Blog Carnival Against Child Abuse April 2012 Edition

So nice to see such a large number of submissions, and even more, some new folks submitting for the first time! Thanks to everyone for getting the word out, and for sharing their posts with us. It truly shows me that there are many, many survivors finding their voices during this month of child abuse awareness.

With that said, let’s get right into the categories!

Advocacy and Awareness:

Tricia McKnight shared a post with this introduction. “We all are human and we all use our eyes, rather than our heart, to Judge those around us. If others could see inside our souls as to what we endured and what we have conquered – how would they feel if they had to carry this horrific and disgusting secret??? Read “Judging Eyes” and see if your heart can be touched to reach the reality of another person before turning away.”

Our own Blog Carnival organizer, Tracie, shared another touching story in Separate Cars

Jayneartin shared a story, which was also part of a “Five Sentence Fiction Challenge”. Thus it’s short, but very effective! Listen to the Children

Sherry, on her Wounded Breeze blog, shares the one thing we can all do, every month, in A Gift of a Smile to a Child Alone.

Lastly, Rox sent us her thoughts on Child Abuse Awareness Month, her first time submitting an article, right at the beginning of April. Definitely quite a lot to think about. Personally, reading it reminded me that speaking out about what happened to me won’t necessarily change the world, nor should I expect it to, but it can reach individual survivors and let them know that they are not alone. That’s good enough to keep doing it, in my book.

Aftermath:

Tracie, having a rather prolific April of writing, shared her story of the effects of abuse – Broken Cookies

Speaking of prolific, Kate submitted two posts on the topic of aftermath, Taking Back the Enemy’s Territory and Being Different

Art Therapy:

Beth wrote the following to introduce her post:

“I’m actually working on a story (novella or e-book I suppose) as part of a Challenge. It’s my first attempt at writing fiction and I made my main character a little girl who is a survivor of domestic violence. This link is to my first post/chapter/segment in the series. It could easily stand alone although I hope people will consider following more of Allie’s story“

Healing and Therapy:

My co-blogger on the News and Reviews site became a first time contributor to the blog carnival, with his own story of starting therapy and what he’s used to help healing.

RebeccaPi wrote “I’m struggling to forgive the person who abused me and my children- not because he deserves it, but because I need to have a healed heart. This post is about my search for what forgiveness means and how I can go about healing my heart.” I think we can all relate to A Change of Heart.

Tracie adds one from the Band Back Together blog, Twitter Parties are Good for the Soul, and I couldn’t agree more. Sometimes when we most want to be alone, what we really need is the chance tor each out and connect with someone else. Social Networking sites are a great way to do that when all else fails! As she wrote herself: “I still struggle with April being child abuse awareness month, because it is such a hard month for me, personally, with flashbacks and memories. But I put myself out there and participated in a discussion on twitter about surviving sexual assault and was reminded that hiding (my go-to coping technique) never really helps me.”

Kate adds some insight into friendships for survivors in Here’s the Thing:  “This post is about learning good boundaries as a survivor when it comes to new friends. My survivor blog friends taught me what a real friend is.”

Jenny shares some very personal thoughts on Stockholm Syndrome for abuse survivors in Associating

For my own submission, I’m also adding a metaphor for healing. Roll With the Changes.

Survivor Stories:

The Middle State shared some very personal thoughts in The One Thing. I found parts of it reminded me of my own thoughts a couple of months back about making kids easy targets for those who would abuse or bully them. It’s the damage caused to kids that makes them vulnerable.

Sperk, a new contributor as well, sent in This is Your Journey. How many times have I offered up that same sentence when talking to survivors. We’re all on our own journeys, there’s no right or wrong way to heal nor a set amount of time, so long as you do it!

Erin Grace shared two blog post with her story, The Day She Went to Work and Footsteps (The Cult of “K”)

Ray shares his own experiences with an abusive childhood as well in a post simply titled Abuse.

Poetry:

And we finish up this impressive gathering of survivors speaking out with our one poetry entry for this month, Brittany’s The Man Who Molded Me

Thank you to everyone who submitted an article, and for those of you who continue to write, read, and comment on blogs to help our little community grow. It’s been an honor reading the entries that were shared this month, and being the host!