ABSTRACT

This article investigates the formal support needs of mothers whose child has been sexually abused. Previous research has focused mostly on the provision of support for abused children to the relative neglect of mothers’ support needs. Here, formal support refers to resources and services from organisations, professionals and authorities, with a specific focus on social welfare services. This article is based on a thematic analysis of semi-structured, in-depth interviews with 15 non-abusing mothers in North Cyprus. Analysis of the mothers’ experiences revealed needs of support in four important domains: financial support; child day-care services and social facilities for children and adults; therapeutic services; and improved public knowledge about and trust in social services. Mothers often lacked knowledge about social services and their most common encounter with the social welfare system concerned financial assistance. The results showed that the social welfare system in North Cyprus is highly bureaucratic, children's long-term needs are usually unmet, and mothers’ needs are often ignored by professionals. In sum, developing the quality of social welfare services is vital for sexually abused children and their non-abusing family members, especially mothers.

摘要

本文调查了孩子遭受性虐待的母亲的正式支持需求。以前的研究主要集中在为受虐儿童提供支持，而相对忽视了母亲的支持需求。在这里，正式支持是指来自组织、专业人士和当局的资源和服务，特别侧重于社会福利服务。本文基于对北塞浦路斯 15 名非虐待母亲的半结构化深度访谈的主题分析。对母亲经历的分析揭示了四个重要领域的支持需求：经济支持；为儿童和成人提供的儿童日托服务和社会设施；治疗服务；提高公众对社会服务的了解和信任度。母亲们往往缺乏社会服务方面的知识，她们最常遇到的社会福利制度涉及经济援助。结果显示，北塞浦路斯的社会福利体系高度官僚化，儿童的长期需求通常得不到满足，而母亲的需求往往被专业人士忽视。总之，提高社会福利服务的质量对于遭受性虐待的儿童及其非虐待家庭成员，尤其是母亲来说至关重要。