How to Heal Children After Forced Animal Cruelty

Some abusers torment their child victims by forcing them to do actions that harm animals. Sometimes this involves physically harming an animal. Other times, it involves forcing sexual acts between a child and an animal. In both cases, the child feels responsible for harming the animal and carries around an enormous amount of guilt and shame as a result. Here is how to help a child heal after forced animal cruelty.

Instructions

Difficulty: Moderately Challenging

Things You’ll Need:

• Empathy
• Patience
• Compassion

1. Find a qualified child therapist with experience in counseling children who have suffered from forced animal cruelty. An experienced therapist will know how to reach a child and communicate that he is not responsible for the abuses he suffered.
2. Listen to your child when he talks about his experiences. It can be very difficult to listen to a child talk about horrendous abuses that no child should ever have to suffer, but your child needs you to listen. No matter how hard it is for you to hear about it as an adult, experiencing the abuse as a child was significantly harder.
3. Tell your child that she was not responsible. Children who were forced to harm an animal were often told that they "chose" the behavior because they acted to prevent a greater harm, such as to protect the lives of their family members. Tell your child repeatedly that the abuse was not her fault.
4. Teach your child how to process his emotions. Your child likely did not have the opportunity to express his grief and horror over harming an animal, so those emotions are bottled up inside. Show him how to process his anger and grief in a safe manner.
5. Help your child to make atonement. Encourage your child to spend some time helping animals while supervised so that he can have the opportunity to show animals kindness. Many animal shelters welcome volunteer assistance. By showing kindness to animals, your child can make amends for having harmed an animal in the past.

Tips & Warnings

• A greyhound rescue is a good place to give a child the opportunity to give back to animals. Greyhounds are docile by nature and are kept in muzzles when they are out of their crates, which provides added protection for your child.
• Your child's therapist can provide you with additional tools to help your child heal from forced animal cruelty.
• The intense shame that a child feels for harming an animal can fuel urges to self-harm or attempt suicide. Look for warning signs that your child might harm himself and take appropriate preventative measures.
• Supervise the child when she is around animals until you feel comfortable that she will not lash out at the animal. Being around another animal can trigger painful feelings, and some children might lash out in response, which will only deepen the self-loathing that the child feels.