Children saving themselves
Children saving themselves
Updated 02:09am (Mla time) Jan 02, 2005
By Rina Jimenez-David
Inquirer News Service
Editor's Note: Published on page A13 of the January 2, 2005 issue of the Philippine Daily Inquirer
IT was the title that first caught my eye. "Surviving the Odds: Finding Hope in Abused Children's Life Stories" seemed an oxymoron. "Hope" and "abuse" are two words you don't often see paired together, but I guess the two are linked by another word in the title: "surviving."
"Surviving the Odds" was part of a packet of books and publications produced by Save the Children UK (Philippines), an international nongovernment organization (Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom is a patron), in partnership with other organizations. The packet was sent to me just before Christmas by Rowena Cordero, the NGO's program director. Apparently, the publications are meant to establish strategies and approaches to the healing of Filipino children-survivors of abuse and trauma by using their own experiences and insights.
Violeta Villaroman-Bautista, head of the research team from the UP Center for Integrative and Development Studies, Psychosocial Trauma and Human Rights Program (UP CIDS-PST), says in her introduction that the project started as a study of the Filipino abused children's experience of resilience. "It explored the meaning of what could be a core concept in children's work. It was also basic in its secondary aim of looking for indigenous concepts and psychosocial methods related to helping abused children recover from their experience."
But it turns out the team learned much more than simply practical information from their work, looking into the children's capacity for resilience. As Bautista notes: "Beyond our research interest, our encounters with the children lend a quality to the work that left an indelible impression on all of us. We had the privilege of listening to children tell their stories of survival. These children were poor, some homeless, and many from dysfunctional families. Their wounds were deep, even cutting to their very spirits. At the same time, they demonstrated the unimaginable depth from where they drew their strength. As we heard them tell their stories, we felt, in some vicarious way, their experience and began to sense the quality of resilience possible at their precarious age."
* * *
WHILE we know too well the lifelong effects of abuse on children, the researchers note that "caregivers working with abused children report of children who transcend abuse and who cope creatively with their harrowing experiences."
In a study (1997) he conducted for Unicef among street children, Cornelio Banaag "encountered street children who surprisingly survived the numerous odds stacked against them. He found out that children can deal with their experience and carry on because they have the capacity for wellness and self-repair. His findings offer hope to the grim effects abuse brings to children."
"Battered and neglected children are not doomed by their experience," the book declares. In one chapter, the authors outline what they call "resilience themes," qualities and skills that resilient children exhibit, as gleaned from their own words and stories.
One of these is the ability to accept difficulties and adjust to the demands of difficult situations, what the team calls the skill to "roll with the punches." This is exemplified in the story of Gina, who led a relatively pampered life until, at age 14, she was raped by her father, found out she was pregnant, and then discovered that she had been adopted as a baby. Rebuffed by both her adoptive parents and biological family, Gina sought shelter in a home for street children and gave up her baby for adoption. Despite the abrupt shift in her fortunes, Gina was still full of hope, dreaming of earning a college degree and in the future introducing herself to her child and the child's adoptive parents.
* * *
SOME children also seem to possess from the start "life skills" that enable them to cope with whatever challenge they face-what the researchers call "competent functioning." Among the skills identified from the stories of such children are: intelligence and mental alertness, warmth and social skills, self-awareness and the ability to find new avenues for growth.
The capacity to learn from experience is another skill that serves abused children well. After falling under the "bad influence" of a teenage gang that pressured him into robbing his employer, "Jen-jen" learned his lessons the hard way. Caught and turned over to authorities who placed him in the Molave Youth Home, "Jen-jen" was transformed into a "model" resident, learning the dangers of succumbing to peer pressure and the need to find his own path in life.
"Children who do well in life despite difficulties draw from their inner resources when evaluating situations and finding solutions to their problems," notes the book. "They may have best friends, counselors, and teachers, but it is clear in their stories that they are in charge of their lives and they base their decisions on what they think is the most suitable solution, not what others think is the best solution to their problem."
* * *
"PAGTITIIS" or forbearance is another important "resilience theme." As the authors note: "Pagtitiis is not the kind of forbearance associated to a martyr, neither is it a lack of initiative to take control of one's life. It arises more out of a sensible evaluation of one's options in life, realizing that pagtitiis is the best option for the time being."
Pagtitiis, as the stories of different children illustrate, is seen merely as a strategy to gain needed time and space to devise ways to escape the situation they find themselves in. "Resilient children seem to take problems in stride and to respond to them with the least emotional expenditure as possible," the book says.
There are other "resilience themes" discussed in the book, as well as suggested programs for tapping these qualities in children who need them most. More in the next column.
