Working with at risk and abused children

I understand and share your frustration.

In situations like yours, when confronted with the powerlessness of children and my own seeming powerlessness to effectively help to the degree I would like, I find looking at the internal resources and resiliency of clients to be useful.

I have done some research into adaptive coping in survivors of sexual and physical trauma in childhood. From the literature review and research I did and my own clinical experience, I found that identifying and reinforcing internal sources of strength and self-comfort can be very important in helping children in difficult situations survive into adulthood. I have had clients who have told me that talking to a dead beloved grandmother, a deity or family pet, connecting with nature or believing in their own courage have given them the strength to survive. There has been some other research done on resilency in children as well that you might want to look into. (Some of which is cited in Kathleen Noble's book _The Sound of the Silver Horn_). It may well be that treating the children in your care with respect and compassion during the time they are with you is all you are able to do in these circumstances. Providing support to and respecting the ways in which these children are already holding themselves together can be very useful to them. It may sound trivial, but personally I think that providing children with access to nature (gardening, forests, pets...) can be helpful, as so many of my clients have said that such a connection helped them keep going as children during traumatic periods.

If what you are looking for is a way to use the data from these drawings to lobby for institutional change, you will need to have a person who is qualified to use the HTP test to assist you in making such an assessment for it to be accurate and credible. Perhaps you can connect with someone who would be interested in doing such an assessment as part of their graduate research.

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