You're not Alone: The Journey from Abduction to Enpowerment

摘要

This resource for young people who are victims of abduction was prepared with the assistance of five young adults who were abducted as children and who are walking the path of healing and recovery. The guide is designed to help those who experience abduction begin to put their lives back together, and joins two previous titles OJJDP created for families coping with abduction: When Your Child Is Missing: A Family Survival Guide and What About Me. Coping With the Abduction of a Brother or Sister. When abducted children return home, the event is often accompanied by great fanfare. It is a happy ending to a tense and dramatic search that may have lasted for hours, days, months, or even years. Parents, families, friends, communities, law enforcement, and the media rightfully celebrate the moment. When the initial glow fades, child survivors are left with the overwhelming task of adjusting to a life that has been dramatically altered through no fault of their own. OJJDP has developed this publication to support and assist these children as they navigate to a 'new normal' state of being after their abduction. The publication is divided into five sections, each dealing with a different aspect of a survivor's journey from trauma to gaining a sense of empowerment. It discusses the journey itself and what the survivor might expect along the way; finding people who can help; taking control of one's life and making the right choices; roadblocks the survivor might face and possible ways to handle them; and finding the survivor's individual 'new normal.'