Updated 02:09am (Mla time) Jan 02, 2005
By Rina Jimenez-David
Inquirer News Service
Editor's Note: Published on page A13 of the January 2, 2005 issue of the Philippine Daily Inquirer
IT was the title that first caught my eye. "Surviving the Odds: Finding Hope in Abused Children's Life Stories" seemed an oxymoron. "Hope" and "abuse" are two words you don't often see paired together, but I guess the two are linked by another word in the title: "surviving."
"Surviving the Odds" was part of a packet of books and publications produced by Save the Children UK (Philippines), an international nongovernment organization (Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom is a patron), in partnership with other organizations. The packet was sent to me just before Christmas by Rowena Cordero, the NGO's program director. Apparently, the publications are meant to establish strategies and approaches to the healing of Filipino children-survivors of abuse and trauma by using their own experiences and insights.
Violeta Villaroman-Bautista, head of the research team from the UP Center for Integrative and Development Studies, Psychosocial Trauma and Human Rights Program (UP CIDS-PST), says in her introduction that the project started as a study of the Filipino abused children's experience of resilience. "It explored the meaning of what could be a core concept in children's work. It was also basic in its secondary aim of looking for indigenous concepts and psychosocial methods related to helping abused children recover from their experience."
But it turns out the team learned much more than simply practical information from their work, looking into the children's capacity for resilience. As Bautista notes: "Beyond our research interest, our encounters with the children lend a quality to the work that left an indelible impression on all of us. We had the privilege of listening to children tell their stories of survival. These children were poor, some homeless, and many from dysfunctional families. Their wounds were deep, even cutting to their very spirits. At the same time, they demonstrated the unimaginable depth from where they drew their strength. As we heard them tell their stories, we felt, in some vicarious way, their experience and began to sense the quality of resilience possible at their precarious age."
* * *
WHILE we know too well the lifelong effects of abuse on children, the researchers note that "caregivers working with abused children report of children who transcend abuse and who cope creatively with their harrowing experiences."
In a study (1997) he conducted for Unicef among street children, Cornelio Banaag "encountered street children who surprisingly survived the numerous odds stacked against them. He found out that children can deal with their experience and carry on because they have the capacity for wellness and self-repair. His findings offer hope to the grim effects abuse brings to children."
"Battered and neglected children are not doomed by their experience," the book declares. In one chapter, the authors outline what they call "resilience themes," qualities and skills that resilient children exhibit, as gleaned from their own words and stories.
One of these is the ability to accept difficulties and adjust to the demands of difficult situations, what the team calls the skill to "roll with the punches." This is exemplified in the story of Gina, who led a relatively pampered life until, at age 14, she was raped by her father, found out she was pregnant, and then discovered that she had been adopted as a baby. Rebuffed by both her adoptive parents and biological family, Gina sought shelter in a home for street children and gave up her baby for adoption. Despite the abrupt shift in her fortunes, Gina was still full of hope, dreaming of earning a college degree and in the future introducing herself to her child and the child's adoptive parents.
* * *
SOME children also seem to possess from the start "life skills" that enable them to cope with whatever challenge they face-what the researchers call "competent functioning." Among the skills identified from the stories of such children are: intelligence and mental alertness, warmth and social skills, self-awareness and the ability to find new avenues for growth.
The capacity to learn from experience is another skill that serves abused children well. After falling under the "bad influence" of a teenage gang that pressured him into robbing his employer, "Jen-jen" learned his lessons the hard way. Caught and turned over to authorities who placed him in the Molave Youth Home, "Jen-jen" was transformed into a "model" resident, learning the dangers of succumbing to peer pressure and the need to find his own path in life.
"Children who do well in life despite difficulties draw from their inner resources when evaluating situations and finding solutions to their problems," notes the book. "They may have best friends, counselors, and teachers, but it is clear in their stories that they are in charge of their lives and they base their decisions on what they think is the most suitable solution, not what others think is the best solution to their problem."
* * *
"PAGTITIIS" or forbearance is another important "resilience theme." As the authors note: "Pagtitiis is not the kind of forbearance associated to a martyr, neither is it a lack of initiative to take control of one's life. It arises more out of a sensible evaluation of one's options in life, realizing that pagtitiis is the best option for the time being."
Pagtitiis, as the stories of different children illustrate, is seen merely as a strategy to gain needed time and space to devise ways to escape the situation they find themselves in. "Resilient children seem to take problems in stride and to respond to them with the least emotional expenditure as possible," the book says.
There are other "resilience themes" discussed in the book, as well as suggested programs for tapping these qualities in children who need them most. More in the next column.
posted by Dante at 2:09 AM
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