Clinical Interventions with Victims of Abuse and Neglect

Abstract

Mary, a 13-year-old African-American girl, was placed in foster care with two of her younger sisters. Mary and her siblings had all experienced a high degree of neglect and chaos. Mary had also been a victim of sexual abuse by an older brother and had witnessed sexual acts among various adults who had moved in and out of the home. When I first met Mary she was in seventh grade and had just started attending a new school. Mary had no contact with her biological father, but was clearly attached to and yearning to return to her biological mother. She was extremely angry with the judge, her foster mother, her teachers, and her new peers. Mary was failing classes, getting into violent fights with her classmates, and had even begun to verbally abuse the teachers. Her inner identity was that of a “loser,” and a very vulnerable and sad little girl. So she attempted to bully her way into feeling invincible and to defend against overwhelming feelings of loss and