July

Shauna writes:  “Dear Christopher – I am a mother of a 12-year-old little girl, who just completed her first year of middle school, and a 10-year-old boy. Recently, my daughter started waking up in the middle of the night, crying from nightmares. She also seemed to be more withdrawn and argumentative with the family. When it started, I thought perhaps it was because she was entering puberty. After three weeks of this behavior, and my husband and I not being able to figure out what was causing it, we took her to a counselor. After a month of counseling sessions, my daughter said that an adult had ‘touched her’ and made her ‘feel dirty.’

This has been, and continues to be, my family’s worse nightmare. My child was in middle school and not involved in outside activities where she would be around adults unsupervised. The only babysitter I have allowed around her is my mother and mother-in-law. She doesn’t even go to neighbors’ houses to play. As a mom, I still follow my daughter into restrooms in public places.

My husband and I believe this may have happened at the end of the school year, with a teacher or an adult on campus. However, she is not at a point in therapy where she wants to give many details about this at all. What do we do about reporting this and finding out some answers? I don’t want her to hurt even more from this all.”