Cassidy, Kabbash, Ronis at the University of New Brunswick Frederiction in Canada (2021) have published the above named paper in The Canadian Journal of Human Sexuality.
The study extrapolated 256 original anonymised posts and 234 of the responding sets of comments to describe the experiences of non-offending family members in dealing with challenges and in supporting the reintegration of alleged perpetrators following a sexual offence.
The study was carried out with the goal of contributing to the development and implementation of services to improve the welfare of the non-offending family members. It is supported that if understanding was improved of the challenges faced by these family members, then developing support services for them will likely continue to reduce recidivism and increase the integration of alleged perpetrators in society.
Summary of Findings
There are collateral consequences to innocent family members of perpetrators. Typically non-offending family members who offer support contribute to the relapse prevention of the perpetrator. Understanding the needs of these family members helps everyone in society. Some of the collateral damages to innocent non-offending family members include;
-External and internal stigma,
-Legal restrictions preventing perpetrators living with non-offending family members,
-Loss of income (for many reasons),
-Dyadic coping between the non-offending family members and the perpetrators,
-Non-offending family members may have to limit the amount of support they give to perpetrators because of emotional exhaustion and limited capacity to seek help from others,
-Difficulty finding and maintaining housing,
-Significant loss of social support,
-Socially isolated,
-Loss of close family and friends,
-Inability to participate in community activities,
-Direct harassment (even towards children),
-Practical and social difficulties,
-Feelings of shame, fear anger resulting from stigma and practical difficulties,
-Subsequent loneliness and social isolation, leading to chronic and persistent stress,
-Multiple losses (of old ways of life), mourning period,
-Isolation and need for validation which is typically only received via online forums,
-‘Disenfranchised grief’ (grief not socially acceptable). This term was first coined by Doka (2008).
The forum that the data was extrapolated from was American in its language use and terminology. The authors of The Knock are not aware of any American counterparts of our website, nor charities like the Lucy Faithfull Foundation, StopSO, ActsFast, Safer Living Foundation etc that all exist in the UK. Please get in touch if you do have this information by emailing info@theknock.club
Typically non offending family members in the UK receive validation and support from these British charities as well as from online sources.
If you are reading this and need help, please go to our website section called ‘Getting Help‘ to find out who to contact. Don’t try and ‘go it alone’. We are stronger together.
For full access to the research paper, please click here.