A Reaction to the Woody Allen Story
I’ve been working on an article about caring for the bad dad, the man who molested my sister and tore my family apart, and what it has been to sift through the wake of my father’s life in photos, scrapbooks, and letters. After he suffered a stroke early in 2013, he couldn’t care for himself and I did something I thought I’d never do — I brought him home to live with me. Full Op-Ed Piece
I was especially impressed by a comment from Will Bassler who wrote about what appeared to be a treatment program for sexual abuse within a family:
One such program was the Child Sexual Abuse treatment program (CSATP) from Santa Clara county, California. According to the (CSATP) data from 1971 to 1982, they treated over 12,000 individuals, both victims and offenders. More clients then any other single agency in its field. CSATP was rated the best program in the country with a maintained re-offense rate of less than 1%. This, without failing or removing people from the program.Their approach was a humanistic one through self-awareness and self management and of the families that were involved in this program. Over 95% were able to stay together as a family unit.
It’s certainly a shame that hate, anger and a desire to punish displaced such an effective program.