nearly as insightful as her work with kids. Despite a tendency to oversummarize in order to pad out this slim and somewhat uncohesive volume, Groves does make an impassioned case that youth is not a protection against violence and that domestic violence in particular has the most devastating effect on children. She warns that there are no quick fixes to help young children. What matters most is "the adult behind the strategy who says, `I will listen to you' or `I believe you can succeed.' "Her six-step plan for changing the world includes such commonsense notions as offering children steady, loving relationships and reintroducing civility into daily life. (Feb. Forecast: At press time, Beacon did not have plans to accelerate this book's publication schedule, so while many parents and educators could benefit from Groves's advice right now, they may have to wait until February. But by then, the shelves will probably be packed with related titles, thus stunting this one's potential.

Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

About this edition

• Publisher: Beacon Press
• Publication date: 2003
• ISBN 10: 0807031399
• ISBN 13: 9780807031391
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 184