These are some of the experiences of child sexual abuse shared with the Truth Project by victims and survivors. All names and identifying details have been changed.
Download a PDF sample of accountsread full account of Easton s experienceEaston says ‘It’s a terrible thing not to be believed and then have to stay in that environment’
Easton was sent to boarding school when he was 13 years old.
Hundreds of miles from home, he realised he was powerless against the teachers who abused him.
read full account of Hildas experienceHilda says ‘Abuse affects your identity and sense of self’
After being adopted as a baby in the early 1960s, Hilda was sexually abused for more than 10 years by her adoptive father.
She now understands that she confused the abuse by her adoptive father for ‘love’, and this made her vulnerable to abuse by other men.
read full account of Meriels experienceMeriel says churches should be more concerned for victims of abuse than about their reputation
Meriel was brought up as a Jehovah’s Witness.
When an older boy in the congregation sexually abused her, the Elders asked her family to ‘keep it quiet’.
read full account of Janices experienceJanice endured sexual abuse from her father and violence from her mother
Janice’s father served in the armed forces and her family lived in military accommodation.
She says she can’t remember a time in her childhood when abuse was not happening in one form or another.
read full account of Aprils experienceApril only spoke out about being abused because she feared for her mother’s safety
The man who abused April ‘weaseled his way into my family, and it took me seven years to speak’.
She now works with children who are the same age she was when her stepfather started sexually abusing her. She says, ‘I am constantly thinking that was me’.
read full account of Antoinettes experienceAntoinette says ‘The abuse never leaves me’
Antoinette was fostered as a baby, and was sexually abused by members of her foster family.
The foster mother blamed Antoinette for the abuse, and social services left her with the foster family even after she had told them what was happening.
read full account of Timmys experienceTimmy realised many years after he was sexually abused how he had been affected by the incident
Timmy’s Scout leader, Eric, went out of his way to provide activities for boys, some of them unofficial.
‘Looking back, I think a lot of the signs were there’ says Timmy.
read full account of Katie-Leighs experienceKatie-Leigh says she let people hurt her in the hope one of them would love her
Katie-Leigh grew up in the 1970s. Her father was in the armed forces.
He sexually abused Katie-Leigh and this set her on a self-destructive path that began with her taking an overdose at the age of seven.
read full account of Corrinas experienceCorrina’s foster father raped her, but her foster mother accused her of having an affair with him
Corrina and her brother and sister experienced a chaotic childhood. Her parents were very young when they had their three children and had an abusive relationship. Corrina’s father sexually abused her.
The family moved between different caravan sites and for a while the family lived with her grandmother. Concerned about the welfare of the children, her grandmother contacted social services. Corrina remembers being taken to a meeting point, and then driven in a police car to a children’s home. She was about six years old.
read full account of Tallulahs experienceTallulah says ‘For a long while I wasn't even sure if what happened to me was “proper” abuse’
When Tallulah was a young teenager, she was sexually abused on holiday by a family friend.
She gives an eloquent account of how for a child under such circumstances, understanding abuse and boundaries can be very difficult and confusing.
read full account of Barnabys experienceTwo of Barnaby’s teachers colluded in sexually abusing him and other children
Barnaby suffered sexual abuse by two teachers, at different stages in his school life.
It turned out that the two perpetrators had previously known each other before they worked at the same school.
read full account of Ivys experienceIvy’s father returned from the war and imposed a regime of tyranny and abuse on his family
Ivy was born in the 1940s. Her mother gave birth to a number of girls before she had a son, and her father physically and sexually abused his daughters.
Ivy and her sisters were sure that they were worth nothing to him, because he only wanted boys.